The Production and Distribution of Roman Military Equipment: Proceedings of the Second Roman Military Equipment Research Seminar 9780860543473, 9781407343792

Table of contents :
Blank Page
Front Cover
Copyright
Table of Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
PREFACE
PART I
: THE THEORY
THE MILITARY FABRICA AND THE PRODUCTION OF ARMS IN THE EARLY PRINCIPATE
THE PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY OF MILITARY LEATHERWORK IN THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES A.D.: A REVIEW OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
MANUFACTURE AND SUPPLY OF THE ROMAN ARMY WITH BRONZE FITTINGS
PART II: THE ARTEFACTS
'BELL -SHAPED STUDS'?
A CHASED CHEEK-PIECE FROM STANWIX
NOUVELLES OBSERVATIONS SUR LES CABOCHONS DE BRONZE ESTAMPES DU CINGULUM ROMAIN
SOME CHANGES IN THE MANUFACTURE AND SUPPLY OF ROMAN BRONZE HELMETS UNDER THE LATE REPUBLIC AND EARLY EMPIRE
FIRST CENTURY MILITARY DAGGERS AND THE MANUFACTURE AND SUPPLY OF WEAPONS FOR THE ROMAN ARMY
PART III: A CASE STUDY
ROMAN ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
INDEX

Citation preview

The Production and Distribution of Roman Military Equipment Proceedings of the Second Roman Military Equipment Research Seminar

edited by

M. C. Bishop

BAR International Series 275

1985

B.A.R.

5, Centremead, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES, England.

GENERAL EDITORS A.R Hands, B.Sc., M.A., D.Phil. D.R Walker, M.A.

B.A.R.-S275, 1985: 'T�e Production and Distribution of Roman Military Equipment' © The Individual Authors, 1985.

The authors’ moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9780860543473 paperback ISBN 9781407343792 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9780860543473 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com

C ONTENTS

Page L ist of i llustrations L ist of c ontributors P reface

x i I :

The T heory

T he m ilitary f abrica a nd the production o f a rms i n the e arly Principate M .C.

B ishop

1

T he production a nd s upply o f m ilitary l eatherwork i n t he f irst and s econd c enturies A .D.;

a r eview o f t he

a rchaeological e vidence C .

v an D riel-Murray

4 3

M anufacture and s upply o f t he Roman a rmy with bronze f ittings J .

I I:

O ldenstein

8 2

L indsay A llason-Jones

9 5

Julian B ennett

1 09

The A rtefacts

' Bell-shaped s tuds'?

A c hased c heek-piece f rom S tanwix

Nouvelles observations s ur l es c abochons d e bronze

e stampes

du c ingulum romain M ichel F eugere

1 17

S ome changes i n t he manufacture a nd s upply o f R oman h elmets u nder t he l ate R epublic a nd e arly Empire John P addock

1 42

F irst century m ilitary d aggers a nd t he manufacture and s upply o f weapons f or t he Roman a rmy I an R . D ecorated dagger s cabbards f ound i n B ritain

i ii

S cott

1 60

I II:

A C ase S tudy P age

R oman a rchery e quipment J .C.

I ndex

C oulston

2 20

3 67

i v

L IST O F

I LLUSTRATIONS

B ISHOP

P age

Fig.1

T he s tone f abrica building a t Wiesbaden

4

F ig.2

T he Abbeydale I ndustrial Hamlet

6

F ig.3

Model f or the production o f m ilitary equipment i n m ilitary f abricae

1 4

VAN DRIEL-MURRAY Fig.1

a .

P rimary c utting l ines marked on s kin

b .

P rimary

o ff

c ut

f rom

Velsen

w ith

n atural

o rifice F ig.2

S econdary

4 5 o ff c uts f rom Velsen a rranged i n t heir

r elevant positions a round s ole s hapes

( also

f rom

Velsen)

4 7

F ig.3

O ff c uts f rom

M aastricht

c haracteristic f or t he

F ig.4

L eather f inds f rom Velsen e xcavated i n o ne

m anufacture of s ingle-piece f ootwear

4 8 m etre

s quares a nd plotted by weight

5 0

F ig.5

D istribution o f l eather i n Valkenburg I

F ig.6

E nlargement

o f

R itterling's

p lan

5 2 o f

t he

i ndustrial quarter a t Hofheim w ith post holes

o f

drying f rames

6 3

F ig.7

H ide drying f rame

6 3

F ig.8

L eather s upply i n periods o f f orward movement

6 7

F ig.9

L eather s upply i n periods o f c onsolidation

6 8

OLDENSTEIN F ig.1

D istribution o f C laudian/Neronian a nd N eronian/ F lavian pendants

8 8

ALLASON-JONES F ig.1

B ronze bell-shaped s tuds

9 6

F ig.2

M ethods o f f astening t he s tuds

9 6

P l.I

B ox plate f rom Walheim

9 8

P l.II

B ell s haped s tud f rom C arnuntum u sed a s a d agger pommel

9 9

P l.III

B ell-shaped s tud u sed a s a dolabra-sheath

1 01

F ig.3

B ell-shaped s tud f rom P iercebridge

1 03

P 1.1

T he S tanwix c heek-piece

1 11

F ig.1

T he S tanwix c heek-piece

1 13

B ENNETT

F EUGtRE F ig.1

L egionnaire e t porte-enseigne romains,

F ig.2

Typologie a ffinee d es c abochons

s .

a p. J .-C.

p age F ig.3

d ebut I er 1 20

s uivante)

( suite e n f in)

e stampes ( suite 1 24

1 25

P age F ig . 4

C arte d e r epartition d es c abochons e stampes,

t ous

t ypes c onfondus

1 27

F ig.5

D istribution du t ype 7

1 27

F ig.6

D istribution du t ype 8

1 29

F ig.7

D istribution d u t ype 9

1 29

F ig.8

D istribution du t ype 1 4

1 30

F ig.9

D istribution du t ype 1 0

1 30

F ig.10

1 e t 2 ,

Mailhac

Londres

( type 7 a);

( type

7 a);

6 ,

Rheinzabern 1 0,

1 2,

( type 8 c);

3 ,

Londres

Londres,

G reen

8 e t 9 ,

( type 1 0);

( type 6 );

1 ,

B esançon

3 ,

Londres

4 ,

B ucklersbury House ( type

Londres

1 1,

7 a); ( type

L iberchies

Heidelberg-Neunheim ( type 1 8);

S armizegetusa

Londres

5 ,

S keleton

S armizegetusa

1 4); F ig.11

( type 5 );

7 , 9 );

( type

1 3,

( type ? )

( type 4 );

1 35 2 ,

( type 7 a);

( type 1 0);

6 ,

Mandeure 4 ,

( type 4 ,

var.);

Buggenum ( type 8b);

Chester

5 ,

( type 1 7)

1 37

P ADDOCK F ig.I

a ) Montefortino helmet f rom R ieti b ) Maker's mark s tamped i nto the n edkguard

F ig.II

a )

1 49

Montefortino helmet f rom Laeto Apruntino

b ) M aker 's mark s tamped i nto the n edkguard F ig.III

a ) Montefortino helmet i n t he B ritish Museum ( 81, b )

F ig.IV

1 50

a )

7 -25.2)

Maker's mark s tamped i nto the n eckguard

1 51

i st c entury B .C. Montefortino helmet f rom Montenerodomo

b )

i st c entury B .C.

Montefortino helmet i n the 1 52

Vatican Museum F ig.V

a )

Spun e arly I mperial Montefortino helmet f rom N ijmegen

F ig.VI F ig.VII

b )

S pun Coolus/Hagenau helmet f rom Bosham harbour

a )

S pun Coolus/Hagenau helmet f rom B osham harbour

b )

Spun helmet f rom t he Walbrook,

a )

S pun helmet f rom B erkhamstead

b )

S pun helmet f rom N ijmegen

F ig.VIII a ) b )

Spun helmet f rom t he S ava,

1 53 1 54

London

1 55 Yugoslavia 1 56

S pun helmet f rom D rusenheim n ear Hagenau

S COTT Map 1

E arly Type A s heaths

1 69

Map 2

T iberian and l ater s heaths

1 71

F ig.1

5 :

Lorenzberg;

G elligaer; F ig.2

4 8:

1 2: Hod H ill; Weisenau;

6 1:

" unprovenanced"

3 1:

L incoln;

6 5:

U sk

( nos.

4 5:

( nos.

U sk;

5 5:

5 3:

3 2: V indonissa; Leeuwen;

3 6:

London;

r efer t o Appendix 1 ) C aerleon;

r efer to Appendix 2 )

v i

6 0:

2 08

6 1: Loughor; 2 09

P age WEBSTER F ig.1

S ketches o f the B ritish d agger s cabbards

2 15

F ig.1

Bow t erminology

3 29

F ig.2

Yrzi bow

3 30

F ig.3

B elmesa bow e ar

3 31

F ig . 4

Qum D arya bow f ragments

3 31

F ig.5

S tages o f s tave c onstruction

3 32

F ig . 6

Ch 'engtu workshop p lan

F ig.7

S tave positions.

F ig.8

A rrow t erminology

F ig.9

B ar H ill e ar l aths.

Convex f aces

3 34

F ig.10

B ar H ill e ar l aths.

F lat f aces

3 34

F ig.11

C aerleon ear l aths.

F lat f aces

3 35

F ig.12

C aerleon e ar l aths.

Concave f aces

3 35

F ig.13

Caerleon g rip l aths.

Convex f aces

3 36

F ig.14

C aerleon g rip l aths.

F lat f aces

3 36

F ig.15

B elmesa bow e ar.

S inister f ace

3 37

F ig.16

B elmesa bow e ar.

B ack f ace

3 37

F ig.17

B elmesa bow e ar.

D exter f ace

3 38

F ig.18

B elmesa bow e ar.

B elly f ace

3 38

F ig.19

T rajan 's Column.

A rcher i n S cene XXIV

3 39

F ig.20

T rajan 's Column.

A rchers i n S cene CXV

3 39

F ig.21

T rajan 's Column.

B arbarian bow on the north-east

f ace o f t he p edestal

3 39

F ig.22

T rajan 's Column.

A rcher i n S cene CVIII

3 40

F ig.23

T rajan 's Column.

D etail o f bow i n S cene CVIII

3 40

F ig.24

M arcus Column.

A rcher i n S cene LXXVIII

3 40

F ig.25

M arcus C olumn.

Horse-archer i n S cene LVII

3 40

F ig.26

A rcher 's tombstone f rom Housesteads

F ig.27

D etail o f Housesteads a rcher's bow

F ig.28

T ombstone o f Monimus,

C OULSTON

3 32

I Yrzi bow ;

I I

Sassanid '

bow

3 33

3 41 3 41

c ohors I I turaeorum ,

Mainz, 3 42

West G ermany F ig.29

T ombstone o f a n e ques s ingularis Augusti,

Mainz, 3 42

West G ermany F ig.30

T ombstone

f rom

e ar,

Hungary,

a la

I

Augusta 3 42

I turaeorum F ig. 3 1

T ombstone f rom M ainz,

West Germany,

a la P arthorum 3 43

e t Araborum F ig.32

Tombstone f rom

F ig. 3 3

R elief

T ipasa,

A lgeria,

a la

I

Augusta 3 43

I turaeorum o f

P almyrene r ider-gods,

f rom P almyra.

Abgal a nd Agar,

National Museum i n Damascus,

d ated 3 43

to A .D.154 F ig. 3 4

D etail o f bow Located

o n

s outh-east

a

P almyrene o f

t he

page

r elief.

' Funerary

T emple', 3 44

P almyra. F ig. 3 5

3 33

D etail o f s tatue o f Atys.

v ii

London,

B ritish Museum .

3 44

P age F ig.36 F ig.37

' Worcester Hunt ' D etail o f

' Triclinos'

Mus es Royaux, F ig.38

mosaic f rom D aphne, hunt mosaic,

Hunt mosaic d etail,

Apamea Syriae. 3 45

G reat P alace ,

P arthian t erracotta horse-archer.

F ig.40

Aquatic hunt s cene,

F ig.41

Mounted

S assanid

i -BustJn ,

I ran

S ven

3 44

B russels

F ig.39

F ig.42

S yria

I stanbul B erlin Museum

Täq-i-Bustäh , k ing

3 45

I ran

( Chosroes

I I?),

Tag3 46

Hedin

w ith

beside Lop Nor.

f inds

f rom

M ass Grave 1 ,

Complete Qum D arya bow i n bottom

r ight

3 46

F ig.43

D etail o f horse-archer f resco f rom

F ig.44

D etail o f S assanid P ersian s ilver d ish

e l-Gharbi. F ig.45

S tele

F ig.47

T anged,

K hasr e l-Hayr

National Museum i n D amascus

w ith

D ura-Europos, F ig.46

3 45 3 45

f letchings

a nd

wooden

3 46 3 47

p iles

f rom

s tele

f rom

S yria

t rilobate

Masada,

Palestine

Barbed,

f lat,

t anged

3 47 a rrow-heads

a nd

3 48 a rrow-heads

Dumb.

f rom Bearsden , 3 48

v iii

L IST O F C ONTRIBUTORS

* Lindsay A llason-Jones

M useum o f Antiquities, N ewcastle u pon Tyne,

J ulian B ennett

The University,

N E1

7 RU,

C entral E xcavation Unit, F ort C umberland ,

E ngland

H .B.M.C.,

E astney,

P ortsmouth ,

E ngland *M.C.

Bishop

D epartment of Archaeology , University, 7 RU,

* J.C. Coulston

University,

*Mrs C .

van D riel-Murray

NE1

England

D epartment o f A rchaeology, 7 RU,

The

Newcastle upon Tyne,

The

Newcastle upon Tyne,

NE1

E ngland

I .P.P.,

S ingel 4 53,

1 012 WP Amsterdam ,

The Netherlands M ichel Feugere

C .N.R .S.,

Centre Camille Jullian ,

Universite d e P rovence, S chuman, *Dr J .

Oldenstein

2 9 Av.

R obert

1 3621 A ix-en-Provence,

I nstitut f ür Vor- u . S aarstraBe 2 1,

F rance

F rühgeschichte,

6 500 Mainz,

West

G ermany * John Paddock

I nstitute o f Archaeology, S quare,

I an R .

Scott

1 XL,

3 1-34 Gordon E ngland

P .O.

B ox 7 8,

The O ld S chool House,

( *)

University

Cardiff,

CF1

Wales

Harbury,

N .B. Contributors marked

WC1 O PY,

D epartment o f Archaeology, College,

D r G raham Webster

London,

Warks.,

r ead their papers

s eminar i n March 1 984

i x

Chesterton ,

CV33 9 LF,

a t

E ngland

t he

o riginal

P REFACE

The f irst Roman m ilitary e quipment r esearch s eminar , the

s pring of 1 983,

this f ield . that

i t

s ought t o d efine t he i nterests o f w orkers i n

S uch was the e nthusiasm o f

1

was

d ecided

t o

m eet

s econd

a ll

a gain

specific theme was t o be d iscussed: equipment.

held i n

t he

i n 1 984,

t he

p articipants, but t his t ime a

p roduction

o f

m ilitary

This volume c ontains many o f t he papers g iven at t hat m eeting,

a long

w ith

s ome

a dditional

r elevant

contributions. Works o f s ynthesis o n m ilitary equipment h ave b een comparatively f ew a nd f ar between , a lthough t hose of M acMullen ,2 Robinson,

3

and 0 1denstein 4 a re exceptions

( and t he value o f t hese

i s attested by the n umber o f r eferences t o t hem i n this I t

i s

a rmy,

a

c urious f act that a rms,

have

l argely

i nstitution ,

been

n eglected

e xist

t o

f orces.

i n

d iscussions

o f

beyond their purely a ntiquarian i nterest.

i s that t he a rmy n eeded weapons and somewhere.

v olume).

t he r aison d 'etre o f t he R oman

had

T his m eant that an i ndustry s upply

t he

e stimated

A ll this has,

t o

procure

t hat

The f act t hem

f rom

( of whatever f orm ) had t o

3 00,000 t roops of t he f rontier

however,

r eceived

s cant

interest

f rom

historians and a rchaeologists 5 . C learly,

no

o ne

book

c an

hope t o provide the d efinitive

answer to t he question ' how d id the R oman

a rmy

equip

i tself?",

and i t was n ever i ntended that the s eminar would produce a s ingle comprehensive

a nswer,

proposed here.

