People and Spaces in Roman Military Bases

Uses artefact analyses to investigate complex spatial and community relationships inside the walls of early Roman imperial military bases.

Penelope M. Allison (Author)

9781107039360, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 October 2013

507 pages, 167 b/w illus. 23 tables
25.2 x 18.1 x 2.7 cm, 1.15 kg

'… this is a very important study which provides considerable evidence for the ways in which all members of military communities inhabited spaces of forts and fortresses.' Andrew Gardner, Antiquity

This study uses artefact distribution analyses to investigate the activities that took place inside early Roman imperial military bases. Focusing especially on non-combat activities, it explores the lives of families and other support personnel who are widely assumed to have inhabited civilian settlements outside the fortification walls. Spatial analyses, in GIS-type environments, are used to develop fresh perspectives on the range of people who lived within the walls of these military establishments, the various industrial, commercial, domestic and leisure activities in which they and combat personnel were involved, and the socio-spatial organisation of these activities and these establishments. The book includes examples of both legionary fortresses and auxiliary forts from the German provinces to demonstrate that more material-cultural approaches to the artefact assemblages from these sites give greater insights into how these military communities operated and demonstrate the problems of ascribing functions to buildings without investigating the full material record.

1. Introduction
2. Approaching Roman military communities
3. Studying Roman artefacts and social practice
4. Site selection and data processing
5. Categorising Roman artefacts
6. Vetera I
7. Rottweil
8. Oberstimm
9. Hesselbach
10. Ellingen
11. Inter-site spatial distribution of activities and use of space
12. Status and gender identity – the roles and impact of women and children
13. Concluding comments
Appendices: A. Accessing and use of data and the data and the distribution maps
B. Vetera I: preparation and assessment of the data
C. Rottweil Forts I and II: preparation and assessment of the data
D. Oberstimm: preparation and assessment of the data
E. Hesselbach: preparation and assessment of the data
F. Ellingen: preparation and assessment of the data.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Military history [HBW], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]