Sessions

11. Religion and beliefs on the frontiers

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Nadežda Gavrilović Vitas, Senior Research Associate, Institute of Archaeology (E-mail: n.gavrilovic@ai.ac.rs / nadia011@yahoo.com)
Martin Henig, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Classics, Oxford.

Inscriptions, reliefs, cults both in civilian settlements and forts. Burial rites, cemeteries, death and afterlife.

Epigraphic and archaeological material represent the main sources for insight into religious life and beliefs of Roman army, situated in numerous localities along the Limes frontiers. This session proposes to analyse and interpret different aspects of various spheres of religious and spiritual life of Roman soldiers – official dedications made to Roman emperor and beliefs in connection to the imperial cult, more private dedications to gods in whom soldiers individually believed and considered as their protectors, the degree of the acceptance or resistance to Roman deities, the degree of conservatism and syncretism of indigenous deities with similar Roman ones, cult practices, different cultural influences (from other cultures, provinces etc.), the degree of influence of official ideology to beliefs of Roman soldiers, the role of soldiers in distribution of certain cults etc. In connection to religious beliefs of Roman soldiers is closely connected the sphere of life after death, burial rites and beliefs that can be perceived in different ways of burials of the dead ones, the various grave goods found in tombs and personal beliefs of dedicants for the dead ones, which can be observed in the texts and iconography of funerary monuments. Therefore, all the papers dealing with the various aspects of religion and religious beliefs in Roman army, sanctuaries or sacred places, burials and different beliefs in life after death, mystery religions and the appearance of Christianity as well, new results from excavations, finds and research, are more than welcome to be presented and fully discussed in all its variety.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Nadežda Gavrilović Vitas: The Cult of God Mithras on Roman Danube Limes in Lower Pannonia and Upper Moesia
2. Ozren Domiter: Understanding the Cult of the Danube Horseman: New Approaches
3. Ljubica Perinić: What are we missing? On the invisibility of Silvanus Orientalis
4. Ivan Radman-Livaja: New evidence for the worship of Epona on the Danubian limes
5. Ljubiša Vasiljević: Archaeological monuments of Silvanus and his cult community (Mars, Diana, “woodland deities”) in part of Danube limes in Serbia
6. Tatiana Ivleva: Embodied religion: Norico-Pannonian gestural language on funerary monuments
7. Nicolay Sharankov: Local cults for Roman use: The sanctuary of Dominus Plester and Diana Plestrensis
8. Tomasz Dziurdzik: Expressing regional and professional religious identities in Roman army: the case of female cavalry “sports” helmets
9. Carsten Wenzel: Votum solvit! – Sanctifications of military personal and a new sacred area in Roman Nida (Frankfurt am Main-Heddernheim)
10. Csaba Szabó: Religion in the making in Roman Dacia: space sacralisation and religious appropriation on the frontiers of the Empire
11. Catherine Leisser: Ritual Artefacts: Right or Wrong?

Posters related to this session:

• Dan Augustin Deac: The Materiality of Religion in the Civilian Settlement of Porolissum (Roman Dacia)
• Lajos Juhász,  István Vida: Perforated coins from the Aquincum-Graphisoft cemetery

12. Christianity at the Frontiers

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Orsolya Heinrich-Tamáska, GWZO, Leipzig, Germany (heintama@uni-leipzig.de)
Dominic Moreau, Université de Lille–SHS, France (E-mail: dominic.moreau@univ-lille3.fr)

There is an old myth, still recounted in some of the historiography on Late Antiquity, according to which the Roman army was directly or indirectly involved in the spread of Christianity, usually shortly after the conversion of Constantine. Proponents of that position generally rely on two points: 1- the testimony of the Church Fathers, who are constantly insisting on the receptivity of the soldiers to Christianity, at least from the time of Tertullian; 2- the fact that the Roman army promoted the spread of all kinds of oriental cults, which also implies Christianity.

By this logic, we should be able to observe a degree of Christianisation in the provinces of the Empire which would be proportional to their level of militarisation, at least after Constantine. The “limes” being theoretically the most militarised area in Late Antiquity, it should then be the most Christianised. Should we therefore see evidence of the military outposts as units of Christian propaganda around the Empire? Does the highly militarised “limes” constitute a “weapon of mass conversion”?

It is true that most of the episcopal sees of this part of the Roman world were founded in military camps. Compared to the importance of the militarisation of these territories, the episcopal network was, however, very modest even up to the middle/end of the 6^th century, so that the contribution of the army to the spread of Christianity does not seem as obvious is sometimes assumed.

In order to propose elements of answers to that research question, presentations on all archaeological and historical aspects of Christianity on the border areas of the Roman Empire are welcome in this session. These papers can focus on new discoveries, as well as on the re-evaluation of material already studied, which dates, for most of it, from the 4^th to 7^th centuries AD. Among the themes that would be interesting to be discussed, we can mention (but not exclusively):

• Churches and artifacts with Christian meanings on the frontier and its hinterland
• Episcopacy and its impact on the urban fabric
• Monasticism and its occupation of the landscape
• Christian testimonies in the army
• Christianity beyond the borders of the Empire

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Dănuţ Aparaschivei: Pilgrims from the province of Scythia in Ephessus
2. Stefanie Hoss: Christian symbols on the weapons and equipment of Roman soldiers
3. Erin Darby: Christians in the Late Roman army of Palestine: New evidence from ‘Ayn Gharandal (Arieldela), Jordan
4. Reinhardt Harreither: Christian soldiers as martyrs at the Danubian frontier
5. Vinka Matijević: Classical heroes and biblical characters. About the Roman belt found in Zmajevac (Ad Novas)

13. Live and let (barbarians) die…

Session cancelled. Papers that were intended for this session will be transferred to session 37. Rome and Barbarians in consultation with the authors and Committee.

