RAC/TRAC Session 29: Going theoretical: Roman archaeology in South-Eastern Europe

Conference Sessions and Abstracts - Thursday 11 April 2024

29. Going theoretical: Roman archaeology in South-Eastern Europe

Ewan Shanks Coopey – Macquarie University
Thomas J. Derrick – Macquarie University
Jere Drpić – Institut za arheologiju
Kaja Stemberger Flegar – PJP d.o.o. Arheološko podjetje

The traditionally well-trodden geographical contexts for novel approaches and theoretical Roman archaeologies of the provinces usually centre around North-western Europe (particularly Britain) and a few other areas of the Mediterranean littoral like Egypt, Syria, North Africa, and Iberia. Roman South-eastern Europe is somewhat understudied in comparison, and rarely a region of interest to non-local archaeologists. The Roman scholarship of this region has generally been more concerned with the traditional foundation elements of archaeology, like typologies and other supposedly atheoretical approaches, accompanying a heavy focus on epigraphy, military movements, and Imperial activities. Our understanding of this region in Antiquity has accordingly suffered, despite its great archaeological potential.

A new wave of local and internationally produced research (often in collaboration) is embracing theory and applying frameworks. Building theoretical and archaeological capacities in the next generations of scholars in this region is crucial to future success. We invite papers with the aim of furthering this trend in areas of research including (but not limited to):

• Local languages and interaction with theory
• Application of new methodologies and theoretical approaches to the region
• Nationalism and politics between modern and ancient identities

Session schedule 

Abstracts 

 Do you feel theoretical? – Factors of (non)participation at TRAC from SE European institutions
Dragos Mitrofan – University of Exeter        
Ozren Domiter – Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu

Recent empirical data suggests that participation from South Eastern European countries to TRAC has only marginally improved in the last conference renditions (Split 2022, Exeter 2023). This paper presents the results of a brief investigation into the perception and challenges faced by scholars affiliated to SE European institutions when engaging with theoretical Roman archaeologies, highlighting the practical limits that theoretical archaeologies have in aiding interpretation in SE Europe. The qualitative analysis relies on responses to a short questionnaire addressed to colleagues affiliated with SE European institutions, irrespective of their participation at the last two TRAC conferences. The questions were formulated to detect the degree of economic and social causes, as well as the true impacts of language barriers and traditionalism present in national scholarly research. Lastly, this paper concludes with several proposed cost-effective strategies to enhance the involvement of SE European scholars both at TRAC and other theory-oriented conferences. This study ought to serve as a methodological and strategic framework which, in an amended form, could be applied to other regions in the near future. 

Raised by a vixen? The deterioration of Classical knowledge and the disappearance of the Romans from the public discourse in Romania (2010-2023)
Paul Vadineanu – Universität zu Köln        
Dragos Mitrofan – University of Exeter

In 2014, when challenged about inaccuracies in schoolbooks, the Minister of Education revealed to the country that he was wholly unaware of the foundational myth of the Roman Empire, boldly claiming that Romulus and Remus were found in a forest by a fox. Adding to the recent crisis of a drastically decaying educational system, with unreliable textbooks and uninvolved political leadership, is a revamped ‘turbo-Dacian’ discourse, largely reliant today on conspiracy-adjacent political posts on social media. The prevailing Eastern European archaeological discourse is still shaped by the ghosts of authoritarian state-controlled narratives which have frequently overshadowed the more dynamic and reactive elements of cultural identity formation. Through empirical analysis and critical examination of (non-)traditional media, we aim to explore these shifts in the evolving cultural landscape of Eastern Europe and how Romania’s classical archaeological heritage has been selectively co-opted by various stakeholders. With new fringe elements gradually filling the voids in national identity discourses and public interest being inextricably linked with state and private funding, a drift towards un-scientific narratives threatens education, conservation efforts and research. A warning emerges: engage with archaeologies as agency products of today, or face irrelevance as the ancient Romans gradually lose their public appeal.

