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Archaeological Finds On The Roman Frontiers

The demographics of the shifting Roman Frontiers traced through genome data.

A multidisciplinary study has reconstructed the genomic history of the Balkan Peninsula during the first millennium of the common era, a time and place of profound demographic, cultural and linguistic change.

The team has recovered and analyzed whole genome data from 146 ancient people excavated primarily from Serbia and Croatia—more than a third of which came from the Roman military frontier at the massive archaeological site of Viminacium in Serbia—which they co-analyzed with data from the rest of the Balkans and nearby regions.

The work, published in the journal Cell, highlights the cosmopolitanism of the Roman frontier and the long-term consequences of migrations that accompanied the breakdown of Roman control, including the arrival of people speaking Slavic languages. Archaeological DNA reveals that despite nation-state boundaries that divide them, populations in the Balkans have been shaped by shared demographic processes.

"Archaeogenetics is an indispensable complement to archaeological and historical evidence. A new and much richer picture comes into view when we synthesize written records, archaeological remains like grave goods and human skeletons, and ancient genomes", said co-author Kyle Harper, a historian of the ancient Roman world at the University of Oklahoma.

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-ancient-balkan-genomes-fall-roman.html

 
Julius Caesar's supporters in Spain.

An almond-shaped lead bullet — inscribed with the names of Julius Caesar and an unknown city and likely fired from a slingshot — hints that Indigenous people in Spain supported the cause of the would-be dictator during his ultimately successful civil war more than 2,000 years ago, a new study finds.

As general, Caesar led the Roman army to victory in the Gallic Wars (58 to 50 B.C.). But unwilling to give up his newfound power, he famously crossed the Rubicon River on Jan. 10, 49 B.C., leading his chief political rival, Pompey the Great, to declare Caesar's action tantamount to a state of civil war.

Caesar's civil war (49 to 45 B.C.) spanned Europe, including Italy, Greece, Egypt, Africa, Spain and the Balkan Peninsula. The final engagement, on March 17, 45 B.C., is known as the Battle of Munda, which likely took place in Andalusia, in southern Spain. Tens of thousands of Pompey's troops were killed, and Caesar returned to Rome victorious.

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...esars-name-on-it-was-likely-used-in-civil-war
 
maximus otter said:
Archaeologists Unearthed a Treasure Trove of Stones at the Site of an Ancient Roman Bathhouse in the UK

Recently, archaeologists in Britain discovered dozens of engraved semiprecious stones from the third century at the site of an ancient bathhouse beneath the Carlisle Cricket Club.

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Smaller than a dime, the 36 gems are made of materials like amethyst, carnelian, and jasper. Called “intaglios,” meaning they have images carved into them, the jewels likely fell out of wealthy people’s rings after they entered the baths.

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Venus holding a mirror on an amethyst gem

The water may have loosened the adhesives used in the rings—like birch bark resin—and caused the metal settings to expand and contract. So the stones probably just fell off, sinking to the bottom of the baths and ending up in the drains when the pools and saunas were cleaned.

https://news.yahoo.com/archaeologis...zR1LDT4W4JT-tLvOldHkJ1Eg-_3EuNKBZ3_QosENTJWxH

maximus otter
Click to expand...

Just been watching about this on Digging for Britain. I commented that they are likely going to have to rehouse the cricket club now.

The kids now want to visit Hadrian's Wall after watching the episode. Glad that they are showing interest in History.
 
ramonmercado said:
Julius Caesar's supporters in Spain.

An almond-shaped lead bullet — inscribed with the names of Julius Caesar and an unknown city and likely fired from a slingshot — hints that Indigenous people in Spain supported the cause of the would-be dictator during his ultimately successful civil war more than 2,000 years ago, a new study finds.

As general, Caesar led the Roman army to victory in the Gallic Wars (58 to 50 B.C.). But unwilling to give up his newfound power, he famously crossed the Rubicon River on Jan. 10, 49 B.C., leading his chief political rival, Pompey the Great, to declare Caesar's action tantamount to a state of civil war.

Caesar's civil war (49 to 45 B.C.) spanned Europe, including Italy, Greece, Egypt, Africa, Spain and the Balkan Peninsula. The final engagement, on March 17, 45 B.C., is known as the Battle of Munda, which likely took place in Andalusia, in southern Spain. Tens of thousands of Pompey's troops were killed, and Caesar returned to Rome victorious.

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...esars-name-on-it-was-likely-used-in-civil-war
Click to expand...
Inscribing a bullet with a name... isn't that usually done because they wish to kill that person?
 
Baldrick's cunning plan involved him carving his name into a bullet because he couldn't be shot if he had the bullet with his name on it.

What about a bullet inscribed "to whom it may concern" though?
 
