Erdrich, M. - Komoróczy, B. - Madejski, P. - Vlach, M. (eds.), Marcomannic Wars and the Antonine Plague. Selected essays on two disasters that shook the Roman World. Brno-Lublin, 2020
The 3rd century crisis of the Roman Empire is generally considered to be a consequence of develop... more The 3rd century crisis of the Roman Empire is generally considered to be a consequence of developments within various segments of the Roman Empire (social unrests and uprising, economic instability, inflation etc.) and external influences (devastating barbarian raids and military conflicts). Many scholars mentioned amongst others the effects of an epidemic event, which could have led to significant interferences within demographic, institutional and economic structures in various parts of the Roman Empire. Our present state of knowledge concerning quantitative and qualitative impact of the so-called Antonine Plague (or Galenic Plague) includes considerable differences in estimated death toll figures, resulting in the range of many millions. Besides its role due to the further development during the 3rd century AD, a non-negligible part of the epidemics has to be considered during the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD in the region where the most intensive part of military conflict of the Marcomannic wars has taken place – the Middle Danube region, within the provinces as well as beyond the Roman borders. The latest state of research of the Roman military presence at the Germanic territories point out both extensive and intensive form of occupation.
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of some Germanic settlements and the famous chiefain’s grave near Mušov, we also see their differentiated relations to the Roman occupying power.
Eastern Central Europe, the succeeding Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) occupation is signified by extremely low
populations densities, which is reflected in the scant archaeological record. This chrono-cultural contrast can be
generally attributed to the severe climatic downturn of the LGM. An attempt to find common cultural patterns
that could link individual LGM populations has been only partially successful. An evaluation of the environmental
factors using GIS and multivariate spatial analysis has tested twelve geomorphological characteristics and
has found a strong pattern where sites were chosen for their seclusion in small valleys and natural amphitheatres
probably because they offered partial protection from the elements. The overall difficulty in finding common
patterns between the scattered LGM populations is partly due to our gaps in knowledge of the cultural lifeways of
this period, but it is also due to a likely greater cultural heterogeneity of the scattered, small and highly mobile
LGM populations living in the cold, arid environment of Eastern Central Europe at the time.
workplace where the finds are stored. These never-before-published artefacts and the qualities of each deserve to be presented both to the public and the professional community. These artefacts include finds which, in the context of the Late Iron Age of south Moravia, are unique objects (including two bronze figurines) that are significant contributions to the clarification and differentiation of the topography of the La Tène settlement structure in the studied region.
At present, we register 16 localities within the Marcomannic settlement zone west of the Little Carpathians, where it has so far been possible to distinguish or reconstruct a total of 26 separate temporary military camps or their phases. East of the Little Carpathians, in the settlement area of the Quades, we now know 6 sites with 20 identified fortifications. The purpose of the presented paper is to give a comprehensive overview of the current state of research.
The variation in spatial context in the barbarian lands north of the Danube, which were populated by the germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi, and the axial nature of the main watercourses in the region were the basic natural conditions for penetrating the landscape and for potentially carrying out the geostrategic plans of the Roman occupation forces. In particular, the distribution of evidence of the latter’s presence creates favourable conditions for spatial analysis using GIS (Geographic Information System) to help resolve questions relating to the Roman military occupation of the barbarian territory. Concerning the character of the activities of individual military contingents of various sizes and different operational deployment, we mainly used the tools available for analysing how the landscape could be crossed as a continuous space through modelling potential marching routes. Knowing this is crucial not only for identifying potential communication corridors for the transfer of military units, but also for the study of the possibilities for provisioning such units in campaigns that could last over long periods in a territory without a secure road network. Although many different factors must have influenced the selection and planning of these routes, the principle of minimal expenditure of movement in a variable geomorphological context can logically be regarded as one of the most important aspects. Apart from the courses of modelled routes and their buffer zones in the form of corridors (which reflect the potential for lateral variation), the distances covered by a socalled day’s march were inferred from existing estimations, analogous situations and directly calculated costs within the modelled linear courses of potential routes. This not only makes it possible to compare the difficulty of the various modelled routes and assess their role in the overall scheme of the Roman army’s occupation strategy, but also offers the possibility to predict the location of further, yet undetected, traces of the Roman military presence in the barbarian territory.
