EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS—According to a NL Times report, archaeologists working ahead of a sewer construction project near the center of the southern city of Eindhoven have found the brick foundation of a gate at the city’s medieval entrance. The gate controlled access to a bridge built over a canal constructed next to the Dommel River. Repeated freezing of the canal water damaged the brickwork, which was repaired in a style that suggests the wall dates to the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The wall is thought to have been faced with wood. Sturdy oak posts found in the canal are thought to have supported the bridge. Fifteenth-century pottery was also recovered from the site. Pollen and seed samples will be analyzed for more information about the city’s landscape. The structures will be left in situ for future research. To read about the history of a booming port city in the Netherlands, go to "Letter from Rotterdam: The City and the Sea."