14. From East to West my Legions are the Best!!!

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Domagoj Tončinić, Odsjek za arheologiju Filozofskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (E-mail: dtoncinic@ffzg.hr)

Units, Officers and Soldiers, a personalized history (History of individual legions and auxiliaries, inscriptions, biographies)

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Jürgen Trumm: Trajan, legio XI and Caius Iulius Quadratus Bassus – the last legatus legionis of Vindonissa (Windisch/Switzerland)
2. Domagoj Tončinić: Die Denkmäler der Legio XI in der Provinz Dalmatien
3. Ran Ortner: The Cestius Gallus And The XII Roman Legion Campaign to Jerusalem in 66 A.D. and its historical-strategic consequence
4. Louisa Campbell: Barbarians on the Edge of Empire – Colouring in the Antonine Wall Distance Stones

15. Depiction of barbarians on Roman Monuments

Session cancelled. Papers that were intended for this session will be transferred to other sessions in consultation with the authors and Committee.

16. Stand your Ground!

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Session proposed by the Scientific Committee or International Advisory Committee – open for applications

Building and Rebuilding of Limes

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. John Steinhoff: The Numidian Limes from Mesarfelta to Thubunae: An Interdisciplinary Approach
2. Lecat Zénaïde, Fathi Bejaoui: The African Limes during the Byzantine Period: a Networks Stratigraphy
3. Michal Dyčka: Modus Operandi of the Odenwald Limes
4. Elisabeth Krieger: Watch out for Watchtowers! Fakten und Fiktion zu deren Rekonstruktion
5. Maciej Marciniak: Reasons for adaptation a tropaion to the Roman world
6. Andrzej B. Biernacki, Elena Klenina: Tuscan and Ionic Order in the Architecture of the Legionary Camp of Novae (Moesia Inferior)
7. Ivan Gargano: Locating the VIth century Βιμινάκιον

17. Limes in fine? Continuity and Discontinuity of Life in the Forts of the Roman Frontiers

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Robert Collins, Newcastle University, UK (E-mail: robert.collins@newcastle.ac.uk)

Historiographic tradition insists that the frontiers of the Roman Empire either collapsed in the face of barbarian invaders, or were abandoned in the wake of civil wars. For the Western Empire, this occurred in the 5th century AD, while abandonment or collapse of the Eastern frontiers was a far more drawn out process starting in some places in the later 6th century. As the Empire declined and fell, so too did the frontiers.
Yet, archaeological excavation has contested this narrative. Some forts have confirmed the narrative of abandonment or destruction, but other sites have revealed continued occupation beyond the traditional ‘end date’ given for a particular province or diocese.
This session will explore the traditional narrative of the collapse and/or abandonment of the Roman frontiers in late antiquity. Papers will explore the diverse data – occupation, mortuary, artefactual, and scientific – to contest or support collapse narratives. Papers will specifically address the following questions:
• What is the evidence for abandonment or destruction at individual sites?
• Does mortuary data support different conclusions than building/site-occupation data?
• To what extent can evidence of abandonment or continued / transformed occupation indicate the history of an entire frontier sector?
• Despite varying chronologies, it is possible to identify common patterns and trends across different frontier sectors?

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Simone Mayer: “Who lies there? Late antique inhumation graves at Augusta Raurica.”
2. Anna Flückiger: Coins, Chronology, Continuity, and the Castrum Rauracense: New research on the Castrum and its ‘suburbium’ during Late Antiquity
3. Dan Matei: The post-Roman life in the former castra of Dacia – an overview
4. Alexandru Rațiu, Ioan Caol Opriș: New research concerning the first phase of the Capidava roman fort (Moesia Inferior)
5. Piotr Jaworski, Radosław Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski, Shota Mamuladze: Rise and Fall of Apsaros (Gonio, Georgia). Latest Findings on the Chronology of a Roman Fort on the Eastern Edge of the Empire

18. Transformation of Limes in Late Antiquity

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Sylvain Janniard, Université de Tours.
Vujadin Ivanišević, Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia (E-mail: vujadin.ivanisevic@gmail.com)

Evolution of the frontiers in concept and architecture. Evolution of the army, reorganisation.

The Later Empire (3th – 7th c. A. D.) saw an increased military pressure on the Roman frontiers. One of the constant concerns of the emperors was to guarantee the best conditions for the protection of the imperial territory and the reaffirmation of the Roman power on the Empire’s neighbors. This concern led the Roman power to transform in depth its army and its war techniques. But these concerns also entailed the experiment of new principles of disposition and functioning of the troops quartered in the frontier territories, as well as various forms of installations of foreign populations on imperial lands. Both measure are well attested in the narrative sources and thanks to the archaeological documentation furnished by the various military installations on the Roman frontier zones. But, the exact meaning to be found for these transformations of the imperial policy, as well as their chronology and their precise methods of functioning, are the matter of some important historiographical debates.

Another domain discussed for the Late Antique frontiers, quite particularly for the provinces on the Danube, is the place that the civilian population held in the transformations of the imperial military and foreign policies: the State had to mobilize all the economic and demographic resources at its disposal to insure its survival in the 3th century, then the preservation of its power in the next centuries, but can we speak of a militarization of the civil society on the border lands or can we imagine that the public authorities organized the complete transfer of the tasks of defense to these same civil society?

