Roman agriculture

The Resilience of the Roman Empire discusses the relationship between population and regional development in the Roman world from the perspective of archaeology. By adapting a comparative approach, the focus of the volume lies on exploring the various ways in which regional communities actively responded to population growth or decline in order to keep going on the land available to them. The starting point of the theoretical framework for the case studies is the agricultural intensification models developed by Thomas Malthus and Ester Boserup. In order to advance the debate on the validity of these models for identifying the societal and economic pathways of the Roman world, the contributors incorporate the concepts of resilience and diversity into their approach, and shift attention from the longue-durée to how people managed to sustain themselves over shorter periods of time. The aim of the volume is not to discard the theories of Malthus and Boserup, but rather to deconstruct overly strict Malthusian or Boserupian scenarios, and as such introduce novel and more layered ways of thinking by exploring resilience and variability in human responses to population growth/decline in the Roman world.

Jesper Carlsen: CIL X 8217 and the Question of Temple Land in Roman Italy - Pier Luigi Dall'Aglio: Centuriazione e uso del territorio nella pianura emiliana - R. Bruce Hitchner: Image and Reality: The Changing Face of Pastoralism in the Tunisian High Steppe - Denis P. Kehoe: Approaches to Profit and Management in Roman Agriculture: The Evidence of the Digest - Jerzy Kolendo: Praedia suburbana e loro redditività - Philippe Leveau: Dal paesaggio naturale al paesaggio coltivato. Dati archeologici relativi ai grandi lavori agricoli in età romana: il drenaggio delle paludi nella Bassa Provenza - Daniele Manacorda: Gli aselli dossuarii di Varrone - David J. Mattingly: Regional Variation in Roman Oleoculture: Some Problems of Comparability - Henning F.C. Morch: Agricultural Landscape: A Geographer's Considerations on the Past - Peter Orsted: From Henchir Mettich to the Albertini Tablets. A Study in the Economic and Social Significance of the Roman Lease System (locatio-conductio) - Lorenzo Quilici: Centuriazione e paesaggio agrario nell'Italia centrale - Stefania Quilici Gigli: The Changing Landscape of the Roman. Campagna: Lo sfruttamento del territorio in età imperiale - Pasquale Rosafio: Slaves and Coloni in the Villa System - Walter Scheidel: Grain Cultivation in the Villa Economy of Roman Italy - Bibliography - Indices.

While recent readings of Varro’s De Re Rustica have emphasized a negative view of contemporary politics and mores across all three books, this ar- ticle identifies an oppositional contrast between Rust. 1 and 3, set in the temple of Tellus and the Villa Publica, respectively. Arguing that Varro intentionally casts the Villa Publica—and its analogue, villatica pastio—as the more success- ful integration both of Rome’s rural past and urban present, and of its elite and non-elite citizens, it suggests that Varro took a more populist view—of the Villa Publica, villatica pastio, and the governance of the res publica itself.

This chapter provides an overview of the patterns of agriculture in Anatolia during the Hellenistic and Roman periods in relation to themes such as the geography, agrarian land‐use strategies, types of crops and fruits, agricultural implements, land ownership, and divine protection. Besides evaluating the forms of evidence, it also underlines some contributions of the recent interdisciplinary researches conducted within the discipline of classical archaeology in Turkey to our general knowledge of ancient Anatolian agriculture. The results of this study also show that significant changes occurred in agricultural life with the Romanization process in order to create the province of Asia. These changes are particularly evident in the land ownership and management strategies.

This paper examines historical concentrations of certain animals between the fifth and the fourteenth centuries, subdivided into time periods. Differences and similarities found in the archaeozoological material contribute to debates concerning the collapse of the Roman world and the establishment of new medieval structures.

Some scholars have read Virgil’s grafted tree (G. 2.78–82) as a sinister image, symptomatic of man’s perversion of nature. However, when it is placed within the long tradition of Roman accounts of grafting (in both prose and verse), it seems to reinforce a consistently positive view of the technique, its results, and its possibilities. Virgil’s treatment does represent a significant change from Republican to Imperial literature, whereby grafting went from mundane reality to utopian fantasy. This is reflected in responses to Virgil from Ovid, Columella, Calpurnius, Pliny the Elder, and Palladius (with Republican context from Cato, Varro, and Lucretius), and even in the postclassical transformation of Virgil’s biography into a magical folktale.

Aunque en la mayoría de las publicaciones se hace mención a las villae como centros de explo- tación rural, son todavía escasos los estudios centra- dos en la vocación agraria de estos establecimientos rústicos. En este estudio pretendemos presentar los úl- timos avances en el estudio de las estructuras que mejor nos informan sobre esta vocación agraria, es decir, los sistemas de almacenaje y conservación de cereal (granaria y horrea)

The introduction outlines the current debate over the size and nature of the agricultural economy and its importance within the Roman economy as a whole, addressing the use of models and summarising some of the possible approaches from available datasets, such as the study of patterns of large-scale investment from sites with batteries of multiple oil and wine presses which indicate elite investment in market-oriented agricultural production. It situates each of the chapters in the volume within this wider framework of study, and discusses regional variation and chronological trends, issues of land and labour, whether or not the Roman state had any conscious economic policy towards agriculture, and the articulation of agrarian production with other sectors of the economy.

