Early Roman Period Research Articles

Operating and defending Red Sea harbors and Eastern Desert trails in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods: the case of Berenike

The Hellenistic road network in the Eastern Desert and Red Sea coast of Egypt has been at the nexus of important archaeological research on several sites in the region in the second half of the 20th century. The work was focused at first on the Roman remains of this network, but with time it became evident that the Romans had made use of a system developed in Hellenistic and even earlier, Pharaonic times. French and Italian investigations at Marsa Gawasis, Gebel Zeit and Wadi al-Jarf contributed data on the marine expeditions of Old Kingdom rulers into the Sinai and Middle Kingdom rulers to the Land of Punt. Key information for the Hellenistic period came from the French exploration of gold mines and fortified features at Samut and the fort at Abbad. Of equal importance was the work of a Dutch–American and then Polish–American team at the Hellenistic and Roman coastal harbor of Berenike Trogodytica. This work uncovered remains of a Hellenistic port-base in the Eastern Desert region of Egypt, giving grounds for broadening a general understanding of the daily functioning, logistics, and functional interdependence of the Hellenistic road network in the region, which enabled in turn a comparison with the Roman counterpart. The present paper considers the functioning of this system based on the author’s work in Berenike.

Novaesium type chape from the area of Międzyrzecz

A copper alloy chape was found by chance by a detectorist, Ernest Buczkowski, at Silna – several kilometers to the east of Międzyrzecz. It is a unipartite form with an openwork crescent decoration on the front side fastened to the scabbard with the use of a nail. One should attribute the item to the Roman type Novaesium, dated to the late 2nd century and the first half of the 3rd century. Outside the Roman limes, it was popular in the Elbe Circle as well as the Isle of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula during Subphases C1a and C1b. Some of the chapes of the said type (specifically the multipartite specimens) may be treated as barbarian replicas of Roman originals. However, it is not the case for the finding from Międzyrzecz. It is the second find of this type from the territory of Poland. It should be associated with the Wielbark Culture, which was situated in the Międzyrzecz region in the beginning of the Early Roman Period. It makes the finding very intriguing, as this cultural unit is characterised by the lack of weapons among the grave goods; therefore, the one in question sheds some light on the problem of armament in the Wielbark Culture.

Milk Libations for Osiris

Nubian worshippers are first attested in the temple inscriptions of Philae in the early Roman period. Before this time only royalty and officials employed by the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt inscribed ...

Early Roman Period Burials of Púchov Culture: Buried Natives or Offered Foreigners?

Early Roman Period Burials of Púchov Culture: Buried Natives or Offered Foreigners?

A Ptolemaic-Roman Temple Foundation at Tell Timai

The mission of the University of Hawai’i at Tell Timai in 2009 began excavating the remains of a limestone temple foundation platform in the north-west area of the site. The foundations had been partially recorded in survey work conducted in 1930 by Alexander Langsdorff and Siegfried Schott, and again in the 1960s by New York University, however no known investigations of the structure were conducted. In 2017 as part of an Egypt Exploration Society Fieldwork and Research Grant, excavations were renewed to finalise the understanding of the temple’s construction techniques, and the date of the temple. The foundations were of a casemate design with internal fills of alternating silt and limestone chips. The ceramic evidence from within the construction fills dates its construction from the end of the Ptolemaic to the early Roman Period, and the temple’s superstructure was most likely taken down and the blocks reused in the late Roman Period (fourth to fifth century ce).

Bemerkungen zum frühkaiserzeitlichen Münzverkehr der Ungarischen Tiefebene. Republikanische Und frühkaiserzeitliche Münzen aus dem Jászság (Kom. Szolnok/U)

Abstract Although various works had been dealt with Roman money circulation of the Great Hungarian Plain some phenomena remained undiscovered for the research. This paper deals with republican and early imperial mints came to light in the territory of Szolnok County. The Jászdózsa hoard with its 114 pieces of Roman republican and early Roman period denars from P. Sulla (151 B.C.) to Emperor Nero (AD 64–68) belongs here. The Roman coins had appeared in large numbers only since the first century AD in the Great Hungarian Plain. The republican coins are very rarely represented, though they are very common in Transylvania. From the Zagyva mouth area to the river Tisza, and from the territory of the Jászság some hoards and scattering finds are known. It is difficult to interpret the circulation of these coins due to the lack of written sources and archaeological finds. Because of the Aurei the role of Roman politics should also be taken into consideration. Which gentes had lived in the territory of the Jászság and what role they had played in the relationship system of the Carpathian Basin we have rarely any information about. The hoard of Jászdózsa was probably hidden at about the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69) or shortly thereafter.