Finally, for a major part of our modern historiography, the failures of the Late Roman frontier policy would have been responsible for the disappearance of the Roman Empire in the West. If the Late imperial frontiers offer a good point of observation to study the fragmentation of the western provinces, their history, seized on a purely military plan, cannot by itself account for the internal and structural motives responsible for the end of the imperial experience in the West. These are, so exposed, the main themes which the organizers of the session dedicated to the Late Antiquity would like to see considered, with due respect to the regional variations and the necessary articulation between documentations of varied – archaeological, epigraphic or narrative – natures.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Sylvain Janniard, “La prise de Rome en 410 : crise des frontières ou crise politique ?“
2. Vujadin Ivanišević and Ivan Bugarski: Spatial, Military and Economic aspects of Roman Defence on the Upper Moesian Limes
4. Sofija Petković: Early Byzantine Horizon in the Fortification of Pontes – Trajan’s Bridge
5. Agnieszka Tomas: Late Roman annex in Novae (Moesia inferior)
6. Conor Whately: Demilitarizing the Southeast Frontier at the End of Antiquity
7. Maxime Petitjean: L’évolution du système défensif du Bas-Danube au iv^e siècle et la ‘grande stratégie’ de l’Empire romain tardif
8. Alexandra Teodor: The old imperial castrum in a new shape: the Late Roman fort. Case study on Dobruja
9. M’Barek Brahim: From the imperial court to the field, Пυργοκάστελλον -Pyrgocastellum. A architectural innovation imagined in Constantinople and implemented by Justinian’s men on the border.
10. Antoan Tonev: Foederati – beyond or on our side of the limes? How Romans prefer them
11. Sebastian Schmid: The Roman fort at Arelape/Pöchlarn and its development in Late Antiquity
12. Dominic Moreau: Le concept de “limes” dans les sources textuelles antiques / The Concept of “limes” in Ancient Textual Sources
13. Thomas Becker: Militärisch und/oder zivil ? – Zur spätantiken Nutzung des mittelkaiserzeitlichen Kastells von Dormagen (Rheinkreis Neuss/D) / Military or civilian ? – The late antique use of the auxiliary fort or Dormagen
14. Ignacio Arce: A Tetrarchic Roman fort under the Umayyad palace of Khirbat al-Mafjar (Jericho)? An hypothesis on the location of the missing Roman forts at Ariha-Jericho (Palestina) and the sequence of transformation and reuse of the site.
15. Harry van Enckevort (presenting author), Joep Hendriks ‒The afterlife of the Dutch part of the limes ad Germaniam inferiorem

19. Who Were the Limitanei?

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
S. Thomas Parker, North Carolina State University,Raleigh, USA (E-mail: thomas_parker@ncsu.edu)

Scholars have long debated the identity of these enigmatic frontier forces in the late Roman period. Who were these so-called “second-class troops” (viz. the comitatenses)? When, if ever, did these limitanei evolve into a kind of “peasant militia”? What was their military mission and how effectively did they perform this role? To what if any degree were they logistically self-supporting from their own lands versus externally supplied? The rather scanty documentary sources on these frontier soldiers are often seemingly contradictory but there is a growing amount of archaeological evidence (especially botanical and faunal) from various frontiers that significantly supplements and may well challenge traditional portraits drawn from the documentary evidence. It also seems likely that the nature of the limitanei varied among the far-flung frontiers of the Roman empire. This session invites papers from all imperial frontiers that may shed light on this question.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. S. Thomas Parker: New Evidence about the limitanei on Rome’s Arabian frontier
2. Alan Rushworth: Limitanei: the African perspective
3. Rob Collins: ­Landscapes of the Limitanei at the Northern Edge of Empire

20. River Fleets – First line of defense

Session cancelled. Papers that were intended for this session will be transferred to other sessions in consultation with the authors and Committee.

21. Life and health on the Roman Limes

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Nataša Miladinović-Radmilović, Institute of Archaeology Belgrade (E-mail: miladinovic.radmilovic@gmail.com)

This session includes anthropological research of osteological material from old and new archaeological excavations along Limes. This will implies the impact of historical circumstances on the social and health status of the rural, urban and military populations, their paleodemographic structure, the reconstruction of economic relations and the diet, the level of medical care and protection, intentional and accidental traumas, everyday occupations and habits, relations towards children, as well as the reconstruction of funeral practice.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Nataša Miladinović-Radmilović, Ilija Mikić, Dragana Vulović, Ksenija Đukić: The appearance of ulcer on one skeleton from Viminacium and the possibility of its’ treatment in Antiquity
2. Dragana Vulović, Ilija Mikić, Ksenija Đukić, Nataša Miladinović-Radmilović: Case of myositis ossificans traumatica on one skeleton from Viminacium
3. Ilija Mikić, Nataša Miladinović-Radmilović, Dragana Vulović, Ksenija Đukić: Possible explanations for mass skull burials at Viminacium
4. Aleksandar P. Simić, Gordana Jeremić: Roman Medicine and Healthcare on the Upper Moesian Limes in Serbia – Archaeological Evidences
5. C. Scott Speal: Settlement Size, History, and Mortality at Roman Viminacium: Testing the Urban Graveyard Hypothesis
6. Emilija Nikolić, Snežana Golubović: Burial Structures of Viminacium: Building and Construction

Posters related to this session:

• C. Scott Speal: Sex, Risk Allocation, and Roman Patriarchy: Excess Male Mortality on the Danube Frontier
• C. Scott Speal:  Establishing the Health Correlates of Social Status on the Danube Frontier using Grave Construction: The Viminacium Mortuary Complex

22. Here and There… – Empire and Barbaricum

Session cancelled. Papers that were intended for this session will be transferred to session 37. Rome and Barbarians in consultation with the authors and Committee.

