Over the last thirty years, there have been considerable advances in theoretical approaches to the archaeology of the Roman world. Frontier studies and, increasingly, research on the impacts of Roman imperialism beyond the frontier, have been at the heart of many of those theoretically-driven debates. In particular, Romano-centric interpretations of the cultural, social, and economic interactions between the peoples of the Roman Empire and the ‘barbarians’ beyond its borders have seen sustained critique. Interpretive models such as ‘Romanisation’, based on notions of a uniform and unidirectional transfer of ‘civilised’ culture from Rome to barbarian groups, have been replaced by a range of post-colonial theoretical approaches that have produced more nuanced and complex narratives (Hingley, Reference Hingley2005; Webster & Cooper, Reference Webster and Cooper1996).
This volume brings together scholars working within this field of trans-frontier interactions from across north-western Europe. It is the first in a new series, named TRAC Themes in Roman Archaeology, with the aim of publishing focussed, theoretically-informed research that addresses specific emergent themes and issues. At its heart are eight papers derived from two sessions organised in 2013 and 2014 at the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC). The papers are essentially geographic case-studies, but they serve to highlight and reflect upon the variety of theoretical approaches to ‘Roman’-‘barbarian’ interaction present in those different regions. These eight papers are bookended by important contributions that serve to introduce the theoretical underpinnings (Richard Hingley) and provide a concluding discussion (David Mattingly).
Hingley (Ch. 1, ‘Introduction: Imperial Limits and the Crossing of Frontiers’) presents an overview of Roman frontier studies and situates the volume within the broader academic discourse. In doing so, he sets the agenda for the papers that follow, highlighting the need to develop more complex interpretations of identity in frontier zones that move beyond the Roman-barbarian dichotomy. Of particular interest is Hingley's appeal for border studies to draw more heavily on cross-cultural and cross-temporal comparisons with the aim of addressing the relevance of Roman frontiers to contemporary society. The significance of the papers included in this volume is that they contribute to both of these research directions.
The first of the main body of papers is a discussion by Karim Mata on transcultural discourse (Ch. 2, ‘Of Barbarians and Boundaries: The Making and Remaking of Transcultural Discourse’). This is a heavily theoretical paper which draws from concepts of ‘middle-ground’ and Cosmopolitan Theory to interpret cultural sharing between the peoples of the northern frontier zones. The motivations of individuals or groups to engage in cross-cultural relations is examined through Grid-Group analysis. Grid-Group theory, devised in the 1970s by anthropologist Mary Douglas (Reference Douglas2006) to explain ‘cultural’ differences within communities, has seen renewed interest by archaeologists in recent years (see Davis, Reference Davis2015; Sharples, Reference Sharples, Moore and Armada2012), and it provides a useful tool here to explore cross-cultural engagements. Gardner (Ch. 3, ‘Roman Britain from the Outside: Comparing Western and Northern Frontier Cultures’) provides an intriguing discussion of the different kinds of social processes underway in different frontier regions, which challenges generalised models of interactions in such areas. Comparing the evidence from the frontier zones of northern and western Britain he highlights the greater emphasis on boundary making in the north and boundary crossing in the west. Rather than accounting for this variation through differential Imperial policy or native hostility, Gardner places more emphasis on social ‘bordering practices’. These, he argues, developed relatively conflict-free links gradually over time in the west, but in the north, bordering was punctuated by more frequent episodes of conflict that led to the mutual recognition of the importance of that boundary.
Jacqueline Cahill Wilson (Ch. 4, ‘Et tu, Hibernia? Frontier Zones and Culture Contact—Ireland in a Roman World’) provides an overview of the emerging evidence of Roman influence in Ireland. While Roman finds in Ireland have long been catalogued, they have often been interpreted within culture-historical narratives that emphasise an indigenous, and independent, prehistoric past beyond the Roman world. In many respects this is an understandable position developed from an emergent sense of Irish identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that sought to emphasise its independence from Britishness. Cahill Wilson provides an excellent overview of the Discovery Programme's recent Late Iron Age and Roman Ireland (LIARI) project, which has helped to challenge past assumptions and reposition Ireland as a zone of frontier contact. The strength of this paper lies in the discussion of the new survey and material data, but the theoretical engagement with the evidence is not particularly well developed here.