The

e lements:

f irst ,

but

a

n umber o f plausible s olutions a re

s tructure a

o f

l argely

t his

book

t heoretical

c omprises s ection

t hree

c onsiders

production and d istribution i n three g eneral papers which s eek t o define models f or t he operation of t he s ystem ;

s econd ,

types

o f

third,

Jon Coulston 's i mportant e xamination o f a rchery

s pecific

object a re d iscussed i n r elation to t heir m anufacture;

d emonstrates

t he

and materiel

t o

e quipment

n eed to r elate w ider q uestions of o rganisation t he

f undamental

matter

o f

production

a nd

d istribution. I

s hould

contributors, P eter

l ike to take t his o pportunity t o t hank a ll of t he i ncluding those who s poke a t

Connolly,

N icholas Fuentes,

not i ncluded papers

w ithin

t his

t he

s eminar

( namely

a nd P eter P rice) b ut who have v olume

f or

v arious

r easons.

Foremost a mongst t hese e xclusions must b e S imon James, w ho gave a paper based u pon his

( forthcoming)

l ater

- e ssential r eading f or a nyone i nterested i n

Roman

a rmy 6

that period o r i n s eeing t he context.

The

E rmine

whole

t he

question

o f

production

i n

S treet Guard 's participation a nd informed

d iscussion was e specially welcome. Kennedy o f

a rticle o n t he f abricae of t he

D epartment

o f

P rof.

Ancient

D .J.

Mosely a nd D r D .L.

H istory

and

C lassical

Archaeology

a t

t he

University

o f

S heffield provided help a nd

encouragement during the s eminar i tself a nd D r K ennedy has been a u seful source of a dvice during the preparation Finally,

I

m ust

t hank my wife,

o f

Martha A ndrews,

t his

v olume.

who helped t ype

the t ext. T he Roman m ilitary e quipment s eminars a re that

a ttract

both

s cholars

a nd

a mateurs.

a n

f uture meetings may be obtained f rom t he e ditor.

NOTES 1 .

B ISHOP,

1 983.

2 .

MACMULLEN ,

3 .

R OBINSON,

4 .

O LDENSTEIN ,

5 .

B ut s ee now B REEZE,

6 .

JAMES,

1 960. 1 975. 1 977. 1 984,

e sp.

f orthcoming.

x i

2 69-77.

a nnual

e vent

F urther d etails o f

B IBLIOGRAPHY B ISHOP

1 983:

M .C.

B ishop

( ed.),

R oman

M ilitary

P roceedings o f a S eminar held i n t he

D epartment

H istory

a t

a nd

S heffield , BREEZE 1 984:

A rchaeology

2 1st March 1 983,

D .J.

F rontier' the

C lassical

B reeze,

i n R .

Walls:

o n

a nd

s upply

B urgess

( eds.),

t he

f orthcoming:

f actories S tone

o f

( eds.),

MACMULLEN 1 960: s upply

o f

James,

l ater

t he

Northern

B etween a nd B eyond

' The f abricae,

R oman E mpire '

i n R .

2 64-86

s tate

a rms

Jackson & M .J.

( London f orthcoming)

' Inscriptions

o n

a rms

R oman E mpire',

American Journal o f

1 977:

Ausrüstung

6 4,

i n

t he

1 960,

J .

O ldenstein , S tudien

d er

H .R .

' Zur

Ausrüstung

t he

Chr.', 5 7,

Robinson ,

r ömischer

A uxiliareinheiten

L imesgebietes

n .

germanischen Kommission , 1 975:

and

z u B eschlagen und Z ierat a n d er

r ömischen

Jahrhundert

armor

2 3-40

obergermanisch-raetisdhen

ROBINSON

o n

( Edinburgh 1 984),

R oman M ilitary S tudies I ,

Auxiliareinheiten.

d ritten

o f

R . MacMullen ,

Archaeology, OLDENSTEIN

S .T. t he

Ancient

P rehistory a nd History of N orth

B ritain i n Honour of G eorge Jobey, JAMES

o f

University

( Sheffield 1 983)

' Demand

M iket & C .

E ssays

t he

E quipment.

1 976 The

( London 1 975)

x ii

B ericht ( 1977),

Armour

d er

a us dem z wieten u nd d er

römisch

4 9-366 o f

I mperial

R ome,

T HE M ILITARY F ABRICA A ND T HE P RODUCTION O F A RMS

I N T HE E ARLY

P RINCIPATE

M .C.

" The

B ishop

main s ource o f s upply o f a rms i n the e arlier

Empire was s mall s hops a nd d ealers.

F ine a rmor

beyond

the c all o f d uty c ould be o rdered by the m ilitary s well f rom l ocal a rtists,

o r was hawked a bout i n t he camp." MACMULLEN ,

1 960,

2 5

" It i s n ot known f or c ertain whether t he f abri,

o r

s pecialist

c raftsmen ,

o r only r epaired capable

o f

o f a l egion a ctually made a rmour

i t.

No

doubt

many

l egion was s tationed in n ewly c onquered away

o f

them

m aking i t i n t imes o f emergency,

f rom production c entres,

w ere

o r when a

t erritory

their f ull-time o ccupation t here s urely could not been

f ar

but had manufacture been have

any n eed f or private f irms t o manufacture a rms o f

any kind. " I would s uggest that maintenance of e quipment a nd the production of j avelin heads, were

t he

main

a rrows

a nd

the

l ike

t asks a ssigned t o t he a verage m ilitary

workshop." ROBINSON , These two o pinions might be held t o r epresent t hought

that has gained considerable,

c redence a mongst s tudents o f production

t he

1 975, a

no

o ne

to

e xamine

particular

o f

Roman

army.

The

n ature

o f

o f m ilitary equipment i n the e arly i mperial period i s easy

answer.

e vidence t o a llow u s r easonable

s chool

but by no means u niversal,

a n e xtremely complex problem and i t must be s tressed i s

8

n ot

Nevertheless, only

amount of d etail the

r ole

r eference

of to

to

t here

s tudy

t hat

i s

c ertain

there

s ufficient a reas

in

a

( and i t i s the purpose o f t his paper the f abricae

i n

metalworking,

this

process

w ith

a lthough other a reas o f

manufacture will n ecessarily be brought i nto t he d iscussion),

but

a lso to consider s ome o f t he wider i mplications o f this matter. Fabricae t hemselves have r eceived d etailed number

of

occasionsl

personnel who worked within them , t heir

role

i n

t he

t reatment

2

production

but o f

i n

o rder

m ilitary

s ub-literary s ource material. be

Moreover,

to

a

u nderstand

e quipment,

n ecessary to e xamine c ritically t he a rchaeological, t o

on

a nd there have been a ttempts t o s tudy t he i t i s

l iterary,

i t w ill prove

particular a bout the c ontemporaneity o f t his material,

1

a nd

n ecessary s o

the e vidence u sed,

wherever possible,

will be d rawn f rom t he

i st

c entury A .D.

THE S OURCES 1 ) L iterary Our

most

i mportant l iterary s ources a re t he De R e M ilitari

o f Vegetius and a f ragment o f T aruttienus P aternus 3 preserved Justinian 's D igest. of

i t,

f irst

Obviously,

c entury

n either o f t hese a re,

i n d ate,

i n

o n t he f ace

but they w ill s till p rove to be

admissable once we s tudy t heir background i n some detail. The main passage of r elevance i n Vegetius i s I I,11 w here i s

d escribing

No.1).

the

duties

o f

the praefectus

He relates how e ach l egion

producing

a

variety

o f

f ormabantur') and, most

had

a

f abrum ( Appendix

number

( 'omniaque

weapons

i mportantly

f rom

he

o f

workshops

a rmorum

our

point

g enera

o f

v iew,

s tresses t he s elf-sufficiency o f the l egion ( 'haec e nim e rat c ura

p raecipua , u t q uic q uid e xercitui n ecessarium u idebatur n umquam d eesset i n c astris') a nd that they m et t heir n eeds by manufacture. I t

i s

g enerally

a ccepted

t hat Vegetius c ompiled h is work

during the 4 th c entury A .D., 4 u sing a uthors periods, been

d ebate

this particular s ection , Paternus, and

a

r anging f rom the R epublic up t o his o wn day.

considerable

t urn ,

f rom

I ulius

u sing Cato ,

a s

v ariety

T here has

5

t o which s ource Vegetius u sed f or

t he c hief c andidates

F rontinus,

and

b eing

Cornelius C elsus

i t i s presumed).

Now , whilst

6

T aruttienus ( who was,

both

Celsus were writing i n t he i st c entury A .D., c ircumstances

o f

t he

i mperial

Cato w as quite

7

a rmy. 8

praefectus f abrum c ertainly e xisted under the does

not

appear

to

workshops and was,

have

i n f act,

had

a nything

t o

c onfused

o ver

c astrorum , c entury

the

posts

B .C.

1°

Many

o f

t he

' praefectus would

s eem

t o

Julio-Claudian period, P .

duties ( II,11)

( II,10)

f abrorum '

description i s unlikely t o o rigin

the

f ormer

a ssociated with t he l atter the

t he

R epublic, do

but

Vegetius f abrum

. 11

which

9

h as

become

and p raefectus

a re

he

to

i st

a re t he b e

f ound

i f t hese duties

belong i n t he i mperial a rmy,

c ome

f rom

Cato.

T he

be e ither Celsus himself, o r P aternus.

T aruttienus Paternus,

s ays

a lso

T herefore,

m ost

t he

l ikely

writing i n the

1 2

writing t owards the end o f t he

2

i t

w ith m ilitary

the l atter f irst being a ttested a t t he end o f t he

r esponsibility o f o f

o f praefectus

t o

The o ffice o f

l argely a n honorary t itle.

What appears to have happened i s t hat

i n

F rontinus

c learly a R epublican s ource and s o o f doubtful r elevance c hanged

o f

2 nd

c entury t heir

A .D.,

work,

No.2).

i ncluded a l ist o f i mmunes who ,

1 3

were

e xempted

o rdinary

i t i s s trongly s uspected that a s imilar

o peration well before that. it

may

Paternus'

1 5

( Appendix

a t f irst s eem ,

c astrorum ;

not

was

i n

f or a ll o f the posts i ncluded would

s urprisingly,

f abrica s taff a re i ncluded.

s ystem

l ist i s more i nteresting

have fallen within the a rea o f r esponsibility

2 )

by t he n ature o f

f atigues

Whilst t he post o f i mmunis i s not known before the 2 nd

14

c entury, t han

f rom

o f

t he praefectus

m en who c ould be c onsidered to be

1 6

S ub-Literary Our two f undamental l iterary s ources f or the

a ctivities

o f

t he military f abricae would both s eem t o belong within the period o f

the

principate,

but we c an be more c ertain o f t he d ating o f

o ur s ub-literary e vidence. t exts,

o ne

a n

u ndated

Here we a re d ealing with papyrus f rom Egypt,

t hree

main

t he other two being

c losely-dated writing tablets f rom one o f the pre-Hadrianic f orts a t Vindolanda.

1 7

The B erlin papyrus i nv. 6765, which probably 2 nd

or

3 rd

c enturies

A .D.,

preserves

a ctivity within a l egionary f abrica, T raiana Fortis f acts

t hat

( Appendix No.3).

1 00

men

i ncluding i mmunes, -

who

were

and

catapult

o f

r ecord o f two days'

probably

t hat

o f l egio

I I

T he s alient points i nclude the

1 8

c ivilians,

two

s orts

f ittings.

a lso made between i tems made ( peractus)

the

and a g roup

- galliari

L ists o f i tems being produced a re g iven

1 9

a nd these include s pathae, bows,

t o

employed i n the workshop on one day,

cohortales,

may be s laves.

a

d ates

2°

o f

s hield ,

i ron

p lates,

An i nteresting d istinction i s

( fabricatus)

and

t hose

c ompleted

T he value o f this t ext i n d emonstrating the volume

. 21

production

possible and the numbers o f personnel i nvolved i s

i mmediately obvious.

2 2

•

Two o f the ' wooden writing tablets f ound at V indolanda - Tab. V ind. a

1 a nd 3 - p rovide u s with evidence which d emonstrates

s imilar

s ituation

was

pertaining

p eriod that c oncerns u s here. m en being s ent t o work i n f igure

g iven

i n

Tab. V ind.

t he

t he early e mpire, 1 ( Appendix No.4)

workshops

o n

April

i s 3 43 men and this i ncludes c obblers,

which

a re

3 ( Appendix No.5),

o ther

hand,

i dentified g ladiarii, i dea

j ust

2 3

a

c entury,

Tab.

l arge

V ind.

f ragmentary but

f abri, and s cutarii.

that

f abricae,

i s by

u s.

i t

l ist a lmost

T he f irst

o f

d etails

names

c ertainly tablet

The

and various

t he

t o

precise

t he

l ists

2 5th.

a ssignments of a c onstructional nature, l ost

t hat

o f

o n the

o f

m en ,

i ncludes

s upports

t he

c ontingents o f t roops c ould be a ssigned to t he

whilst t he s econd s hows that

weapons

manufacture

have been one o f t he tasks i n which they would be employed.

3

may

3 5M

6 1 1 1

Fig.1:

Z1 11 1

The Nr.31,

s tone

fabrica

Taf.V ,1).

watertank

( A )

building

T here i s

a

t heir

a ssociated

c entrally l ocated room ( C) D irect

a ccess

Wiesbaden ( after ORL

c ourtyard

with

a t t he c entre o f t he c omplex.

periphery a re pairs of rooms w ith

a t

( B)

t hat may

s torage may

b e

he

s pace. a n

a

l arge

A round t he workshops T he

a ssembly

l arge, hall.

t o t he courtyard of a f abrica i s u sually

a fforded by a c orridor

( D).

4

T o

these

writing

i mportant

tablet

probably

f ound

d ating

documents

i n

t he

we

t o the mid-first c entury

mentions a s cutarius called Valerius, Vindonissa

c an add an address on a

S chutthügel

a t

V indonissa

( Appendix No.6),

o f

t he

e ighth

a nd which

c ohort.

2 4

was a lso the f indplace o f a bronze votive i nscription

( Appendix No.7) which,

appropriately enough a s i t t urns o ut,

s et u p to Mars by T iberius I ulius Aquila, gladiarius.

was

d escribing himself a s a

2 5

3 ) A rchaeological T he l iterary a nd s ub-literary s ources would t herefore a ppear to

p rovide

s ufficient

e vidence

f or

u s

t o

postulate

d irect

participation by t he a rmy i n the production o f m ilitary e quipment during the

e arly

p rincipate,

but

we

must

now

t urn

t o

the

archaeological evidence to t est t his hypothesis. F abricae

have been i dentified - w ith more o r l ess c ertainty

- a t a number o f s ites o f the 1 st a nd e arly S ites

s uch

a s

Haltern ,

I nchtuthil,

Wiesbaden ,

these,

only

s ites,

i f

Hofheim ,

and V indolanda

2 nd

c enturies

Valkenburg, may

be

A .D.