23. Limes and the Archaeology of New Age

Session cancelled. Papers that were intended for this session will be transferred to other sessions in consultation with the authors and Committee.

24. Arts and Crafts along Limes

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Ivana Popović. Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade (E-mail: ivpop055@gmail.com)|
Bojan Đurić, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts (E-mail: bojan.djuric@gmail.com)

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Ivana Popović: Roman Cameos With Female Busts from the Limes Region: Their Meaning and Role in the Political Propaganda
2. Iva Kaić: Roman engraved gems from Burgenae in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb
3. Bojan Đurić: The Sirmium sarcophagus production on the Danube Limes and the Titel sarcophagus in Timişoara
4. Boris Alexander Burandt: Entertaining the Empire – Rome´s frontiers and the arena industry
5. Mihaela Simion, Decebal Vleja, Ionuț Bocan, Catalina Mihaela Neagu: The Entry Gate of Luxuries in the Province of Dacia; Roman Engraved gems from Micia (Veţel, Hunedoara County, Romania)
6. Ana Cristina Hamat, Georgescu Ștefan Viorel: Roman Jewellery from South-West of Dacia
7. Ortolf Harl: Military virtue as depicted on official and personal monuments from the Danubian provinces
8. Biljana Lučić, Miroslav B. Vujović, Jasmina Davidović: The Tomb with Paleochristian Wall Paintings from Sirmium

25. First Contacts between the Roman Military and the local people

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Szilvia Bíró (Győr) (E-mail: szilvia.biro@hotmail.com)
Thomas Grane (Copenhagen)
Fraser Hunter (Edinburgh)
Thomas Schierl (Mannheim)

This session seeks to explore the changing nature of relationships between the Roman world and indigenous populations at the time of first contact. As an introduction we will consider the different models – based upon case studies inside and outside the Empire –; how the Roman world dealt with the groups it was meeting in a comparative perspective, and the varied nature of local responses. Main aspects shall be the followings:
• Comparative perspectives on how the Roman military reacted on arrival in a non-Roman area
• Changes in Late Iron Age settlement / settlement structure and what caused these
• Rationale for the positioning of the first Roman military sites
• The nature of early imports / exports
• The role of political or diplomatic contacts

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Pete Wilson: Allies, Enemies, Partners or Protagonists? Rome and the Brigantes in the First Century AD
2. Nick Hodgson and James Bruhn: Roman frontiers create new societies in the lands beyond: a shift to pastoral farming and social re-structuring caused by the building of Hadrian’s Wall
3. Karl Oberhofer: At the back of beyond? Actual perspectives on the lower Alpine Rhine valley regarding the first Roman contacts
4. Balázs Komoróczy, Marek Vlach, Ján Rajtár, Claus-Michael Hüssen: The latest discoveries and research results of the Roman military presence in Middle Danube barbaricum
5. Andrew Lawrence: Roman Contact und Impact in the Swiss Plateau (100 BC – 20 AD)
6. Fraser Hunter: First contacts in Scotland: a review of old and new evidence
7. Thomas Grane: Roman bronzes as a medium of diplomacy
8. Thomas Schierl: JUST TELLING STORIES. Augustus and Central Germany: Illustrating military history or telling another story?
9. José Manuel Costa-García: But Gaius, those locals seemed friendlier! The rationale behind the military deployment during the early stages of the Roman military presence in NW Iberia
10. Milica Tapavički Ilić: Limes in Serbia – the early days
11. Dragana Nikolić: Roman Conquest of the Western and Central Balkans in the Light of Recent Research

26. Re-evaluating old excavations: are they worth it?

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Orsolya Láng, Aquincum Museum (E-mail: lang.orsolya@aquincum.hu)

Even though, excavations at most sites along the Roman Limes have been going on for 120-150 years now, publishing the several decades old excavation data and finds is always problematic. Different standards of evaluation were used to document excavations from the 19^th century onwards ranging from short reports and traditional layer-description methods to writing long “stories” on drawings and find bags… How can data and finds of an early 20^th c. excavation be used nowadays for example? Can these various types of documentations be integrated with the more recent researches and re-interpreted according to more modern methods? How can these data be re-evaluated? Could re-evaluation of old excavation documentations lead to the elimination of old topoi concerning a site? What are your experiences?

This section is rather planned to be a methodological one (with case studies), but extremely important, as large amount of data and finds from age-old excavations of Limes settlements still await processing.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Orsolya Láng: Old excavation – new results: examples from the Aquincum Civil Town” – a keynote paper
2. Eduard Nemeth: Different methods, different terms: understanding old excavations
3. Simon James: The Roman military base at Dura-Europos: from archive and field to new synthesis
4. Malcolm Lyne: A pharos-headed pin from Richborough and its implications.
5. Simone Mayer: Digging in the archives – The 19th c. excavations of J. J. Schmid in Augusta Raurica
6. Veronika Fischer: The barracks of „Ostkastell IIIb” in Straubing/Sorviodurum (Bavaria) and new knowledge about the cohors I Flavia Canathenorum milliaria sagittariorum
7. Eva Steigberger: Hidden treasures? What you ask is not always what you get
8. Hans Jost Mergen: Niederbieber and early 19th-century research at the Upper-German Limes
9. Nora Lombardini, Elena Fioretto: Archaeological remains along the Danubian Limes: through centuries of travelers to a new instrument for intercultural dialogue
10. Philip Smither: Revisiting Richborough: A reassessment of the excavations of J.P. Bushe-Fox (1922-1938)
11. Martin Wieland: Bridge over troubled water: The roman bridge in Cologne between old research and new questions

