Going underground: Excavations in Maastricht have unlocked the key to its colourful past

The Vrijthof has finally been completed after months of work to rebuild the underground car park. But people may not have noticed another historical project taking lace at the site last spring.

An archaeological excavation team from the Amsterdam University carried out a three-week dig in March and April as part of the Saint Servatius project, a joint venture funded by the University, Maastricht city council and the Netherlands Organisation for scientific research.

The project, which will take around five years to complete at an estimated cost of about EUR 1,5m, will produce a catalogue describing, illustrating and dating artifacts such as graves, archaeological remains and human bones in and around the St Servaas church on the Vrijthof square.

Another goal is to conduct research into the chronological and topographical development of the St Servaas Basilica and its surroundings.

“Maastricht covers all the main archaeological periods, and we have acquired some unique secrets.” Says curator Wim Dijkman, who works for the city council’s planning department and is responsible for finding materials in the St Servatius project.

“During the dig on the Vrijthof, we knew more or less what we had to expect because there has been an archaeological investigation there already. We knew we could fid part of the Roman road at the northern part of the Vrijthof and maybe part of the early medieval cemetery. But this year we only had the opportunity to dig a small section in the north western part because the new car park entrance was moved to hat part.”

But the city still has many other treasures waiting to be unearthed. “There are always some expectations and surprise too,” said Mr Dijkman.

An 11th century lead cross is one important artifact uncovered during an excavation of St Servaas church. The cross was found in the grave of Hubertus, who was dean of the church and cathedral of Liège. It will be on exhibit at the Natural History Museum, Maastricht, from this December until September 2004, along with other Roman and medieval objects from the area”.

“This was one of the most exciting finds,” says Mr Dijkman. “There is a whole inscription on it that is quite exceptional. Normally, you would see the name and the year the person died, but in this case we see exactly what the dean has done for the church. He was in charge of a rebuilding campaign and was so proud of it that he mentioned all the details in Latin on the cross. It is a unique historical document as well as an archaeological find that tells us a lot about this building campaign in the second part o the 11th century.”

While Maastricht may be rich in Roman and medieval history, we only have to go back a few centuries to uncover some more important pieces of history.

Mr Dijkman was behind the archaeological part of the recent D’Artagnan exhibition at Centre Céramique. The display included pottery, glass, smoking pipes and the skeletons of two unknown French soldiers that were connected with the French siege of Maastricht in 1673.

In the 19th century, Maastricht also played a prominent role in the more peaceful ceramics industry. “Remains of 19th century pottery production are very typical for this city,” Mr Dijkman said. “There were smaller factories from that period which only produced for 20-25 years, so there are not many objects left. We have also excavated the furnaces of a weapon producer, so we can see how this was technically carried out. “You could more or less say the further you go back in time the more important archaeology gets. From Roman times backward there are no other sources for our knowledge. So when you talk about the first Maastricht family we only have archaeological sources of information. It is difficult to get a very clear picture the further you go back in time and that is the challenge we have.”

“You have the objects on the one hand and the traces in the soil on the other. These are damaged when you dig them or other people destroy them without documentation, and part of your history is erased, like a great book with pages that are torn out.”

But amateur archaeologists looking to make money out of artifacts they may have found might be surprised to find that an old object does not necessarily mean that it is worth a fortune.

“I am not necessarily interested in buying things,” said Mr Dijkman. “It is not the value in money that is important to me, it is the historical value. I am mainly interested in finds in Maastricht. Some people will find coins abroad and come to me, but they are loose objects and might have a certain value in money terms but no information. What is interesting to me is a coin where I know where it was found. That is more important than the object itself.”

For the experts though, their main focus in the city will be showing their finds to the public. The forthcoming exhibition at the Natural History Museum is called Memento Mori, looking at “how we treat the dead”, the Roman road. It will then be followed by finds from the Vrijthof and St Servaas church in the future.

There are also plans in the pipeline to hold a more permanent exhibition at the Centre Céramique starting from next spring.

“It is always a problem for archaeologists – they have to dig into where they want to but where they have to. We have to wait for other major building construction and projects,” said Mr Dijkman.

“People ask ‘if you have been digging for 25 years, you must have found everything’, but we have only been digging in two to three per cent of the city. Gradually we know more but there are many important questions left about the history of this city”.

“Archaeology is not like an archive that someone can study but not discover much new evidence. It is one of the sciences that will always bring more answers to get a better knowledge of the past.”

Source: Crossroads print issue, October 2003