Mythopoeika said:
Inscribing a bullet with a name... isn't that usually done because they wish to kill that person?
Click to expand...

“A thunderbolt, a snake, a scorpion, or others symbols indicating how it might strike without warning were popular. Writing might include the name of the military unit or commander, or was sometimes more imaginative, such as, "Take this," "Ouch," "Catch," or even "For Pompey's backside." ”

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=3125

maximus otter
 
It's still done today;
 

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While Caesar's name on a sling bullet is evidence, his support in Hispania and Gaul is long known.
Historians think it was the way he invaded then occupied, treating local leaders with respect, helping local development etc. Many of the Gallic leaders became clientes or even 'adopted' into the Julian distant family. And the Gauls valued family ties and obligations.
 
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Really interesting article, and not merely about Teutoburg:

‘Their heads were nailed to the trees’: what was life – and death – like for Roman legionnaires?

It was the defeat that traumatised Rome, leaving 15,000 soldiers slaughtered in a German field. As a major show explores this horror and more, our writer finds traces of the fallen by a forest near the Rhine

https://www.theguardian.com/culture...rees-roman-legionnaires-british-museum-legion
 
Steven said:
View attachment 73408

Really interesting article, and not merely about Teutoburg:

‘Their heads were nailed to the trees’: what was life – and death – like for Roman legionnaires?

It was the defeat that traumatised Rome, leaving 15,000 soldiers slaughtered in a German field. As a major show explores this horror and more, our writer finds traces of the fallen by a forest near the Rhine

https://www.theguardian.com/culture...rees-roman-legionnaires-british-museum-legion
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Ancient history, perverted into myth, still vibrates in the present.

An odd turn of phrase, revealing more about the article's writer than the article's subject.
 
When Germanicus went back to Upper Germany, to finally avenge and investigate into the Varus massacre, finding the Roman remains to be treated so far against Roman funerary rites, it acted as a spur for the legions to re-assert the Rhine border and stamp down on any native resistance.
 
It kinda troubled me how generally pleasant Brian Blessed's Augustus was in I, Claudius; hardly the full story of someone who was notorious when young, and who armed himself in diplomacy in later years as one might hide a knife within a cloak...
 
I thought the representation of Tiberius was in complete contrast. He knew exactly how much more suitable Livia was as Emperor and how much he relied on her as a canny partner. While his self-imposed exile on Capri allowed for all kinds of perversions, some contemporary accounts relate that he'd grown to despise the Senate as being weak and malleable. When 'talk' of his perversions in his palace was raised, he's reputed to say "Let them say and think of me what they wish - they are too cowardly to act upon it!"
It must be said that Prince Gaius (Caligula) went to stay on Capri for three reasons: firstly, the attraction to perversity; secondly, he wanted to stay out of Sejanus' way; thirdly, he wanted to stay as influence on Tiberius.
 
To be honest, I find it hard to believe when the likes of Tacitus write of supposed scandals. For instance, pretty much everyone agrees that Tiberius was long a scholarly, sober and self-disciplined person...and yet we're supposed to believe that, in late age, he suddenly developed a rapacious and 'liberal' sexuality?
 
Well it was hardly built to keep the legionnaires in.

1,700-year-old Roman fort discovered in Germany was built to keep out barbarians

The wall was built by Romans to protect against Germanic tribal attack.​

An excavation site of ruins of a 1,700-year-old stone wall.

The wall was built 1,700 years ago using concrete-like mortar and rock. (Image credit: Donata Kyritz)

Archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of a Roman fortress in Germany that once protected against barbarian intruders.

For more than a century, historians have suspected that a defense structure known as a castrum was lurking beneath a cobblestone street in Aachen, a city in western Germany. However, it wasn't until recent excavations ahead of a construction project that archaeologists finally saw the remains of the 1,700-year-old fortification. They immediately knew it was a Roman construction, according to a translated statement.

"The way the wall was built left no doubt it had to be of Roman origin," Donata Kyritz, an archaeologist and owner of sk ArcheoConsult, the firm that led the excavation, told Live Science in an email. "The concrete-like mortar and the choice of rock was typical for the Roman period. Also, the dimensions and the way the foundation was built differed from the technique used in medieval times." ...

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...d-in-germany-was-built-to-keep-out-barbarians
 

Ancient Roman construction methods revealed in Pompeii building site excavation​

Now, recent excavations at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii have uncovered evidence of a building site which appears to be in perfect condition with work tools, stacked tiles, bricks of tuff (a type of rock made of volcanic ash), and piles of lime. This find gives researchers an idea of the construction techniques that were used in Ancient Rome for buildings that remain standing to this day.
https://www.indy100.com/news/ancient-rome-site-pompeii
 
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