A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK TO APPROACHING LATE ANTIQUE VILLA TRANSFORMATIONAL TRAJECTORIES

James Dodd

Abstract


The mutation of the villa in the Western Roman Empire is a key element to our understanding of the transformation of the rural landscape between Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period. The archaeology of this transitional phase has long been identified and has been dated to between the 3rd century in some regions and as late as the 6th and 7th centuries and in other areas; however, it is only in the last 20 years that work has begun to examine the phenomenon in detail, with a number of regional studies emerging and a few larger but primarily non-empirical studies undertaken. Despite this, an overarching unified conceptual approach is lacking with little or no attention payed to the trajectories of individual sites. This paper intends to develop and demonstrate a new approach to the phenomenon of villa change, establishing a clear classification system, augmenting the work done by Chavarría (2004) and Ripoll and Acre (2000), categorising the different elements of transformation and applying this to the development of site trajectories It will also discuss the basis and feasibility of a standardised terminology to refer to these diverse features, replacing the biased catch-all phrase ‘squatter occupation’.


Keywords


Rural, Transformation, Late Antique, Villa, Early Medieval

Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.14795/j.v6i1.359

References

Cato De Agricultura, trans. Hooper, W.D. 1934, Marcus Porcius Cato, "On Agriculture"; Marcus Terentius Varro, "On Agriculture" (Loeb Classical Library, Harvard).

Varro Res Rustica, trans. Hooper, W.D. 1934, Marcus Porcius Cato, "On Agriculture"; Marcus Terentius Varro, "On Agriculture". (Loeb Classical Library, Harvard).

Agache, R., La Somme pré-romaine et romaine d'après les prospections à basse altitude (Amiens: Mémoires de la Société des antiquaires de Picardie).

Balmelle, C., Les demeures aristocratiques d’Aquitaine. Société et culture de l’antiquité tardive dans le Sud-Oeust de la Gaule. (Bordeaux: Aquitania Suppement 10).

Bechert, T., Wachtturm oder Kornspeicher? Zur Bauweis Spätrömische Burgi, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 8, 127-132

Bell, T., The Religious Reuse of Roman Structures in Anglo-Saxon England (BAR British Series 390, Oxford).

Blasquez, J.M and Garcia-Gelabert, M.P., Castulo en el bajo imperio, I Actas Andalucía 2, 289-303.

Branigan, K., The End of Roman West, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 91, 117-28.

Branigan, K. Pavements and Poverty in the Chiltern Villas, Britannia 2, 106-116.

Brogiolo, Gian Pietro, and Alexandra Chavarría Arnau, El final de las villas y las transformaciones del territorio rural en Occidente (siglos V-VIII), in . Fernández Ochoa, C., García Entero, V. and Gil Sendino, F. (eds.) Villas tardorromanas en el occidente del Imperio (Gijon), 93-214.

Brooks, A. S. and Yellen, J. E., The Preservation of Activity Areas in the Archaeological Record: Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Work in Northwest Ngamiland, Botswana. In: Kent, S. (ed.), Method and Theory for Activity Area Research: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach (Columbia), 63-106.

Brulet, R., The Roman army and military defence in Northern Gaul and the Germanic provinces during the Late Empire, in : Roymans N., Heeren S. & De Clercq W. (eds.), Social Dynamics in the Northwest Frontiers of the Late Roman Empire, (Amsterdam), 39-56.

Brulet, R. 2009 (ed.): Les Romains en Wallonie. (Racín, Louvain).

Bowes, K., …nec sedere in villam: villa churches, rural piety and the Priscillianist controversy, in Burnes, T.S. and Eadie, J.W. (eds.), Urban centres and Rural Contexts in Late Antiquity (Chicago) 323-348.

Cameron, C., Structure Abandonment in Villages, in Schiffer, M.B. (ed.), Archaeological Method and Theory Vol. III. (UAP, Tuscon) 155-194.

Cameron, C.M. and Tomka, S.A., The Abandonment of Settlements and Regions, Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Approaches (University of Colorado Press, Boulder).

Castrorao Barba, A., Continuità topografica in discontinuità funzionale: trasformazioni e riusi delle ville romane in Italia tra III e VIII secolo, The European Journal of Post-Classical Archaeologies 4, 259-296.

Castrorao Barba, A., Sicily before the Muslims. The Transformation of the Roman Villas between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Fourth to Eighth Centuries CE, Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies 3, 145-190.