The two following papers by Xenia Pauli Jensen (Ch. 5, ‘A World of Warcraft: Warrior Identities in Roman Iron Age Scandinavia’) and Thomas Grane (Ch. 6, ‘Modern Perceptions of Roman–Scandinavian Relations’) shift the geographical focus to Scandinavia. Jensen explores how the presence of the Roman Empire altered the ways in which political and military power were expressed within the Germanic societies of southern Scandinavia. The focus of the paper is on military equipment, particularly that related to swords, found in wetland deposits such as Vimose and Illerup Ådal. Jensen highlights that objects like swords within such deposits are often hybrids showing both Roman and Germanic characteristics. Taking an object biographical approach, Jensen argues that the transformation and adaptation of Roman military equipment suggests foreign objects were used alongside native material to visualise new identity and power relations. Whereas Jensen's focus is on reinterpretation of the evidence, Grane provides a largely descriptive account of the development of trans-frontier research in Scandinavia. This is a useful historiographical study that outlines the foundations for modern interpretations of Roman-Germanic interactions in this region. From the perspective of this volume, however, it would have perhaps made more sense for the order of these two chapters to have been reversed, since Grane provides the context in which Jensen's work is located.
Voβ and Wigg-Wolf (Ch. 7, ‘Romans and Roman Finds in the Central European Barbaricum: A New View on Romano-Germanic Relations?’) consider the evidence of Roman activity between the Rhine and the Elbe. The range and quantity of Roman finds from this region has become increasingly apparent through the ‘Corpus of the Roman Finds from the European Barbaricum’ project. This paper demonstrates the significant research potential of that dataset through the detailed analysis of the distribution of Roman coins as a case study. Traditionally, coins recovered from within the Barbaricum have been interpreted as deriving from trade, but Voβ and Wigg-Wolf highlight the general paucity of low denomination coinage within this region and suggest other exchange mechanisms were involved such as tribute, ransom, and diplomatic gifts. Once outside the Empire, they argue that coins appear to have been used in social rather than economic transactions, even being utilised as personal ornaments. The paper raises a number of enticing questions, not least why peoples of the Barbaricum chose to use Roman coins to express social identities. Although these remain unanswered, the questions highlight the complex nature of Roman-barbarian relations.
The final two core papers by Moschek (Ch. 8, ‘Two Emperors—One Border: The Roman Limes before 1914’) and Irvin (Ch. 9, ‘The Political Organisation of the Civitates of the Three Gauls and the Myth of Republican Exceptionalism’) address the re-interpretation and re-appropriation of Roman history as a form of modern nation and empire building. Moschek considers the case of Germany, which emerged as a unified nation from a confederacy of aristocratic territories only in the late nineteenth century. The search for a common German identity was found in Antiquity, with the hero Arminius (latterly renamed Hermann) of the Cherusci, who unified the Germanic peoples and decisively ended Roman advance beyond the Rhine at the battle of the Teutoburg forest in ad 9. This symbol of the German nation was monumentalised with the erection of the Hermannsdenkmal, close to the proposed battlefield. Creating national heroes from Antiquity to personify nationhood and justify empire building was not unique to Germany. Britain has its Boudica and France its Vercingetorix, for instance, and each nation in their own way saw themself as the heirs to the Roman Empire in the modern world. Aaron Irvin outlines the way in which the early development of the United States government, and in particular the Republican party, was influenced by interpretations of Roman culture. He argues that the Founding Fathers sought to emulate the government of the Roman Republic within the American constitution. He contrasts this with the ways that Roman government was recreated within ethic groups and elites in Gaul. Rather than recreating Rome, as might be expected by later European and American societies, his analysis suggests a cultural blending and interchange. These are both intriguing papers that support Hingley's assertion that Rome serves as a reflection of the society examining it.
The volume is brought to a close with a brief, but important, discussion by Mattingly (Ch. 10, ‘Conclusion and Final Discussion: A View from the South’). His concluding remarks contrast these case studies of the northern frontier with the situation in the far southern provinces of north Africa and the Sahara, as well as providing an overview of the key concepts and themes drawn out in the volume. While the papers in this volume encourage the reader to think about frontier zones in the past from different perspectives, Mattingly emphasises the need to think critically and carefully about different understandings of these regions in the modern world.
The volume is a success in providing a broad range of geographic case studies from across north-western Europe. They provide helpful and clear overviews of the different regions considered, but little in terms of comparative analysis between the areas, although that was perhaps not the aim. Moreover, despite being a product of TRAC, the use of theory is variable—some papers such as Mata's (Ch. 2) draw heavily on theory, while others are much less theoretically aware. These criticisms aside, the strength of this volume lies in the resource it provides to scholars seeking overviews of regional datasets and research traditions. It is an excellent beginning to a new publication series.
