The Augustan temple and forum of the colony of Barcino: a 90 degree turn

The Augustan Roman temple at Barcino has been a key element during the last 60 years in the research of the colony's urban development. Its peculiar elongated and narrow plan, first proposed in 1835, and its location at the highest point of the ancient city have dictated our understanding of the urban layout of Barcino by conditioning the shape of the city's forum and affecting the interpretation of the archaeological excavations carried out in the area since then. This paper proposes an alternative plan of the temple, based on data drawn from recent archaeological excavations, topographical analysis, typological comparisons, and the study of written sources. Our alternative hypothesis for the temple permits an in-depth reinterpretation of the plan of the forum and the evolution of the urban plan

Reconstructing the Roman London flavourscape: new insights into the exotic food plant trade using network and spatial analyses

Using archaeobotanical data and examining them with a novel combination of density interpolation surfaces and social and spatial network analyses, this study has brought together exotic food plants in Roman London to outline the changing ‘face’ of its flavourscape, and contextualise it within the broader exotics commerce in Britannia. Consumption of a variety of exotics appeared to be widespread since the very first stages of London's establishment and their presence was maintained throughout although later on, as life in the town developed and its character changed, the focus of their distribution also changed. The emphasis shifted from the core of the city in its early days towards its outer zones, such as the upper Walbrook valley and Southwark in the Middle Roman, and the western and eastern sectors in the Late Roman phase. These changes appeared to largely reflect the changes in the overall commerce network of exotics in Britannia. In this network London starts as a mainly consumption place in the Early Roman phase to become the main redistribution centre in the Middle Roman and the necessary intermediate node in the transport system that had been established by the Late Roman phase, connecting the south to the north

The application of 3D reconstruction techniques in the analysis of ancient Tarraco's urban topography

The widespread implementation of GIS-based 3D topographical models has been a great aid in the development and testing of archaeological hypotheses. In this paper, a topographical reconstruction of the ancient city of Tarraco, the Roman capital of the Tarraconensis province, is presented. This model is based on topographical data obtained through archaeological excavations, old photographic documentation, georeferenced archive maps depicting the pre-modern city topography, modern detailed topographical maps and differential GPS measurements. The addition of the Roman urban architectural features to the model offers the possibility to test hypotheses concerning the ideological background manifested in the city shape. This is accomplished mainly through the use of 3D views from the main city accesses. These techniques ultimately demonstrate the ‘theatre-shaped’ layout of the city (to quote Vitrubius) as well as its southwest oriented architecture, whose monumental character was conceived to present a striking aspect to visitors, particularly those arriving from the sea

Simulating communication routes in Mediterranean alluvial plains

Societies exchange knowledge, ideas and merchandise throughout their territories. Topography plays a fundamental role in the trajectory of such movements whilst helping to explain the distribution of human constructions. Standard GIS functions have been employed widely to simulate communication routes between settlements, but the straight application of published least cost route models proved inadequate for Mediterranean alluvial plain areas in which seasonal floods become an important factor to acknowledge. The objective of this study is the production of a new model, using topographic and hydrologic factors as variables from which it would be possible to simulate a route, and test it against known Roman itineraries. The selected Roman stretches are Girona – Coll de Pannisars and Tarragona – Montblanc. The new model shows the need to consider each case individually but also stresses the hydrologic factor, expressed in seasonal floods, as being of prime importance in the creation and development of Roman roads in Mediterranean alluvial plains

Methodological insights into the study of centuriated field systems: a landscape archaeology perspective

The morphological identification of centuriated field systems has been characterised from its beginnings by methodological approaches mainly sustained on actus-based modular relationships and orientations. Many researchers dedicated to the identification of centuriations have only performed archaemorphological analyses based on interpretation of aerial photographs and maps without field verification or any other proof of the validity of their hypothsis. Their restitutions consisted of a set of lines over a map or an aerial photograph which often lacked precision and spatial resolution. This article argues that the study of centuriations should transform its aims, scope and methodologies to be converged with those presented by diachronic transdisciplinary landscape archaeology. In order to do so a series of integrated methodological approaches are exposed and their applicability discussed

Pitch production during the Roman period: an intensive mountain industry for a globalised economy?