Chavarria, A., Interpreting the transformation of late roman villas: the case of Hispania, in N. Christie (ed.), Landscapes of Change. Rural Evolutions in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 67-102.

Chavarria, A. El final de las villas en Hispania (siglos IV-VIII) (Brepols, Turnhout).

Chavarria, A. People and Landscapes in Northern Italy: Interrogating the burial archaeology of the Early Middle Ages, in; Diarte-Blasco, P. and Christie, N. (eds.), Interpreting Transformations of People and Landscapes in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Oxford),163-178.

Christie, N. Introduction: changing data and changing interpretations of the study of transformations in Late Antique Space and Society, in Diarte-Blasco, P. and Christie, N. (eds.), Interpreting Transformations of People and Landscapes in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Oxford), ix-x.

Christie, Neil. Landscapes of change in late antiquity and the early middle ages: Themes, directions, and problems, in N. Christie (ed.), Landscapes of Change. Rural Evolutions in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Aldershot), 1-37.

Christie, N., The survival of Roman settlement along the Middle Danube: Pannonia from the fourth to the tenth century AD, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 11, 317-339.

Collins, R., Hadrian’s Wall and the End of Empire: The Roman Frontier in the 4th and 5th Centuries (London-New York, Routledge).

Collins, R., Decline, collapse, or transformation? The case for the northern frontier of Britannia, Roymans N., Heeren S. & De Clercq W. (eds.), Social Dynamics in the Northwest Frontiers of the Late Roman Empire, (Amsterdam), 203-220

Corney, M., The Roman Villa at Bradford on Avon: The Investigations of 2002 (Trowbridge, Ex Libris).

Corney, M., The Roman Villa at Bradford on Avon: The Investigations of 2003 (Trowbridge, Ex Libris).

Crowly, L., Dying in a Material world. Self-representation and its implications in privileged mortunary contexts in the Roman villa landscapes between Bavay and Cologne. Unpublished PhD Thesis, VU Amsterdam.

Daniels, C.M., Excavation on the site of the Roman Villa at Southwell, 1959, Transactions of the Thoroton Society 70, 13-33

Dark, K., The archaeological implications of fourth- and fifth-century descriptions of villas in the northwest provinces of the Roman Empire, Historia 54, 331-342

Dodd, J., A Preliminary Quantification of ‘Squatter’ Occupation in the Villas of Late Roman Britain. Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Duval, N., Quelques remarques sur les l‘églises-halles, Aquileia nel IV Secolo [XII Settimana di studi aquileiesi, 30aprile–5 maggio 1981. 2, 399–412.

Ellis, S.P., The End of the Roman House, American Journal of Archaeology 92, 565-576.

Fleming, R., Recycling in Britain after the fall of Rome’s metal economy, Past and Present 217: 1-45.

Gandini, C., Des campagnes gauloises aux campagnes de l'Antiquité tardive : la dynamique de l'habitat rural dans la cité des Bituriges Cubi (IIe s. av. J.-C.-VIIe s. ap. J.-C.), (Paris, Gallia supplement).

García Gelabert, P. and García Díaz, M., El asentamiento romano de Catarroja: aproximación a su estudio en Espacio, tiempo y forma, Historia Antigua, 10, 351-374.

Gorges, J.-G., Les villas hispano-romaines: Inventaire et problématique archéologiques. (Paris, Publications du Centre Pierre Paris).

Glieze, Y., Sepultures des marges et sepultures marginales. Sur quelques examples medieaux de la moite sud de la France. In Bis-Wach, C. and Theune, C. (eds.) Religion, Cults and Rituals in the Medieval Rural Environment, ruralia IX (Leiden), 201-204.

Grenier, A., Archéologie gallo-romaine (Manuel d'archéologie préhistorique, celtique et gallo-romaine de Joseph Déchelette, VI). Deuxième partie : L'archéologie du sol (Paris, Picard).

Habermehl, D., Settling in a Changing World: Villa Development in the Northern Provinces of the Roman Empire (Amsterdam Archaeological Studies, Amsterdam).

Heeren, S., The depopulation of the Lower Rhine region in the 3rd century. An archaeological perspective, Roymans, N., Derks. T. and Hiddink, H. (eds.), The Roman villa of Hoogeloon and the archaeology of the periphery. (Amsterdam) 271-294.