Posters related to this session:

• Judit Pásztókai-Szeőke: A small secret of the sea-silk from Szemlőhegy (HU)

27. Saxon Shore

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Sofie Vanhoutte, Flanders Heritage Agency (E-mail: sofie.vanhoutte@vlaanderen.be)
Tony Wilmott, Historic England (Tony.wilmott@HistoricEngland.org.uk)

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Tony Wilmott: Recent excavations on the seaward side of the Saxon shore fort of Richborough
2. Nathaniel Durant: A Tale of Two Frontiers?: Hadrian’s Wall and the Saxon Shore Forts in the 3rd to 5th centuries A.D.
3. Sofie Vanhoutte: Cross-Channel Connections. The fort at Oudenburg (Belgium) within its wider context: new insights into the Litus Saxonicum.
4. Philip Smither: ‘I’m not so (Saxon) shore’: Richborough in the 3rd – 5th centuries AD
5. Michael Fulford, A Roman coastal fortlet or signal station at Reedham, Norfolk, England
6. Raymond Brulet – The opposite coastline: problems to be solved about continental Litus Saxonicum
7. Malcolm Lyne – Excavations at Pevensey Between 1936 and 1939
8. Mark Tucker – A Re-evaluation of the Western Shore Forts
9. Lloyd Bosworth: Recent Geophysical Survey at Portus Lemanis

28. Temporary / semi-permanent structures

Session cancelled. Papers that were intended for this session will be transferred to other sessions in consultation with the authors and Committee.

29. Mapping the Edge of Empire

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Richard Talbert, University of North Carolina (E-mail: talbert@email.unc.edu)
Boris Rankov, Royal Holloway, University of London (E-mail: b.rankov@rhul.ac.uk)

The panel invites perspectives on how, if at all, Romans demarcated frontiers on the ground, for example (and if not, why not?), recorded them on maps or other documents, conceived of them mentally and legally, attached special significance to them, exploited them, or assumed distinctive patterns of behavior in adjacent areas. Reference to the edges of empire in the Danube lands is especially welcome, but the scope of papers is by no means limited to that region. Instructive comparison with the frontier consciousness (or lack thereof) found among imperial powers elsewhere at any period is also encouraged. Should Roman attitudes to frontiers be regarded as at all exceptional in fact? Are there major deficiencies in our understanding, and can effective means be found to remedy them?

Anyone wishing to contribute a paper to this panel should send an abstract of 400 words (maximum) to Professor Boris Rankov (b.rankov@rhul.ac.uk) by 1st March, 2018 at the latest; all applicants will be notified by 31st March whether their papers have been accepted. Papers should last no longer than 20 minutes.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Boris Rankov, Royal Holloway, University of London
2. Eugen S. Teodor: Hiding in Woods. Gaps in delineating the Boundary along Limes Transalutanus
3. Hannsjörg Ubl: Zur Toponomastik der römischen Limeslager an der österreichischen Donau nach den Listen der Limitantruppen von Noricum ripensis und Pannonia prima in der Notitia Dignitatum
4. Alexandru Flutur, Adrian-Cristian Ardelean: “Limes Sarmatiae” – Ancient maps, new interpretations
5. Carolyn Snively: The Border or its Zone? The Situation in Southeastern Dardania
6. Brian Turner: A Soldier’s Map: Velleius Paterculus on the Limits of Empire

30. [Continuation of] Building materials: Elements of construction, elements of expression?

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Craig A. Harvey (E-mail: caharvey@umich.edu)
Tanja Romankiewicz
Guus Gazenbeek

Whether it be by forts, watch towers, or walls, military installations played an integral part in defending the Roman Empire and projecting control over its border regions. The construction of these installations, along with their associated infrastructure and support buildings (such as roads, baths, barracks, horrea, etc.) and the civilian buildings and settlements that followed in their wake, was therefore of the utmost importance. While there are many ways to study these structures, a particularly fruitful avenue of their exploration is through their building material. The construction materials used along the frontiers often depended on the local geography and availability of resources (stone, timber, clay, earth, water, lime, etc.). These installations therefore not only expressed Roman military might, but also represented the ingenuity of its architects, engineers, surveyors, construction workers, and material preparers. Above all, these works embodied the Roman military’s capacity to organize the logistics that form the basics of building on such a large scale. In many cases it may also be possible to see the influence of indigenous building traditions on these Roman military installations.
This session focuses on the literal building blocks of the Roman limes, and the people who selected, created and used these elements of construction. We would like to invite contributions which present a specific building material and how it has been used for a specific context, or which consider new methods of analysis. More general contributions are also welcome that explore:

• Where are building materials sourced: locally, locally-adapted, or imported? What does this tell us about who sourced these materials and who used them?
•  How are these materials used in constructions: to what extent is regional or local influence present in the building program of the Roman frontier?
• Can we trace developments and innovations? Or experiments, failure, and deterioration of skills and knowledge – in different places, at different times?
• What evidence is there for ephemeral building materials (i.e. timber, unfired clay/bricks, other organic materials), and what can this tell us?
• How can the application of theories, such as chaîne opératoire or network analysis, contribute to the study of these materials or building processes?
• What is the influence of local building traditions on Roman building techniques in new territories, and, what happened to these local traditions once the Romans had established themselves?
• To what extent did the regional geography or availability/lack of resource affect the decisions made by engineers and builders regarding the building material and techniques used?
• What was the role of civilians in constructing the limes? Were they just bystanders or leading participants? To what extent did the military contract out the work or rely on civilians for the sourcing, preparation, or actual assembly of the material?