Oberstimm ,

i ncluded

b ecause they a re t he most f amiliar.

amongst A t these

2 6

the typical workshop building took t he f orm of a c ourtyard

structure,

u sually w ith a l arge c entral water

e stablishment's

water

s upply

( Fig.1).

t ank

I t

i s

compare the l ayout o f these f abrica buildings parallels,

s uch

( Fig.2).

Characteristically,

2 7

comparatively a lways clear. buildings

interesting to

the

R oman

l arge number o f rooms,

w ith

more

buildings

the

r ecent

been

of

s uggested

t hese

u s

i s

a s f abricae,

building

f eature

a number o f o ther but

t he

G a t Vetera I .

would

have

been

d esigned

most

I f this was

t hen i t i s the l argest building of ( it

a

t he purpose of which i s not

By c omparison with s uch s ites,

indeed a workshop, known

by

a s the Abbeydale i ndustrial hamlet i n S heffield

2 8

have

f ed

i nteresting t o

t his t o

t ype

s erve

a

double-legionary g arrison) • 29 I t i s worth n oting i n passing that no building has yet conclusively a lthough

p resent ,

s tructures produce

i s

which

the

processes. are,

i dentified

3 0

a s s eldom

c learly

s ort

o f

T hat

a f abrica

f or a rgument 's s ake,

i ndustrial

o verwhelming

had

a nother

e vidence

being

-

a nd

t hat

primary f unction,

a ssociated

s aid ,

-

been

e vidence,

w ith

many could

i ndustrial

a number o f buildings which we

a ccepting

a s f abricae

have

produced

evidence s uggestive of the production o f m ilitary e quipment. Here we may d iscern a number o f c lasses o f e vidence that may be

.

o f

some u se.

F irst there i s d irect e vidence o f m etalworking

( but equally wood-, bone-, waste

products,

r aw

and l eatherworking)

materials,

5

i n

t he

f orm

o f

o r material i ntimately bound-up

da m

0 . 0

1 3' iv er

S heaf

( not to s cale)

Fig.2:

The

Abbeydale I ndustrial Hamlet

F ig.). main

( after PEATMAN ,

The p lan s hows Abbeydale a s i t c omponents

a re

t he

c ourtyard

a ssociated w ith primary production f urnace,

f orges),

t hose

processes

( finishing),

products

were

( 3)

f inal

p ainted

t o

( 7),

manager

a nd

( 8).

d evoted

p revent

a ccommodation

t oday.

f or

s econdary W here

c orrosion

( 6),

a n

e xception

t he

( 5).

I n

a dminstrative

t he workers and t he

T he main products were two types o f s cythe

a nd a ll processes necessary f or their m anufacture t he

( 2)

( crucible

t o

( 4),

2

I ts

t he rooms

processes

a ssembly

addition t here was s torage s pace a rea

i s ( 1),

1 981,

o f

r olling

m ill) were performed on-site.

6

t he s teel,

( with

done a t a nearby

with

the

p roduction

process

( such

a s

c rucibles).

T he waste

products of i ron and copper a lloy working have been r ecorded f rom Hofheim ,

Oberstimm ,

3 1

to n ame but a f ew . tools,

W iesbaden ,

3 2

S econd,

Rheingönheim ,

3 3

t here i s

t he

3 4

i ndirect

a nd E xeter 35 e vidence

o f

particularly those o f the s mith o r armourer i n t he c ase o f

metalworking.

I t

i s

s aid that a number of t ools were f ound on

the s ite of the f abrica F inally,

t here

r easons

i s

which

a t

the

w ill

Haltern

when

e quipment s oon

i t

i tself;

become

was

e xcavated. %

but this c lass,

apparent,

i s

f or

not

a s

straightforward a s i t m ight a t f irst s eem . D r

Jürgen

O ldenstein

equipment was produced

on

has

the

d emonstrated

2 nd

and

3 rd

t hat

m ilitary

c entury l imes

i n

Germany and has pointed to the important role o f s crap metal a s a r esource

i n

this

s cheme.

S crap

3 7

i s,

by definition ,

product that is r ecycled and the process o f

r ecycling

been an important part o f t he production of m etal g oods. i s

e very

r eason

t o

s uspect

that i t was equally,

a waste

has

l ong There

3 8

i f not more,

important t o the Roman a rmy. S ir I an R ichmond s uggested that the hoard o f i ron nails wheel

tyres

f ound

i n

a

p it

deliberately placed there by the Romans when they s ite,

in

o rder r eason,

Twelve tons

3 9

d eposited in a p it,

nails from the demolition o f the military but

a bandoned

the

t hat this precious resource would not f all into

the hands o f their enemies. whatever

a nd

i n the f abrica a t I nchtuthil was

o f

nails

were,

f or

but they were not a ll u sed

s ite.

4°

E xcavation

o f

o ther

s ites has not yet r evealed a comparable hoard o f nails,

other

a rtefacts

have

been

r ecovered

i n

c onsiderable

quantities. James

Curle 's

of m ilitary Deposited

e xcavations a t Newstead produced a r ich haul

equipment i n

p its

of

and

a ll

r esult of s ome s ort of d isaster; motive The

was

s ometimes

' disaster'

t heory

a rchaeological

g rounds,

I nchtuthil f ind, t he

Newstead

kinds,

wells,

a t the

4 1

s uggested has

but

c hiefly

m etalwork.

t his was l ong thought t o be the

now

t ime,

a

r itual

been

d iscounted i n

t he

o n

c ontext

g ood the

a n a lternative explanation has been offered

f or

4 3

s een

4 2

o f

material:

a nd,

s ame

a s at l east a partial c ause.

namely that i t was not the d ebris f rom a

battle or the s poils o f a t riumphant f oe, but r ather ( part, a t l east, of) the s tock o f s crap metal belonging to t he f ort's workshop . 44 In

this

i nstance,

a rchaeological

r ecord

m ilitary was

s crap.

e quipment

i n

t he

I t i s understandable,

f ound

i f we

i magine t he considerable amount of o rganisation i nvolved a bandonment

and

i n

the

s ystematic demolition of a R oman m ilitary s ite,

t hat not a ll waste material could be moved with t he army. 45 t he l ogical move f or a p raefectus c astrorum would

7

be

t o

T hus r emove

a ll

t race

o f

i ts e xistence by burying i t. 46

B ut i t i s at t his

point that we must a sk how m ilitary equipment c ame to b e a rchaeological

r ecord

under

' normal'

that has c ome t o be tacitly a ccepted

c ircumstances:

i s

what

m ight

i n

t he

t he reason b e

t ermed

' accidental l oss', 47

but whilst this i s a cceptable for v ery s mall

i tems,

i ncreasingly

i t

becomes

u nlikely

the

larger the i tem

i nvolved. 48

I ndeed examining military e quipment more c losely,

pattern

c learly

i s

damaged i n military

s ome s ite

d iscernible:

way. 49 will

E xamination

i nevitably

o f

r eveal

t he

s ites.

particularly

c opper

a lloy,

t he

bent

s craps

o f

t hen ,

that most

of

t he

e quipment that i s e xcavated on R oman m ilitary s ites was

d iscarded a s s crap by t he r ecord.

I f

this

t ime

i t

s upposition

entered

the

a s

t aking

was practicable when i t moved on,

uncover

equipment

the

basic

f ramework

production.

o f

quantity

o f

material,

f ound a t Augsburg Oberhausen.

this hoard,

s een

' core hoard'

i t when i t moved.

i t

a s

then we a re beginning

t he

s ystem

o f

a re known f rom

m ilitary s imilar t o

other

s ites.

both i ron and copper a lloy, was A lthough mooted as the s ite o f a

5 1

major m ilitary base, a s the s ort of

w ith

Hoards o f m ilitary metalwork,

those f rom I nchtuthil and Newstead, l arge

archaeological

i s l inked together w ith the i dea

that a f abrica would keep a hoard of s tock,

A

a ny

t hat a re s o common on t hese

The e vidence would s eem to s uggest ,

to

f rom

5°

military

much

f inds

a l ong l ist o f defects.

Confirmatory evidence comes in the f orm o f metal,

a

e ven s ingle f inds a re usually

o r s omething s imilar,

m ight

b e

a military unit would t ake w ith

5 2

Yet more i nformation about m ilitary e quipment can b e derived f rom i ts

l ocation

a rchaeological d itches, i n

a

w ithin

a

R oman

f ort

s uch f inds f ar outweighing the

f loor

s urface or s uch l ike.

f ortress.

' casual'

f ind o f an

was

i nextricably

t he abandonment and d emolition of a s ite. a n

i ntensive

t ransportable, f ull,

s earch

but

once

f or

l onger

a nything d iscarded

be

t hat

w as

( or even b oats) w ere where

i t

would

n o

ieces of m ilitary e quipment be a ccessible - throwing odd p

ubbish i nto p its a nd d itches a long with the other r their

l inked

t here would

5 6

r e-usable

the f abrica c arts

e verything e lse had to

i tem

The p rocess o f

5 5

demolition can be r econstructed with some a ccuracy: be

T he

5 3

T he deposition o f m ilitary

5 4

equipment in the a rchaeological r ecord w ith

o r

context of m ilitary equipment i s u sually p its a nd

c omplete

c ompleted.

S ome p ieces,

5 7

s egmentata '

burial

f ittings,

V irtually

e very

t he

once

a s

s uch

s mall

would

ensure

p rocess

numbers

o f

was

' lorica

eemed worth s aving. may s imply not have s m ilitary

manufacture.

5 9

I t

5 8

s ite of t he i st c entury A .D. h as

produced military equipment and this widespread

d emolition

m ight

a lso

whenever a m ilitary s ite was abandoned,

8

a llows

be

taken t he

t o

t hought

m ilitary equipment

i mply t hat would

be

d eposited,

a n

i dea

t hat

i s

possible f ashion a t V indonissa. T he analysis s everal

o f

d ifferent

in t he army, within

i n

t he c learest

6 0

c opper

a lloy

f orms o f brass

a rtefacts

has

s hown

their groupings, amounts

s omething that,

was only

o f

s crap

particular categories of m etal,

a nd

homogeneous

g iven the l evel o f R oman

possible

metal

t hat

( or g ilding metal) were i n u se

but t hat t hese c lasses were extremely

6 1

military t echnology , large

e xemplified

with i ts

t he

r ecycling

s egregation

where appropriate.

o r

i nto the

6 2

THE FABRICA SYSTEM Theory Once i t has been archaeological

e stablished

s ources

both

t hat

non-archaeological

i mply that production o f e quipment

was u ndertaken by t he army on a f airly l arge the

point

of

s elf-sufficiency,

s cale

( indeed ,

based

upon

the

t o

i f we a re to believe Vegetius),

then i t i s possible to begin to attempt a reconstruction system ,

a nd

o f

f undamentals d iscussed above ,

models are presented here to demonstrate

how

t he

the

a nd s ome

s ystem

c ould

have operated. I t i s well-known that m ilitary equipment could pass i nto the hands

of

a number of owners,

a f act most e loquently a ttested by

i tems with s everal owner-inscriptions. which

this

took

p lace

generally a ccepted passed

back

t o

w ith

a rmy

a

upon

of

r ecyling

damaged equipment, production

f ew

e xceptions,

i tems,

would

6 4

equipment

s um of

money.

T his

6 5

a long with the inevitable r epair of

have

m eant

t hat

the

a rmy 's

a ctual

needs a t any g iven t ime would have been c omparatively

l ow a nd the l ife o f an object could r easonably be e xpected to a bove

the notional 2 0 man-years period

of peace;

K eeping a l egion

. 66

a uxiliaries 67 )

( and,

note,

The u se o f s crap metal would

d emand

f or raw materials was very l ow ,

n ot n eed r apidly t o l ocate sources o r f rom

i nv.6765 a ttainable

t he

and

presumably ,

be

i n t imes campaign

i ts a ssociated

e quipped was thus not a s d ifficult a s m ight f irst

appear.

t he

( but only ,

i t i s i mpossible to e stimate loss-rates under

c onditions)

s tocks

by

the r etirement o r d eath o f the

f ormer owner in exchange f or a ( nominal?) process

t he means

have a lready been s tudied and i t i s now

t hat, t he

Moreover,

6 3

r ear.

t he

l evels

( although

c ircumstances

i n

The

6 8

i t

o f

f urther

ensure

that

t he

s o a c ampaigning army d id c onstantly

p icture

r eplenish

p resented by P .

production

t hat

w ere

i ts

B erlin c learly

must be r emembered that we d o not know

which

t he

document

was

written)

a re

t herefore not i mplausible. That

document,

a long

w ith

9

t he

two

writing tablets f rom

Vindolanda,

s hows

u s

how

t he f abrica s ystem must have worked.

Accurate modern r econstructions of R oman m ilitary equipment u sually

been

undertaken by an i ndividual c raftsman ,

f or a ll phases o f

t he

s killed.

i s

This

6 9

doing things: unskilled

work, not,

f rom

o f course,

i t i s f ar better

l abourers,

the

who

a re

s implest

apportion

i n

turn

s ystem operated i n the Roman a rmy,

c learly provide the l abour-force, l ater

to

be

called)

menial

c onstruction

t asks

t o

b y s killed

I f

7 0

and t he immunes

t his

( as

t he s kill and s upervision.

of

m ost

s ort

t hen the l egionaries c ould t hey

w ere

I n its way ,

7 1

f unction

o f

The principle of c lose supervision o f

7 2

t echnically d ifficult tasks was well-established , the

t he

s upervised

this goes some way to explaining the s tatus and the the i mmunis in the a rmy.

r esponsible

t o

t he most efficient way o f

t o

c raftsmen who c an f inish a j ob where necessary. of

have

f ortifications.

The

7 3

particularly i n

u se

o f

ordinary

s oldiers i n the workshops m ight a lso help t o explain

t he

varying

s egmentata'

quality

o f m ilitary equipment - t he

ll orica

f itting produced by the hasty o r i nexperienced but

be

i nferior

worker.

to

one

man

widely

c annot

produced by a d iligent or e xperienced

7 4

We c an, advantage

perhaps,

i f

we

s ee this s ystem i n operation

s ubmit

a n

i tem

o f

t o

i ts

First ,

a s imple object,

1 )

A

woodman,

2 )

A s mith

t o

butt;

g athering of wood of t he required

unskilled porters

( semi-skilled? 75 ) to f orge u nskilled

men

f inished object),

a s porters

t he

blade,

( raw material,

A c arpenter t o s hape and f inish the wood;

4 )

An expert to perform of

these

f our

r ivets, f uel,

a nd

water,

bellows-operator.

3 )

s tandard of work;

parts.

l ike a s pear:

s upervise

s hape and quality;

b est

m ilitary equipment t o a n

analysis of the personnel n eeded to produce its c omponent

All

h elp

or

s upervise

unskilled porters

a ssembly

and

to

c heck

u nskilled porters t o s tore f inished items principal

j obs c ould

be

performed by o ne

e xperienced spear-maker, but i t would be more efficient t o divide the work in this way. I n many ways, s ystem ,

s egmentata' 1 )

2 )

a s imple object i s not

of

t he

i s c alled f or: plates f uel,

object), O ne o r

t est

s uch a s a l lorica

u nskilled men a s porters

f uel,

( raw material,

f rom

ingots,

water,

f inished

bellows-operator. more copper smiths t o prepare copper-alloy s heet a nd

water,

c utting, U nskilled

u nskilled men a s porters

f inished object),

L eatherworker(s) t he a rmour;

4 )

t rue

One or more smiths t o prepare the i ron

r ivets f rom i ngots; 3 )

a

s o an e xamination o f a complex object,

t o produce

u nskilled

s titching, men

t o

( raw

m aterial ,

b ellows-operator.