Grave concerns: The theoretical aspects of Roman funerary archaeology in Slovenia
Kaja Stemberger Flegar, PJP d.o.o. 
Brina Zagorc, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna 
Iza Jamar Anderle, Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd PCA 

This paper addresses the Roman funerary archaeology of Slovenia in terms of the different theoretical approaches utilised by Slovenian researchers. Already by examining the topics of studies that went beyond the scope of Fundberichte, certain patterns of preferred research are discernible. Usually the topics are closely tied to material culture, through which the authors seek to interpret the social standing and “ethnicity” of the deceased, in the latter case invoking phenomena such as “Romanisation”. In the first decade of the 21st century, there was a more explicit turn towards theoretical considerations, mainly by applying Western archaeological theories to case studies from Slovenia. However, “homegrown” theoretical approaches remain underdeveloped. We will focus on the questions of why and how certain aspects of interpretation were influenced by the historical events that shaped Slovenia, and how the Slovenian language has aided, impeded, or even misled the interpretations. Furthermore, we will explore the potential for the future development of different theoretical approaches in the sphere of funerary archaeology in Slovenia, taking into consideration also the growing body of insights derived from bioarchaeological methodologies concerning topics such as sex, age, and ethnicity.

 A Pannonian rural landscape in theory and practice: Economy, society and rural life in the hinterland of Aquincum (Óbuda, Hungary)
Bence Simon – Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem 

The Roman rural landscapes of the Pannonias are mostly understudied, especially when one examines how they came to be and developed as complex economic and social systems. In my paper I summarize the theoretical framework behind the development of the hinterland of Aquincum (Óbuda, Hungary) in the 1st-4th century CE, concentrating on the assumed interactions between the urban and the rural sphere and the transitions from an indigenous Celtic settlement network to a vicus landscape and then to a presumed villa landscape in late Antiquity. I will argue that, although after the Roman occupation the rural settlement network somewhat changed, the geography of power, the population and main drivers of interactions prevailed, resulting in an indigenous influence on settlement types, settlement network, and in burial practices to a certain extent. However, the paper will stress, that social and economic integration was encouraged by the closeness and administrative authority of Aquincum, the military presence in the region, and exactly by the same indigenous elite and roads of native origin. The paper concludes with a case study on the north- and south-western hinterland, explicitly addressing the archaeologically attested differences and similarities between these regions and examine the problem of late Roman transformation.

 ‘Becoming-Military-Community’ in Dalmatia: The Epigraphic Dimension of the Communal Emergence of Legio VII
Ewan Shanks Coopey – Macquarie University

Studies of Roman military communities are often theoretically informed and assertive of the social power of individuals. However, they tend to be symbolically and representationally focused and informed by concepts of agency and practice. Reconstructions therefore typically underplay, or rather underexplore, the impactful place of the non-human—such as epigraphic material—in the social fabric of being. Drawing upon assemblage thinking and relational community studies, I offer a new materialist interpretation of Roman military communities, seeing them as vibrant assemblages of objects and humans coming together at several scales. These communities are constantly in motion, emerging differently across the provinces. Working within this framework, I explore how tombstones and other inscribed materials could ‘become-communal’ and were complicit in the (re)construction of military communities using a case study from 1st century CE Dalmatia: the monuments of Legio VII. The senses of communion felt amongst the soldiers and extended community members were evidently complex and emerged because of several human–non-human and combatant–non-combatant relations. This case study also highlights the breadth of material available in the southeastern European regions of the Roman Empire, and the value of future engagements with it.

 The Issue of Stone-paved Roads in Northwestern Croatia
Jere Drpić – Institut za arheologiju

Roman stone-paved roads, an image that is most often served in popular culture, influence not only the formation of the image of Roman roads among “ordinary” people but also in some cases among scholars. The area in focus for this study, is the area of the southwestern part of Roman Pannonia, today situated in northwestern Croatia, which is not at all different in this regard. Moreover, for some roads built with stone, the adjective Roman has already been used in the scientific literature, without any solid evidence being offered. The aim of this study is therefore to present and offer the theoretical framework and approach applied for the first time in the research of Roman roads within this study area. Special emphasis will be on the stone-paved roads in the Kalnik Mountains, as an illustration of this issue. This approach, I believe, could lead to a shift in a “way of thinking” and to a deeper understanding, of not just stone-paved roads, but also of Roman roads in general considering the study area, as a “groundwork for the road” along which the research of Roman roads in northwestern Croatia could go in future.

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