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Tanja Romankiewicz (presenting author) and Benjamin Russell: Earthen Empire: earth and turf building in the northwest provinces
2. Craig A. Harvey, M. Barbara Reeves: Ceramic Building Materials from the Roman Fort at Hauarra (modern Humayma, Jordan): An Examination of the Manufacturing Processes
3. Piotr Dyczek, Janusz Recław: “House with a peristyle” from Novae. Centurion house of the first cohort of legio I Italica?
4. Balázs Komoróczy – Marek Vlach – Lenka Lisá – Claus-Michael Hüssen – Ján Rajtár: On the trail of ephemeral building materials of the Roman military campaigns to the Middle Danube barbarian territories
5. Kathleen O’Donnell: The Quarry Inscriptions of Hadrian’s Wall
6. Tomáš Janek: Bricks! Bricks everywhere! – Roman legionary production and distribution of building ceramics
7. Martin Mosser, Michaela Kronberger: Stone extraction for Vindobona – regional infrastructure and economic relationship by the example of a legionary garrison in Pannonia.
8. Erik Hrnčiarik, Milan Horňák: Newly discovered Germanic farmyard with Roman-style buildings in Slovakia

31. Bath buildings

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Stefanie Hoss, Archäologisches Institut, Universität zu Köln (E-mail: Stefanie.Hoss@uni-koeln.de)
Bebina Milovanović, Institute of Archaeology Belgrade Serbia
Emilija Nikolić, Institute of Archaeology Belgrade Serbia

Together with amphitheatres, military bath buildings were erected near forts and in legionary camps to enable the soldiers to enjoy their favourite leisure activities. Indeed, bath buildings are vastly more common than amphitheatres in connection with military installations, regardless of whether these are situated on windy and wet Hadrian’s Wall or in the hot and dry deserts of Africa. It seems that the pleasures of a visit to the bathhouse – including the nicely decorated and warm rooms, abundance of clean and warm water plus the pleasure of meeting friends for a chat – seem to have been judged to have such an overriding importance that even the smallest forts aspired to them.

Whereas amphitheatres were also used for military parades and show fights of units against each other, bath buildings had no direct military use beyond ensuring the health and happiness of the soldiers. We can thus conclude that the regular occurrence of bath buildings near forts and in legionary camps is a sign of the central position the bathing habit had in Roman society and an indication of the importance of the soldiers as a class within that society. Both were on the rise during the 1st century AD and gained their full importance in the early 2nd century, retaining it for at least two hundred years.

But a number of issues on the social habit of bathing and the resulting buildings are still unanswered in the military sphere and this session will invite contributors to ask questions such as:

• were military baths restricted to soldiers or could all inhabitants of the legionary camp or the fort and vicus bathe there?
• was the bathhouse of a given fort or camp of a size that allowed all the soldiers of the unit to take a bath there every day or every two days? Or was the bathhouse only for a few of them?
• as these buildings are technically challenging to construct, were they built by specialists within the Roman army, a travelling ‘bath building corps’ or perhaps by civilian contractors?
• can we determine differences between military and civilian bathhouses of the same region – either in the architecture or the decoration?
• which of the countless activities recorded for non-military bath buildings in towns and cities such as eating and drinking, exercising, getting a haircut, consulting a doctor, listening to lectures or poetry readings and satisfying one’s sexual desires may have been available in military bathhouses?
• how was the location of the bathhouse determined when it was built outside a fort or inside a legionary camp – were positions chosen for easy access to water or other location advantages specific to bathhouses or were military considerations of a higher importance?

 Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Bebina Milovanović, Emilija Nikolić and Dragana Rogić: Body Function and Life Process of a Roman Building: Viminacium Baths
2. Guillhaume Moscato: Military baths and sport on the northern frontiers
3. Robert Darby, Thibaud Fournet: Military Baths and Local Adaptation: A Case Study of the Auxiliary Baths of the Cohors II Galatarum at ‘Ayn Gharandal (Arieldela), Jordan
4. Ovidiu Țentea, Britta Burkhardt: Baths on the Frontiers of Roman Dacia
5. Rene Ployer, Eva Steigberger: My bath is in my fort? Bath buildings in military context in Noricum and Western Pannonia
6. Ioan Carol Opriș, Alexandru Rațiu and Tiberiu Potârniche: Roman military baths from Capidava (2nd – 3rd c. A.D.)
7. Gabriella Fényes: Thermae Maiores – The military bath of the legio II Adiutrix in Aquincum
8. Judit Pásztókai-Szeőke: Dishing the dirt on the textile tools found in Roman (military) baths.

32. “Ils sont foux, ces Romains” – Silly actions, planning mistakes and strange features in the Roman army

Session cancelled. Papers that were intended for this session will be transferred to other sessions in consultation with the authors and Committee.

