Abstract
Engendering Roman Spaces' is a research project concerned with using artefact assemblage analyses to better understand spatial and gender relationships in the early Roman Empire and to produce more engendered perspectives of Roman society. This paper discusses the methodology and analyses being used in this project to investigate social behaviour within Roman military forts and fortresses of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE through analyses of the spatial distribution of artefacts at these sites. The processes involved include digitising previously published maps and artefact catalogues from Roman military sites to create searchable databases and GIS maps. They also include the classification of the artefacts according to a number of functional and gender-associated categories (e.g. combat equipment, male and female dress, toilet etc.) so that the spatial distributions of the relevant activities can be plotted. This data is then used to interpret the spatial relationships of these activities and the people involved in them. The double legionary fortress of Vetera I, on the Lower Rhine, has been used to exemplify these processes. This fortress was excavated in the early 20th century and the artefacts were comprehensively published in 1995 (N. Hanel, Vetera I: Die Funde aus den romischen Lagern auf dem Furstenberg bei Xanten. Rheinische Ausgrabungen 35, Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne and Dr Rudolf Halbert, Bonn, 1995). The paper includes descriptions of the methods and software employed in the digitisation of relevant material from these volumes, the formation of relational databases, and the importation of this data and of site maps into a GIS programme. To illustrate these processes and to present some of the results, the paper also includes a number of examples of the analyses carried out, together with interactive GIS maps of these analyses.
Highlights
Introduction to archaeological researchArchaeological research into Roman military sites has been concerned with relationships of the fort occupants with those in settlements outside
The Roman army has been viewed as a fighting machine, and the archaeology of Roman military forts has been concerned principally with the evidence these excavated sites provide for strategic military constructions and for Roman power
A new list of trench numbers was developed by Fairbairn and Ellis because the trench numbering in the Vetera I plans and catalogue was inconsistent, and because a common list of unique identifiers was required to link the digitised features in the Adobe Illustrator layers with the artefact information in the Access database
Summary
This article involves a network of interrelated functional and gender categories which can perhaps be seen as a closer approximation of reality than more narrowly assigned categories. It by no means includes the complete range of artefacts and activities at Vetera I, or all the permutations within those selected. Rather it uses a sample of the analyses to demonstrate the approach. At this point it is important to state that these functions are invariably ascribed to fragments rather than to whole artefacts. Individual fragments are likely to be of little significance but the consistent distribution patterns of a number of fragments are likely to be more meaningful
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