London was the administrative centre for, and largest city in, Roman Britain. After centuries of excavation, Londinium is one of the best understood cities in the Empire. London is also home to one of the most exceptional collections of craft and agricultural tools in the Roman world.
This book provides a complete illustrated catalogue and analysis of 837 Roman tools from London. Many are exceptionally well preserved, some are unknown elsewhere, and most have not previously been published. A detailed typological discussion synthesises decades of developments in French and German literature with new insights from the London material.
Taking a social focus, this book moves beyond typological analysis to show how Roman artefacts can illuminate the lives of ordinary people. Using a framework of practice theory, this book explores the lives of Roman craft and agricultural workers in London; a diverse and changing group which has rarely been examined previously.

This volume presents an introduction and nine papers by Roman historians and archaeologists, discussing methods of analysing the organisation and performance of the agrarian sector of the economy of the Mediterranean world under Roman imperial rule in the period c. 100 BC to AD 350. The papers exemplify a range of possible approaches to studying and, within limits, quantifying aspects of agricultural production in the Roman world, and casting light on the structure and performance of that sector of the economy, on the basis of widely different sources of evidence – historical, papyrological and archaeological. The volume aims to move substantially beyond the simple assumption that agriculture was the dominant sector of the ancient economy, and to explore what was special and distinctive about the Roman economy in terms, for example, of state involvement and institutional infrastructure, or the phenomenon of market-oriented surplus production based around the villa system. What is especially new and distinctive about this book is its focus on marshalling a large quantity of evidence, both archaeological and documentary, to address large questions of the structure and performance of the agricultural economy of the Roman world. In particular, it offers a means of analysing investment in agricultural facilities, and tracks variation in patterns across time and across regions within the empire.

Die Dichte großflächiger Ausgrabungen im Rheinischen Braunkohlenrevier kennt bzgl. der ländlichen römischen Besiedlung kaum Parallelen innerhalb der antiken Welt. Kartierungen geben einen aktuellen Überblick über diese Ausgrabungen. Ein Alleinstellungsmerkmal sind die zahlreichen Brunnen, die bis zur Sohle ausgegraben wurden und zur Entdeckung bedeutender organischer Funde führten. Die jüngst weitgehend ausgegrabene Villa rustica HA 156 von Kerpen-Manheim wird erstmals ausführlicher mit den wichtigsten Funden vorgestellt. Die archäologischen Belege für die Erhitzung, Lagerung und Weiterverarbeitung von Dinkel geben ein – sonst selten an einer Fundstelle so geschlossenes – Bild für die landwirtschaftlichen Produktions- und Verarbeitungsprozesse im antiken Rheinland. Ein Skelett und eine Bronzekanne in der Brunnenverfüllung des 3. Jahrhunderts dieser Villa weisen auf eine empfindliche Störung dieser Prozesse während der Krise des Römischen Reiches. Diese Krise betraf offenbar mehrere Villen im Arbeitsgebiet, wie eine Revision bekannter Skelettfunde in römischen Brunnen aus dem Rheinischen Braunkohlenrevier belegt: Das Ende der Landwirtschaft führte damit letztlich zum Wachstum des Hambacher Forstes vor etwas über 1750 Jahren.

Studying everyday life outside urban nuclei in the territory of Serbia in the antique period is a great challenge. On formerly fertile fields located in urban peripheries, villae rusticae, the settlements that played a major role in supplying the needs of the urban population, the army, and the residents of mining areas, were established. Urbanization and industrial development have made it increasingly difficult to record and investigate material culture remains, especially within the framework of modern cities, the territory of which is considerably larger than the territory of ancient cities. The territory of modern Belgrade is no exception. The available data on Late Antique villaе rusticaе in the territory of Singidunum were collected during the rescue excavations conducted in the second half of the 20th century. Although the greatest part of the research yielded modest results, it significantly contributed to the understanding of the rural landscape and everyday life in villa rustica settlements.

An introduction to the agriculture of Roman Egypt covering a selection of critical issues: the environment, the strengths and weaknesses of our evidence, population and the size of the cultivated area, land tenure and taxation, crops and diet, the management of Egypt’s natural resources, and changes to Egyptian agriculture toward the end of the period in question (i.e. Augustus to Diocletian).  Forthcoming in Wiley-Blackwell, A Companion to Ancient Agriculture, ed. Timothy Howe and David Hollander.

