Kees Peterse was fascinated by Roman history and architecture from an early age. Initially trained as an architectural engineer and then as an archaeologist, for his research for his dissertation he visited Pompeii, where he was involved with, among other things, the building archaeological interpretation of the upstanding masonry, helping to provide a lot of new information on the construction and usage history of houses in that city. His dissertation ‘Bouwkundige studies van huizen in Pompeï , muurwerk, maatvoering en ontwerp' (Architectural studies of houses in Pompeii: masonry, measurements and design) published in 1993 is a fusion of archaeology and building archaeology.

After obtaining his doctorate, his most significant work was carried out at the junction of these two disciplines. He created 3D reconstructions of Roman buildings in the Netherlands and Germany based on meticulous analysis of excavation data, comparisons of the structures and architecture of similar buildings throughout the Roman Empire, and the ‘logic’ of the construction based on locally available resources. This is the confluence where archaeology meets building archaeology. After creating reconstructions on paper and in the digital space, full scale in situ reconstructions followed. Sections of the earth and timber ramparts of the Roman fortresses in Oberaden and Haltern in Germany have been reconstructed based on his research.

Click here for Kees Peterse’s Curriculum vitae