prospections) or lesser invasive (metal detector prospection) methods have been applied. The aim was to identify areas of activity, their functional and chronological interpretation and to determine the basic spatial relationships of the main components. By combining the results of individual methods, areas of activity from the La Tène and Roman times were identified with a relatively high degree of certainty. An entirely new discovery is the supposed presence of a Roman temporary camp in this intensely populated position. Part of its fortification was identified by geophysical survey, and also in the set of metal-detector finds chronologically related significant objects can be identified.
activities to full-scale military conflicts. The direct evidence of the latter type of events represents a specific source of archaeological information – generally referred to as temporary camps. The regions of Moravia, W Slovakia and Lower Austria, which could be considered as
a Marcomannic settlement territory, currently encompass 24 verified Roman military field installations. The specifics of these archaeological
contexts and the present unsatisfactory state of knowledge have raised the necessity of approaching the given questions with advanced
techniques, not least with respect to their chronological position. Along with multiple methods and analytical procedures of relevant natural
sciences (geophysics and geochemistry, archaeobotany, microstratigraphy, etc.), radiocarbon (14C) dating has also been involved in order to further establish the chronological position of temporary camps because the archaeological data provide limited possibilities in this respect. In multiple cases, the method has augmented traditional dating techniques and allowed more secure establishment of the chronological position of the field camps of the Roman army. Using a series of 14C data and synchronizing it with other records obtained during the last years of an international research project, it has been possible for to establish dating of many camps on more solid ground. The data so far do not provide any dating support allowing the camps to be associated with the campaign against Marobuduus in 6 AD. On the contrary, in most instances radiocarbon data clearly contribute to their assignment to a group of Roman military structures from the period of the Marcomannic wars of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
From the first to the fourth century AD, the Middle Danube region was in a significantly bipolar state. On their border, two entirely different worlds, the Roman Empire and Germanic communities, interacted in many ways. There were peaceful trading contacts as well as extensive military actions. Especially, the latter left obvious
traces in both literary and archaeological sources. These traces lead to the period of the Roman-barbarian conflict known as Marcomannic wars, which took place with varying intensity between AD 166 and 180. In this conflict, the Roman troops got deep into the barbarian territories of the central Danube area. The variability of
the spatial context of the barbarian territories, inhabited by the Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi, and the axiality of the main watercourses, naturally formed the basic conditions of the region for the permeability of the landscape and for the possibility to fulfill the geostrategic intentions of the Roman occupation troops. Particularly the geographical distribution of their traces creates suitable conditions for the application of spatial statistics through GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to deal with the issues of Roman military presence in barbarian territory.
of some Germanic settlements and the famous chiefain’s grave near Mušov, we also see their differentiated relations to the Roman occupying power.
Eastern Central Europe, the succeeding Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) occupation is signified by extremely low
populations densities, which is reflected in the scant archaeological record. This chrono-cultural contrast can be
generally attributed to the severe climatic downturn of the LGM. An attempt to find common cultural patterns
that could link individual LGM populations has been only partially successful. An evaluation of the environmental
factors using GIS and multivariate spatial analysis has tested twelve geomorphological characteristics and
has found a strong pattern where sites were chosen for their seclusion in small valleys and natural amphitheatres
probably because they offered partial protection from the elements. The overall difficulty in finding common
patterns between the scattered LGM populations is partly due to our gaps in knowledge of the cultural lifeways of
this period, but it is also due to a likely greater cultural heterogeneity of the scattered, small and highly mobile
LGM populations living in the cold, arid environment of Eastern Central Europe at the time.
workplace where the finds are stored. These never-before-published artefacts and the qualities of each deserve to be presented both to the public and the professional community. These artefacts include finds which, in the context of the Late Iron Age of south Moravia, are unique objects (including two bronze figurines) that are significant contributions to the clarification and differentiation of the topography of the La Tène settlement structure in the studied region.
At present, we register 16 localities within the Marcomannic settlement zone west of the Little Carpathians, where it has so far been possible to distinguish or reconstruct a total of 26 separate temporary military camps or their phases. East of the Little Carpathians, in the settlement area of the Quades, we now know 6 sites with 20 identified fortifications. The purpose of the presented paper is to give a comprehensive overview of the current state of research.
