Show ONCE A ROMAN TOWN ft tt Ruins of Ancient Settlement Found Near Voorburg Holland Dutch Government Assists Society In Work of Uncovering Old Walls Walla and Moats Moats Fortress Fortress Is MentIoned Mentioned Mentioned Men Men- In Chronicles i The Hague An Hague An eminent German historian has called the present century century cen cen- tury the age of the spade for tor the searchers of the past no longer confine confine con can fine their studies to musty archives but pickax and and shovel are called into requisition to reconstitute the history of bygone times So far not much has been accomplished In that direction In Holland and it Is generally by some lucky chance that any antiquities are unearthed It Is now some 80 years ago that a learned archeologist recognized rec rec- as Roman antiquities some objects that had accidentally been dug up In a country seat not far from The Hague In the small village of burg Now popular tradition had always always al ale al- al ways seen In Voorburg a famous fo to- u rum of Roman times which according to old chronicles was situated somewhere somewhere somewhere some some- where on the great canal dug b by the Romans In the time of the Emperor Claudius for military purposes This canal the Fossa extended extend extend- ed for many miles from where afterward afterward afterward after after- ward was Delft to beyond Leyden which was vas also a Roman settlement thus Joining th the rivers and Rhine forming a continuous waterway waterway water water- way for the Roman fleet Eighty years ago there were only a few people however to take an Interest in the unearthing of a few amphorae tiles Ules and vases But the owner of the country seat was full of zeal and did what he could with his private means so that in the course of a few years It was Impossible impossible sible to doubt any longer that that- there that there deep in the soil was an Important fortress or a city of Roman origin Ever since that time excavations have been going on In a desultory manner but a n year or two ago a company was formed which took the name of the society after the county seat scat which is most significantly or the Castle of at the Eagles It will wUl be remembered that the Roman emblem like the American Ameri Amen can was the eagle The new company has been working more systematically and the walls and moats of an extensive fortification I have been partly laid bare These archeologists declare were built In Inthe Inthe inthe the second half of the first century A A. D. D The Dutch government has now also become Interested in this important Important Important tant historical document of stone and has voted a subsidy of florins in installments to be paid yearly durIng during during dur dur- ing five years to tho the society beginning beginning begin begin- ning with 2000 florins forms In 1910 The provincial states have also Appropriated fl florins a year for the same purpose while the local authorities and many private individuals contribute contrib ute Ita considerable sums As far as can be judged now It Is isi i I probable that once near the well fortified harbor for the Roman Roman Roman Ro Ro- Ro- Ro man fleet and a considerable Roman settlement was built on an emplacement emplacement ment meat elevated with the soil that had been dug out of the Fossa Corbu Corbu- lans which was dug by during during dur duro ing the reign of Emperor Claudius after he had conquered the Old chronicles mention a fortress In these parts They tell of the ruins of ofa ofa ofa a great castle which was destroyed by the Normans Tradition wove many fables about these ruins which In the fifteenth or sixteenth century still sUll cover covered d some eight acres of ground After that time Ume no further mention Is made by them and in the eighteenth century the county seat was laid out on the same spot so that It would seem that all the masonry above ground must by that time have disappeared When next year the company doing the excavating work can begin in earnest many an important important I tant find may be anticipated |