Combined survey Nijmegen: UXO, archaeology and contamination

T&A Survey carried out a combined UXO, archaeological and environmental survey in Nijmegen for the demolition of an old and the construction of a new residential area. Remains from the Second World War and Roman times, but also soil contamination, were expected in the area. T&A Survey is the only agency in the Netherlands that has all the knowledge and qualifications for such complicated, combined soil investigations.

Detection
In and around Nijmegen there many battles were fought during WWII. Preliminary research has shown that the area where, just after the war, the houses were built is suspect of explosives. Old aerial photos show that there have been (German) defense works. Shortly after the war, debris from the city was dumped in the area. The soil was excavated layer by layer based on detection results. We encountered many war-related objects: a British helmet, jerry cans, an ammunition box, igniters and grenade shells. Also, a large number of tombstones with names and dates were found.
Noviomagus (Nijmegen) was the first Roman settlement in the Netherlands. Traces of Roman constructions and parts of a Roman burial field were expected to be found within the plan area. In the underlying sand layer the presence of Roman remains such as urns and other objects had to be taken into account. The work was therefore archaeologically supervised.

Soil contamination
The area has been partly used as a dump site for debris from the city of Nijmegen, contaminating the underlying soil layers. Therefore, excavation work had to be carried out under remediation conditions.

Combination of techniques