Gallia Narbonensis Research Articles

Comparative advantage, specialized viticulture, and the economic development of Gallia Narbonensis

AbstractThis paper explores the processes of specialized viticulture in the province of Gallia Narbonensis over the first three centuries CE and brings this evidence to bear on broader economic questions, particularly as they relate to the effects of connectivity and globalization on Roman economic development. Evidence from small farms to sprawling villas suggests that specialized production stretched across multiple strata of society in Narbonensis, from so-called peasants to the wealthiest elites. The existence of specialized agricultural production at the scale documented in Narbonensis required significant demand, well-connected and integrated markets, sustained trade, and an awareness of these economic factors by the residents of the province. The evidence presented here demonstrates that the residents of Narbonensis recognized that they were part of an economic environment in which high levels of connectivity and integrated markets allowed them to pursue more profitable production strategies and that they pursued these opportunities.

From construction to destruction: The development of an excavation protocol for pottery kilns

The recent preventive excavations at Famars and Montescourt-Lizerolles (Gallia Belgica, present North of France) with almost thirty new pottery kilns discovered and dated from the end of the 1st century CE to the beginning of the 4th century, as well as the programmed excavations at the 4th and 5th century CE pottery production sites of Fanjeaux and Magalas (Gallia Narbonensis, present Carcassonne region) have prompted the development of an excavation protocol adapted to kilns, complex edifices that are mostly cut through or emptied of their fillings. The new data showed that much more information could be obtained when following a rigorous method of cleaning, considering the position of artefacts in the fillings, and totally deconstructing the separate parts of the structure, by removing clay linings, supports and floors. Awareness of the diverse construction variations, applied material, and gestures lead to more exhaustive examination, even in the context of preventive archaeology where time pressure is important. The meticulous stripping of the structure has led to the demonstration of different elements, including the presence of channels to counteract humidity, the use of mudbricks or possible ritual deposits and gestures. Even if not all the combustion structures show these features, their presence can only be noticed when considering the possibility during excavation. This way, the authors hope to sensitise archaeologists to regard kilns with more care.

Morphometric evolution of the domestic triad, in western Gallia Narbonensis (southern France, Languedoc), between the 2nd c.BC and the 4th c.AD: Preliminary and critical use of log size index for diachronic analysis

In bioarchaeology, the biometry of archaeozoological remains is an important component of studies on domestic species and size has been used for multiple purposes from identifying domestication, to track environmental changes or evolution of husbandry practices. The establishment of the Roman Empire has been accompanied by social, political and economic transformations that also reflect in farming practices and animal husbandry. In southern France, biometric variation has already been partially perceived during Roman times, particularly for cattle, but lack chronological accuracy and statistical validation.This paper presents a diachronic analysis of linear measurements of post-cranial bones belonging to the domestic triad (sheep, goat, cattle and suids) in western Gallia Narbonensis (France), between the Roman conquest and Late Antiquity, i.e. from 200 BCE to 400 AD. Biometric data from 64 archaeological sites, excavated and studied over more than 30 years of preventive archaeology, were analysed using a Log Size Index (LSI) approach using time as a continuous variable. The analysis of 5533 measurements first analysed per bone and variable, then separating length, breadth and depth dimensions, revealed different trends, highly influenced by the number of measurements, reflecting allometric differences but also cases of asynchronous evolution. However, these allometries within species are small when compared to interspecies differences. Overall, the size of the four taxa increased from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. Cattle and pig sizes then decreased from the 2nd century AD and only from the 4th century onwards for goats, while sheep size tends to increase during the 3rd-4th centuries. If the Roman conquest influences the size of the domestic animals, this does not affect the four species in the same way. This potentially reflects differentiated agropastoral strategies for each of the species in the western part of Gallia Narbonensis during the Roman period. This study, which provides a diachronic and cross-species study framework, should be seen as a first step for a more in-depth understanding of micro-regional and socio-economic variation in domestic species morphologies.

Domestic Space, Access Analysis, and Social Transformations: Houses in Iron Age and Roman Mediterranean Gaul

Studies investigating changes in domestic architecture from the Iron Age to the Roman period in the northwestern provinces of the Roman empire have often suggested an important degree of continuity in domestic social relations, although the province of Mediterranean Gaul, Gallia Narbonensis, has been underrepresented in these studies. This article employs access analysis to compare domestic space in Mediterranean Gaul at three preconquest Iron Age settlements (ca. 500–50 BCE) and five Roman-period houses from the first–second centuries CE. This analysis suggests that many Roman houses in Gallia Narbonensis helped structure quite different forms of daily social interactions and encounters through important changes in the physical organization of domestic space. In particular, the communitarian organization of domestic space for the Iron Age settlements seems to have encouraged daily encounters within and between domestic groups through shared, communal spaces, rather than separating social units into coherent sets of rooms that in a modern setting we would consider “houses.” By contrast, in the Roman period internally organized domestic spaces emphasized specialization and internal divisions, structuring socioeconomic distinctions, and in doing so, signaled an important social rupture that contrasts with other provinces of Gaul.1