( tan ,

c ut,

s titch)

( or s emi-Skilled) workers

s trapping f or f or

tanning ,

and a s porters c ut

o ut

1 0

s heet

c opper-alloy c omponents,

a ssemble and r ivet them together where n ecessary; porters

t o

t ransfer components f or f inal a ssembly 5 )

A n

expert

to

perform

s tandard of work;

o r

s upervise

a ssembly a nd t o c heck

u nskilled porters t o s tore f inished i tems

There i s no r eason why the s ame porters every s tage of production ,

c ould

not

be

u sed

a t

p roviding there were enough o f t hem .

Hierarchy V egetius

t ells

u s,

i n a g arbled f ashion,

with u ltimate r esponsibility f or the f abrica castrorum . of

t he

E ach

7 6

own o fficium ,

7 7

workshops,

have

army.

t he p raefectus

s uch praefectus would a ppear to have had his

who no doubt dealt with the

a dministrative

doubtless producing documents l ike P .

inv.6765 or Tab. V ind. to

t hat the o fficer

was

1 a nd 3 .

The praefectus

s ide B erlin

c astrorum

s eems

taken o n t hese duties f rom the q uaestor i n a R epublican

7 8

B eneath the p raefectus were the s taff o f the workshops, most s enior o f whom may well have been t he optio f abricae, which

i s

the d e

a post

only d efinitely r ecorded i n the D igest passage.

precise status i s a mbiguous, 80 f acto

but i t s eems l ikely

t hat

t he

7 9

H is

he

was

head of the f abrica, whether a n a dministrator o r a

professional 8 1 T he main body o f the s taff was provided by t he men already

s een

r eferred to a s immunes.

to v iew these specialists unit, 82

perhaps

accommodation available

e ven

o f

e vidence

The

a

l iving

t he

century strength 85

a s

s eems

s eparate

n ear

f irst

t he

c ohort

t o

we

have

There has been a tendency

o f

s uggest

e ntity

w ithin

workshops 83 a t hat

l egion, 84 t hey

t heir

o r i n the but

were held on

- a f act apparently c onfirmed by Tab. V ind.

r ange o f s kills embodied amongst these men i s hinted a t,

surely not e xhaustively l isted, Taruttienus

t he

Paternus. 86

i n

t he

s urviving

f ragment

3 . but o f

Taking the s ingular and p lural nouns i n

the l ist s eriously, we might e xpect a t l east 5 6 s taff a ttached t o the p raefectus c astrorum ( and,

possibly,

t o t he f abrica)

a nd more

l ikely over 6 0. T he bulk of t he workforce was provided f rom the r anks, men being a ssigned, needs

of

the

probably on a d aily basis, 87

workshop

a t

a ny

g iven t ime.

working at Vindolanda on o ne particular day, 88 described i n P . men

working

i n

B erlin i nv. i t,

w ith

a ccording t o t he Over 3 40 men were

whilst t he f abrica

6 765 c ould e asily have had

o ver

2 00

which explains the productivity a ttested by

that document.

of

Versatility was c learly t he key t o the s uccessful operation t he f abrica a nd i t would have been a s ystem that was well

1 1

adapted to the u npredictable demands t hat a lternating p eriods

o f

campaigning and r est would have placed upon i t.

Modus operandi Many

m ilitary

s ites

o f

the early principate w ere,

basis of the archaeological evidence, of

m ilitary

e quipment. 89

and r ecycled; t he

e ngaged i n

-

how

was

i t

process

o rganised?

i s

I f

we d iscard t he 9 0

s uppose

damage

t hat

s oldiers

and

s egmentata'

would

f itting

were s eek

f ully t o

a ware

r emedy

o f

i t.

A

in

may

to t heir

broken

' lorica

r epaired

-

we

9 1

m ust

s o there was a s trong i ncentive to r etain

9 2

the most i nsignificant s crap o f material. t ime

s pent a round barracks,

e ven

G iven a c ertain l ength

s uch o dds and ends were bound to

a ccumulate to the point where i t would while

we

mind that the cost of r eplacement would have t o be born

by the s oldier, of

t hen

would not be c asually l eft where i t f e11,

but would be r etrieved i n case i t could be bear

s tored,

obviously

a ccidental l oss hypothesis a s l argely i rrelevant, equipment

o n t he

production

S crap material was collected,

an important a spect of t his

c ollection

t he

be

worth

t he

soldier 's

t o t rade them i n to help d efray t he cost of his deductions

f or new kit. 93 This

hypothesis

d istribution

may

well

be

t ime f or a f ort to be abandoned, i n

t he

barracks

the 9 4

t he f abrica

i ts c entral s tock of s crap with i t, r emaining

behind

o f f inds w ithin military s ites,

p attern

would

s urely

point

where

t hey

and awaiting delivery t o i t.

d istribution pattern. cycle

may

well

were

f ound

However,

9 5

have

.b een

the o rganization o f

more

i tems

of

equipment

w ithin

of

f undamental

i ts to

t o

the

s crap

o rganised than we have s o f ar f ound

to

have

various

rooms and these were separated

S egregation o f s crap i s,

i mportance

T hese

c lose

a s was possible - hence the

s uggested: building VI a t Carnuntum was a ccording t o their type. %

t ake

r ather than gather odd p ieces

would then be t idied away by the d emolition parties a s the

o f

s ince when i t was

o f

course,

i ts r e-use f or the p roduction o f

military equipment. 97 We may well have, i n s uch a b uilding, a n example of the enigmatic armamentarium ; 98 i f this were indeed s o , we

might

armorum , turma. f or

9 9

t he

go

e ven

f urther

a nd

s uggest a l ink with the c ustos

an i mmunis f ound on t he s trength

o f

c ollection ,

s torage,

t ime being,

r emain pure s peculation.

1 00

but this m ust,

t ermed hibernae

o r

w inter

be

q uarters.

conditions would then prevail - a s emi-permanent of l ocal r esources,

a vailable manpower,

1 2

f or t he

1 01

The main workshops were most l ikely to

p ick

o r

and g eneral administration o f t he

f low of s crap metal w ithin his c ompany ,

s ites

e very c enturia

The c ustos a rmorum would then become a convenient a gent

f ound 1 02

s ite

in

t hose

The

i deal

with

t he

t he ability to work

on l ong-term projects 103

- whereas on c ampaign, when t he army was

presumably normally working f rom camps,

cumbersome,

and the t roops would be

than

making

1 04

equipment.

f ield-forge,

l argely

equipment

a nd

a rchaeological c ertainly

a

what

' marching'

Here

1 05

c oncerned o f

n egligible.

we

c all

workshop n eeded

' temporary '

would f or

be

o r

f ar t oo

c ombat,

r ather

we must envisage the u se of a

w ith

manufacture r emains

be

p ermanent

o f

s uch

t he

r epair

s imple

o f

weapons.

f ield-forges

d amaged T he

1 06

would

a lmost

S uch a s ystem i s briefly mentioned

1 07

by Josephus 108

a nd i s s upported,

a lbeit i n a very n egative s ense,

by t he rarity

o f

m ilitary

o f

the f abrica system

equipment

f rom

t emporary

m ilitary

s ites. Analysis

o f

t he

1 st a nd e arly 2 nd

c enturies A .D. would therefore s uggest that i t o perated much s ame

a s

army,

a lthough there may have been room f or s pecialist

in

working

l ater

periods.

outside the army

T he main production was by t he

1 09

s uch

himself,

a

p erson

c raftsmen

( possibly e xfabrica workers), but they

would necessarily be geared to a much l ower l evel o f s ince

had

to

perform

a ll

production ,

s tages

o f the j ob

s o that private production must have been r esponsible

1 10

f or a very s mall proportion of the equipment made t ime.111

Moreover,

a t

a ny

that

i tems which p erhaps

s ome

a fforded.

1 12

g iven

that s ort of production was better g eared to

c atering f or the l uxury e nd of the market and there i s e vidence

the

s uggests

t his

o nly

t he

s enatorial

of

t he

t op

I n s hort,

a

l ittle

i s indeed what i t d id - p roducing or

e questrian

c enturions)

o f

o fficers

( or

a l egion c ould have

t here was no l arge-scale private i ndustry

i n the west. The model s uggested ( Fig.3) g iven

shows t ime.

by

t he

various

s trands

When i t was necessary to i ssue n ew e quipment,

manufactured f rom s crap.

t he l egionary l evel, by

the f abrica

a ccordingly.

e vidence

j ust how l ittle r aw material the army n eeded a t any

i t could r ely partly on r ecycled i ntact i tems, a rtefacts

o f

a nd partly on

then n ew

S ince manufacture i s kept on

s upply and demand could be monitored c losely

and

the

production

p rogramme

r egulated

The two g reat v irtues o f t he s ystem a re,

t herefore,

e fficiency and f lexibility.

E FFECTS OF FABRICA PRODUCTION The

c raftsmen

working

i n

t he f abricae

l egions i n the west were a lmost c ertainly T his

meant

o f

f ree

c ontro1.

1 13

t astes,

and those of the market they s erved,

o f

t he a ny

f rontier c entral

t hey could pursue t heir o wn particular a nd

t his

i n

t urn

m eant that there was g reat s cope f or variety and i ndividuality i n R oman military e quipment of t he e arly i mperial period.

1 3

A MOUNT

L OSS

O F R AW

A MOUNT

O F

O F

M ETAL

M ATERIAL

N O,

A MOUNT M ANUFACTURED B Y T HE A RMY

S CRAP

N O,

O F

R EPAIRED

I TEMS

I TEMS

P ROPORTION 1 11

N O ,

D AMAGED

O F E QUIPMENT A MOUNT I N U SE

O F

R ECYCLED

O F

P ROPORTION

D AMAGED I TEMS

O F D AMAGED E QUIPMENT S CRAPPED

F ig.3:

M odel

f or

t he

p roduction

m ilitary f abricae.

1 4

o f

m ilitary

e quipment

i n

Craftsmen

working

w ithin

a l egionary f abrica would have a

s et repertoire o f d esigns f or i tems l ike belt-plates o r p endants. They would have l earnt e lements o f

t his

when

t hey

were

i ntroduced

to t he j ob ,

e xperience,

both b y what they s aw d uring their c areer,

t he

soldiers

T hus,

wanted:

t his

in conditions of

become

v ery

however,

n oticeably t hat

meant

that

s ummers 115

a

d istinct . army

l egion's

f rom

g roups

c raftsmen

m eet and e xchange i deas,

a ny

a rmy

i tself.

1 17

a s

a

1 14

would

t hat o f o ther l egions t ogether

m ost

s o the c ommon pool o f i deas would belong

g iven

( although peculiarities

a rmy-groups

m eant

t hat

t he

l egion 's c raftsmen were r endered e ven

more diverse and c ould i n t urn be passed on f urther R oman

what

would have t he opportunity to

The movement o f u nits between on

e quipment

c ampaigned

t o the army-group , r ather t han the l egion m ay s till have b een apparent) . 116

i nfluences

a nd

m ade f or a v ery e clectic s ystem .

i solation,

t he f act

f irst

but would have added to i t f rom t heir own

whole,

t hrough

t he

a s a nd when t he opportunity p resented

The c raftsman t hus had a r ich profusion o f s ources o f

i nspiration upon which he could d raw . Examples o f t hese c raft t raditions a re obviously going to be v ery d ifficult to i solate in

t he

t his diversity o f i nfluences,

but i t may n evertheless b e possible

t o

a rchaeological

indicate s ome l ikely c andidates. and

a s tyle o f

e quipment

d esign manifested i n the r egion o f that province

i n the T iberio-Claudian period a nd then d ispersed i n t he t hat followed. Some

d ecades

1 18

examples

b elt-plate,

t hat

may be c ited include a c ertain type o f

made o f beaten copper a lloy a nd d epicting a r ange

mythological

s cenes

a nd

d evices.

i nclude the wolf a nd twins,

The

1 19

l otus blossoms,

most

a nd a human bust w ith

1 20

T he d istribution of these objects,

r easonably

s ecurely d ated to t he T iberio-Claudian period ,

b ias towards Upper G ermany, that

a rmy

B ritain a nd n iello

g roup

P annonia)

s how

a

with a f ew f rom a reas

were

s ubsequently L ikewise,

. 121

s imilar,

o f

c ommon motifs

c ornucopiae.

f rom

g iven

P rime a mongst these i s what

m ight be t ermed t he Upper G erman t radition, d ecoration

r ecord ,

many o f

t hem s how a

where

l egions

t ransferred

( such a s

b elt-plates

i nlaid

w ith

but more w idespread d istribution - t he

f inds of these i tems i n B ritain a re particularly i nteresting a gain suggest a n Upper G erman c onnection. One

particular

s tyle

o f s cabbard f itting,

t he l egio XIII Gemina by

i ts

V indonissa,

1 23

f ound

Mainz.

1 24

These c ases a re e xceptional i n

w ith

which

i s

a lso

a rmy-groups,

beComes much more d ifficult a ccommodate

t he

i nvasion

presence

i n

t he

a t Carnuntum , t he

o r e ven l egions, once o f

units

B ritain.

1 5

a nd

1 22

S chutthügel

Magdalensberg, c omparative

c an be t raced,

a re 1 25

a ssociated w ith

S hifted U sually ,

a t a nd e ase

but i t

r ound

t o

o nly broad

t rends c an be s uggested, Danubian

Il orica

s uch a s the u se of l obate decoration

s egmentata'

l unate pendants i n Lower

f ittings,

G ermany,

I mperial-Gallic helmets

o r

1 27

t he

1 26

i n the Rhineland.

t he

o n

prevalence

o f

concentration

o f

1 28

THE C ITY-STATE The f abrica system

i s

here

p roposed

a s

t he

means

o f

p roducing military equipment i n c ertain p arts of the R oman world , but i t

was

by

no

means

t he

o nly

way.

