When the Romans moved into the area between the Scheldt and the Rhine in the 1st century BC, they did not encounter an empty landscape. Farms, field systems, roads and trade networks had already been functioning there for centuries. What followed was not a replacement of one culture by another, but a gradual process in which local communities selectively adopted Roman objects, building techniques and customs.

This lecture reconstructs that process on the basis of archaeology. Using settlement remains, coin finds, pottery and site layouts, the period is traced from the last centuries of the Iron Age to the late Roman period.

Kylian Verhaevert is an archaeologist and data analyst at Monument Vandekerckhove nv, specializing in the Metal Ages and the provincial Roman period. He studied archaeology at Ghent University and graduated in 2020 with a thesis on the Iron Age in the Mandel Valley. In addition, he is active within Viroviacum Romanum, is part of the organization of the Gallo-Roman Weekend, and is a member of the living history group Deuoxtonion, which focuses on the reconstruction of the Gallic Iron Age.

Classics scholar Johan De Ryck began his career as a teacher of Latin and Greek. Later, he became a journalist for the VRT radio news service. His passion for antiquity remained, and after his retirement he published his book Ave Caesar in 2024. In it, he discusses the importance of Julius Caesar, not only during his lifetime but also up to the present day. Not only are sayings such as alea iacta est and veni, vidi, vici etched into our collective memory, we also find him in statues, films, political statements, and more. Why has he left behind such an interesting historical legacy?

Johan was already a guest at the previous edition, where he presented his book; for this edition, he will also provide an update.

Sien Demuynck is a historian and journalist. This young author wrote a book about the Gauls nearly twenty years after the publication of De Oude Belgen by Ugo Janssens. Since then, no book for a general audience had been published on Gallia Belgica.

The history of the Celts, and more specifically of Gallia Belgica where they are referred to as “Gauls,” is fascinating for several reasons: Because the Gauls left hardly any written sources, we must infer their lives and customs from Latin sources and archaeology. Because they “disappeared” from history through assimilation with the Romans and Germanic peoples. Because the romanticization of the nineteenth century and a comic like Asterix have given us a completely wrong image of them today.

Sien Demuynck spent months researching everything we can know about our distant ancestors. The result is a remarkably captivating piece of history. Through a selection from her book, Sien tells us more about this fantastic people who have been somewhat forgotten by history.

Archaeology is the science of studying the remains of ancient cultures in order to reconstruct and understand the past. It includes multiple scientific disciplines that work together to achieve the best possible result based on the excavated finds.

LEGO® is a toy (especially for) children, designed by a Danish company and sold worldwide.

And yet the two go together better than you might think...

Using a few examples, Familia Brickia explains how they approach a LEGO® build—starting from the early idea through to the final finishing.