This paper aims to explain the traditional biometric methods and the geometric morphometrics (GMM) within archaeozoology and the significant advantages and disadvantages of each type of method of measuring and recording. I will begin by looking at biometric methods of recording following on with a discussion of what is geometric morphometrics. I will also discuss the importance of the generalized procrustes paradigm (GPA) followed by what are the advantages of using geometric morphometrics and then the disadvantages compared with traditional biometrical methods of measuring and recording. Finally I will look at a number of archaeozoological examples comparing and contrasting examples where biometric methods and (GMM) have been used.

Resumo
O propósito do presente estudo centra-se na leitura do que terá sido a rede de povoamento rural em época romana na região do Alto Alentejo. Uma área territorial extensa e com uma paisagem muito diversa, o que permite tentar perceber como se alteram os padrões de organização de sítios, em função desse quadro natural, mas também das comunidades que já habitavam este território. Também o tempo escolhido é intencionalmente longo, pois na análise considera-se a evolução desde o estabelecimento da paisagem imperial até à data de 711, marco temporal que de alguma forma se assume como significante para estabelecer a fronteira com o mundo antigo. Assim, com uma forte componente de trabalho de prospecção, procede-se a uma análise dos factores que motivaram a criação de uma paisagem onde, durante o Império e a Antiguidade Tardia, as mais diversas pessoas habitaram e modificaram o território que é hoje o Alto Alentejo.Abstract
The aim of the present study is to offer a reading of what the distribution of the rural population of Alto Alente- jo may have looked like in Roman times. Dealing with such an extensive territorial area and with such a diverse landscape has allowed us to better understand how the patterns of organisation of rural human settlements were influenced both by the natural environment as well as the pre-existing rural communities.
The period studied is intentionally long: our analysis begins with the formation of the imperial landscape and ends in 711, a milestone which is considered significant in establishing the boundary with the Ancient World. Drawing on substantial work of archaeological prospection, this study therefore proceeds to analyse the fac- tors that motivated the creation of a landscape that was inhabited and modified throughout Empire and Late Antiquity by many diverse people.

This reports present the metal finds from the Roman villa at Northfleet recovered in the course of the HS1 excavation in the Ebbsfleet valley. Apart from brooches, the finds include, amongst others, an armilla, a rare type of seal-box with a depiction of a beneficarius lance head, and a smith's swage.

The several decades long rescue excavations of the ancient city of Viminacium have brought to light a large number of finds with very varied functions. In this paper, we will focus our attention on the remains of agricultural tools. They can be grouped according to their application: tools for clearing plants and preparing the soil for cultivation, tools used for tillage, implements for shredding and preparation for planting, as well as those used for mowing, harvesting, soil cleaning, and haymaking. The finds of agricultural tools that we present in this paper, although small in number, represent the most reliable indicators of agricultural activities in the period from the 2nd to the beginning of the 4th century, when Viminacium went through its period of greatest prosperity.

Resumo
O propósito do presente estudo centra-se na leitura do que terá sido a rede de povoamento rural em época romana na região do Alto Alentejo. Uma área territorial extensa e com uma paisagem muito diversa, o que permite tentar perceber como se alteram os padrões de organização de sítios, em função desse quadro natural, mas também das comunidades que já habitavam este território. Também o tempo escolhido é intencionalmente longo, pois na análise considera-se a evolução desde o estabelecimento da paisagem imperial até à data de 711, marco temporal que de alguma forma se assume como significante para estabelecer a fronteira com o mundo antigo. Assim, com uma forte componente de trabalho de prospecção, procede-se a uma análise dos factores que motivaram a criação de uma paisagem onde, durante o Império e a Antiguidade Tardia, as mais diversas pessoas habitaram e modificaram o território que é hoje o Alto Alentejo.
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to offer a reading of what the distribution of the rural population of Alto Alente- jo may have looked like in Roman times. Dealing with such an extensive territorial area and with such a diverse landscape has allowed us to better understand how the patterns of organisation of rural human settlements were influenced both by the natural environment as well as the pre-existing rural communities.
The period studied is intentionally long: our analysis begins with the formation of the imperial landscape and ends in 711, a milestone which is considered significant in establishing the boundary with the Ancient World. Drawing on substantial work of archaeological prospection, this study therefore proceeds to analyse the fac- tors that motivated the creation of a landscape that was inhabited and modified throughout Empire and Late Antiquity by many diverse people.