T he

a rchaeological

e vidence, which would s eem to be a r eliable indicator o f military production t he

i n the west ,

empire,

a

f act

i s l argely absent in the eastern half o f

u sually

a scribed

to

the

a rchaeological knowledge in the r espective areas. a re

known,

a t l east , was the s cene o f

s ome of the most i ntense campaigning by t he e arly principate.

to

t his

s tate

a rmy

o f a ffairs l ies,

i n two well-known and often-cited

production of equipment i n the E ast: mention

R oman

The

1 31

t radition

o f

c ity-states) producing equipment i n

3 99

B .C.,

c ities

r eferences

to

t he

t o

( or,

d emand

part more

had

a

P unic

war,

the

c ity

o f

mass-production of equipment after to

t he

Romans

a nd

r espectable N ew

a nd during

1 33

C arthage itself went i nto

having

s urrendered

then c hanging i ts m ind.

a ll

i ts

Many m ore

1 34

e xamples c an be f ound f rom l ate Hellenistic and R epublican t o confirm this p icture.

t he

S cipio t urned

1 32

Carthage i nto a vast munitions f actory i n 2 10 B .C., t hird

of

properly ,

D ionysius I c onverted Syracuse into o ne

l arge workshop in o rder t o equip his a rmy.

arms

i t might b e

equipment being produced f or t he army i n eastern cities,

pedigree:

t he

t he

both Tacitus and C assius D io

both i mplying an e lement of quality control on the Romans.

in

1 30

s olution

s uggested,

o f

but the l arge amounts of d amaged pieces a re l acking,

d espite the f act that the M iddle East,

The

s tate

A f ew i tems

1 29

t imes

1 35

The c haracteristics of s uch enterprises were their makeshift n ature,

t he speed with which they were s et up ,

p roduction of o bviously

which

i deally

t hey s uited

were

c apable.

however,

- wherever s uch s ettlements were f ound , to

u se

this

s ystem

i t

t he classical c ity

s eems

t o

have

peculiar f acet of their nature.

west,

but between c ity-state and m ilitary f abrica.

b een T his

1 38

g ives u s our f irst hint that the d ifference l ay not between a nd

w as

t o equipping l arge a rmies quickly. 137

T he most i mportant c ommon f actor was, possible

and the volume o f This

1 36

e ast

So l ong

a s the Roman army was operating within t he s phere of i nfluence o f t he c lassical c ity , a s

a nd

when

e ssentially

t hey

t hen i t was possible t o o rganise i ts supplies were

Mediterranean

a reas), however,

n eeded. z one

meant the army

E xpansion ( most

was

1 6

o utside

notably

f orced

t o

i nto choose

of

t his

' Celtic ' between

establishing long lines of communication with its centres of production, or meeting its own needs: it chose the latter course. 139 This use of the polis to provide large amounts of equipment quickly may be one reason why most new legions were recruited within the Mediterranean zone, rather than in 'frontier' 1 0 areas. 4 We may even see a manifestation of this system in the Imperial-Italic class of ·helmets,14 1 generally thought to be of a lower standard of manufacture than those of Imperial-Gallic manufacture. CONCLUSIONS Vegetius certainly seems to have been right when he described the legion as self-sufficient in its needs. There is, however, a more important side to this than purely the logistical aspect: anny-groups in the north and west of the empire, restricted by the weather outside the campaigning season, needed to maintain their morale. 142 The everyday routine of sentry-go or patrols could not occupy any more than a small proportion of a force, 143 so employing troops in the workshops or on production-related tasks was a valuable source of variety in what must have been an extremely monotonous existence at times. Our evidence seems to suggest that it was the legionaries who undertook various manual tasks, in the early empire at least, and that the bulk of patrolling and police-work would have been left to the auxiliary forces. 144 Manufacture could therefore be left to the legions and their troops (but we cannot totally exclude It is clear, however, that the auxiliary involvement).145 production of equipment was not so much a necessary chore as an important factor in the continued efficiency of the army. The strength of the mechanism of arms-supply in the early empire was undoubtedly its flexibility. Adopting the Greek polis-system of production and then supplementing it with the fabrica-system meant that the Romans were capable of adapting to the prevailing local conditions. Changes in the nature and structure of the empire under Diocletian meant that it was necessary to evolve the chain of arms factories attested in the Notitia Dignitaturn and elsewhere, but there can be no doubting that they looked back, at least in part, to military fabricae of the earlier period, rather than any wholly contractual civilian scheme .146 Finally, this study would also seem to suggest that we can apply a nwnber of rules relating to the presence of Roman military equipment in the archaeological record. 1. M ilitary equipment discovered on land is most likely to have 17

2. 3. 4.

5.

been deliberately discarded by the Roman army and by implication - that a military presence of more than temporary duration can be deduced.147 Such discarded material is inherently characteristic of a particular unit or army group. This material is normally only discarded when a site is abandoned and is thus linked to the demolition process. Areas where the military situation was complex and sites were frequently abandoned will tend to produce nore finds of military material than those with a stable situation and long periods of occupation. The relative distributions of military equipment in the west and east of the empire is not simply a result of differing levels of archaeological investigation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to thank my wife Martha Andrews, Mr P.W.M. Freeman, and Dr D.L. Kennedy for reading this paper in draft form and discussing it with me. Whilst I have benefitted greatly £ran their advice, they are in no way responsible for any mistakes contained within it.

18

NOTES 1 .

VON

P ETRIKOVITS ,

JOHNSON ,

1 983,

1 970;

1 974a;

1 974b;

2 .

SANDER ,

3 .

Taruttienus i s to be preferred over 1 971,

1 962.

5 34;

1 975,

8 8-98;

c f.

1 83-8. C f. VON PETRIKOVITS,

I

a m

g rateful

t o

1 970,

2 46-7.

T arruntenus

D r

D .L.

-

c f.

A E

K ennedy f or this

reference. 4 .

For a d iscussion s etting,

5 .

On

the s ources

1 932; 6 .

7 .

SANDER ,

Vegetius'

work

f or Vegetius work,

1 929;

i n

1 977 a nd B ARNES,

1 932;

1 930,

8 -26;

Cato:

SANDER ,

Celsus:

A

F rontinus: 1 932,

S CHENK,

i ts

c ontemporary

1 979.

s ee S CHENK ,

1 930;

P ARKER ,

1 939.

These s ources a re named by Vegetius 1 ,8.

ibid., 8 .

o f

s ee GOFFART,

i bid ,

3 9-83;

P aternus:

C elsus:

S CHENK ,

i bid.,

2 6-39;

3 74.

1 930,

2 8

w ith

f urther

r efs.;

F rontinus:

3 9-41.

f ragment

o f

C ato 's

m ilitary

writings

i s preserved i n

Fronto ,

Ad Verum I mp.,

9 .

DOBSON ,

1 965,

6 2-3.

1 0.

KEPPIE,

1 984,

1 76 with n .5.

1 1.

1 1,9-11

s eems to be the r esult o f c onfusion o ver

of praefectus l egionis.

1 1,1,20.

c astrorum ,

p raefectus

A ll of the d uties l isted

f abrum , i n

t his

t he

posts

a nd p raefectus s ection

f ell

within the s phere o f the p raefectus c astrorum . 1 2. 1 3.

SCHENK ,

1 930,

Paternus' SCHENK,

1 4.

D igest L ,6,7.

1 5.

WATSON ,

1 6.

These

1 969, a re:

2 3-4;

c f.

RE

I Tarruntenus P aternus'.

7 5-7. a rtifices

s pecularii,

s tructores, aquilices,

works.

c ontribution to m ilitary writing i s c onsidered i n

1 930,

naupegi,

2 9 d iscusses o riginality i n C elsus'

qui fabri,

c arpentarii, t ubarii,

f ossam

s agittarii,

a rchitectus,

a erarii,

s candularii,

c ornuarii,

1 9

f aciunt,

a rcuarii,

b ucularum

g ladiatores, p luf ibarii,

f errarii,

l apidarii,

infindunt',

' qui

' qui

c alcem

c arbonem

c ocunt',

c aedunt',

a ssumes that t ubarii and cornuarii a re

' qui

s iluam

optio f abricae. horn-makers,

T his r ather

t han musicians. Vegetius

s ummarises

t he r esponsibilities of t he p raefectus

c astrorum i n I I,10. 1 7.

Naturally,

t hese documents a lso benefit f rom being

original

and not t ransmitted. 1 8.

S ee

t he brief d iscussion i n BRUCKNER & MARICHAL ,

1 979,

6 -7.

The two days a re the 1 8th and 1 9th o f April. 1 9.

But note that these were a lmost c ertainly c alones, c it.).

2 0.

a nd Cf.

S pathae: 1 1,9;

not

MACMULLEN ,

Col.I,11;

l amnae

2 1. 2 2.

1 984,

s cuta

l evisatae:

ballistaria:

( loc.

4 4 & n n.27-8.

p lanata: I ,10;

1 1,13;

I I,10;

s cuta

a rcus:

1 ,12; peractus:

I t i s not c lear whether the f igure o r

n (umero)

s laves,

talaria:

1 1,14;

capitula

1 1,15.

Fabricatus: Col.I,11;

workers,

personal

a ny s ort of o rganised s lave l abour

j ust

1 ,14;

o f

1 00

t o l egionaries - i .e.

C ( Co1.1,4-5)

1 1,14. r efers

to

a ll

m ilites l egion]ari

- a lthough we may s uspect t he

l atter

t o be the c ase. 2 3.

I t

i s

with

noteworthy s taff

s edentary

t hat the l ist i s not d ealing e xclusively

c arrying

workers

o ut

( i.e.

building

work,

t he cobblers),

but

includes

s o i s l ikely t o be

r easonably r epresentative of t he s ort of l ist normally d rawn u p. 2 4.

The f orm I IX ,

i nstead of the more u sual VIII,

a lthough S ANDYS, 2 5.

A lmost

1 927,

c ertainly

i mplies;

his

not

n ame

may b e

e arly ,

5 5-6 d isagrees. a

c ivilian a s MACMULLEN ,

s uggests

( but

d oes

not

1 960,

2 5-6

d emand)

a

Julio-Claudian date. 2 6.

Haltern: Hofheim :

VON

S CHONBERGER , I nchtuthil: N r.31, 2 7,

S CHNURBEIN ,

R ITTERLING, 1 979; TAYLOR

1 904,

1 974,

c f.

S CHONBERGER , 1 961,

1 60;

1 977,

1 11-5.

W ILSON , B IRLEY,

was

i d.,

1 982,

5 9;

5 9-65; V alkenburg:

&

The g roundplan o f the f abrica s ince

-

Oberstimm :

3 2-6; V indolanda:

e fficient,

6 5

8 -14 a nd 1 913,

c ertainly

1 978,

3 0ff;

W iesbaden: ORL

e rgonomically

i t provided each part with e asy a ccess t o

any o ther and t o the main water t ank.

2 0

At t he s ame t ime,

t he

o pen yard could be u sed f or t emporary

s torage

o r

o pen-air

processes. F or

a

c onvenient

hamlet, 2 8.

Many

d iscussion

s ee P EATMAN,

o f

t hese

f or

r ooms

m en

2 9.

LEHNER ,

3 0.

Such a s t he t ribunes'

have

a ssociated

( VON PETRIKOVITS,

1 928,

t he Abbeydale i ndustrial

1 981.

s maller

a ccommodation buildings

o f

1 975,

4 9;

been

i dentified

w ith

t he

c f. below ,

a s

r espective n .29).

2 0-1 w ith Abb.2. houses at Colchester

-

F RERE ,

1 983,

3 09 with F ig.15. 3 1.

R ITTERLING ,

3 2.

SCHONBERGER ,

3 3.

ORL Nr.31,

3 4.

ULBERT,

3 5.

B IDWELL,

3 6.

VON SCHNURBEIN ,

3 7.

OLDENSTEIN ,

3 8.

Hoards o f s crap f rom the prehistoric period a re well-known cf.

1 904,

9 .

1 978,

3 04.

3 4.

1 969,

1 13.

1 980,

3 1-5. 1 974,

1 977a;

1 977b.

MEGAW & S IMPSON,

3 9.

TAYLOR & W ILSON ,

4 0.

ANGUS e t a l.,

4 1.

CURLE,

4 2.

ROSS & FEACHEM ,

4 3.

MANNING,

4 4.

I bid.,

4 5.

The

1 911,

6 5.

1 979,

1 961,

2 97-8.

1 60.

1 962. 1 13-5;

1 972,

FRERE,

1 978,

1 43-4.

1 976. 2 43-6.

2 46. maximum

c apacity

o f

a

wagon

i s

Diocletian 's edict on prices i ncludes a ( De

pretiis. XVII),

of 1 0751b ( WHITE, former,

a t

l east

o pen 1 2001b

t o

d ebate;

wagon

l oad

whilst the T heodosian Code s ets a l imit

1 984,

1 29).

E ven

i n

t he

c ase

o f

t he

2 0 wagons would have been n eeded to haul

the nails d eposited at I nchtuthil.

2 1

4 6.

S ince

he

was

i n

c harge

o f

l ogistical

m atters,

s uch a

d ecision m ust have been his r esponsibility. 4 7.

C f.

The r eport by D r G .

D OWN ,

1 981,

1 73;

Webster o n t he C hichester g ladius in

LEAHY ,

1 980,

8 4 d raws a s imilar conclusion

a bout a pendant f rom Normanby. 4 8.

The

a ccidental

a cceptable, ' lost '

l oss

but

o f

v ery

l arger

s mall

o bjects

f ittings

l ike

may

s eem

swords a re not j ust

i n t his way a nd c ertainly n ot i n the quantities

t hat

the a rchaeological r ecord would s eem to s uggest. 4 9.

The

m ilitary

e quipment

f rom

s how convincing evidence e xamples 5 9

w ill s uffice:

( damaged harness

l atch);

1 985,

F ITZPATRICK ,

a ny e arly i mperial t his

phenomenon ,

FRERE & S T.JOSEPH,

j unction-loops);

C RUMMY ,

N IBLETT,

o f

1 983,

F ig.64 ,37

6 0

s ite w ill

but

1 974,

a

( fragment of

F ig.151,4211

( bent

f ew

Fig.30,58 & a

box

belt-plate);

( broken helmet browguard - I f ollow

f orthcoming i n i dentifying S heepen w ith a l arge

p re-Flavian m ilitary base). 5 0.

A s a t Rheingönheim ( ULBERT , where

m ilitary

m aterial - c f.

1 969,

e quipment

i s

T af.59), f ound

Oberstimm ( SCHöNBERGER ,

b ut

most

s ites

p roduce

s uch

s crap

1 978,

T afn.38-41).

5 1.

HUBENER ,

5 2.

S imilar s uch c ore hoards may i nclude t he Künzing 1 969),

1 973.

S traubing

( DANIELS,

1 968)

On this s ubject,

5 4.

Longthorpe:

K LUMBACH ,

s ee B ISHOP,

N ewstead: t o

1 951),

a nd Corbridge

f orthcoming.

FRERE & S T.JOSEPH ,

r eferences N IBLETT,

&

e xamples.

5 3.

d itches);

( KEIM

( HERRMANN,

C URLE,

d itch-finds;

1 985,

1 12

( pits);

1 974, 1 911,

4 6-78 & F ig.22 1 16-39

p its

&

N ijmegen:

& 4 19

( pits

&

( for f ull

d itches);

S heepen:

BOGAERS & YPEY ,

1 963

( pit) 5 5.

H ence i ts f requent a ssociation w ith d estruction d ebris - one o f the o riginal r easons f or

t he

Newstead:

1 13-4

C URLE,

1 911,

q uernstones were u nlikely t heir

weight

d eparting abandonment,

t o

b e

' disaster d iscarded

t hat

n ormally,

a rmy.

but

I n

c onnection

with

t he

Antonine

h e notes the a ssociation o f m ilitary equipment 1 15).

The o rder i n which t hings were d one may have v aried t o e xtent,

a t

i ntact

may have precluded t heir being t aken with the

a nd building d ebris i n P it I ( ibid., 5 6.

hypothesis'

r easoned

s ome

but t he basic principle o f t he r ecovery o f r e-usable

2 2

i tems,

d iscarding

o f

unwanted material,

and demolition o f

s tructures i s c ommon s ense. 5 7.

I t was,

of c ourse,

s tandard

practice

f or

t he

a bandoning

f orce to c ast the r amparts into the d itches - c f.

5 8.

( FRERE

&

S T.JOSEPH,

F ig.3),

o r Colchester

1 974,

1 1),

( CRUMMY,

S trageath

1 984,

Longthorpe

( WILSON ,

9 3 & S heet 6 b ,

1 974,

S x65).

Such i tems were probably kept in ones or twos i n barracks by the t roops a gainst the t ime when t hey would be c ollected.

5 9.

There are notable e xceptions to this: produce anything o f t his n ature, L lystyn HOGG,

6 0.

was

1 969,

Where the ( cf.

RE

u sed

c omparatively

temporary c amps s eldom

whilst

poor

t he

f ort

o f

P en

i n f inds of t his nature -

1 81-5.

' Schutthügel'

' Vindonissa'

f or

dumping

was added to each t ime a l egion l eft

1 03-4).

I t i s

m ilitary

unlikely

t hat

i t

was

equipment when the s ite was i n

occupation. 6 1.

This i s demonstrated by the work of a number of over

the

1 901,

2 45-6;

Bayley

past

i n

f ew

CRADDOCK e t a l., HURST,

r esearchers

y ears - Gowland i n FOX & S T.JOHN HOPE, 1 985,

1 973,

1 5;

r eports

3 0 and N 1BLETT,

1 985,

by

Justine

1 15;

B ISHOP,

unpublished. 6 2.

On

s crap

s egregation:

B AYLEY

practical example of this, 6 3.

MACMULLEN,

1 960,

6 4.