Systematic sourcing of granite shafts from Gallia Narbonensis and comparison with other western Mediterranean areas

Determining the source quarries for granite shafts in antiquity provides insight into ancient trade routes for such prized materials. We briefly review how non-invasive techniques are currently being applied to address this archeometric task. In specific cases established protocols based on magnetic susceptibility can be integrated with chemical analysis, as demonstrated herein. A systematic inventory and sourcing of granite shafts of presumed antique origin was performed in the region that once formed Gallia Narbonensis. A total of 276 complete shafts or shaft fragments were identified in 21 localities. After fragment pairing hypotheses, they were attributed to at least 174 original shafts. Only four localities (Aix, Arles, Die, Riez) contribute to 54% of the whole corpus. Provenance was determined through visual, magnetic susceptibility and chemical comparison with known antique quarries in Egypt, Turkey, Elba, Corsica and Sardinia. Most of the shafts originated in Turkey (75%), followed by Elba (20.5%). Minor sources are the pink granites of Aswan and Sardinia, as well as grey granite from Corsica, found only in Die. Ambiguity between the Corsican source and the grey Egyptian granite from Mons Claudianus was resolved using portable X-ray fluorescence to determine Sr and Rb contents. As most of the corpus consists of shafts present in medieval to modern contexts, caution is required in interpreting our findings in terms of Ancient Roman architectural and economic choices. Long distance transport of spolia or newly quarried shafts may have occurred after Roman times.

Romanization and Latinization of the Roman Empire in the light of data in the Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age

Abstract The present study demonstrates that the process of linguistic Romanization, i.e. Latinization of the Roman Empire, is traceable by the data of the Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age (LLDB). A multi-level analysis of linguistic and non-linguistic data in the LLDB has shown that Latinization, i.e. the spread of spoken or vulgar Latin, became more and more intensive over time in all concerned provinces (i.e. Lusitania, Gallia Narbonensis, Venetia et Histria, Dalmatia, Moesia, Pannonia, and Britannia), although to a varying degree in each. What is more, in many aspects of the investigation, it was possible to find differences between the selected provinces of the Roman Empire corresponding mostly to the future Romance (both negative and positive) outcomes of the respective areas. All in all, the analysis of data of the LLDB database can contribute to solving the complex problem of Latinization, and is a lot more appropriate for this purpose than a simple comparative analysis of epigraphic corpora of the selected provinces.

Wino i technologia produkcji win w Gallii Narbonensis w II w. p.n.e. – II w. n.e.

The article describes the process of making wine in antiquity and tools used for it. It presents wine production in the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis based on historical and archaeological sources.

Before and After Rome: The Incised Contours Technique in the Art of Gallia Narbonensis

The art of ancient Gallia Narbonensis constitutes a coherent corpus thanks to a number of shared visual characteristics. Prominent among them is a carving technique that consisted of deeply incising the contours of figures in sculpted reliefs, a trend that was rare in Roman art elsewhere. This paper investigates the presence of incised contours in monuments erected between the late first century BC and the early decades of the first century AD at sites such as Orange, Carpentras, and Glanum. I argue that we can explain this peculiar feature by establishing continuities with pre-Roman monuments created in the region, which reveal a similar aesthetic solution. Relying on visual analysis and employing the lens of two postcolonial paradigms, creolization and hybridity, I offer a reconsideration of well-known provincial monuments, expanding our understanding of the role of visual culture as an essential marker of the colonial transformation of Gaul.

Iconography and Re-Reading af a Gallo-Roman Mosaic with Multiple Decor of Vienne (Narbonensis)

A large number of isolated panels of mosaics, discovered during the nineteenth century, have been preserved, sometimes forgotten in private collections and have not been studied. In many cases, we do not know their exact provenance. In the present article, we propose to study a panel of mosaic representing a deer, whose provenance is probably Vienne (Gallia Narbonensis) and is now kept in a private collection.This panel, according to comparisons with the other mosaics found at Vienne and in the two suburbs of Sainte-Colombe and Saint-Romain-en-Gal, seems to belong to a multiple decor pavement mentioned by Adrien Blanchet in the Inventaire des mosaïques de la Gaule in 1909. The mosaic of the deer is certainly a panel disappeared after its discovery in 1867. We propose a new interpretation of the decor placing our panel with those from the same pavement still preserved in the archaeological museum, (church Saint-Pierre de Vienne): The four seasons, a lion, a dog, Theseus abandoning Ariadne and Ariadne asleep.