Heeren, S., The theory of ‘Limesfall’ and the material culture of the late 3rd century, Germania 94, 185-209.

Heeren, S., From Germania Inferior to Germania Secunda and Beyond: A case study for migration, transformation and decline, Roymans N., Heeren S. & De Clercq W. (eds.), Social Dynamics in the Northwest Frontiers of the Late Roman Empire (Amsterdam), 149-178

Heeren, S., Military Might for a depopulated region? Interpreting the Archaeology of the Lower Rhine Area in the Late Roman Period, in; Diarte-Blasco, P. and Christie, N. (eds.), Interpreting Transformations of People and Landscapes in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Oxford),137-148.

Heijmans M. and Guyon, J., "Antiquité Tardive, Haut Moyen Âge Et Premiers Temps Chrétiens en Gaule Méridionale: Seconde Partie: Monde Rural, Échanges Et Consommation." Gallia 64, 5-10.

Heimberg, U., Römische villen an Rhein und Maas, Bonner Jahrbuch 202/203, 58-146

Henrich, P., Die römische Nekrople und sie Villenanlage von Duppach-Weiermühle Vulkaneifel (Trierer Zeitschrift Beiheft 33, Trier).

Henrich, P., Die befestigte Villa von Bodenbach (Landkreis Vulkaneifel) im Kontext der spätantiken Befestigungen Nordgalliens und Niedergermaniens, Trierer Zeitschrift 79/80, 231-283.

Hettner, F., Die Römischen Steindenkmäler des Provinzialmuseums Trier (Provinzialmuseums Trier, Trier).

Hingley, R., Rural Settlement in Roman Britain (Seaby, Oxford).

Hingley, R., Globalizing Roman Culture: Unity, Diversity and Empire. (Routledge, London).

Hodder, I.R. and Millett, M., ‘Romano-British Villas and Towns: A systematic analysis’, World Archaeology 12: 69-76.

Howell, R., The Demolition of the Roman Tetrapylon in Caerleon: An erasure of memory? Oxford Journal of Archaeology 19, 387–395.

Johnson, S., Late Roman Fortifications (Batesford, London).

Koethe, H., Die Bäder römischer Villen im Trierer Bezirk, Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Komission 30, 43-131.

Landstätter, S. and A. Pülz., Ephesus in the Late Roman and Byzantine Period: Changesin Its Urban Character from the Third to the Seventh Century AD, Proceedings of the British Academy 141 391-434.

Le Maho, J., La reutilisation funeraire des edifices antiques en Normandie au cours du haut Moyen-Age, in Fixot , M. and Zadora-Rio, E. (eds.), L’environnement des eglises et la topographie religieuse des campanges medievales, (Paris), 10-21.

Lenz, K-H., Siedlungen der römischen Kaiserzeit auf der Aldenhovener Platte (Rheinland-Verlag, Köln).

Lewit, T., Agricultural Production in the Roman Economy AD 200-400 (BAR International Series 568, Oxford).

Lewit, T. ,Changing concepts of Late Antiquity: The decline and fall of Gibbonism, Bulletin de l’Antiquité Tardive 10, 33-37.

Lewit, T., ‘“Vanishing Villas”: What happened to the elite rural habitations in the west in the 5th-6th centuries? Journal of Roman Archaeology 16: 260-274.

Lewit, T., Villas, Farms and the Late Roman Rural Economy (third to fifth centuries AD) (BAR International Series 568, Oxford).

Lewit, T., Bones in the Bathhouse: Re-evaluating squatter occupation at 5th to 6th century villas, in Brogiolo, G.P., Chavarría Arnau, A., and Valenti, M. (Eds.), Dopo la fine delle ville: le campagne dal VI al IX seco. (Mantova), 251-262

Lewit, T. and Chavarría, A., Recent Archaeological Research on the Late-Antique Countryside: A Bibliographic Essay in Lavan, L., Bowden, W. and Machado, C. (Eds.) Recent Research on the Late Antique Countryside. Late Antique Archaeology 2 (Leiden), 1-51

Liversidge, J., Smith, D.J., Stead, I.M. and Rigby, V., Brantingham Roman Villa: Discoveries in 1962, Britannia 4, 84-106.

Maloney, S.J. and Hale, J.R. The villa of Torre de Palma (Alto Alentejo), Journal of Roman Archaeology 9, 275-294.