See BREEZE e t a l.,

6 5.

Ibid.,

9 3-5; GILLIAM ,

6 6.

There

a re

t oo

o f

B UTCHER ,

s ee P LO I I,

1 981.

For

a

4 1-2.

3 3-6. 1 976,

7 7-81.

1 967,

many

l oss of equipment capture

&

2 37-8.

u nknown f actors,

( implied i n Tacitus,

enemy

material

( thus

s uch a s t he c omplete Ann.,

1 1,5)

o r

t he

s upplementing the s crap

stock). 6 7.

Assuming

t hat

l egionary

a ssociated a uxiliaries; to a l egion , 6 8.

In

his

1 984,

workshops

s ee S ADDINGTON ,

c alculations

s upplied

o f

1 982,

a f uel s ource

l egion 's

1 83-4.

t he Roman d emand f or i ron ,

App.4 completely d isregards the

recycling o f s crap,

a

o n the attachment of a uxiliary u nits

r ole

p layed

WHITE, by

t he

a s well a s the value o f c oppiced wood a s

( RACKHAM ,

1 976,

2 3

2 3 & 5 1).

6 9.

S ee,

f or example,

GARLICK,

7 0.

A s s uggested by ANSTEE,

7 1.

I mmunes

1 980.

1 953,

a re mentioned i n P .

2 02. B erlin i nv.6765

and men who f all w ithin t his V ind. 7 2.

c lass

Paternus words

s ays

t hese

m en

r esponsibility

i n T ab.

a chieved v irtue

o f

s tatus

No .2)

-

' by t he in

o ther C f.

The construction of camps was s upervised and checked by

t he

1 969,

by

t heir

( Appendix

t heir expertise.

WATSON ,

7 4.

mentioned

3 ( Appendix No.5).

c onditions of their s ervice'

7 3.

a re

( Appendix N o .3)

7 6.

c enturions

( Vegetius,

ROBINSON ,

1 975,

1 11,8;

Polybius,

VI,34).

1 81-2 with F ig.182 t hought that t he variety

i n l obate l orica hinges was due

t o

e asily

d egrees

e xplained

by

v arying

e volution, o f

b ut

i t

i s

c ompetence

i n

e xecution. 7 5.

Whilst s kill a t blacksmithing takes a l ong time t o f unctional

objects

c ould

amount of practice basic

beating

be

( particularly

o ut

achieve,

produced with only a minimum u nder

s upervision);

t he

o f i ngots c ould have been u ndertaken by

o rdinary l egionaries

( who m ight,

i f t hey

s howed

a

talent,

have been upgraded to i mmunes). 7 6.

On

t he praefectus

1 979,

1 17;

c astrorum:

KEPPIE,

1 969,

8 5;

1 984,

DOBSON,

1 76-7;

MAXFIELD ,

7 7.

WATSON ,

7 8.

For the duties of t he quaestor i n t he Polybius V1,39;

7 9.

There

a re

n .49; 8 0.

Loc.

c f.

c f. VON DOMASZEWSKI,

c f.

HARMAND ,

1 978,

1 967,

6 8-74; WEBSTER ,

1 981,

1 908,

2 04-5.

48.

R epublican

a rmy

1 72-9 and 3 66-8.

a f ew s uggested r eferences - MACMULLEN , BREEZE,

c it.,

1 976,

s ee

1 960,

2 8

1 28 who only c ites the D igest.

u sing the optio valetudinarium to say

t hat

" the

duties o f the post were not medical but administrative". 8 1.

I bid.,

1 32.

8 2.

VON PETRIKOVITS,

1 975,

1 22-3;

8 3. *

VON PETRIKOVITS ,

1 975,

4 9.

8 4.

BREEZE,

1 969,

d iscounts

S ANDER ,

t his

i dea,

l aterculi f rom Lambaesis i llustrate

2 4

1 962,

1 47.

pointing o ut that t he

t he

f act

t hat i mmunes

could come f rom any o f the cohorts o f a l egion. 8 5.

We

f ind

a n armorum

c ustos,

c erarius in P . G en.

Lat.

e xempt

f rom

duty

i n

WATSON ,

1 969,

7 3-4.

i ndicate

t hat

P .

o nly

I

c arrarius,

i v

b v erso

t he

c entury

G en.

Lat.

3 1

( with

l ibrarius, being

8 6.

1 971,

The

makes

passage

( 'opera vacantes');

c f.

I v erso v and v erso a n

additional

5 )

c entury

i v

I

r emain s trength

2 10. no c laim t o be an e xhaustive l ist,

l isting a s ample o f s uch posts 8 7.

a a s

a vailable f or f atigues f rom a theoretical o f 8 0 - F INK,

and

r ecorded

only

( see Appendix No.2).

This i s c learly i ndicated by Tab. V ind.

3 a nd P .

B erlin i nv.

6 765, which r ecord s pecific dates - two c onsecutive d ays

i n

the l ast c ase. 8 8.

The

f act

d etail

t hat

i s

t his,

may have been an unusually l arge work

i rrelevant,

principle

o f

u sing

but

t he

i t

t roop

c learly body

d emonstrates

a s

l abour

f or

t he t he

workshop. 8 9.

As we have s een , f irst

c entury

f inds o f m ilitary equipment f rom n early a ll A .D.

s ites

would

s eem

t o

s upport

t his

a ssertion. 9 0.

That

i s

material

t o s ay t hat i tems were a ccidentally l ost ,

but s uch

f orms

m ilitary

a n

i nsignificant

proportion

o f

equipment r ecovered f rom t he a rchaeological r ecord. 9 1.

' Lorica

s egmentata'

f ittings

t hat f ailed would i n f act be

more l ikely t o break and r emain i n s itu,

r ather t han

d etach

themselves completely f rom the c uirass. 9 2.

S ince

s oldiers

were

e xpected t o purchase their equipment,

they must a lso have been r esponsible material.

I t

deduction , i , 9 3.

i s

s uch a s

possible,

' caligas f ascias'

i n P .

o r

a rea

a t

Oberstimm 1 970.

barracks a t L ongthorpe, I t

damaged

that a r egular

G en.

L at.

This i s s uggested by t he c oncentration o f equipment KLUMBACH & B AATZ,

i s

a

p attern

F or

( BISHOP,

I r ecto

e quipment

i n

t he

f orthcoming);

c f.

i n

s ee FRERE & S T.JOSEPH,

a lso

Dangstetten - F INGERLIN , 9 5.

l ost

c ould c over s uch an eventuality.

barrack

9 4.

f or

but not l ikely,

observed 1 981,

by

t he

p its

i n

1 974,

3 2.

e xcavators

t he

o f

4 22.

Ditch terminals and p its being t he f avoured r epositories f or s uch material - B ISHOP,

f orthcoming.

2 5

9 6.

R LO I I,

4 1-2.

9 7.

On s egregation o f s crap ,

9 8.

The a ssumption principia

that

o f

a

1 983, 9 9.

On

weapons

t hen

not

t his

were

was

n ecessarily

1 981. f ound

i n

t he

t he l ocation o f t he

f ollow

( cf.

JOHNSON ,

1 08-9). the c ustos

( legionary) 1 00.

because

f ort

armamentarium does

s ee B AYLEY & B UTCHER ,

a rmorum ,

a nd 5 5

s ee

VON

The post s eems t o have been o n a ( BREEZE,

1 974,

l ibrarius

( ibid.,

auxilia

- i bid.,

2 67),

r esponsibility

D OMASZWESKI,

1 908,

4 4

( ala).

i n

2 68;

w ith

t he

t he t esserarius

being the n ext s tage up f rom t he

the s ituation was

2 81),

o f

p ar

s o

we

s ort

d ifferent

s hould

e njoyed

perhaps

by

i n

t he

envisage

t he t esserarius

( Vegetius 1 1,7). 1 01.

I t

has

been

s hown

t hat t he c ustos a rmorum c ould not have

been the guardian of a c ompany 's weapons l ocked

away

( ROBINSON ,

1 975,

have one man i n e ach c ompany

9 ).

whilst

they

were

I t would s eem l ogical to

whose

s pecific

t ask

was

t o

monitor the s tate o f his men 's weapons. 1 02. Vegetius

t ells

u s

( II,11 - Appendix No.1)

s taff i ncluded men who c onstructed permanent

s tructures

obviously

that t he f abrica

buildings being

one

d ifferences between the hiberna a nd a estiva. the

kind

the

m ain

A workshop

o f

e nvisaged here would be a d ifficult t hing to move

about under normal c ircumstances, that

f or hibernae, o f

quite a part f rom the

f act

the l abour f orce would be o n a ctive duty i n the s ummer

months. 1 03.

The f abrica p resumably s trove e quipment

d uring

upon n ew v entures

t he

t o

w inter

b uild

up

a

s urplus

o f

m onths a nd may h ave embarked

( as with t he i ntroduction of

t he

' lorica

s egmentata'?). 1 04.

The

r elationship

b etween modern a nd ancient t erminology i s

d ifficult here;

whether

t he c astra

Ann.I,37)

c apable

o f

unknown ,

was

a estiva

s upporting

a

( e.g.

T acitus

f ull f abrica

a lthough Hyginus 3 5 g ives u s an i dea

o f

the

i s s ize

and l ocation o f the f abrica w ithin i t. 1 05.

This would i mply t hat t he f ield workshop was s taffed l argely by the i mmunes when o n c ampaign.

1 06.

Such

f orges have been u sed by m any a rmies through the a ges;

2 6

I am g rateful to Mr J .

T urner f or i dentifying

s imilarities

the proposed operation of t he f abrica

between

a

n umber

outlined i n t his paper and REME workshops d uring the

o f

s econd

world war. 1 07.

Traces

o f a ny s ort o f occupation within t emporary s ites a re

ephemeral

-

ovens/hearths, Cawthorn. original

R ICHMOND ,

1 933,

' dugouts',

and l ow t urf mounds i n c amp B a t

5 8-69

E ven i n permanent s ites,

c ould

the e vidence

i dentify f or

their

purpose f rom f abricae i s s urprisingly m inimal once

they have been c leared by the army, but then i t i s e xtremely difficult

t o

prove

t he

o riginal

purpose

of

a ny

Roman

military building purely by u sing the a rchaeological r ecord. 1 08.

Josephus,

1 09.

The

B ell.

I ud.,

1 11,83;

f inds f rom the f irst ,

c f.

Hyginus,

s econd,

4 & 3 5.

and e arly third c enturies

consistently s eem to i ndicate that this was so:

the r ange of

f inds f rom Antonine Newstead matches that f rom the abandonment Künzing 1 951)

( CURLE,

( HERRMANN ,

hoards

a re

1 911,

1 969)

e sp.

and

1 13

S traubing

w ith ( KEIM

1 10.

Even

K LUMBACH ,

both apparently third-century ,

a s i s the

( KLUMBACH & B AATZ,

with

a

f ew

The

&

cavalry s ports helmet f rom one o f t he p its i n at E chzell

T rajanic

1 16-39).

t he

barracks

1 970).

s laves to help him ,

he could n ot a chieve

volume production. 1 11.

Evidence f or private production i s s light, in MACMULLEN , OLDENSTEIN ,

1 12.

See,

1 960,

1 977a,

f or

2 5-6,

which

i s

but i s s ummarised

l argely

f ollowed

by

7 9-83.

e xample,

t he

description

o f

l uxury

weapons

contained i n P .

G iss.

officers

r ather than the more u sual graecisized Latin

t erms

a rms,

normally

4 7 where the G reek t erms u sed are

f ound

( e.g. balteum

i n P .

M ich.

f or V III

4 74,8-9). 1 13.

Apart f rom t he f act that s uch control was i mpractical in the Roman

world

( MILLAR ,

communication),

1 982,

t he variety

o f

7 -11

f or

e quipment

d ifficulties d esign

o f

c onfirms

this. 1 14.

Vegetius

1 ,8

s tresses

t he

i mportance o f t radition i n the

e arly i mperial l egion. 1 15.

Tacitus Ann. a estiva

1 ,16 f or 3 l egions o f the Pannonian a rmy i n

t ogether;

1 ,31

f or

a rmy i n a s imilar c amp.

2 7

a n

4 l egions o f the Lower German

1 16.

Such peculiarities would probably d epend u pon

t he

whim

o f

i ndividual c raftsmen. 1 17.

Empire-wide

a rmy movements,

good opportunity

( e.g.

RE

s uch a s major campaigns,

' legio ',

were a

1 250-1), whilst t he c ivil

wars of A .D.68-70 brought many l egions i nto contact f or f irst t ime i n years 1 18.

By t he

' Upper

( ibid.,

G ermany' ',

province,

a s

( RAEPSAET-CHARLIER , 1 19.

VON GONZENBACH,

1 20.

Cf.

1 21.

B ritain:

1 265-6).

t he Upper G erman a rmy-group i s meant:

s uch,

d id

1 973,

1 61.

1 966,

S CHöNBERGER ,

n ot

e xist

before

A .D.82

1 84-9.

1 978,

C hichester,

t he

Abb .76. Hod H ill;

P annonia: Magdalensburg

( see

n .120). 1 22.

Although not many H ispana)

have

s ites

been

o f

t he

P annonian

l egion

( VI

M

i nvestigated a s thoroughly a s t hose o f

l egio I I A ugusta. 1 23. 1 24.

VON GONZENBACH,

1 965,

Carnuntum :

P LO

XXXII,

GONZENBACH ,

1 965,

2 0;

1 25.

S ee above n .117.

1 26.

For

l obate

T af.66,13;

Mainz:

hinged-strap

I lorica s egmentata', 1 27.

6 .

Z ADOKS-JOSEPHUS

l oc.

a nd

s ee P LO I I,

J ITTA

&

M agdalensburg:

VON

c it.

buckle

f ittings

f rom

t he

T af.XVIII & XIX .

W ITTEVEEN ,

1 977

includes

m any

e xamples f rom the Netherlands. 1 28.

ROBINSON ,

1 977,

5 57-9 s aw I mperial-Gallic helmets a s being

the work o f Gallic s miths s upplying t he G erman

a rmies,

b ut

t he evidence f or t hem i s weak. 1 29.

This

i mbalance

i s

s hown

helmets s urviving f rom the ROBINSON , 1 30.

1 975,

u p c learly i n the proportions o f west

a nd

e ast

r espectively

-

1 3-139.

Such a s the campaigns of Corbulo i n Armenia and V espasian i n Judaea.

1 31.

Tacitus H ist.

1 1,82;

1 32.

D iodorus S iculus,

D io LXIX,12,2.

X IV ,41-3.

2 8

1 33. Livy XXVI,47. 1 34. Appian VII1,93. 1 35.

In

6 8

B .C., Mithridates manufacturing weapons i n his towns

in preparation f or war inhabitants

o f

a gainst

Lucullus

( Appian

X I1,87);

Massillia s et up officina f or production o f

a rms a fter t hey have s hut their gates a gainst Caesar Bell.

C iv.

1 36. Characterstically u tilising a ll c ity

( Diodorus

available

S iculus

personnel

( loc.

1 37. Dionysius

a vailable

X IV ,41,6;

( specialised

D iodorus S iculus XIV ,43,1; f ast

s pace

Appian a nd

w ithin

VI11,93),

non-specialised

Appian V111,93),

a

a ll -

and working v ery

c it.). was

1 40,000 men

e vidently

t hinking

i n

could

turn

t heir

able,

( and

u sually)

organizational that

Sertorius

t erms of an a rmy o f

( Diodorus S iculus XIV,43,2).

1 38. Presumably because they possessed a )

Note

( Caesar

1 ,34).

hand

to

D ionysius

workforce;

harness

( Diodorus

( SCHLESINGER

c raftsmen

to weapons production; b )

willing

a bility

e xpert

&

a l arge,

and

c )

t he

a ll of this potential.

