The Late Republican to Early Imperial period was one of spectacular territorial expansion into the surrounding ‘tribal periphery’ of the Roman West. There, the indigenous societies were confronted with state-organised warfare on an unprecedented scale and with a range of new military technologies and strategies. The direct societal impact of conquest on the subjected groups varied greatly. Conquest could strengthen certain polities and stimulate processes of state formation, but it could have disastrous effects on other groups. Here I will investigate Roman warfare in the tribal zone, with a special focus on two topics: the use of extreme mass violence against resistant groups, and the relationship between disproportional use of violence and negative ethnic stereotyping of the ‘tribal other’. I hope to show that archaeology can contribute to a wider debate on these topics among historians and anthropologists1 by assessing the short-term demographic impact of conquest.

This paper represents an interim report of the Burnswark Project that has utilised the techniques of battlefield archaeology to locate and accurately identify missiles across a substantial field of conflict in SW Scotland. The distribution, characteristics, dating and proposed historical context of these missiles are argued to support their use in a dramatic episode of ‘exemplary force’ by the Roman army. The magnitude of the event might be seen to be compatible with an emperor establishing his legitimacy as a military leader.

In a letter written to Atticus in mid March 60 B.C., Cicero (Att. 1.19.2) flagged up a number of concerns regarding the situation in Gaul:

The study of ceramics – which has become almost prohibitive nowadays due to the amount of money and time it requires – still plays a fundamental rôle in the historical reconstruction of trade in the Mediterranean. Just as geology and archaeobotany allow for reconstructing ancient landscapes, and archaeozoology for reconstructing the dietary habits of ancient peoples, so the archaeology of production, with its unappealing routine of recording and classifying finds, is essential for understanding the economic dynamics of a given area. Typology, combined with appropriate archaeometric analyses of the fabric and the coating, allow for ascertaining, with a reasonable degree of surety, the provenance of vessels, and hence the ratio of imports to local products. This can make a significant contribution to the historical reconstruction of ancient economies and commercial exchange.

Une remarquable sculpture a été mise au jour en 1999 lors de la fouille archéologique préventive d’une grande villa gallo-romaine située à Vareilles, commune de Paulhan, dans l’Hérault. D’autres fragments sculptés ont été découverts plus tard dans le cadre de fouilles programmées. Cet établissement rural était surtout consacré à la viticulture. Les fouilleurs y ont découvert entre autres des chais très importants: si la pars urbana, qui était également sans doute très vaste, n’a pas pu être fouillée ni même localisée dans son intégralité, elle comprenait en tout cas un beau complexe thermal avec diverses salles, mais aussi une palestre et un bassin (natatio) très bien conservé.1

The investigations of the Ploutonion carried out in the years 2013-17 by the Italian Archaeological Mission were the object of an article in JRA 31 (2018)1 in which I presented the complex transformations affecting the sanctuary of Hades from the Archaic through the Late Roman periods. The excavations also brought to light Byzantine structures that had been built over the pagan sanctuary, gradually erasing all trace of it.

Research on the remains of the monumental city center of Aphrodisias has been ongoing for over a century. After an Italian mission began here in 1937,1 work was intensified from 1961 under the direction of K. T. Erim of New York University and has continued since 1990 under R. R. R. Smith.2 While many of the projects have yielded results for the High Imperial, late-antique and Byzantine periods, our knowledge of the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial monuments outside the temple area remains scant. The layout of urban spaces such as the Agora or the “South Pool Complex” is owed to the Early Imperial period and mostly saw only minor changes.3 But while the general urban plan persisted, the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial buildings were often replaced or remodelled as the urban space was transformed. This is particularly true for the area north of the Agora and south of the Temple of Aphrodite (fig. 1). This paper intends to re-assess our evidence for the function of this space in the Early Imperial period.