The authors’ research project in the Pyrenees mountains has located and excavated Roman kilns for producing pitch from pine resin. Their investigations reveal a whole sustainable industry, integrated into the local environmental cycle, supplying pitch to the Roman network and charcoal as a spin-off to the local iron extractors. The paper makes a strong case for applying combined archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations in upland areas, showing mountain industries to have been not so much marginal and pastoral as key players in the economy of the Roman period and beyond it into the seventh century AD

Occupation et anthropisation des espaces de haute montagne dans les vallées de Nuria et de Coma de Vaca (Gerona, Espagne) : résultats des recherches archéologiques et patrimoniales

Depuis 2010, un programme intégrant des recherches archéologiques et paléo-environnementales a été développé dans les Pyrénées orientales (Catalogne). Le but était d’étudier la formation et l’origine des paysages de haute montagne méditerranéens. Ce programme comprenait des travaux de prospection, des systèmes d’information géographique, des fouilles archéologiques ainsi que l’intégration de données paléo-environnementales. Les résultats soulignent l’importance des activités d’élevage au cours des derniers millénaires dans les zones étudiées, depuis la première occupation humaine de ces espaces de haute montagne, attestée depuis le Néolithique moyen, jusqu’aux périodes modernes et contemporaines. Cette activité a conduit à la formation de paysages culturels complexes. L’archéologie du paysage fournit de nouvelles données pour l’élaboration des outils de gestion nécessaires au développement durable des espaces de haute montagne.Since 2010, an integrated archaeological and paleoenvironmental research program has been developed in the Eastern Pyrenees (Catalonia), with the aim of studying the long-term landscape shaping of Mediterranean high-mountain environments. This program involved extensive surveying, geographical information systems, archaeological excavation and the integration of multi-proxy paleoenvironmental data. The results underline the incidence in these areas of grazing activities during the past millennia, from the first human occupation of the highlands, recorded in the Middle Neolithic, to the modern and contemporary periods. This activity has led to complex cultural landscapes in the high Pyrenean areas. Landscape history provides new data for the development of management tools for the sustainability of Mediterranean highlands

The Roman centuriated landscape: conception, genesis and development as inferred from the Ager Tarraconensis case

Although centuriation was only one system of Roman land division, its impact on the landscape and its visibility in modern field arrangements make it the most commonly recognized expression of Roman landscapes. Centuriated grid systems are usually analyzed from a materialistic point of view and consequently regarded as an assertion of Roman dominance over conquered territories. In this sense, their productive function is clear. The hinterland of Tarraco (the ancient capital of the Roman province of Tarraconensis) offers one of the most clearly documented examples of multiple-grid centuriated systems. From 2006 to 2010, the Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP) of the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology employed a wide array of digital and field methodologies at Tarraco to record the traces of centuriated land divisions and their Roman origin. Most importantly, these methods have allowed research to move beyond pure description of the traces to explore the concepts and ideas behind the making of a centuriated landscape. By using Tarraco as a case study, this article shows how centuriation was not only a system for dividing the land but also a conceptual appropriation of the landscape based on a strong mythical and religious backgroun

Following Roman waterways from a computer screen: GIS-based approaches to the analysis of Barcino’s aqueducts

From the 1950's until today the Roman colony of Barcino (modern Barcelona) has been believed to posses two aqueducts. One was transporting water from the Montcada mountains and the other one from the Collserola range. In this article, GIS-based least-cost route analysis (LCR) in combination with more traditional archaeological techniques is applied to analyse these aqueduct’s routes. The results obtained suggest Barcino had only one aqueduct: the one carrying water from Montcada. The aqueduct was divided in two channels before entering the city, thus giving origin to the theories suggesting the existence of two aqueducts. LCR analysis has also been useful in determining the medieval transformation of this aqueduct into the Rec Comtal water channel