Camps and forts of units and formations of the Roman army

A previously outlined paradigm for laying out Roman camps was used to fit particular auxiliary units to certain small camps. A spreadsheet for estimating the numbers of cavalry and infantry within camps is described and illustrated by reference to the putative camps of a two-legion army group, a one-legion group and two subdivisions of a legionary army group. The same paradigm with different constants applied to forts and legionary fortresses with, on average, the intervallum 1/16th of the sq. root of the area it enclosed in the fort and 1/32nd in the fortress. In the forts of both auxiliary units and legionary vexillations, each notional cohort (480 infantry or 240 cavalry) was almost certainly intended to have eight actus quadrati (a.q.) within the intervallum. This allowed the forts later to contain larger auxiliary units. Dividing a fort's acreage by 3.25 indicates the number of notional cohorts for which it was probably first made. The vexillation fort at Longthorpe was probably intended for half a legion and the reduced fort built for two auxiliary units. In legionary fortresses each notional cohort had 12 a.q. The paradigm applied to the Heidenheim fort suggested that an ala milliaria comprised 24 turmae of 42 men. The fortress at York was probably first built as a legionary fort.     

The Numerical Basis of Roman Camps

Roman camps are based on rectangles with sides in whole number ratios and their areas are proportional to the size of the force encamped. The data given by Polybius and Hyginus suggests the area was surveyed in actus and indicates that it was calculated by simply adding up the space required by each unit from a standard allocation and then increasing that sum by a certain factor to allow for roads and other quarters. This gave the area within the intervallum , which was then added to define the inner face of the rampart. The paradigm can be simplified to the rule that two actus quadrati were allowed per cohort, with a turma counting as 1/8th cohort. The intervallum width was 1/8th the sq. root of the area it enclosed. Permanent forts also seem to have been laid out with the actus of the unit of measurement. The paradigm enabled use of a computer spreadsheet to investigate the possible composition of the forces associated with particular camps. This suggested that in the Mons Graupius campaign Agricola had two legions and built the 63-acre camps in NE Scotland.     

关于镇江宋元粮仓的几个问题——转般仓、淮东总领所、大军仓

综合考古资料以及文献记载来看,镇江双井路遗址发现的南宋八座仓储遗迹,应该是转运司下属的转般仓,而转般仓与南宋淮东总领所及其所属的大军仓有着比较密切的关系。考古发现的一座元代仓储遗迹,应该是在南宋转般仓旧址设置的大军仓。     

灾害、环境与慈善的相反相成:以乾隆朝直隶乡村社会保障建设为中心

乾隆十三年(1748年),乾隆因“粮政”政策受挫而要求建立义仓系统,试图利用义仓之名再次推动乡里民间积储体系建设。这种由依靠官仓向民仓转变的行为,是乾隆统治政策整体收敛并由“养民”向“教民”转变的一种体现。畿辅义仓体系很好实现了赈济和管制的完美结合,直隶的稳定成为头等重要的事。在全国废除留养资送制度的大背景下,唯有通过留养局体系,才能最大可能减少流民对京师的压力。留养局系统的设立是乾隆对现实的一种无奈妥协和让步。留养局的空间分布特征受交通、自然环境因素的影响。在乾隆十三年统治政策转变这一历史大背景下来看,直隶义仓、留养局系统的建立中,灾害、环境与慈善这三方面的因素以相反相成的形式交织在一起。     

Space and Manpower in Roman Camps

Summary.   Certain aspects of space and manpower use in Roman camps were investigated using a previously published spreadsheet model. Over half the camp area was not needed for the men's tents and this was probably enough to cope with patches of unsuitable ground within the rampart. The relationship between the camp area and perimeter was such that the bigger the camp, the relatively fewer men were needed to make and defend it. Small camps, which required relatively greater effort from the men, could be made quickly. Data from the Polybian and Hyginian models suggested that the basic determinant of camp design and numerical structure of the army lay in the requirement for a man to labour upon and defend no more than five feet of perimeter. Compared with the Polybian model, the Hyginian model greatly reduced the area and perimeter length for any given force, thus enabling the army to adopt a more aggressive posture.     

RETHINKING THE SMALL PIG HORIZON AT YORK MINSTER

Summary.   The small pig horizon within the headquarters building of the legionary fortress of Eboracum (York) is a unique assemblage of early post-Roman animal bones. Originally interpreted as evidence of an impoverished Dark Age community scratching out a living within the ruined fortress, reinterpretation of this deposit suggests that it may be evidence of the economic power of a post-Roman elite conspicuously consuming suckling pig, perhaps in an echo of high-status Roman dietary preferences.     