33. Presenting the Roman Frontiers

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Dr Nigel Mills, Heritage Consultant (E-mail: nigelmillsheritage@gmail.com)
Dr Christof Fluegel (Archaeology Museums, Bavarian Department for Museums)

The ‘Presenting the Roman Frontiers’ sessions reflect the growing interest in expanding the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site and in using the opportunities offered by the Congress to discuss and to share best practice in the four key areas of Management, Protection, Public Presentation and Sustainable Development. With the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage Site to include all the frontier countries along the Rhine and the Danube planned for 2020, this Congress in Serbia provides an opportunity to focus on some particular themes.
The UNESCO declaration (http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002338/233892e.pdf) on the protection and promotion of museums and their collections provides an important underpinning for matters relating to interpretation and the visitor experience. In particular, UNESCO recommends “supporting the increased role of museums in heritage preservation, social, educational and economic development and enjoyment, as well as in sustainable development and intercultural dialogue”.

Visitor research
Visitor research helps us assess how we present Roman frontier sites to the public, looking for ways to engage new and different audiences, with the ultimate goal of helping us to manage and protect World Heritage and enabling it to contribute to sustainable development. A particular issue is that often World Heritage Status is seen as having a negative impact, as a constraint on development. Understanding our audiences may help us to address this issue, and help more people see World Heritage Status as a positive. An alternative viewpoint might be that we need only cater for interested visitors, focusing on the presentation of academic information rather than reaching out to engage with wider audiences.
We would welcome contributions which focus on recent research into existing and potential visitors to Roman Frontier sites and museums. We hope this focus may act as a stimulus for sites and museums to undertake research over the next 12 months and to use this as a basis for discussion at the congress in Serbia. We suggest that qualitative research, exploring visitors’ views, insights, perceptions and experiences is of particular interest and importance.

Particular questions we would like to address include:

• What do visitors and potential visitors think about the Romans?
• What do visitors think about existing sites and museums, and the way they are presented to the public?
• How are sites and museums along the Roman Frontiers using audience research to influence the way they present information?
• What are the sorts of stories and interpretation techniques that most appeal to visitors?
• Are modern technologies such as smartphone apps and multi-media application helpful and do they generate new and perhaps younger visitors?
• How do visitors perceive the value of 1:1 ‘reconstructions’ and how can these be accommodated in the context of international charters such as the Valetta convention?
• What are the barriers to visiting? What would encourage potential visitors to visit?
• Does the interpretation, and the stories we tell, impact on visitors and provide lasting memories?
• Is Roman heritage valued? If so, how and why? If not, then why not?

Areas for general discussion and debate could include whether it might be helpful to reach agreement on some aspects of joint standards and/or best practice (e.g. agreeing some overall approaches and principles such as adopting the presentation principles of Interpret Europe – http://www.interpret-europe.net – agreeing language options).

Partnership working (for exhibitions, tourism, interpretation, marketing etc)
The second theme is that of partnership working. This is of especial importance for the ongoing management of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site. Management of the different sections of the WHS within the many different countries necessarily involves complex partnerships and the need for different professional and non-professional groups to work together in ways they have not previously experienced. World Heritage Site management brings together archaeologists, academics, planners, tourism officers, education specialists, politicians, local businesses and many other stakeholders.We invite contributions that explore and share examples and experiences of good practice in partnership working to protect, manage and present our Roman Frontier heritage, to promote protection, understanding and engagement and sustainable development.

Examples could include:

• Professionals in similar disciplines working together (e.g. academics, professionals)
• Professionals in different disciplines working together (e.g. archaeologists and tourism specialists)
• Professionals working with non-professionals (communities, amateur archaeologists, local people)

Key questions that might be addressed include:

• How does the partnership work?
• What are the objectives
• What are the benefits?
• What are the outcomes?
• What are the difficulties?

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Nigel Mills / Christof Flügel: Introduction to the session

Visitor Research

1. Richard Hingley / Kate Sharpe: Roman Frontiers in the UK: assessing what visitors value about the Roman past
2. Snezana Golubovic: Viminacium: public presentation and visitor research
3. Jenny Morscheiser: Welterbe als Chance – oder wieso die Römer auch in Krefeld waren
4. Erik Grafstaal: Castellum Hoge Woerd: concept, business case, design, audiences and visitor groups
5. Nigel Mills: Frontiers past and present: visitor reactions to the Living Wall exhibit in the Roman Frontier Gallery, Tullie House Museum
6. Rahel Clormann/Christof Flügel: The Mittelfranken-Limes-App: audience research and testing
7. Patricia Weeks, Lyn Wilson, Al Rawlinson, Carsten Hermann, Erik Dobat: The Antonine Wall: digital resource development for new audiences
8. Boris Alexander Burandt: Between archaeology and cliché – a study on Roman military reconstructions and reenactment
9. Mike Bishop: Turma! Hadrian’s Cavalry Charge in Carlisle
10. Balázs Komoróczy, Pavla Růžičková, Marek Vlach: The Romans deep in barbaricum. Conception, current state and perspectives of the Roman military monuments presentation in the Czech Republic
11. Andrea Chiricescu: Working with the local community on the Roman Limes. First steps in developing a sustainable site management framework
12. Thomas Becker: Limes-App Hessen „Explore“ – moderner Weg der Denkmalvermittlung / Limes-App Hesse „Explore“ – a modern way of heritage transfer
13. Dániel Kővágó: Visitors in bowler hats and baseball caps – Aquincum then and now

Partnerships

1. Tom Hazenberg: Cement for the Limes. Interpretation Framework and Curatorship for the Dutch limes
2. Rob Collins: Community archaeology on Hadrian’s Wall
3. Bill Griffiths: The Hadrian’s Cavalry exhibition along Hadrian’s Wall: 10 museums and five organisations across 150 miles of WHS
4. Anne Chen: The Southeast Europe Digital Documentation [SEEDD] project – partnership working in practice

34. Roman Egypt

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Steven Sidebotham, University of Delaware, College of Arts & Sciences (E-mail: ses@udel.edu)

Egypt, the southeastern-most province and limes of the Roman empire, provided grain, building stone, precious metals and gemstones. Egypt was a conduit for commerce passing down the Nile from sub-Saharan Africa. Egypt also served as the nexus of a huge and very lucrative trade network linking the wider Mediterranean world with the northwestern Indian Ocean via the Red Sea and other points in Arabia, Africa and south Asia. This sea-borne commerce then crossed the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea along roads protected by military installations. It was in this desert region that the quarrying and mining activities noted above, much of which was state sponsored and protected by the Roman army, secured highly desirable building stone, gold, amethysts, emeralds and other minerals sought by the rest of the Mediterranean world.