Mattingley, D., Tripolitania. (Batsford, London).

Mattingley, D., An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire 54BC – AD409 (London, Penguin).

Meates. G.W., The Roman villa site at Lullingstone, Kent (Kent Archaeological Society, Canterbury).

Metzler, J., Zimmer, J. and Bakker, L., Ausgrabungen in Echternach. (Publications du le ministeré culturelle, Luxemburg).

Montfrin, F., L’établissement material de l’église aux Ve et Vie siècles, Histoire du Christiansme des origines á nos jours III: Les églises d’ Orient et d’ Occident, 959-1014.

Munro, B., Recycling in Late Roman Villas in Southern Italy: Reappraising Hearths and Kilns in Final Occupation Phases, Mousieion 10, 17-242

Nash-Williams, V.E., The Roman Villa at Llantwit major in Glamorgan, Archaelogia Cambrensis 102, 89–163.

O'Neill, B. H. St. J., The Roman Villa at Magor Farm, Near Camborne, Cornwall, Journal of the British Archaeological Association 39, 117-175

Oretego, T., La villa romana de “Los Quintanares” en el término de Rioseco (Soria), in Almagro, M. (ed.) Segovia y la Arqueología Romana, 285-292.

Payne, G., The Roman Villa at Darenth, Archaeologia Cantiana 22, 49-84.

Pellecuer, C. and Pomerades, H., Crise, survie ou adaption de la villa romaine en Narbonnaise premiére? Contribution des récentes recherches de terrain en Languedoc-Roussillion, in Ouzoulias, P., Pellecuer, C., Raunaud, C., Van Ossel, P. and Garmy, P. (eds.), Les Campagnes de la Gaule á la fin de l’Antiquité, (Antibes), 503-534.

Petts, D., ‘Elite Settlements in the Roman and Sub-Roman periods’: in Meadows, K. (ed.), Proceedings of the Sixth Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC), Sheffield, 1996, (TRAC Publications, London)

Percival, J., The Roman Villa: A Historical Introduction. (Batesford, Manchester)

Percival, J., Villas and Monasteries in Late Roman Gaul, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 48, 1-21

Pitts, L.F. and St. Joseph, J. K.S., Inchtuthil: the Roman Legionary Fortress Excavations, 1952-6. (Britannia Monograph 1, London).

Puertas, R., Trabajos de planimetría y excavación en la ‘villa Fortunatus’ Fraga (Huesca), Noticiario Arqueológico Hispánico 1, 71-81.

Rahtz, P. and Harris, L.G., The temple well and other buildings at Pagans Hill, Chew Stoke, North Somersetshire, in Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 101 25-51.

Ramos Floque, A., Las invasiones germánicas en la provincial de Alicante (siglos III y V de J.C.). (Alicante, Instituto de Estudios Alicantinos).

Rascón Marqués, S., Méndez Madariaga, A. and Díaz del Rio Espaňol, P., La reocupación del mosaic del auriga victorioso en la villa romana de El Val (Alcalá de Henares). Un studio de microespacio, Arqueología, Paleontología y Etnografía 1, 181-200.

Raynaud, C., The Countryside of Southern Gaul from the 4th to the 7th centuries AD. Settlement, Landscapes and Society, in Diarte-Blasco, P. and Christie, N. (eds.), Interpreting Transformations of People and Landscapes in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Oxford), 43-52.

Rind, M., Römische Villen in Nordafrika: Untersuchungen zu Architektur und Wirtschaftsweise. (British Archaeological Reports 2012, Oxford).

Ripoll, G. and Arce, J., The Transformation and End of Roman Villae in the West (Fourth-Seventh Centuries: Problems and Perspectives), in Brogiolo, G.P., Gauthier, N. and Christie, N. (eds.), Towns and their Territories between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Leiden), 63-114.

Rivet, A.L.F., ‘Social and Economic Aspects’, in , Rivet, A.L.F. (ed.), The Roman Villa in Britain (London), 173-216.

Réchin F., Nouveaux regards sur les villae d'Aquitaine: bâtiments de vie etd'exploitation, domaines et postérités médiévales, (Publications de l'Université de Pau. Pau).

Rodgers, A., Late Roman Towns in Britain: Rethinking Change and Decline (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Roymans, N., From the Sword to the Plough: Three Studies on the Earliest Romanisation of Northern Gaul. (Amsterdam Archaeological Studies, Amsterdam).