关于《嘉禾吏民田家莂》中“州吏”问题的剖析——兼论嘉禾五年改革及其效果

《嘉禾四年吏民田家莂》中的内容反映出嘉禾四年吏民田家莉中的“州吏”具有不同于其他租田的五大特征,在与五年田家莂的比较中,“州吏”的情况发生了许多变化,即“州吏”在嘉禾四年为特殊租田的优异身份在五年消失了,而与其他租田趋于同化。嘉禾五年“库吏”、“仓吏”人数的增加反映出嘉禾五年有加强仓库管理的举措。嘉禾五年的改革,使租佃制度得到发展,租佃土地的地区扩大、租佃数量增加、仓库的管理也大为加强,田家莂书写的错误率大大降低了。     

Storage in traditional farming communities of the western Mediterranean: Ethnographic,historical and archaeological data

Abstract

This paper presents ethnographic, historic and archaeological data from the western Mediterranean in order to explore the variability of storage methods and the various strategies that may have existed in the past in this region. The paper includes ethnographic information on traditional storage methods collected in farming communities in northern Morocco (Rif area). We record the use of plant fibres such as canes (Arundo donax), dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis), esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima) and dis (Ampelodesmos mauritanica) to make containers. Recipients made of cow dung and unfired clay, as well as underground silos, have been also used in this region to store food. In addition, we explore historical and ethnohistorical data on the use of large storage structures, including the study of communal granaries, a particular type of granary located at inaccessible places, such as cliff faces or mountain tops, or within fortified buildings, from which harvests can be easily protected and defended. We also examine the archaeological evidence of storage strategies in the Iberian Peninsula during prehistoric times. The paper informs of the large variety of systems and materials used, the functioning of storage structures, and more generally, provides a framework for reflecting on the enormous diversity of solutions that could have existed in the past and that may have left little or none archeological traces.     

Roovesmore Fort,and Stones Inscribed with Oghams,in the Parish of Aglish,County Cork

The results of excavations carried out in the Roman civil settlement at Heronbridge, two kilometres from the legionary fortress at Chester (Deva), since its discovery in 1929 are summarized and the overall history and character of the site assessed. Evidence from other provinces is deployed to show that the existence of two, nucleated civilian settlements in the immediate vicinity of a legionary fortress was a common, rather than an irregular, occurrence. The possible reasons for this phenomenon of ‘Siedlungsdualität’ are discussed and it is suggested that the more distant settlement, unlike the canabae, lay outside the boundaries of the prata legionis.     

SOCIAL DYNAMICS ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER OF ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary.   Despite much work on the frontier of Roman Britain, major questions concerned with society and settlement archaeology remain underinvestigated. Salient details of two major urban sites, Carlisle and Corbridge, both of which may shed further light on processes of settlement growth and decline, and which may ultimately contribute to a greater understanding of how the frontier worked, are summarized. At Carlisle, and probably also at Corbridge, settlement growth associated with forts was rapid and multi-tracked, but from the later second century AD changes took place associated, perhaps, with enhanced status and a growing sense of community.     

PURPLE-DYE PRODUCTION IN LYCIA – RESULTS OF AN ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL FIELD SURVEY IN ANDRIAKE (SOUTH-WEST TURKEY)

Summary.   In 2003 a substantial deposit of heavily fragmented shells of purple snails was by chance located at the site of Andriake, the ancient port of the Lycian city of Myra near Demre, in southern Turkey. The archaeozoological and archaeological record of a survey project in 2004 proved the identification of a large installation for the production of purple dye. Adjacent to a well preserved Hadrianic granary and partly superimposing the remains of a U-shaped building, the deposit is wrapped around three sides of a subterranean cistern. Apparently dating to the sixth century AD, the deposit contains approximately 300 m³ of shell debris. The unique chance of examining an undisturbed and well preserved manufacturing place for purple dye provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the processual particularities as well as the ecological impact of purple-dye production in antiquity.     

BARBARIAN PIRACY AND THE SAXON SHORE: A REAPPRAISAL

Summary.   The tradition of Saxon and other Continental piracy is one of the longest standing tenets of Romano-British studies. It may also be one of its greatest myths, which owes more to its considerable antiquarian pedigree than to any firm basis in fact. This paper reassesses Roman military strategy around the British coast, and suggests that the 'Saxon Shore Forts' and other coastal installations played a more significant economic and logistical role than is often appreciated. Moreover, the idea that each monument fulfilled a single, dedicated function is argued to be too simplistic: instead it is proposed that individual forts served in various capacities during their operational lifetime, and quite possibly not those for which they were originally conceived.     

THE ORIENTATION OF ROMAN CAMPS AND FORTS

Summary.   The angles of orientation of 67 Roman camps were determined from their published plans. There was a marked tendency for them to be aligned close to the cardinal points but they were offset from those points by only 28 of a possible 45 angles and of these six occurred in 29 camps, probably because they were set out by making right-angled triangles whose non-hypotenuse sides were in whole number ratios. Twenty-seven forts on the British frontier walls were similarly orientated by only 12 angles, one of which occurred six times. The apparent accuracy of the layouts suggested that the directions of the meridian and latitude were first carefully determined. The use of a limited number of offset angles was probably due to a religious regard for celestial geometry.     

