O1. The detailed analysis of the state of the art. This objective will help us focus not only on the western/Dutch bibliography regarding Batavians, but we will also collect bibliography and input on the Batavian troops from Pannonia, Noricum, Dalmatia. Though we are aware it is not extensive, important facts might be found in it.
O2. The analysis of epigraphic sources. This objective will give us information on minor epigraphy, literacy, naming patterns, etc. We will also try to relate to other provinces as well.
O3. The analysis of material culture. For the ala, we have an Airtable database with the artefacts primarily registered. We will refine it and expand it. Make chemical analysis on pottery, confirm some theories. Work on Batavians, Cannanefates, Tungri.
O4. The achievement of the synthesis, considering the accomplishment of the previous objectives. This will focus on the integration of features into a framework, comparing the Batavians’ from other provinces, as well as with other populations.
O5. Identifying continuation possibilities, evaluating the established collaborations, the real options for applying at European projects.
Choice of investigation methodologies. The investigation methods will be adapted to our needs, as we will try not to complicate things futilely. The approach will include, as already stated, several original methods, along the traditional ones: the archaeological investigation, as we will try to link artefacts to context as much as possible and asses the new artefacts which will show up, as we are continuing the excavations from \Războieni during the project years; the artefacts’ investigation, including mineralogical analysis of the materials, qualitative and quantitative analysis through the framework of socio-cultural practice and identity. This approach moves beyond a simple typological analogy matching which tends to draw simplistic links to other ethnic analogous forms. Instead, it looks at the whole assemblage as quantified data. The auxiliary soldiers may have thought themselves Roman or not, but their tastes in food and drink may have been very different to those of a contemporary Italian (Cool 2006: 180). Whilst typological qualification exhibits the range of forms and styles of pottery, quantification assesses their amount, in order to reveal its significance within the assemblage and its connection to image construction. This is not to say that small quantities are irrelevant. On the contrary, small quantities of certain forms and styles could indicate that soldiers may have carried pots, unlike the regular or institutionalised supply practice within the units suggested by the higher predominant styles (Pitts 2019: 48). The onomastic & prosopographical investigation: the Batavians notoriously lack German names (we have all people already registered in Romans1by1). From Vindolanda we have the decurio Masclus, writing to the prefect Flavius Cerialis (Tab.Vindol. III 628), ans mesmerizingly calling him rex (Cuff 2011). Expectedly, historiographic consensus on the exact meaning and reason for employing this unusual title lacks, but we believe that it refers to Cerialis’s appurtenance to the Batavian nobility and former ‘royalty’ (Birley 2001; Dickey 2002: 106-107; Eck 2005: 666-667; Bowman 2006: 87; Cuff 2011). One notices absolutely no onomastic clue for his status. As well, the above mentioned graves of the undoubtedly Batavian riders from Rome, once again present Latin or Greek onomastics. In this interpretative key, a surprise came from Războieni: we discovered a few pots with graffiti in a barrack, registering the names of the owners post cocturam so they didn’t get mixed up. One of the names is Dionysius; etymologically Greek, it is an important addition to the onomastics of the site. Greek names became a tradition in Batavian military families, after the northern recruits from the Flavian Imperial Guard employed them, sometimes probably in order to replace unpronounceable Batavian names (Birley 2001; van Driel-Murray 2003: 201; Derks 2009: 243). Nonetheless, they later on became a mark of family military tradition. The epigraphical investigation: reevaluating the inscriptions we have at hand. The analysis of the epigraphic evidence will focus primarily on applying innovative scientific methods such as Reflectance Transformation Imaging and Photogrammetry on key monuments – especially the last attestation of the ala from, presumably, 253 AD, dated based on the very badly deteriorated name of the emperor (Aemilianus). RTI could reveal the name with certainty, thus dating the monument for good. We will also undertake spatial analysis, in order to obtain mobility maps for people and objects, network analysis, for imports-export. In this way, our project has an exploratory character, because it is trying to propose a model of connection materiality, understood in its broader context.