Roymans, N. and Derks, T., ‘Studying Roman Villa Landscapes in the 21st century: A multi-dimensional approach’, in: Roymans, N. and Derks, T. (eds.), Villa Landscapes in the Roman North, (Amsterdam), 1-44.

Sánchez, G.S., Intervención en un solar de la Constantino, no.25, Mérida 1, 178-186.

Scarborough, V., Site Structures of a village of Late Pithouse-Early Pueblo period in New Mexico, Journal of Field Archaeology 16, 405-425.

Schiffer, M.B., Formation processes of the archaeological record (University of Utah Press, Albuquerque).

Schiffer, M.B., Some relationships between behavioural and evolutionary archaeologies. American Antiquity 61, 643–662.

Schiffer, M. and LaMotta, V. M., Formation processes of House Floor Assemblages, in Allison, P.M. (eds.), The Archaeology of Household Activities (New York), 19-29.

Schneider, L., Structures du peuplement et formes de l'habitat dans les campagnes du Sud-Est de la France de l'Antiquité au Moyen Age (IV-VIIIe s.), Gallia 64, 11-56

Slofstra, J. An anthropological approach to the study of Romanization processes, in Brandt, R.W. and Slofstra, J. (eds), Roman and native in the low countries. Spheres of interaction (Oxford), 71–104.

Slofstra, J., hanging settlement systems in the Meuse-Demer-Scheldt area during the early Roman period, in Roymans, N. and Theuws, F. (eds.), Images of the past. Studies on ancient societies in Northwestern Europe, (Amsterdam), 131–199.

Slofstra, J. and Brand, R. (eds.), Roman and native in the Low Countries: spheres of interaction. (BAR International Series 184, Oxford).

Smith, A., Allen M., Brindle T., Fulford, M., New Visions of the Roman countryside Volume 1: The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain. (Britannia Monographs, London)

Stanton, T.W. and Magnoni, A. (eds.), Ruins of the Past, The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands (University of Colorado, Denver).

Stanton, T.W, Brown, M. and Pagliaro, J.B., Garbage of the Gods? Squatters, Refuse Disposal, and Termination Rituals among the Ancient Maya’, Latin American Antiquity 19, 227-247.

Speed, G., Towns in the Dark? Urban Transformations from Late Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England. (Archaeopress, Leicester)

Taracena, B., Las invasions germánicas en Espaňa durante la segunda mitad del siglo III de J.C., Primer Congreso Internacional de Pireneistas del Instituto de Estudios Pirenaicos, 4-13.

Van Ossel, P., Etablissment ruraux de L’Antiquité Tardive dans le nord de la Gaule. (Supplément Gallia 51, Paris).

Van Ossel, P., Rural impoverishment in Northern Gaul at the end of Antiquity: The Contribution of Archaeology, in Bowden, W., Guttridge, A. and Machado, C. (eds.), Social and Political Life in Late Antiquity (Leiden), 533-565.

Van Ossel, P. and Ouzoulias, P., Rural settlement economy in Northern Gaul in the Late Empire: an overview and assessment, Journal of Roman Archaeology 13, 133-160.

Von Petrikovits, H. Fortifications in the North-Western Roman Empire from the Third to the Fifth Centuries A.D., The Journal of Roman Studies 61, 178-218.

Webster, G., The future of villa studies, in Rivet, A.L.F. (ed.), The Roman Villa in Britain. (Batesford, London), 217-249.

Wightman, E., Gallia Belgica. (Batsford, London).

Wheeler, R.E.M. and Wheeler, T.V., Verulamium: A Belgic and two Roman Cities. (Reports of the Society of Antiquaries, Oxford).

White, R. H., Excavations on the Site of the Baths Basilica. From Roman Viroconium to Medieval Wroxeter. (West Mercian Archaeological Consultants, Wroxeter).

Wilmott, T., Birdoswald: Excavations of a Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall and its successor settlements 1987-1992, (English Heritage, London).

Willis, S. and Carne, P., A Roman Villa at the Edge of Empire. (Research Report (Council for British Archaeology), Durham).

Wright, R.P., Roman Britain in 1940: I. Sites Explored: II. Inscriptions, Journal of Roman Studies 31, 128-148.

Woolf, G., Becoming Roman: The origins of provincial civilization in Gaul. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.

ISSN: 2360-266X