Roman wall-painting in southern Gaul (Gallia Narbonensis and Gallia Aquitania)

In the Greek world, the practice of decorating walls with painted stucco emerged in the 5th or 4th c. B.C. and was at first limited to public and religious monuments and the palaces of rulers, later spreading to the houses of the aristocracy. In the homes of the nobility, painted decoration enhanced the ornamentation of rooms used for receiving visitors, such as the dining room (andron), in which the floors were sometimes decorated with mosaics, most often with geometric motifs. In the wealthiest abodes, as seen at Pella in the 4th c. B.C., Alexandria, or on Delos in the 2nd c. B.C., a mosaic picture called an emblema sometimes lay at the centre of the mosaic. In the realm of domestic art, in the Hellenistic age images were restricted to the mosaic floors. The walls were ornamented with architectural elements that imitated, in stucco relief, the fashions that could be seen in the masonry and marble veneers of temples and palaces. This type of décor, established in the homes of Greek nobility throughout the Hellenistic era, is traditionally known as the masonry style or incrustation style.

Provenance evidence for Roman lead artefacts of distinct chronology from Portuguese archaeological sites

In the present study, a set of 24 glandes plumbeae found at Alto dos Cacos, a Roman Republican military camp located in the Tagus valley, Portugal, was analysed by a quadrupole based ICP-MS to determine the tin (Sn) content and lead (Pb) isotope ratios. Results were compared with similar data previously obtained for fistulae plumbeae aquariae from Conimbriga, an important Lusitanian Roman centre during the Empire. Low Sn contents (≤0.01wt%) were observed in 25% of glandes plumbeae indicating that were probably made with non-recycled lead. A similar situation was perceived for the set of fistulae aquariae, although most of the remaining fistulae present systematically higher Sn concentrations than those of glandes suggesting that lead recycling increased during the Empire. Pb isotope ratios distribution differentiated the analysed samples into two distinct groups: one composed by most of glandes plumbeae (15) and the other by the remaining glandes plumbeae (9) and all fistulae aquariae. The comparison with Pb isotope ratios of the published data for several lead ore deposits, exploited by the Roman in Iberian Peninsula, suggests that lead used in the manufacture of most of the glandes plumbeae would come from Linares-La Carolina, Alcudia Valley and Ossa Morena Zone. Also, some glandes could have been made using these ores, probably mixed with lead ores from Gallia Narbonensis (Southern France) or from Sardinia in the Mediterranean region. On the other hand, lead used in most fistulae aquariae came from Iberian mines, namely from Sierra Morena (Alcudia Valley and Linares-La Carolina mines) and Ossa Morena mining district, although in some cases, probably mixed with lead from the Iberian Pyrite Belt.

Palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records for the reconstruction of the ancient landscape of the Roman harbour of Narbonne (Aude, France)

Abstract: Analysis of sediment records and AMS radiocarbon dates are used to reconstruct Quaternary landscapes and palaeoenvironments of the ancient Roman harbour at Narbonne. Capital of the Roman Province Gallia Narbonensis , which extended from the Pyrenees to the Alps, Narbonne was one of the largest port cities in the northwest Mediterranean during the first millennium AD. Yet, the strategies deployed in managing the harbour, particularly the management of natural processes, are little understood. A synthesis of archaeological, geomorphological and geophysical data was made to assess the palaeoenvironmental constraints faced by residents of Narbonne, and what strategies they may have adopted in the management thereof. Harbour structures dating from the 1 st –5 th centuries AD discovered in Castelou and Mandirac were intended to canalize an Aude river branch allowing transfer and unloading of trade goods. These new insights about the harbour of Narbonne provide a valuable comparison for other ancient Mediterranean harbours such as Ostia (Italy), Tell About Hawam (Israel), Taposiris (Egypt).

Bona Dea à Nîmes

A residential and craft area of the roman period was found during the excavations of the Parking Jean-Jaurès in Nîmes (2006-2007, director Jean‑Y ves Breuil, INRAP). The new datas give a context to ancient discoveries like a female statue identified as Bona Dea. This statue could belong to a private worship, located in this area. A second statue found out the limits of the roman town could be attached to a public worship. These two statues and altars from Glanum, Arles and Apt are the only known references to the deity in Gallia Narbonensis. They are evidences of the modes of introduction and spreading of this worship came from Latium.