S iculus

G EER ,

who

1 959,

X IV ,41,3)

a nd

1 91) had t o i mport

specialist c raftsmen to their production c entres. 1 39. Long-distance t ransport and

( both l and and

s ea)

was

d ifficult

not s omething to which s ensitive bulk s hipments o f a rms

would be entrusted. 1 40. On n ew l egions Caesar

being

r aised l egio

r aised V

there were c lassical c ities 1 41. Cf. 1 42.

ROBINSON ,

1 975,

i n

A laudae

I taly,

s ee

MANN ,

i n Transalpine Gaul,

( Suetonius D iv.

I ul.

1 963. where

2 4).

6 2.

I t may be no c oincidence that e astern a rmies,

l argely

f reed

of the n eed t o manufacture their equipment, had a r eputation for

s lovenliness

I mp., 1 43.

P .

G en.

duties

( Tacitus,

Ann.

X II1,35;

F ronto,

Ad Verum

r ecord

o f

1 1,1,9). Lat.

I v erso v i s t he

a nd

r elates

1 969,

7 3-4)

than

half-a-dozen

best

known

t o only 3 6 men f rom a c entury

a vailable f or f atigues. a re

O f

t hese,

s uch

( WATSON ,

n ever

more

occupied i n guard duties on any one

day. 1 44.

Rightly or w rongly,

t his i s c ertainly the

2 9

i mpression

g iven

by Trajan 's Column. 1 45.

On

the

f ace

( Appendix

o f

Nos.4

i t, &

r emembered

t hat

t his f act.

Otherwise,

i nv.6765

t he

5 )

these

t roops

a re

i n Tab.

auxiliary,

V ind.

but

i t

( BRUCKNER & MARICHAL,

Late f abricae a re d iscussed i n d etail i n JAMES,

1 47.

F inds

e quipment

f rom

t o

1 979,

1 46.

o f

be

documents do not specifically s tate r eferences t o c ohortales i n P .

( Appendix No .3 Col.ii,5) may be taken

the use o f auxiliaries

1 a nd 3 must

B erlin

i ndicate 7 ).

f orthcoming.

water a re a d ifferent matter.

hope to d iscuss t his s ubject i n g reater d etail e lsewhere.

3 0

I

APPENDIX:

S UBLITERARY AND L ITERARY SOURCE MATERIAL

No.1: Vegetius 1 1,11

h abet p raeterea l egio f abmos t ignarios s tructores c arpentarios f errorios , p ictores r eliquosque a rtifices a d h ibernorum a Pdificia f abmicanda , a d m achinas t urr es l igneas c eteraque , q uibus u el e xpug na nturadue rsar ior io n c iuitates u el d efenduntur p mopriae , p raeparatos , q ui a rma v ehicula c eteraque g enera t ormentorum u el n oua f acerunt u e l q uassa ta r epararent . h abebant e t ic o nfabr icas s cutarias l oricarias a rcuarias , i n q uibus s aggitae m issibilia c assides o mniaque a rnorum g enera f ormabantur . h aec e nim e rat c ura p raecipua , u t q uicq u id e xercitui n ecessarium u idebantur n umquam d eesset i n c astris . " A l egion had workmen , painters,

and

j oiners,

masons,

wagon-makers,

s miths,

o ther c raftsmen f or the c onstruction o f buildings

i n t he winter-quarters

a nd

wooden

a re e ither f or a ssaulting enemy c ities o r

towers

( which

defending their own) s cratch

t he

and s o f orth,

preparation

who

r epair wagons,

v ehicles,

They e ven had workshops f or

s hields,

which

o r

f or

w ill

machines,

e ither

m ake

f rom

a nd other s orts o f engines. c uirasses,

they f ashioned a rrows, m issiles, helmets,

weapons.

o f

For this was a principal c oncern:

a nd

bows,

i n

a nd a ll s orts o f

t hat

whatever

t hey

s aw was necessary f or t he a rmy was n ever m issing f rom t he c amp."

No.2: Digest 5 0,6,7

q uibus o imm a liquam u acationem n un sr u i n g rauiorum c ondicia t ribuit , u t s unt m ensores , o ptio u aletudinarii , m edici , c apsarii , e t a rtificies q ui f ossam f aciun t , u eterinarii , a rchitectus , g ubernatores , n aupegi , b a llistarii , s pecu larii , f abmi , s agittarii , a erarii , b ucularum s tructores , c arpentarii , s candu larii , g ladiatores , a quilices , t ubarii , c ornuar ii , a rcuarii , p lumbarii , f erearii , l apidarii , e t q ui c a lcem c ocunt , e t q ui s iluam i nfindunt , q ui c arbonem c aedunt a c t orrent . i n e odem n unemo h aben is olent l ani , u e na tores , u ictimarii , e t o p tio f abricae , e t q ui a egris p raesto s unt , / ibrarii q uoque q ui d oe e re p ossint , e t h orreorum / ibrarii , e t l ibrarii d eposito rt o n , e t l ibrarii c aducorum e t a d iutores c ornicu lar iommt e t s tratores , e t p o lliones , e t c ustodes a rmorum , e t p r aeco , e t b ucinator . h i i gitur o mnes i nter i mmunes h abentur . ervice s ome " Certain s oldiers a re g ranted by their c onditions o f s m en s u c h a s e xemption f rom the heavier f atigues. T hese a re s urveyors,

t he medical s ergeant,

d itchers,

f arriers,

t he

a rtillerymen ,

g laziers,

helmet-makers,

wagon-makers,

water

engineers,

l ead-workers, a nd

charcoal

nd d ressers, m edical o rderlies a s hipwrights, p ilots,

a rchitect, workmen,

t rumpet-makers,

b lacksmiths, burners.

a rrowsmiths,

r oof-tile-cutters, horn-makers,

s tonecutters, I n

c oppersmiths, s wordcutlers, bow-makers,

l ime-burners,

woodmen ,

the s ame c ategory t here a re u sually

3 1

i ncluded

b utchers, h untsmen , k eepers o f s acrificial a nimals, t he

workshop s ergeant... a rmoury s ergeants, t he herald , a nd t rumpeter. T hese a re a ll i ncluded a mongst t he i mmunes." B ased o n WATSON , 1 969, 7 6.

N o .3: P . B erlin i nv . 6 765 ( ChLA 4 09) X IIII] K a l(endas ) l e[ias] [ oplerati]sunt i n f .

X III K a[1(endas ) M aias

m ilit] s l egio 7. 1e bricam l egionis

[ op]erati s uett i n f abr icam l egionis

i mmunles ] ari n (umero )

C

m ilites l eg[ionari

c ohorta]les

i mmunes [

g ailiar]ii f Tic ] ...es

c ohorta les [ g a lliarii f ief V III

2 agani [ c ustodiae [ s cuta t caar i[a

] lamnae l euisatares

X l euesatae l a(

i spathar[u] r n f abricatae X I . f abrica tae

V I

l ela ria

i tem re. u e s[ •b . .

V [ s]cuta p lan e[a

J peractae

C XXV a rc u sp eractif c apitu/a b a il[istar ia

c ]lauis c arrum

•

•

s eruo i n p [

P ublished i n B RUCKNER & M ARICHAL ,

3 2

1 979 ,

6 -7

t he

N o .4: T ab. Vind . 1 V II1 C(atendas ) A üdas f abricie h (om inee ) C CCXX XXIII e a r e ie 8 ue0re2 t i C io ; ri X II s [trN ictores a d b a lneum

X VIII

a id p iumi si n .[ a id

a r [

C. ) a t l ua letudinarr &0 1 4' r p7z a ces t a d l utum [ . t ectores mr pil [

2.c a e t b [ 2 .P [ c ue .

P ublished i n B OWMAN & T HOMAS,

1 983,

N o .5: Tab. V ind. 3 S ide A t t

ler nt

] ]

[

]r iu

[

] ]

C

] utarius[ ] arium t

] ]

] us a diu C

[

] arium [ 1 8 f a bert s7 Jun i g t di S isas .7 , i ; j 4E

L T

] r ale e

C

] is f aber [ J I

J I

L T

] ;; 24 7 2[ I t e e.[

] ]

S ide B

a t

C C

leni

C [

J i. u s 7 [ . •• Jus m a r i [

L T

Jlius *f aber

/ 7 ] ] I I

[]

] a m [ Meini [ ]a e an [ .

3 3

7 7-9

t races

[ t

f aber [ J A iorium [ f rum enr J A a mr •

J

1 7 .j ' rumC i m C tr ace P ublished i n BOWMAN & THOMAS,

No.6:

1 983,

AE 1 926, No.3

u a lerio s curtairio I IX

No .7:

C IL XIII 1 1504

m arti u otum t ib (erius ) i u l(ius ) a quil(a ) g ladia[rilus s (oluit ) 1 (aetus ) 1 (ibens ) Werito )

3 4

8 1-3

ABBREVIATIONS AE

L 'Annee E pigraphique

C hLA

C hartae L atinae Antiquiores

C IL

Corpus I nscriptionum Latinarum

ORL

D er o bergermanisch-raetisdhe L imes

R E

P aulys

R ealencyclopädie

der

c lassischen

A ltertums-

wissenschaft P LO

D er römische L imes i n O sterreich

B IBLIOGRAPHY ANGUS et a l. nails

1 962: N .S.

f rom

P erthshire', 1 962,

t he

Angus,

Roman

J ournal

1 979:

T .D .

C leere,

f ortress

a t

' The i ron

I ndhtuthil,

I ron and S teel I nstitute,

' Fragments

o f

R oman

Museums Journal,

B arnes,

2 00,

5 3,

' bronze" 1 953,

' The d ate o f Vegetius

l,

s cale

2 00-2

P hoenix,

3 3,

' Variations

i n

2 54-7

B AYLEY & B UTCHER 1 981: J . a lloy

t he

H .F.

9 56-68

armour f rom Corbridge',

1 979,

B rown,

l egionary

o f

ANSTEE 1 953: J .W . Anstee,

B ARNES

G .T.

c omposition

s upp1.29, B IDWELL 1 980:

B ayley &

S .

B utcher,

o f R oman brooches',

1 981,

2 9-36

P .T.

B idwell,

Roman

R evue d 'Archeometrie,

E xeter:

F ortress

and

T own ,

( Exeter 1 980) B IRLEY

1 977:

R .

B irley, V indolanda:

Hadrian's Wall,

M .C.

within

PLANCK & UNZ,

prepared

R oman

M .C.

Equipment

Using Atomic f or

B ishop,

' The

d istribution

o f

m ilitary

f orts of the f irst c entury A .D.'

i n

f orthcoming

B ISHOP unpublished: M ilitary

R oman F rontier P ost on

( London 1 977)

B ISHOP f orthcoming: equipment

a

B ishop , f rom

R eport on t he Analysis

t he

R oman F ortress

Absorption S pectroscopy, P eterborough

C ity

Museum

u npublished a nd

o f

S ome

a t Longthorpe A rt

r eport G allery ,

( Sheffield 1 984) B OGAERS & YPEY 1 963: J .E.

B ogaers & J . Ypey,

3 5

' Ein n euer r ö m ischer

Dolch

m it

s ilbertauschierte und e mailverzierter S cheide a us

dem L egionslager N ijmegen ',

B erichten van d e R ijksdienst v oor

het oudheidkundig bodemondezoek i n N ederland,

1 2-13,

1 962-3,

8 7-98 B OWMAN

& T HOMAS 1 983:

Latin

Writing

A .K .

B owman & J .D.

Thomas,

B ritannia

Monograph

Tablets,

Vindolanda: T he S eries

N o .4,

( London 1 983) BREEZE

1 969:

D .J.

B reeze,

f irst cohort and S tudies, BREEZE

5 9,

1 974:

the

1 969,

D .J.

' The o rganization of the l egion: t he

e quites

l egionis',

Journal

of

R oman

5 0-55 t he

c areer

s tructure of t he immunes and principales o f the R oman

B reeze,

a rmy ',

Bonner Jahrbücher, BREEZE

1 976:

D .J.

1 74,

B reeze,

' The 1 974,

o rganisation 2 45-92

' A note on t he u se o f the t itles o ptio

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burials a t Camelon,

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7 ,

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MARICHAL

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' Roman

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N .R .',

CRUMMY 1 983: N . Roman

P .T.

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f rom

& R .

Marichal

Germany I , J .

Lang,

F remington

B ritish Museum Q uarterly ,

Crummy,

S mall

C lose-Brooks, S tirlingshire,

Craddock,

horse-trappings

Yorkshire,

p rincipate ',

7 3-95

Chartae Latinae Antiquiores, CRADDOCK e t a l.

the

1 27-33

' Soldiers'

1 976,

o f

( eds.),

( Zürich 1 979) K .S.

Painter ,

H agg, 3 7,

1 973,

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F inds f rom

Excavations

i n

R eeth , 9 -17 2 :

T he

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( Colchester 1 983) CRUMMY

, 1984:

P .

E xcavations Colchester, CURLE 1 911: J .

C rummy, a t

Colchester

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E ssex, Curie,

Archaeological R eport

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3 :

t he

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' A hoard o f i ron and other materials

Archaeologia

Aeliana,

s er.4,

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• principate'

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Dobson,

' The

p raefectus

i n JARRETT & DOBSON ,

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6 1-84

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B .

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F undberichte a us Baden-Württemburg, F INK 1 971:

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F ink,

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1 981,

Roman M ilitary R ecords on P apyrus,

Philological A ssociation Monograph 2 6, F ITZPATRICK

f orthcoming:

r eassessment ' F OX

&

S T.JOHN

Hants., FRERE 1 978:

H OPE

e d.2, FRERE

o n

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i n 1 900', S .S.

A .

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S .S.

F rere,

&

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avant notre

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R oman

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HARMAND 1 967: J . Harmand,

I

6 -8

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' Schwertscheidenbleche L egion ',

Jahresbericht

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' Tiberische

G ürtel-

f igürlichen R eliefs',

F estschrift E mil Vogt,

der S chweiz,

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Schwertscheidenbeschläge Antigua.

S t.Joseph ,

5 ,

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i n

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' The deposita of an a uxiliary s oldier

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B ritain

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G ILLIAM 1 967: J .F. G illiam ,

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FRERE & S T.JOSEPH 1 974:

G OFFART

Fox

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explored ',

( P.

a

o f t he Roman c ity a t S ilchester,

Archaeologia,

F rere,

' Camulodunum :

f orthcoming

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s ite

American

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i n P LANCK & UNZ,

' Excavations

4 17-32

B eitr.

z .

P rähist.

u nd

H elvetia u .

Arch.

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L 'armee e t l e s oldat ä R ome d e 1 07 ä 5 0

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3 7

HERRMANN 1 969: K ünzing ', HOGG

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A .H.A .

r emains', HOBENER

F .-R . Herrmann ,

Hogg,

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Hübener,

Vorgeschichte 2 8, 1 985:

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1 29-41

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A rchaeological Journal,

Augsburg-Oberhausen ,

HURST

' Der E isenhortfund aus d em Kastell

S aalburg Jahrbuch ,

D ie

a Roman f ort and o ther

1 25,

1 969,

r ömischen

1 01-92 Metallfunde

M aterialhefte

z ur

v on

b ayerischen

( Kallmünz 1 973)

Hurst,

K ingsholm .

E xcavations

a t K ingsholm

C lose a nd Other S ites with a D iscussion o f the Archaeology o f the

Area,

G loucester

A rchaeological

R eports 1 ,

( Cambridge

1 985) JACKSON & S TONE f orthcoming:

R .

Roman M ilitary S tudies I , JAMES

f orthcoming:

S .T.

Jackson

&

M .J.

