Gonio (Apsaros) in Adjara: excavation of a Roman fort. Interim reporton the first season of the Polish–Georgian archaeological expedition

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 521-532
Author(s):  
Radosław Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski ◽  
Shota Mamuladze Mamuladze ◽  
Piotr Jaworski ◽  
Marcin Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Roman Architecture ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Two Sectors ◽  
Geophysical Prospection ◽  
Late Roman

The Roman fort of Apsaros in Gonio (Adjara, Georgia) still holds answers to many issues connected with the Roman military presence on the Chorokhi river in ancient Colchis. In 2014, a Polish team joined the Georgian expedition to carry out excavation in two sectors diretly east of the centrally located principia. The sites were chosen based on a study of the results of geophysical prospection carried out in 2012. Two phases, dated to the early and late Roman periods respectively, were recorded. The early Roman architecture was interpreted as part of the installations and structures of a large bathhouse (balneae), including a mosaic floor in one of the rooms. The building was destroyed at least twice, most likely in a catastrophic fire. The article discusses the stratigraphy and the dating of the early Roman balneae based on glass artifacts and coins.

EL-LEJJŪN: LOGISTICS AND LOCALISATION ON ROME’S EASTERN FRONTIER IN THE 6TH C. A.D.

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 893-924
Author(s):  
Conor Whately
Keyword(s):  
Trade Networks ◽  
Military Logistics ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Late Roman

This paper re-evaluates some of the conclusions reached by the contributors to the published final excavation report for the fortress of el-Lejjun in Jordan, particularly regarding its occupation in the first half of the 6th c. A.D. I argue that there was still a significant military presence, likely composed of limitanei, during that period, and that much of their food was sourced locally. This is in keeping with what we know about the provisioning of Roman frontier fortresses in other parts of the empire, and trends in the trade networks of the 6th c. East in general. Furthermore, the essay highlights the value that detailed archaeological reports have for elucidating Late Roman military logistics.

LATE ROMAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT CULTURE

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-492
Author(s):  
J. C. N. Coulston
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Equipment Development ◽  
New Form ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Cultural Components ◽  
Late Roman

The paper explores the cultural components of Late Roman military equipment through the examination of specific categories: waist belts, helmets, shields and weaponry. Hellenistic, Roman, Iron Age European, Mesopotamian- Iranian and Asiatic steppe nomad elements all played a part. The conclusion is that the whole history of Roman military equipment involved cultural inclusivity, and specifically that Late Roman equipment development was not some new form of ‘degeneration’ or ‘barbarisation’, but a positive acculturation.

RECREATING THE LATE ROMAN ARMY

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-567
Author(s):  
John Conyard
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Standard Work ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Late Roman

This paper attempts to give some insight into the role that Roman military reconstruction archaeology can play in the understanding of Roman military equipment from Late Antiquity. It can only provide a brief introduction to some of the equipment of the Late Roman army though, and Bishop and Coulston’s Roman Military Equipment, first published in 1993 (2nd ed., 2006), must remain the standard work.1 This contribution will chiefly aim to examine how items of equipment were made, and more importantly, to consider how they were used.

Innovative Architecture

2019 ◽  
pp. 175-197
Author(s):  
Robert G. Ousterhout
Keyword(s):  
Architectural Design ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Church Architecture ◽  
Structural Systems ◽  
Roman Architecture ◽  
Point Support ◽  
Hagia Sophia ◽  
Late Roman

Several new architectural trends emerged in the fifth and sixth centuries: (1) the development of skeletal structural systems in Late Roman architecture that transform wall support into point support; (2) the juxtaposition of longitudinal and centralized plans in church architecture; and (3) an increased interest in geometry and measurement in architectural design. The innovative developments signaled by Hagia Sophia mark a creative shift from Rome and Italy (where architecture would remain conservative after the sixth century) to Constantinople and the East.

The Roman Road-Station at Thenadassa (Ain Wif)

1982 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Mattingly
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
The Third ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
The Military ◽  
New Evidence

AbstractA reappraisal of the Roman period ruins at Ain Wif has been made following the identification there of traces of defensive walls. These walls are interpreted as being the robbed-out remains of a Roman fortlet and possibly also a tort on the same site. Two phases of military occupation were also evident in modern drain trenches being cut across the site and are attested epigraphically for the military bath-house by the spring. Ceramic evidence from the site suggests that the initial phase lies within the second century, whilst the Severan occupation, known from an inscription to begin early in the third century, represents a second phase. The previous view of the site as an undefended road-station, with a military presence only under the Severan emperors is no longer tenable. Moreover, the new evidence indicates that there was some measure of military organisation in the hinterland of the Emporia prior to the accession of Septimius Severus at the very end of the second century AD. The importance of the site also lies in its large civilian and indigenous population who continued to occupy the site long after the military had departed.

A river port and emporion in Central Bulgaria: an interim report on the British project at Vetren

2002 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 309-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofia H. Archibald ◽  
Ark Adams ◽  
Sue Ovenden ◽  
Sue Stallibras
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
Southern Sector ◽  
Residential Use ◽  
North And South ◽  
Two Sectors ◽  
East West ◽  
Geophysical Prospection ◽  
Northern Sector

In 1999, fieldwork was resumed by the British team at Adzhiyska Vodenitsa, Vetren, the site of an inlandemporionwhich has been identified with ancient Pistiros (SEG43. 486, 46. 872*). Excavations were conducted on the terrace with architectural remains in two sectors, north and south of the main east-west road. In the northern sector, 22 pits were investigated. The faunal material from these pits reveals specific butchering methods and the re-articulation of complete body parts following butchery. Among the finds aregraffition pottery, including a votive inscription to Zeus. In the southern sector, there are traces of residential use. The report includes an account of geophysical prospection to determine the nature of land use beyond the terrace, with evidence suggesting that the settlement was directly adjacent to the River Maritsa (ancient Hebros).

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