Project: REM: Roman economy and military

REM: Roman economy and military

Keywords: ancient Rome, economy, pottery, amphorae

It is now almost certain that the Roman economy resembled the modern market economy in its nature. However, certain sectors, such as grain supply to Rome and military provisioning, were largely organized by the state. However, the area of influence of the so-called annona militaris remains difficult to define at this point. The aim of the REM Project: Roman Military Economy (grant no. 2021/41/B/HS3/01155), funded by the 21st edition of the National Science Centre’s Opus competition and directed by Dr. Paulina Komar, is to provide new data to help understand the nature of the Roman military economy.

The project will focus on studying the economy of the Roman fort at Apsaros (modern Gonio, Georgia), which will be possible through archaeometric analysis of ceramic finds. The expected results are:

1. To determine the exact origin and composition of the amphorae and unglazed pottery found within the fort.
2. To reconstruct the economy of Apsaros based on the results of archaeometric analyses integrated with data from literary, epigraphic, archaeobotanical sources, and more.
3. To compare the provisioning system at Apsaros with that of Novae (another well-studied Black Sea fort) and with “civilian” sites in the Black Sea region.

Apsaros was one of the key Roman military outposts located on the border between the provinces of Cappadocia and Colchis during the first three centuries AD. Its position at the crossroads of land and sea routes connected Roman Asia Minor with the Caucasus (particularly Iberia). Despite a brief period of abandonment (4th-6th centuries AD), the fort remained in use throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, up until the end of the 19th century. Since 2014, the site has been excavated by the Polish-Georgian Gonio-Apsaros Expedition, led by Dr. Hab. Radosław Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski  (Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw).

To date, over a thousand diagnostic fragments of amphorae, which were used to transport products such as wine, oil, and fish sauce, have been recorded, as well as several hundred fragments of unglazed pottery, some of which have undergone macroscopic analysis. However, macroscopic studies do not always provide definitive results regarding the origin of the vessels. Therefore, more advanced archaeometric methods are necessary. The project will involve petrographic and chemical analyses. The former will allow the identification of ceramic inclusions based on optical differences observed through a polarizing microscope, while chemical analysis will reveal the elemental composition of the clay used in the vessels through X-ray fluorescence. Combining these methods will help determine the production sites of the pottery. In addition, the use of gas and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry will enable analysis of the vessels’ contents.

Archaeometric studies of pottery from the Black Sea basin have so far been somewhat occasional, leaving many production sites unidentified. This hinders research on supply networks and trade in the region, as transport containers and cooking vessels are among the most important sources for studying diet, production processes, trade, and economics in antiquity. Therefore, this project is significant both for the study of Roman ceramics in the Black Sea region and for research on ancient economies, as well as the logistics and methods of provisioning the Roman army.

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