ABSTRACT
Although finds of weapons, belts/baldrics and horse gear are generally viewed as characteristic of military sites, the material from the eastern Rhine delta shows that these categories of finds also occur frequently outside army camps and guard posts. The majority of the c. 2,700 objects in the inventory come from rural settlements, ranging from simple hamlets to larger settlements with villa-like structures (fig. 3.1, appendix 1). In addition, a sizeable quantity of material is documented from rivers, the urban centres in Nijmegen and cult places. Only occasionally do objects occur in graves. Thanks to the extensive data set from the research region, we are able to carry out analyses to give us an idea of the use and significance of weaponry and horse gear from different non-military contexts. These analyses are designed to identify patterns in the material that will be elaborated further in subsequent chapters.
