Abstract
This program aims to present a picture of the origins and development of the Roman villa settlement of Hoogeloon and the nearby rural settlement of Riethoven in the northern frontier region of the Roman empire, as well as to develop a new interpretive model of villa settlement in this landscape that does justice to both the socio-economic and cultural dimensions. This latter aim will be achieved by presenting a model of the complex interrelationship between the rural, the military and the urban communities in the southern Netherlands and northern Belgium.