Artefactos de hueso como testigos de continuidad cultural en Tatarlı Höyük

Este artículo es una evaluación preliminar de un conjunto de artefactos de hueso procedentes de Tatarlı Höyük, en Adana, Turquía. Este yacimiento ocupa un lugar importante en la historia de los asentamientos en Cilicia y muestra una ocupación continuada y característica hasta los inicios de la dominación romana. Además de los ornamentos personales, tales como cuentas y colgantes, se han documentado herramientas empleadas en diferentes actividades cotidianas en Tatarlı Höyük, especialmente relacionadas con el tejido, tales como espátulas, ruedas de huso, agujas, útiles apuntados y mangos, los cuales componen parte del conjunto óseo trabajado. La mayoría de las herramientas de la actividad textil en este conjunto de hueso son asumidas como evidencia de la importancia económica y continuidad que la industria del tejido ocupó en Tatarlı Höyük.

Wood Economy in Early Roman Period Jerusalem

In this study we present the identification of several Early Roman (63 b.c.e.–70 c.e.) charred wood assemblages, collected from the “Lower City” of Jerusalem. The results outline elements in Jerusalem’s nearby woody vegetation, characterized by a mosaic of native Mediterranean maquis-forest species and olive orchards, and possibly pine and cypress stands. The arboreal surrounding of Jerusalem supplied the city with pruned olive branches and other types of agricultural refuse to serve as firewood. Local conifers (pines and cypress) as well as imported conifers (cedar of Lebanon), were used for construction purposes. The results further highlight important issues such as social status and importation of wood. The occurrence of prestigious imported tree species within the charcoal assemblage of the Lower City (e.g., cedar, boxwood) indicates the presence of wealthy residences, standing in contrast to prior assumptions that suggest a low social status for the inhabitants within this area.

The Cult in Shiloh during the Roman-Byzantine Period

This article reviews the historical sources and archeological finds concerning the cult in Shiloh in the Roman-Byzantine period. The study examines the transition to the Byzantine period and attempts to follow the conversion to Christianity in the region, with regard to both the holy site and the populace. Furthermore, the study explores the reasons for Shiloh’s sacred status as perceived by the Christians, who brought about the establishment of four churches on the site. An interesting development is the shift from identifying Shiloh’s location at Shiloh with Nabi Samwil in the Crusader period. A main point that emerges is the formation of a holy place. In the Early Roman period, Shiloh appears to have been recognized by the Jews, albeit with no evidence of any religious rituals, while in the Byzantine period, the place was recognized as a sacred place of worship with clear official backing, perhaps versus the Samaritans. Moreover, Shiloh was part of an overall process whereby Christian sites located in Samaria and mentioned mainly in the Old Testament were sanctified in order to influence the Christian image of this area.

Locrian and Phocean watch‑towers

Rescue excavations in Eastern Locris and Northeast Phocis undertaken by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Fthiotida and Evrytania, revealed structural remains of the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, identified as watch‑towers belonging to organized systems for guarding and protecting communication networks, either terrestrial or maritime. These structures provide new evidence concerning practices of defense and safe communication between the above mentioned regions, where, until recently, there were no excavation records.

NEW ANALYSIS OF CYLINDRICAL AND OVOID JARS (‘ARCHIVE JARS') FROM SOUTHERN JUDEA

This paper presents new compositional analysis of 26 fragments of the much‐debated cylindrical and ovoid jars, a vessel type first defined at Khirbet Qumran and associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The new samples include 15 examples from Tel Ḥevron, a site which yielded a pottery workshop and that carries certain similarities with Khirbet Qumran during the Early Roman period, as well as several examples from Jericho and Masada. According to the new as well as previous analyses, many of these jars were produced in the Ḥevron area; another source may be located in the northern Dead Sea area. The actual function of these jars, and whether they ever contained scrolls, is still unclear.

Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem: The Monumental Street from the Siloam Pool to the Temple Mount

For over a century and a half, excavations in Jerusalem have been uncovering segments of the city’s Early Roman period network of streets, particularly the street that wended its way from the southernmost gate of the city, alongside the Siloam Pool and towards the Temple Mount. The importance of this street is evident from its dimensions as well as from the quality of its construction, which undoubtedly required an expansive workforce that included skilled labourers and craftsmen. Based on archaeological and historical data, the creation of the street has variously been attributed to some time in the Herodian period, to the reign of Herod and to the days of Herod Agrippa II. Here, based on numismatic evidence, we propose a more precise timeframe. We suggest that the street was constructed in the 1st century CE, in the middle of the first period of direct Roman rule, specifically during Pontius Pilate’s tenure as governor of the newly named province of Judea. We bolster this claim with a discussion of Pilate’s mandate and goals as provincial governor.

The Movement of Ideas in Late Iron Age and Early Roman Britain: An Imported Rotary Quern Design in South-Western England

ABSTRACTIn 2012, a complete upper stone of a rotary quern with a projecting lug for a vertical handle was found at Hinkley Point in Somerset, south-western England. It is the first late Iron Age to early Roman period quern of this form to be found in England. This note describes its form in detail and discusses its closest parallels in north-eastern Ireland, south-western Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Spain. It shows how thin-section analysis demonstrates the quern to have been locally made in Somerset and discusses the movement of ideas about quern design during the late Iron Age to early Roman period.

Behind the steps of ancient sheep mobility in Iberia: new insights from a geometric morphometric approach

In Western Europe, the transition from the middle Iron Age to the early Roman period implied changes in livestock practices, with the emergence of a specialized and selective animal husbandry. These changes have been related in Italy and south of France with changes in livestock management involving their mobility between ecologically complementary areas. The study of this question in the Iberian Peninsula has only been partially investigated through palaeoenvironmental analyses, and the information about the origin and significance of this phenomenon is very scarce. To shed new light on this topic we used an archaeozoological approach, with the application of geometric morphometrics. They were used to study size and shape variability in sheep astragali from 9 sites dating from the middle Iron Age to the early Roman period (5th c. BC–3rd c. AD) and located on the Pyrenees and on the north-eastern Iberian coast as a case study. The results we obtained, combined with Number of Identified Specimens (NISP) and kill-off patterns, showed local specificities in terms of breeding methods and sheep morphologies between the two areas during the middle Iron Age. On the contrary, sheep with similar size and the implementation and development of similar sheep husbandry practices in the Pyrenees and the north-eastern Iberian coast were documented during the early Roman period. These results suggest the existence of livestock links between these two areas during the Roman period, that could be involved a possible movement of sheep between the lowlands and the Pyrenees for the first time.

NOTES ON ETHNICAL COMPONENTS IN FORMING ARCHEOLOGICAL PICTURE OF SOUTWESTERN SERBIA AND NORTHERN MONTENEGRO IN PROTOHISTORY AND EARLY ROMAN PERIOD

The paper is devoted to recognition of ethnical components and their importance in creation of archaeological picture of South-Western Serbia and Northern Montenegro in proto-history and Early Roman period. The chosen region was an integral part of the Illyrian world, but on the threshold of the Thracian at the end of later prehistory. As for the subsequent period of Roman domination, one of the most important tasks for the future exploration is at least partial enlightening the structure of the population the Romans found in this area at the turn of the Christ Era. Either the new era or the Christian era.

Cemetery at Obrażejowice, Radziemice commune. New sources for research on the Przeworsk culture in the Younger Pre-Roman and Early Roman periods in Western Małopolska

In 2019, test excavations and surface surveys were carried out on an accidentally discovered Przeworsk culture cemetery at Obrazejowice, Comm. Radziemice. The materials recovered during the research should be dated to the Younger Pre-Roman period (phases A2, A3, and A3/B1) as well as Early, and probably Younger, Roman period (phases B1, B2, B2/C1). It is worth noting that the finds represent “pure” Przeworsk culture, since fragments of Celtic vessels have not as yet been identified.