The South Etruria survey results indicated a much denser concentration of settlement in the southern part of the survey area, closer to Rome. It seems clear that the proximity of Rome encouraged settlement here, and it is frequently assumed that farms and villas in this area were engaged in growing fruit and vegetables to serve the markets of Rome (Potter, Changing Landscape; Morley, Metropolis and Hinterland). However likely this is, until now it has remained largely an assumption, supported in part by literary sources which relate more to the south and east of Rome (Tibur etc.) than to the Tiber Valley to the north; and by theoretical models. There is however a mass of data in the Tiber Valley survey archives and in published material (Forma Italiae etc.) which can be used to ground this analysis in the archaeology. Irrigation and drainage schemes demonstrate investment in land improvement for some form of agriculture, and one class of structures provides a clue as to the kinds of products grown. A number of rural sites possess large cisterns (200-700 m3) far exceeding the water-supply needs of the farm or villa, and in many cases these are not associated with villa baths. Such cisterns are most plausibly interpreted as being for irrigation: a study carried out on similar hydraulic features to the east of Rome (Thomas and Wilson, PBSR 1994), using software to estimate irrigation needs for different crops in various kinds of soils, suggested that the capacity of such cisterns was insufficient for irrigating significant areas of wheat or vines, but would have suited the irrigation needs of vegetable gardens or fruit orchards. The scant epigraphic evidence seems also to support the use of cisterns of this type for irrigated horticulture. We have here a suggestive indicator to support the hypothesis of settlement in the immediate vicinity of Rome being geared to growing perishable crops which could not be transported too far to market, and indications of substantial investment in hydraulic infrastructure to support this irrigated horticulture.

I risultati del South Etruria survey delineano una maggiore concentrazione di insediamenti nel settore meridionale, quello più vicino a Roma, dell’area ricognita. Sembra chiaro che la vicinanza a Roma favorì lo sviluppo insediativo, ed è stato spesso sottolineato che le fattorie e le ville in quest’area erano impegnate a rifornire di frutta e ortaggi i mercati di Roma (Potter, Changing Landscape; Morley, Metropolis and Hinterland). Per quanto verosimile, questo assunto è rimasto fino ad ora un’ipotesi, supportata in parte - oltre che da modelli teorici - dalle fonti letterarie che però riguardano essenzialmente le aree a sud e a est di Roma (Tibur etc.) e non la valle del Tevere. Esiste comunque una massa di dati negli archivi del Tiber valley survey e nelle pubblicazioni (Forma Italiae etc.) che può essere utilizzata per supportare a livello archeologico tale analisi. Gli impianti di irrigazione e di drenaggio indicano investimenti volti a migliorare le potenzialità agricole del territorio, ed una tipologia di strutture sembra costituire lo specchio del tipo di sfruttamento del suolo. Un certo numero di siti rurali possiede grandi cisterne (200-700 m3) assolutamente sproporzionate per i bisogni di una fattoria o di una villa, ed in molti casi esse non sono associate ad impianti termali. Tali cisterne dovevano dunque essere utilizzate per l’irrigazione: uno studio di questo tipo su simili apprestamenti idraulici ad est di Roma (Thomas and Wilson, PBSR 1994), condotto utilizzando stime di calcolo per il fabbisogno d’acqua dei vari tipi di coltivazioni e di suoli, suggerisce che la capacità di queste cisterne era insufficiente per irrigare vaste coltivazioni di grano o vigneti, ma avrebbe potuto supplire ai bisogni di orti e frutteti. La scarsa documentazione epigrafica sembra anch’essa confermare l’uso di questo tipo di cisterne per l’orticoltura. Abbiamo quindi un importante indicatore a sostegno dell’ipotesi che le tenute agricole vicine a Roma erano destinate alla coltivazione di prodotti altamente deperibili che non potevano essere trasportati da troppo lontano, ed indicazioni di consistenti investimenti verso le infrastrutture idrauliche destinate a supportare tali forme di orticoltura.

In : TRÉMENT (F.) dir. — Produire, Transformer et stocker dans les campagnes des Gaules romaines. Problèmes d’interprétation fonctionnelle et économique des bâtiments d’exploitation et des structures de production agro-pastorale. XIe Colloque de l’Association d’étude du monde rural gallo-romain AGER, Clermont-Ferrand, 11-13 juin 2014. Bordeaux, Fédération Aquitania, 2017, p. 21-43. (Supplément 38).

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Approaches to early medieval peasantry are often polarized, either enhancing the benefits brought by the weakening of aristocratic dominance or emphasizing the limited prospects for peasant development in the absence of a solid extra-regional trade network. This study offers a long-term overview of the peasant economy throughout the 1st millennium AD in the Upper Volturno Basin, between the town of Isernia and the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. The reader is presented with data collected from two archaeological surveys, and is invited to scrutinize changes in settlement patterns, ancient land use and ceramic distributions while the main economic center shifted from town to monastery. These proxies of economic performance offer a vantage point to reconstruct the history of agrarian production and of exchange networks in Central Italy, opening a novel outlook on peasant social dynamics at a time when the Roman economic system transitioned into the feudal system. The results show that the “golden age of peasants” was an age of experimentation, forcing to reconsider the role of the peasantry in the making of the feudal economy.