From cityscape to landscape in Roman Lusitania: the municipium of Ammaia (original) (raw)

2010, Changing Landscapes. The impact of Roman towns in the Western Mediterranean

AI-generated Abstract

This paper presents ongoing, multidisciplinary geoarchaeological fieldwork in and around the Roman urban site of Ammaia (Alentejo, Portugal). One of the objectives of the current collaborative project between the Universities of Évora and Ghent is the elaboration of a better methodology to approach the historical reconstruction of settlement dynamics, resource exploitation and ecological transformation of the landscape background of the Roman town. Priorities within the archaeological questionnaire are connected with the rural occupation, the land-use, the exploitation of primary sources, and the communication networks during the Roman phase of the town's history. It is our first aim to define the characteristics of Ammaia's cityscape and to visualize its precise location, structure and urban model. Furthermore, we wish to investigate the town's impact on its catchment area. The latter means the identification of the quarries, mining zones, aqueducts, roads and production areas of the essential goods and raw materials that sustained the economic and cultural vitality of Ammaia throughout its major life span during the Roman period. The project therefore includes not only intensive geoarchaeological field surveys, but also the careful sampling and study of excavated finds from within the town area and particularly archaeometric analysis of selected archaeological material. Some of the first results presented here concern the mapping of the town structure and the transport routes, the provisioning of water for the city centre, and the identification of some important mining (gold) and quarrying activities (granite, rock crystal) connected with the Roman occupation and urbanisation of this area.