This session will report on some of the recent archaeological fieldwork in Egypt related to these commercial and military activities in the Roman period.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Steven Sidebotham, (University of Delaware, USA): Results of Fieldwork at Berenike (a Ptolemaic-Roman Port on Egypt’s Red Sea Shore): 2013-2018
2. Steven Sidebotham, (University of Delaware, USA): Survey of the Berenike-Nile Roads 1987-2015: the Highways, the Military Installations, Mines and Quarries
3. Rodney Ast (Heidelberg University, Germany): New Greek Inscriptions from the Temple of Isis at Berenike
4. Joan Oller Guzmán (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain): Controlling the Mons Smaragdus: The Presence (or Absence) of the Roman Army in a Productive Frontier Region
5. Julia Lougovaya-Ast (Heidelberg University, Germany): Pleasure and Entertainment on the Roman Frontier
6. Iwona Zych: The Blemmyan record in Berenike of the late period (4th–6th centuries AD)
7. Julien Cooper: Trade routes, raiding, and mining: thoughts on the Blemmyean desert state in Late Antiquity
8. Peter Sheehan, Dmitry Karelin, Maria Karelina, Tatiana Zhitpeleva: Babylon of Egypt: the Reconstruction of the Diocletianic Fortress.

35. Small finds assemblages as a means to understanding social and economic patterns within the settlements close to Roman camps

Session organisers / Chairpersons:
Hannes Flück, (E-mail: Hannes.Flueck@archaeologe.ch)
Paul Franzen, (Paul.Franzen@tele2.nl)

The last Roman Frontier Studies conferences (Limeskongresse) treated us to several different approaches towards the military vici, the canabae legionis and the towns. Topics like their legal status, the topography of the vici or their economic function(s), all had their place at the RFS. Recently, and outside the RFS, several comprehensive studies were published on (parts of) the canabae legionis at e. g. Carnuntum or Vindonissa.

So far, the small finds from all these sites took a back seat. We define small finds here as those finds, that come in reasonable numbers, e.g. metal finds, glass, worked bones, stone etc. Is it possible to use small finds beyond their obvious dating purposes, and to add to our knowledge on military vici and towns? With several large scale excavations since the 1980’s at our back, with their emphasis on stratigraphy and the combination between finds and features, we think this should be possible.

For instance, the following questions could be put forward:

• Is there a difference in the small finds assemblages from the canabae and military vici to those from the purely civilian sites which exist in close proximity to the forts and fortresses?
• Which similarities and differences can be seen in the assemblages between these sites (vici and canabae) and the forts and fortresses?
• Can we differentiate social classes within the canabae and military vici, or is it all the same? The same question could be applied to the purely civilian sites on the Limes, and how do they compare with the canabae and military vici?
• Have we any idea what a typical assemblage is, for any of these sites, i.e. what is the norm?
• Are there certain categories of small finds that are especially well suited to answer some of the questions above?

And of course we are open for any other stimulating questions along the lines sketched here.

Proposals, including an abstract of not more than 500 Words in English can be sent to:
Hannes.Flueck@archaeologe.ch and Paul.Franzen@tele2.nl.

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Hannes Flück: Bling for the fling – a fibulae assemblage from the canabae legionis of Vindonissa and its interpretation
2. Paul Franzen: What can small finds do for you? Weights as an indication for trade and commerce and as a means to determine whether the context is military or civilian.
3. Birgitta Hoffmann: Glass in the military settlements:  between local production and luxury acquisitions
4. Anna Walas: Finds distribution analysis and the relationships between fort and annex at Flavian Elginhaugh, Scotland
5. Tony Wilmott: Small finds and environmental evidence from the seating ban of the Chester amphitheatre
   
6. Orsolya Lang, Andrew Wilson: First steps on a long way: preliminary results of the research of millstones from the settlement complex of Aquincum (working title).
7. Stefanie Hoss (presenting), Julia Chorus, Julie Van Kerckhove and Carlijn van Maaren: Vicus on the Rhine: the mini-vici of the Lower Rhine between Utrecht and the sea.

36. General session

Confirmed participants for this session:

1. Aránzazu Medina González: Hic non finit Imperium Romanum. The concept of “no-frontier”
2. Peti Donevski: Was Durostorum a seat of the governor of Moesia Inferior province?

37. Rome and Barbarians

Confirmed participants for this session:

• Marko Jelusić: In the service of Rome? – Mobility and ethnic interpretation of the shield bosses with a star-shaped flange and faceted / fluted bowls
• Stanko Trifunović: Archaeological Characteristics of Sarmatians Limigantes Culture
• Catalina Mihaela Neagu, Mihaela Simion, Decebal Vleja, Ionuț Bocan: Searching life in death. A specific community in Roman Dacia – Alburnus Maior.
• Fraser Hunter: What makes a barbarian? Studying barbarian material culture on Roman monuments

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