How to trace and date the Roman roads? Case study from the territorium of Antiochia Hippos: Between the desert frontier and the sea (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Roman Road System in the Golan: Highways, Paths and Tracks in Quotidian Life
Journal of Landscape Ecology, 2017
Roman Imperial Roads (highways) built, maintained and organized by the Roman army and provincial authorities were studied in the Golan Heights since Schumacher’s surveys in the 1880s. However, most of these were obliterated by building and agricultural activity since the beginning of the 20th century. Local ancient road system, linking individual communities and their agricultural land was never studied, since it barely leaves a trace in archaeological record. This paper presents reconstruction of inter-provincial highways passing through the southern Golan Heights, and local road system in GIS using cumulative focal mobility network (CFMN) analysis. The CFMN provides outline of natural corridors of movement in the region. From CFMN it is possible to extract path with higher mobility potential which will be tested against present evidence for Roman Imperial Highways, since it is assumed that corridors with high mobility potential would be suitable place for construction of (inter-)provincial road. Path with lower mobility potential might indicate local road system, so it would be possible to connect agricultural communities with the land they exploited; which in turn may have implications for site prediction and site-catchment analysis exploring quotidian movement of people and goods in the landscape. Two case studies in this respect are presented: the city of Hippos and settlement of es-Safuriyye.
Remote Sensing, 2023
This paper presents a unique case of the application of remote sensing methods in archaeological survey devoted to ancient pre-Roman Imperial roads in the Southern Levant. The results of our preparatory remote sensing research and subsequent fieldwork in Jordan and Israel between 22 February and 23 March 2023, within the framework of the research project entitled “Travel and Mobility in Hellenistic and Early Roman Palestine”, are reported and discussed. Part of this project is a large-scale, systematic research attempt to discover additional ancient pre-Roman roads and to suggest a working methodology for future research. The methodology is supposed to combine remote sensing research and archaeological survey. The project’s first fieldwork achieved several goals. First, the modern methods enabled us to provide a high-resolution capture of the detected features and artifacts, including the courses of ancient roads and the locations of road-related archaeological sites. Altogether, 105 road remains, 62 archaeological sites, and 14 pottery findings were identified; what is more, 11 GPS (Global Positioning System) tracks of ancient roads were registered. Second, we suggested necessary revisions to the previous state of research and reported new findings. For instance, newly discovered rock art evidence found along Glueck’s Road confirms the continuity of the use of this road long into late antiquity and early Islam. Third, some methodological conclusions were reached. For example, a multi-source approach to identifying ancient roads including the use of archival cartographic sources, archival and modern satellite and aerial imagery, and the databases of archaeological sites is still necessary. However, there can be no doubt that spatial analyses and remote sensing studies must be accompanied by archaeological fieldwork, which is absolutely necessary for determining the dating of the roads (by dating the settlement and pottery) and a detailed identification of the road courses (particularly through the discovery of road-related infrastructure).
A STUDY OF THE ROMAN ROAD NETWORK IN HUNGARY USING GIS.
The initial aim of the dissertation was the reconstruction of the road network of Roman Pannonia by collecting the data on identifiable Roman road remains on the territory of modern Hungary, the collation of the data with other information on the known archaeological sites, and its integration into an archaeological GIS. During the collection of the data and the linking of the data to sites and locations (and geographic co-ordinates), I found that the reliability of the available data could be seriously challenged and thus the initial objective slipped farther and farther away. It became apparent that the seemingly secure courses of Roman roads as reconstructed by previous research were often based on inadequate and imprecise information, and thus the emphasis shifted to the mosaic-like collection of the available evidence.
A changing landscape_Roman Road Network in Moesia Inferior.pdf
The arrival of the Romans at the Lower Danube and transforming this area into the Roman province of Moesia inferior lead to a radical change of the landscape. A wide space is occupied and organized by the army resulting in an imperial province located by the border. This operation is carried out gradually - an expression of policy of "small steps" practiced by the Romans - over several stages, military organization, including - fortifications, roads, construction annexes along the roads, points of customs stations-, being doubled by civil measures in order to integrate in the new administrative body the pre-Roman and the newly emerged settlements, together with the Greek cities from the Black Sea Coast. One of the main elements in roman organization of the territory is the roads network. The proper roads are absent from the pre-roman landscape, they were rather some access routes. Their lines and directions can be reconstructed based on the information gathered from archaeological sources: researched or only identified in the field settlements and necropolis provide us valuable data for this. The Romans “modernized” them and also constructed new ones in order to assure a good communication between the limes area and the inner part of the province, but also with neighboring territories. The first action in this regard is recorded in the time of Augustus and his followers, but who really establish an integrated system of roads in the area is Trajan. He laid the foundations for the road system in Lower Moesia. After his conquest of Dacia the limes stretches all the way to the mouth of the Danube. Gradually appearing new branches filled out the communication network. The coast road was also modernized at this time and a road parallel to the limes started to be constructed. Trajan’s successor started on the construction of the central road through Dobrudja. In the form that will be designed by Trajan, to which are added the interventions of Hadrian, the road system will keep the same organization until the end of Antiquity.
East Herts Archaeological Society Newletter, 2014
Surveyors in the Roman army were intimately involved in the conquest and pacification of new territory. They often mapped very large areas of land with accurate grid systems, and used the surveyed information to set out military structures. I have spent more than 25 years investigating evidence for these survey systems, paying particular attention to their links with forts and roads. Early on I saw that a short surviving part of the road approaching Great Chesterford from the south-east could be linked to one of these proposed surveys. My latest study has used further information, particularly from Google Earth, to confirm the link and improve knowledge of the route of the road, which previously had been poorly defined. The study also considers other local Roman roads, whose relationships to the survey suggest which of them is the earliest. This approach could be applied in the area around Braughing, where possible traces of the grid survey also appear.
THE BERYTUS-HELIOPOLIS BAALBAK ROAD IN THE ROMAN PERIOD: A LEAST COST PATH ANALYSIS
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 2017
The Mount Lebanon range has permanently formed a main barrier to communication between the coast and the Bekaa valley. During the Roman period, official authorities were confronted to a significant challenge in establishing an efficient route joining the colony of Berytus to its territorial possessions in the northern Bekaa which included the town of Heliopolis Baalbak. This case study aims to find the least cost path for the road between both cities based on slope dependent functions using GIS technologies. Three generated models are cross-referenced to historical and archaeological data for validation purposes. The validated path indicates that the planning of the Berytus-Baalbak Heliopolis road seems to have been primarily based on minimizing energy cost by reducing the crossing distance over steep slopes.
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 17-3: 163-189. 2017, 2017
The aim of this paper is to dig deeper in order to gain a better understanding of the territorial logic of Roman roads, following some recent approaches based on the use of digital modelling tools. Taking the case of the so-called via XVII (a ca. 330 km itinerary which joined Bracara Augusta and Asturica Augusta, NW Iberian Peninsula), the paper explores various factors, both natural and cultural, which may have been determinant in the layout of main roads in the Roman period. This study has followed a non-reconstructive methodology based on the theoretical idea of "least-cost paths" implemented by way of GIS tools. The analysis combines different variables which have an impact on human mobility (such as terrain slope and altitude, and the a priori existence of some primary nodes) and different spatial scales of analysis. As an outcome, we have achieved a detailed understanding of the factors behind the layout of this road and, in doing so, we have also drawn some conclusions regarding the historical context of its origin and development. The methodology and some of the results may be pertinent for the analysis of Roman roads elsewhere and, to some extent, for the wider analysis of ancient roads.