Theme:
2. Net Zero Archaeologies – Sustainability in the Past, Present and Future
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Centuriated Landscapes beyond the Western Mediterranean: Roman Impacts on Landscape Evolution
Content:
The impacts of Roman conquest on provincial landscapes were diverse: they range from the settling of colonist farmers and the re-organisation of pre-existing settlement systems to the introduction of new crops, animals and agricultural strategies and the laying out of road and hydrological infrastructure. One particularly transformative element of Roman interventions in rural landscapes are cadastral systems, generally referred to as centuriations. These centuriations are particularly well-known in the central and western Mediterranean area (Italy, France and the Iberian peninsula) where long traditions of topographic and, more recently, integrated interdisciplinary approaches have been developed to both reconstruct these systems and to assess their chronology, functions, impact on settlement and land use, and ultimately their role in the long-term evolution of the landscape.
While traces of centuriations have been found in many other parts of the Roman Empire (from Brittannia to Achaia and from Pannonia to Africa) dedicated research in these areas is much more rare and in terms of theoretical frameworks and methodological toolboxes more fragmentary. This significantly hinders our understanding of centuriation as a global phenomenon that not only transformed landscapes in the Roman World and shapes our conception of the Roman provinces, but also contributed significantly to the subsequent evolution of landscapes throughout the Mediterranean and beyond.
This session proposes to bring together scholars working on centuriated landscapes, with the aim to discuss the status quo of centuriation research (including current theoretical frameworks and approaches) in different parts of the Roman Empire, thus building towards a more cohesive research community and a new synthetic perspectives on the phenomenon of centuriation. We particularly welcome papers that frame current work (case studies) within a broader regional and/or theoretical framework. We aim to publish a selection of such regional synthetic contributions as an edited volume.
Keywords:
landscape archaeology, human-environment interactions, field systems, Roman period, landscape evolution, ancient land surveying
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Tymon de Haas (Netherlands) 1
Co-organisers:
András Bödöcs (Hungary) 2
Affiliations:
1. University of Groningen
2. Eötvös Loránd University
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