I. IntroductionI.1. The Roman military along the Channel: research questions and how the Oudenburg research can contribute to our understandingI.2. Research methodology and selection of dataI.3. State of the art of the Roman military in the Channel region: an overview of the wider military context of the Oudenburg fortI.4. Historiography of the fort site of OudenburgI.5. The general chronological framework of the fort site as outlined by the former researchII. New insights into the stratigraphy, morphology and site formation processes at the Oudenburg fortII.1. Introduction to the stratigraphy and morphology research of the siteII.2. The stratigraphy of the site: the study of the trench profilesII.3. The evolution of the defence systemII.4. The inner building: occupation levels and their relation to the defence systemII.5. Site formation processes: the evidence from the spatial distribution of material, residuality and rubbish disposal, and the value of the find assemblagesIII. The successive forts at Oudenburg in a changing landscapeIII.1. Decisive factors for the fort’s history: the marine influence and the pauvrity in hard natural rockIII.2. The landscape at the time of the installation of the first fortIII.3. The landscape in the 3rd century ADIII.4. The landscape in the late Roman period i.e. the 4th century and laterIII.5. Conclusion: a changing landscape around the Oudenburg fortIV. The successive forts at Oudenburg and their related graveyardsIV.1. IntroductionIV.2. The mid-Roman graveyardsIV.3. The late Roman graveyardsIV.4. Conclusion: relationship between the successive forts and their graveyardsV. Confronting stratigraphy and material culture to come to new insights into the fort’s occupation and the wider contextV.1. A refined fort chronology for the Oudenburg castellum, its significance for the historic setting of the fort and within the wider historic context of the Channel regionV.2. Continuity and change in supply, trade and exchange networks towards the Oudenburg fort and in the Channel regionV.3. Material culture and ‘military’ identitiesVI. Conclusions. Change and continuity: the Oudenburg fort reflecting later Roman military development along the North Sea and Channel frontier zoneVI.1. The Roman fort at Oudenburg as a key site for the Roman North Sea and Channel frontier zoneVI.2. A contribution on a historic-military levelVI.3. A contribution to the reconstruction of socio-cultural identitiesVI.4. A contribution on a socio-economic levelVI.5. A contribution on a methodological levelAPPENDIX 1. Overview of the archaeological observations at Oudenburg yielding information on the Roman character of the sand ridgeAPPENDIX 2. Trenches of J. Mertens in the 1950s, 1960 and 1970s on the defence area of the Oudenburg fort. SummariesAPPENDIX 3. Features identified in the 1957 trenches VI–VIa–VIb. Interpretation of the descriptions by J. MertensAPPENDIX 4. Analysis of trench profiles at the south-west corner site of the Oudenburg fortAPPENDIX 5. The hearths of fort level 4 at the south-west corner site of the Oudenburg fortAPPENDIX 6. Absolute chronological data available for the south-west corner site of the Oudenburg fortAPPENDIX 7. Oudenburg Graveyard A. Overview of the burials, their characteristics and contentAPPENDIX 8. Oudenburg Graveyard C. Overview of the burials, their characteristics and contentBIBLIOGRAPHYIn the later Roman period the North Sea and Channel region was the scene of seaborne attacks, political crises, army reforms, Germanic invasions and changing imperial defence strategies. Literary evidence for this era is poor. On the other hand the Shore forts can yield highly significant information, but have been subject to little study in recent decades. At the Belgian coastal fort at Oudenburg large-scale excavations in the first decade of the 21st century revealed a strikingly well-preserved chronological, spatial and functional evolution of this military base, with five main fort periods running from the late 2nd until the early 5th century AD. For the first time within the context of the Shore forts securely datable structural evidence demonstrates the stages in progression of a mid- to late Roman fort where the horizons can be related to historically recorded processes and events in the region. Political, economic and social developments can be seen within this evidence, as a result of the assessment of the huge quantity of well-stratified finds types. Reports on the finds assemblage by specialist experts, using various analytical methods, represent ‘touchstones’ for regional military and later Roman studies in the North-West provinces.The study of Oudenburg, and in relationship to other Shore forts, enables exploration of ‘change and continuity’ and ‘identity’, in respect of the everyday lives of soldiers, and in their interaction with other forts and wider regional spheres. This is achieved by examining find contexts as reflections of the socio-cultural world. The study of ‘military identities’ is further emphasized through looking at the associated graveyards wherein the direct relationship with the successive fort periods is established. It is clear this fort was closely connected with the British forts and that there occurred an increasing Germanic influence as the fort transformed into a community of military families.This is volume one of three. This volume provides a detailed analysis of the Oudenburg site and the report of the research of its significance within the wider context of the Roman North Sea and Channel frontier zone, on a historic-military, a socio-cultural and a socio-economic level.