The variation in spatial context in the barbarian lands north of the Danube, which were populated by the germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi, and the axial nature of the main watercourses in the region were the basic natural conditions for penetrating the landscape and for potentially carrying out the geostrategic plans of the Roman occupation forces. In particular, the distribution of evidence of the latter’s presence creates favourable conditions for spatial analysis using GIS (Geographic Information System) to help resolve questions relating to the Roman military occupation of the barbarian territory. Concerning the character of the activities of individual military contingents of various sizes and different operational deployment, we mainly used the tools available for analysing how the landscape could be crossed as a continuous space through modelling potential marching routes. Knowing this is crucial not only for identifying potential communication corridors for the transfer of military units, but also for the study of the possibilities for provisioning such units in campaigns that could last over long periods in a territory without a secure road network. Although many different factors must have influenced the selection and planning of these routes, the principle of minimal expenditure of movement in a variable geomorphological context can logically be regarded as one of the most important aspects. Apart from the courses of modelled routes and their buffer zones in the form of corridors (which reflect the potential for lateral variation), the distances covered by a socalled day’s march were inferred from existing estimations, analogous situations and directly calculated costs within the modelled linear courses of potential routes. This not only makes it possible to compare the difficulty of the various modelled routes and assess their role in the overall scheme of the Roman army’s occupation strategy, but also offers the possibility to predict the location of further, yet undetected, traces of the Roman military presence in the barbarian territory.
prospections) or lesser invasive (metal detector prospection) methods have been applied. The aim was to identify areas of activity, their functional and chronological interpretation and to determine the basic spatial relationships of the main components. By combining the results of individual methods, areas of activity from the La Tène and Roman times were identified with a relatively high degree of certainty. An entirely new discovery is the supposed presence of a Roman temporary camp in this intensely populated position. Part of its fortification was identified by geophysical survey, and also in the set of metal-detector finds chronologically related significant objects can be identified.
activities to full-scale military conflicts. The direct evidence of the latter type of events represents a specific source of archaeological information – generally referred to as temporary camps. The regions of Moravia, W Slovakia and Lower Austria, which could be considered as
a Marcomannic settlement territory, currently encompass 24 verified Roman military field installations. The specifics of these archaeological
contexts and the present unsatisfactory state of knowledge have raised the necessity of approaching the given questions with advanced
techniques, not least with respect to their chronological position. Along with multiple methods and analytical procedures of relevant natural
sciences (geophysics and geochemistry, archaeobotany, microstratigraphy, etc.), radiocarbon (14C) dating has also been involved in order to further establish the chronological position of temporary camps because the archaeological data provide limited possibilities in this respect. In multiple cases, the method has augmented traditional dating techniques and allowed more secure establishment of the chronological position of the field camps of the Roman army. Using a series of 14C data and synchronizing it with other records obtained during the last years of an international research project, it has been possible for to establish dating of many camps on more solid ground. The data so far do not provide any dating support allowing the camps to be associated with the campaign against Marobuduus in 6 AD. On the contrary, in most instances radiocarbon data clearly contribute to their assignment to a group of Roman military structures from the period of the Marcomannic wars of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
From the first to the fourth century AD, the Middle Danube region was in a significantly bipolar state. On their border, two entirely different worlds, the Roman Empire and Germanic communities, interacted in many ways. There were peaceful trading contacts as well as extensive military actions. Especially, the latter left obvious
traces in both literary and archaeological sources. These traces lead to the period of the Roman-barbarian conflict known as Marcomannic wars, which took place with varying intensity between AD 166 and 180. In this conflict, the Roman troops got deep into the barbarian territories of the central Danube area. The variability of
the spatial context of the barbarian territories, inhabited by the Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi, and the axiality of the main watercourses, naturally formed the basic conditions of the region for the permeability of the landscape and for the possibility to fulfill the geostrategic intentions of the Roman occupation troops. Particularly the geographical distribution of their traces creates suitable conditions for the application of spatial statistics through GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to deal with the issues of Roman military presence in barbarian territory.
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Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Brno - Institute of Archaeology, University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska, Lublin