La dénomination des Voconces septentrionaux

The study covers 432 individuals from the northern part of the territory of Vocontii, which corresponds to the boundaries of the city of Die (ILN Die). The names have been resituated in relation to all the Vocontii, compared to those of Gallia Narbonensis and the western provinces. The survey is based on lapidary inscriptions, instrumentum inscriptum and literary occurrences. Vocontii from “ outside” have been integrated. The names of Roman citizens, peregrini, the incerti and slaves are successively studied, trying to identify indigenous names, Italian Latin names, regional Latin names and Greek names. There is a Semitic name. The relations between nomina and cognomina are analysed, as well as the transmission of nomina from one generation to the next : the names of men and women are compared. In this city of Latin law, since Caesar or Augustus, the onomastic reveals a clear Latinity, a real integration into the Roman world. Roman citizens mainly have “ Latin-Italian” names and similarly nearly one in two peregrinus/-a.

Aulus Cornelius Celsus and ‘empirical’ and ‘dogmatic’ medicine

Aulus Cornelius Celsus and ‘empirical’ and ‘dogmatic’ medicine

Traces sénatoriales en Narbonnaise à travers la population affranchie

Our aim is to find senators from Gallia Narbonensis through the onomastical traces that they have left in their birth-town, and more precisely through their possible freedmen. It appears that they have n o link with seviri augustales, with the exception of the peculiar case of the seviri who are honorary decuriones in Nîmes. Nevertheless there are large groups of wealthy freedmen having the same praenomen and nomen as contemporary senators. This is typical of large senatorial familiae. The same onomastic effect is not found among knights. We can verify this phenomenon in every Narbonensian city in which senators are known, including more modest cities with narrower epigraphical data, with the exception of Vienna where it is difficult to pinpoint freedmen through onomastical data.

Roman Architecture in Provence (Book Review)

This book offers a long-overdue English-language study of the impressive architectural remains of Roman Provence. Anderson sets out to provide a broad perspective on Roman architecture in the region, including evidence for revisions, reconstructions, and restorations to well-known monuments. Throughout, the author challenges widely held assumptions that many of the most famous buildings in Gallia Narbonensis date from the founding, or refounding, of cities by the Romans (most typically in the second half of the first century B.C.E.).

From Hispania Tarraconensis (NE Spain) to Gallia Narbonensis (S France). New data on Pascual 1 amphora trade in the Augustan period

The importance of wine trade between Roman provinces in the North-Western Mediterranean during the Augustan period is evidenced by several shipwrecks found along the coasts of Catalunya and Southern France. Among them are the Cap del Vol (Port de la Selva) and Els Ullastres (Palafrugell) shipwrecks, located near the northern coast of Catalunya, which are supposed to trade wine in Pascual 1 amphorae from Hispania Tarraconensis to Gallia Narbonensis. Type Pascual 1 was the most widely produced and the one that lasted longer among the amphorae used to transport Tarraconensis wine.In the framework of our recent research on inter-provincial maritime trade in the Early Roman Empire, we will present the results of the archaeometric study of 40 Pascual 1 amphorae from the two shipwrecks, aimed at identifying the workshops of origin within the Tarraconensis province. Provenance investigation was based on chemical analysis by XRF and thin section analysis. Besides, XRD and SEM–EDS analyses were also carried out in order to identify secondary mineral phases and alteration processes taking place during deposition in the maritime environment, which must be considered to establish valid chemical reference groups. The results have been compared with the large analytical database on amphora productions from many workshops of the Tarraconensis province available at the ERAAUB.The archaeometric study revealed that Pascual 1 amphorae from both shipwrecks were produced in specific workshops placed on the Central Catalan coast, near the main Roman cities of Baetulo (Badalona) and Iluro (Mataró). This result points to the important role of these two cities in the economic expansion of Tarraconensis during the Augustan period.

Monnaies locales et identités : Le cas du monnayage colonial de la Nîmes augustéenne

Nemausus is well known as a favourite city of Augustus and one of the leading cities of Gallia Narbonensis at the beginning of the Empire. The aes coinage of Augustan Nemausus is studied as an expression of the multiple identities of the city at that time. Nemausus, a very peculiar colony, produces an equally peculiar coinage.

L’elogium dans les inscriptions honorifiques de Narbonnaise

The corpus of honorary inscriptions from Gallia Narbonensis includes but a few number of elogia. In other Western provinces, such elogia became rather common in latin epigraphy from the IInd century AD onwards. One may wonder why such a common figure of latin epigraphy is lacking in this particular province. It may be but a case, but evidence driven from ten inscriptions, where something like an elogium does appear, seem to indicate that elogia were not entirely unknown in this province, but found little local echo, and probably under external influences.