基于模糊逻辑的城市土地集约化利用评价——以江苏省地级城市为例

基于2000年的统计资料,选择地均GDP、地均财政收入等九个指标,应用模糊逻辑(Fuzzy Logic)方法从土地经济效益和土地使用效率两个方面对江苏省各地市的土地集约化利用程度进行了评价。结果表明江苏省13个地市的土地集约化利用程度从高到低可以分为五个等级。评价结果基本上反映了各城市人地关系的紧张程度和城市土地的经济产出效率。     

THE “ROUTINE‐SCAPE” AND SOCIAL STRUCTURALIZATION IN THE FORMATION OF JAPANESE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES

Recent archaeo‐botanical research has suggested that the introduction of farming did not immediately cause a sufficient shift in subsistence strategy to form an agrarian society but that the process took as long as hundreds of years. It is therefore suggested that it was not the farming technique in itself but the establishment of routinized day‐to‐day activity patterns and world views associated with farming that eventually led to the formation of a new social structure. The holistic concept of a dynamic day‐today routine and its associated physical and conceptual landscape is termed routine‐scape through which the process of agrarian society formation in Japan is examined around 1000–500 bce when paddy rice farming was introduced from China to Japan. A new crop storage system of a raised‐floor granary was also adopted as a part of the rice‐farming routine, which resulted in changing the Japanese routine‐scape. The community leaders increasingly associated the granary with both symbolic and practical significance; alongside controlling the storage‐related routine they finally gained centralized power. This paper indicates that agriculture brought along a new range of routine activities and their dynamic interactions with landscape produced new social structures.     

Multi-Scale and Nested-Intensity Sampling Techniques for Archaeological Survey

Abstract

This paper discusses sampling techniques for archaeological survey that are directed toward evaluating the properties of surface artifact distributions. The sampling techniques we experimented with consist of a multi-scale sampling plot developed in plant ecology and the use of a nested-intensity survey design. We present results from the initial application of these methods. The sampling technique we borrowed from plant ecology is the Modified-Whittaker multiscale sampling plot, which gathers observations at the spatial scales of 1 sq m, 10 sq m, 100 sq m, and 1000 sq m. Nested-intensity surveys gather observations on the same sample units at multiple resolutions. We compare the results of a closely-spaced walking survey, a crawling survey, and a test excavation to a depth of 10 cm. These techniques were applied to ten 20 × 50 m survey plots distributed over an area of 418 ha near the Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed in NW Nebraska. These approaches can significantly improve the accuracy of survey data. Our results show that high-resolution coverage techniques overlook more material than archaeologists have suspected. The combined approaches of multi-scale and nested-intensity sampling provide new tools to improve our ability to investigate the properties of surface records.     

河南新郑市唐户遗址裴李岗文化遗存发掘简报

一、遗址概况及发掘经过唐户遗址位于河南省新郑市观音寺镇唐户村的西部和南部,地处溟水河与九龙河两河汇流处的夹角台地上,东北距新郑市约13.5公里,北距观音寺镇约1.5公里(图一)。遗址北起唐户村北,东达溟水河东岸,     

Manchester Railway Warehouses— A Short Note

Abstract

In 1840, Francis Wishaw described three warehouse ranges at Liverpool Road, Manchester, estimating the floor area to be some 5 acres and the capacity 4 million cubic feet. By means of turntables, wagons were conveyed, loaded and unloaded within the warehouses. Flaps in the floors and openings in the yard side facilitated the quick dispatch of business. The internal structure of these early railway buildings followed canal practice but by the 1860s the jack-arched, iron-framed structure had been adapted from the cotton factory. Goods handling at first was by gravity hoist, platforms and mobile or fixed steam cranes. Subsequently, the use of hydraulic power was a significant improvement. This paper describes the railway warehouses of Manchester.     

Context and spatial organization of the Clovis assemblage from the Topper site,South Carolina

Abstract

This paper reports results of a 40 sq m block excavation of the Clovis assemblage from the Topper site, South Carolina. Topper is one of only three buried, extensively excavated Clovis quarry-related sites in North America. The Clovis assemblage was recovered in a buried component distinct from overlying Archaic and Woodland components. The site geomorphology and formation processes and the horizontal distribution of the assemblage are used to identify a workshop floor with discrete knapping loci created by unique production and use goals. The excavated assemblage from Topper provides useful and important information in order to reinterpret the Clovis occupation of the Southeast. Moreover, spatial patterning from Topper shows Clovis people organized and structured onsite activities at quarry-related sites.     

American spies at Bermuda’s forts, 1842–52

Abstract

In 1809, a dockyard was established by the Royal Navy at Bermuda. Over the next decades, Bermuda was refortified by the Royal Engineers. This paper describes the visits of two American officers to Bermuda for the purpose of spying on the new fortifications. Further material on the forts at Bermuda is also presented as the preliminary results of a survey of Bermuda’s forts being undertaken by the author under the auspices of the Bermuda Maritime Museum.