RAC/TRAC Session 1: Britannia et Germania: a comparative and collaborative approach

Conference Sessions and Abstracts - Thursday 11 April 2024

1. Britannia et Germania: a comparative and collaborative approach

Isabel Annal – University College London

Despite the obvious similarities between the Roman provinces of Britannia and Germania – most notably their complex frontier systems, and regular and ongoing imperial interactions with Barbaricum – surprisingly few collaborative and comparative archaeological studies have been published. There is evidence showing that movement between Britannia and Germania, both of objects and people, was commonplace, but today few scholars appear to be working on material from both provinces.

This session welcomes papers covering a range of data sets from Britannia, Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, as well as papers comparing approaches to the archaeology of these provinces. The aim of the session is to investigate the similarities and differences between the Roman provinces of Britannia and Germania, to encourage greater connectivity in our research, and to highlight how archaeological approaches to one province may inform investigation of another.

Session schedule 

Abstracts 

 Postmarked Not Published: How Correspondence between Britain and Germany Shaped Roman Frontier Research
Catherine Teitz – Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Eric Birley was one of the most influential British scholars of Roman frontier studies in the twentieth century. His work was shaped by his time in and connections to Germany, beginning as a student in the 1920s. Although he spent World War II in British Military Intelligence assessing the strength of German forces, he quickly re-established links post-war with German scholars, as demonstrated at the first Congress of Roman Frontier Studies in 1949. Birley emphasized an international and collaborative approach to Limesforschung, which has become a hallmark of the field. This paper draws on correspondence from archives including the Vindolanda Trust and the Römisch-Germanische Kommission to trace the scope of Birley’s intellectual network in Germany. It examines the frequency of communication, content, and tone of exchanges with Ernst Fabricius, Kurt Stade, Gerhard Bersu, Wilhelm Schleiermacher, and others. In particular, it assesses whether and how Birley’s connections change after the war, in light of the broader German academic and institutional reorganization. The correspondence illuminates not only the extent and depth of this international network, but also how the participation in this community shaped both sides’ interpretations of their respective frontiers.

 Infant burials in frontier provinces: romanised practices or native traditions?    
Isabel Annal – University College London

A comparison of infant burials from Roman Britannia and Germania Superior shows a surprising consistency of practices, but some noticeable differences. This paper summarises these practices, and looks to explain why some are so consistent while others differ. Infant burials found on villa sites from the two provinces appear to follow the same general rituals, particularly in terms of where the babies have been deposited. Is this similarity simply the result of villa owners (i.e., wealthy citizens) readily adopting Roman beliefs and burial customs? In contrast, the few differences seen between infant burials within formal cemeteries – for example, the regular occurrence of multiple grave goods in Germania, compared to relatively few furnished graves in Britannia – implies that a different set of customs may have been in operation across the two provinces. If the consistency seen on villa sites is a result of Roman practices being adopted, can the differences seen in cemeteries be ascribed to a continuation of native traditions? If so, is this indicative of different reactions to Roman rule from the lower and upper classes?

 Comparison and analysis of coin data: Britannia, Noricum and Germania Inferior, a single economic zone or disparate provinces?    
Mathias Johansen 

This preliminary study seeks to investigate the economic interconnectivity, or lack thereof, in a broader region of the Roman Empire. Namely, the provinces of Britannia, Noricum and Germania Inferior, by making use of quantitative data to measure and compare the spread and circulation of coins in the provinces along the North-Western border of the Empire. Broadly comparable, with a significant military presence and without access to the Mediterranean Sea, these provinces offer a compelling case study of economic patterns in a more distant part of the Roman Empire. Comparing the large volume of available coin data, we are able to make broad, but relevant, comparisons of coin patterns and circulation speed, and thereby measure broad trends and patterns in provincial economies as a whole. This can help shed light on how uniform the border provinces were in an economic sense. Was trade and coin circulation similar along much of the border, or did the provinces differ from each other, indicating that there was significant disparity in economic patterns along the border zone?

 The RomAniDat network, a zooarchaeological Big Data initiative. A comparative analysis of data from eastern Britannia and north-western Germania    
Anthony King – University of Winchester

This paper outlines the RomAniDat initiative, a collaborative network amassing zooarchaeological data pertaining to the ancient Roman world. It consists of an organized network of independent databases, assembled according to spatial parameters and dedicated to accumulating data relating to faunal abundance. Data, synthesized from the different databases, is disseminated via the Pandora data platform, which also supports methods for data visualization, summarization, and analysis. The first publication of the RomAniDat initiative featured faunal data from Italy, covering the period from 500 BCE to 500 CE (Schmidtová et al. 2023). Since then, the RomAniDat network has broadened its scope to include additional databases focused on Roman Netherlands and Great Britain. This presentation aims to provide a comparative overview of the rich zooarchaeological datasets from eastern Britannia and north-western Germania, highlighting their current status and illustrating their research potential through modelling case studies.

 Lead in the Late Antique world and the end of the Romano-British trade
Julia Becker – Universität zu Köln

How connected was the Roman world in Late Antiquity? Where did the raw material lead come from and on which routes was it transported? Is the withdrawal of the troops at the beginning of the 5th century really the end of the Roman presence in Britain? In order to answer these questions, this project envisages an interdisciplinary investigation. Lead is an ideal case study in this context considering that Roman's society enormous demand, paired with relatively few lucrative lead ore deposits, resulted in transregional trade contacts and long transport routes. In historical research, a widespread collapse of long-distance trade is assumed for Late Antiquity. The finds of Roman lead ingots from Derbyshire on the Rhine and Danube, as well as the shipwreck of Ploumanac'h with its lead cargo point in a different direction – at least in peacetime phases trade between Britannia and the north-western provinces on the mainland seems to have been revived. One focus of the project are lead isotope analyses on selected lead finds. This will make it possible to determine where the lead originated. The results will be evaluated and visualized using network studies and digital cartography. The aim of the work is to shed light on an otherwise often neglected era and its entanglement in a transregional network.

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