The Septuagintal Paideia and the Construction of a Jewish Identity during the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Period

The Septuagintal Paideia and the Construction of a Jewish Identity during the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Period

Typical and Atypical Burial in the Late Hellenistic–Early Roman Periods at Horvat Ashun – Modi’in Hills

Typical and Atypical Burial in the Late Hellenistic–Early Roman Periods at Horvat Ashun – Modi’in Hills

El Castru (Vigaña, Balmonte de Miranda, Asturias): un pequeño poblado fortificado de las montañas occidentales cantábricas durante la Edad del Hierro

espanolEste articulo presenta los datos arqueologicos recuperados en las excavaciones del poblado castreno de El Castru, en Vigana (Balmonte de Miranda, Asturias) realizadas en 2012 y 2013. Dicho yacimiento constituye un buen ejemplo de los pequenos castros de la Edad del Hierro en las montanas del area occidental cantabrica. Por ello, el analisis de las informaciones obtenidas y su contextualizacion a escala regional ofrecen interesantes aportaciones al debate sobre las formas de poblamiento y subsistencia adoptadas por las comunidades del I milenio a.C. en el Noroeste iberico. EnglishIn this article we present and discuss the archaeological data obtained in the 2012 and 2013 excavations carried out in the hillfort of El Castru, in Vigana (Balmonte de Miranda, Asturias, NW Iberia). The excavations have showed a long-sequence occupation of the hillfort since the Early Iron Age to the early Roman period. The site constitutes a good example of the small Iron Age hillforts of the western Cantabrian Mountains. For this reason, the analysis of the information collected during fieldwork and its contextualization at regional level provide us with interesting considerations for discussing about the settlement patterns and subsistence systems adopted by the I millennia BC communities in NW Iberia. The manuscript is opened by a general overview of the hillfort, including a contextualisation of its surrounding landscape. Then, a detailed description of the six stratigraphic phases we identified during the excavations is presented, paying attention to the stratigraphic relations between different layers and structures. In addition, five radiocarbon dates are presented to build up the chronology of the site. Three huts and metallurgical production areas were explored, resulting on a significant collection of materials. The structures and layers that create each stratigraphic group are characterised considering a broad discussion about the archaeological materials that were discovered through the excavations, paying particular attention to pottery assemblages. The study and discussion of an outstanding zooarchaeological remains collection, some seeds and four pollen samples offers a relevant window to understand the anthropization of the surrounding landscape along the biography of this site. Diverse agricultural activities were developed in connection with a complex arrangement of pastoralist strategies, where we envision a growing specialization on cattle herding along the biography of this site, while agriculture is based in a wide range of complementary crops including several types of cereals. The discussion of these data considering Landscape Archaeology as our theoretical and methodological framework becomes a relevant case study in the geographical context of the western Cantabrian Mountains, where we lack this kind of approaches. The archaeological dataset under examination in El Castru allows us to argue that the small peasant community who inhabited the hillfort along the Iron Age and the earlier decades of the Roman period could be characterised particularly by their socio-political autonomy and productive self-sufficiency. This way, we understand Iron Age social landscapes in this area under the umbrella of non-hierarchical models for social organisation, such as heterarchical societies or ‘deep rural communities’, following some of the interpretations recently raised by several scholars in NW Iberia. euskaraArtikulu honetan bildu ditugu El Castru (Vigana, Balmonte de Miranda, Asturias) herrixkan 2012an eta 2013an eginiko indusketetan berreskuratutako datu arkeologikoak. Aztarnategi hori Burdin Aroan Kantaurialdeko mendebaldeko mendietan zeuden kastro txikien adibide ona da. Horregatik, eskuratutako informazioak aztertzeak eta informazio horiek eskualdeko testuinguruan kokatzeak elementu interesgarriak dakartzate Iberiar penintsulako ipar-mendebaldean K.a. I. milurtekoan zeuden komunitateek zituzten populaketa-moduei eta biziraupen-moduei buruzko eztabaidara.

Transforming Culture on an Insula Portunalis: Port Cities as Central Places in Early Roman Cyprus

During the Early Roman period in the Mediterranean (ca. 30 BC–330 AD), the key central places that distinguished socio-political landscapes were towns. These urban centers functioned as economic and administrative focal points that were controlled by local elites who oversaw wealth redistribution and maintained a dialectical relationship with Rome that mutually benefitted both parties. Yet, beyond providing such rudimentary observations, central place theory has recently been revised to examine how local factors, such as a place’s long-term geography and history, intersect with globalizing ones to transform settlement hierarchies as well as economic, political, and cultural landscapes. This article’s goal is to explore such intersections through a study of how port towns functioned as central places that connected globalized imperial networks to localized provincial ones within island contexts. It examines a range of material culture including, ceramics, architecture, prestige goods, and coinage from ports in Early Roman Cyprus in order to investigate how the island’s integration into Roman networks created central places that altered existing settlement types, hierarchies, and thus, local identities. Overall, this study shows how the reanalysis of central places within their unique geohistorical contexts can shed new light on both regional and state-level processes of cultural change.