S tone

( eds.),

( forthcoming) James,

f actories of the l ater Roman

' The

f abricae,

Empire '

i n

s tate

JACKSON

&

a rms S TONE,

f orthcoming JARRETT

& D OBSON ,

a nd Rome, JOHNSON

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M .G.

Jarrett & B .

Dobson

( eds.),

Britain

( Kendal 1 965)

1 983:

A .

C enturies

Johnson ,

A .D .

Roman

Forts

of

t he

i st

and

i n B ritain and t he G erman P rovinces,

2 nd

( London

1 983) KEIM &

KLUMBACH

S chatzfund

1 951:

von

J .

S traubing,

F rühgeschichte B d.3, KEPPIE 1 984: L .J.F.

&

K eppie,

B AATZ

&

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Münchener

The Making o f

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H .

( Hessen)',

2 7,

S aalburg Jahrbuch, K .

Normanby,

LEHNER 1 2,

1 928: H . 1 928,

1 5,

t he

Roman

Army

f rom

' A

Lehner ,

1 970,

' Eine römische K r.

Büdingen

7 3-83

f irst c entury m ilitary p endant f rom

Humberside', 1 980,

Baatz, Edhzell

L incolnshire

H istory

a nd

8 3-4

' Ausgrabungen i n Vetera 1 927',

G ermania,

2 0-5

MACMULLEN 1 960: s upply

Leahy, S outh

Archaeology,

römische

B eiträge z ur Vor- u nd

K luf ibach & D . Kastell

1 980:

D er

( London 1 984)

Parade-Gesichtsmaske a us d em

LEAHY

K luMbadh,

( Munchen 1 951)

R epublic t o Empire, KLUMBACH

K eim

o f

Archaeology,

R .

MacMullen,

a rms 6 4,

i n 1 960,

t he

' Inscriptions

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Roman E mpire',

American J ournal o f

2 3-40

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a rmor

and

t he

MACMULLEN

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H istoria ,

R .

3 3,

M ANN 1 963: J .C.

Mann,

principate', M ANNING

MacMullen ,

1 984,

1 972:

' The r aising

H ermes, W .H .

9 1,

Roman Army,

l egion

a s

a

s ociety ',

n ew

3 ,

l egions

d uring

t he

4 83-9

' Ironwork

B ritannia,

M AXFIELD 1 981: V .A . Maxfield ,

o f

1 963,

Manning,

Roman B ritain ',

' The

4 40-56

1 972,

The

hoards i n I ron A ge a nd

2 24-50

M ilitary

D ecorations

o f

t he

( London 1 981)

MEGAW & S IMPSON 1 979: J .V.S. Megaw & D .D.A .

S impson,

I ntroduction

to British P rehistory f rom t he A rrival o f H omo S apiens t o t he C laudian I nvasion, M ILLAR

1 982:

F .

r elations, N IBLETT 1 985:

M illar,

3 1 B .C. R .

S heepen:

1 977a:

J .

B ritannia,

S tudien

' Zur

den

( 1977), P ARKER 1 932:

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des

Chr.', 5 7,

1 976

r ömischer d es

B ericht

( 1977),

d er

4 9-366

' Zur B untmetallverarbeitung i n

obergermanischen

Musees

( London 1 985) A usrüstung

n .

J . O ldenstein,

K astellen

Bulletin

1 -23

L imesgebietes a us d em zweiten u nd

J ahrhundert

1 977b:

1 982,

Auxiliareinheiten

römisch-germanischen Kommission, O LDENSTEIN

f oreign

z u B eschlägen u nd Z ierat a n d er

r ömischen

obergermanische-raetischen

1 3,

a nd

a n E arly R oman I ndustrial S ite

O ldenstein ,

d er

dritten

f rontiers

CBA R esearch Report 5 7,

Auxiliareinheiten. Ausrüstung

' Emperors,

t o A .D.378',

N iblett,

at Camulodunum , OLDENSTEIN

( Leicester 1 979)

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L imes', 4 6,

1 974

1 85-96 H .M.D .

P arker,

C lassical Q uarterly , P EATMAN 1 981: J .

2 6,

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' The

antiqua

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l egio

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Abbeydale I ndustrial Hamlet,

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PETRIKOVITS

1 970:

H .

v on P etrikovits,

römischer Legionslager', V ON

PETRIKOVITS

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Militärhandwerk. Jahre ',

R ömer'

i n

v on

( Leon 1 970)

P etrikovits, Forschungen

' Römisches d er

d er ö sterreichischen A kademie philosophisch-historische K lasse,

VON PETRIKOVITS 1 974b: H . der

H .

A rchäologische

Anzeiger

Wissenschaften ,

L egio V II G emina,

' Die S pezialgebäude

D .M .

v on P etrikovits, P ippidi

3 9

( ed.),

1 11,

l etzten d er 1 -23

' Militärische F abricae A ctes

d u

I Xe c ongres

i nternational

d 'etudes

( Bucharest 1 974), VON

P ETRIKOVITS

1 975:

r ömischer

H .

d er

UNZ

l es

f rontieres

P etrikovits, während

Rheinischer

W issenschaften B d.56, &

v on

L egionslager

Abhandlungen

P LANCK

s ur

r omaines,

3 99-407 D ie

d er

I nnenbauten

P rinzipatszeit ,

Westfälischen

Akademie

d er

( Opladen 1 975)

f orthcoming:

D .

P lanck

&

C .

U nz

( eds.),

Kongress-Akten d er B eiträge am L imes-Kongress in Aalen S onderbd.

F orschungen

F rühgeschidht. RACKHAM 1 976: 0 . Landscape,

u nd

B erichten

B aden-Württemburg,

R ackham ,

T rees

a nd

1 973:

M .-T.

Woodland

i n

t he

R aepset-Charlier,

i nferior e t G ermania s uperior', R ICHMOND 1 933:

I .A .

R ichmond,

i n

t he

North

8 9,

1 932

( 1933),

R ITTERLING 1 904:

u .

B ritish

3 2,

' Germania

1 973,

' The f our Roman c amps

1 58-61

a t

Cawthorn

Archaeological Journal,

1 7-78

E .

R itterling,

' Das

Ausgrabungs-

f ür

G eschichtsforschung, 1 975:

Latomus,

R iding of Yorkshire ',

i .T.

Vereins

R OBINSON

V or-

( Stuttgart f orthcoming)

( London 1 976)

RAEPSAET-CHARLIER

Hofheim

zur

1 983,

H .R.

u nd

f rührömische F undbericht ',

L ager

nassauische

A ltertumskunde

3 4,

3 97-423

1 904,

R obinson ,

1 -110, The

A rmour

o f

b ei

A nnalen d es u nd

I mperial

Rome ,

( London 1 975) R OBINSON 1 977: H .R . l egionary

Robinson ,

helmets'

M ilitärgrenzen R oms

i n I I:

' The o rigins o f s ome f irst J .E.

B ogaers

Vorträge

( ed.),

d es

1 0.

L imeskongresses i n der G ermania I nferior, ROSS & FEACHEM 1 976: A . N ewstead

p its'

Monuments. 1 976),

i n

E ssays

Ross & R . J .V.S.

Feachem , M egaw

P resented

t o

century

Studien zu d en i nternationalen

( Köln 1 977),

5 53-9

' Ritual rubbish?

- t he

( ed.),

To I llustrate t he

S tuart

P iggott ,

( London

2 30-7

S ADDINGTON

1 982:

D .B.

S addington ,

The D evelopment o f t he Roman

Auxiliary Forces f rom Caesar to Vespasian

( 49

B .C.-A . D.79),

( Harare 1 982) S ANDER

1 929:

E .

S ander,

' Frontin

P hilologische Wochenschrift, SANDER 1 932: e pitoma

E . r ei

Sander,

4 9,

a ls

Q uelle

1 929,

' Die Hauptquellen d er

m ilitaris

d es Vegetius

4 0

f ür V egetius',

1 230-31

l,

B ücher

I -III

Philologus, 8 7,

d er 1 932,

3 69-75 SANDER

1 939:

E .

V egetiuss, SANDER

S ander,

K lio ,

1 962:

E .

3 2,

S ander,

L egionsfabriken ', SANDYS

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J .E.

t he Study

o f

Campbell, SCHENK

' Die

1 939,

' Der

p raefectus

B onner Jahrbücher, S andys,

Latin

o rdinatio l egionis d es

f abrum

1 62,

1 962,

Latin E pigraphy.

I nscriptions,

u nd

d ie

1 39-61

An I ntroduction t o

e d.2,

r evised

by

S .G.

( London 1 927)

1 930:

D .

d er Epit.

S chenk,

' Flavius Vegetius R enatus:

r ei m ilitarisl, K lio,

S CHLESINGER & GEER 1 959: A .C. a n

a ntiqua

3 82-91

English

F ragments,

B eiheft 2 2,

S chlesinger & R .M.

G eer,

T ranslation i n Fourteen Volumes. a nd Obsequens,

Loeb

d ie Quellen

1 930

C lassical

L ivy

w ith

X IV S ummaries,

L ibrary ,

( London

1 959) VON

SCHNURBEIN

1 974:

S .

von

M ilitärlager bei Haltern, 1 899',

S chnurbein ,

B ericht über d ie

Bodenaltertümer Westfalens,

S CHONBERGER

1 978:

H .

1 4,

S chönberger,

Grabungen von 1 968 bis

1 971,

' Der

r ömischen

F orschungen

s eit

1 974

K astell

Oberstimm :

Limesforschungen

1 8,

d ie

( Berlin

1 978) S CHöNBERGER

1 979:

H .

S chönberger,

oder Fabrica l, Germania , T AYLOR & W ILSON 1 961: M .V. i n

1 960.

1 961,

I

S ites

' Varkenburg Z .H.:

1 979,

T aylor & D .R . W ilson ,

explored',

P raetorium

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B ritain

Journal of R oman S tudies,

5 1,

1 57-91

U LBERT 1 969: G .

U lbert,

L imesforschungen 9 , WATSON 1 969: WEBSTER

5 7,

Das

G .

The Roman S oldier,

Webster,

K .D. White,

W ILSON 1 974:

D .R .

explored',

Jitta &

A .M.

W ilson,

J ITTA

( London 1 969)

e d.2,

( London 1 979)

Greek and R oman T echnology,

B ritannia,

Z ADOKS-JOSEPHUS

R heingönheim ,

The Roman I mperial Army o f t he F irst

a nd Second Centuries A .D., WHITE 1984:

K astell

( Berlin 1 969)

G .R. Watson,

1 979:

f rührömische

&

' Roman

5 ,

1 974,

B ritain

' Roman

4 1

1 973.

I

S ites

3 97-460

W ITTEVEEN

W itteveen ,

i n

( London 1 984)

1 977: bronze

A .N.

Z adoks-Josephus

l unulae

f rom

t he

Netherlands',

O udheidkundige M ededelingen u it het R ijksmuseum

van oudheden t e L eiden ,

5 8,

1 977,

4 2

1 67-95

T HE P RODUCTION A ND S UPPLY O F M ILITARY L EATHERWORK A ND S ECOND C ENTURIES A .D .:

I N T HE F IRST

A R EVIEW O F T HE A RCHAEOLOGICAL

E VIDENCE

C .

van D riel-Murray

This paper w ill be principally c oncerned w ith Roman m ilitary l eatherwork a s r epresented i n t he a rchaeological r ecord. a spects

w ill

d iscussion

be

a nd

r eviewed, r esearch

Various

but more i n t he hope o f s timulating

t han

o f

o ffering

a ny

a ll-embracing

a nswers t o t he problems i n this particular f ield. The p lace o f l eatherwork i n the R oman a rmy c an be a pproached f rom

two

d ifferent

points

a rchaeological l evel,

o f

v iew :

e quipment r epresented by t he f inds, t his

provides

a s

to

f orm ,

i s

t he t he

a nd

o f

i nterpretative

i n which s ystems o f manufacture a nd m echanisms o f s upply o f i nternal

e vidence.

A ll

a spects a re,

a re

however,

e xtent governed by the nature and c haracteristics o f a n

o f

d evelopment

and t he s econdary,

both the r aw m aterial a nd of t he i tems m ade f rom i t f rom

primary , p ieces

a nd t he d irect e vidence which

c onstruction

i ndividual pieces o f e quipment , l evel

t here

w ith t he i dentification o f

d educed

t o a g reat l eather

a s

organic product a nd the s evere b ias i n t he available evidence

which this e ntails. I n the f irst place, e nvironmental

l eather i s o nly c onserved u nder

c onditions,

which

waterlogged deposits o f wells,

m eans

i n

practice

i n

t he

main

r ubbish

c onsiderable

problems

i n

i ncorporated

i n

and

t hem

dumps,

the

i n

t hemselves

i nterpretation

t heir

d ating,

and

r esearch

i nto

l eather

s urvives

i n

d iscarded

a s

o f

t hese

c ontexts

o r u seless:

was

i ntroduce t he

f inds

q uite apart f rom t he

this type o f c ontext.

worn-out

by

B ut t hese d eposits,

n orthern a nd c onsequently m ilitary b ias d isplayed o f

t he

d itches a nd r iver c ourses f orm

f ar the r ichest s ource of Roman l eatherwork. b eing

s pecial t hat

i n

e xcavation

F urthermore, a lmost

what

i nvariably

t he o ff c uts o f m anufacture,

d amaged p ieces r emoved and d iscarded

o n

j ettisoning

T he e vidence m ust be p ieced

o f worthless equipment.

r epair

t ogether f rom what was c onsciously t hrown away, o f a ny

r ubbish

i nterpretation

e xamination t he

d isposal

t he

a nd t he

f inal

problems

and basic c onservation a re i nterwoven w ith o f

t he

s urviving

m aterial.

T hus

i n

o f

material

t he

a vailable

e vidence:

t he

l ack

f rom I taly a nd G aul e specially,

i n

i solating

m ilitary

f rom

c ivilian

t he

products a nd

m ethods o f manufacture i n t he r ather m ixed c ontexts o f

4 3

o f

the paucity

o f l eather o ther than f ootwear a fter t he m id-second c entury, d ifficulty

a n

o f R oman l eatherwork we m ust be c ontinually aware o f

shortcomings

c omparative

a nd

t he L imes

f orts

a nd

t heir v ici,

t he absence o f c omparable f ind complexes

f rom c ivilian s ites a nd e specially t he f act t hat r equired

f or

preservation

the

c onditions

v irtually e xclude the possibility o f

i dentifying the l ocation o f a

workshop

a ddition,

o f l eatherwork i s m issing

r ecord, a ble

a

whole

c ategory

a nd

i ts

f or i t i s o nly t he v egetable t anned

t o

l eathers

s urvive i n waterlogged d eposits.

l eathers - which may have m ilitary

c ontext

-

been

f ail

s urvive

I n

f rom t he

which

a re

A lum-tawed 1 and o iled

particularly

t o

p roducts.

a t

i mportant a ll,

i n

t he

s ave in dry a nd

a irless c onditions. The e vidence f or t he manufacture o f R oman m ilitary equipment i s,

therefore,

physical

s everely

r estricted

c onsiderations,

but

quantitative publication. based

principally

v ery much, a nd

work

V indonissa 2

B erg 5

a t he

lack

o f

the d iscussion

will

be

Consequently,

t he evidence f rom s ix s ites.

c entury

( Switzerland),

Velsen 4

( both

( W.

f airly

r esult

o f

T his i s n ot

balanced

picture,

G ermany)

we

have

t he

l egionary

fortress

t he a uxiliary f ort Va1kenburg 3 and t he

i n

c entury i s r epresented by Vechten 7

a s o f

w ill i nevitably modify the c onclusions reached

For t he f irst

o utpost

o nly

because

a lthough t hey do provide a

f uture

here.

o n

n ot

a lso

the t he

N etherlands),

while the s econd

m ilitary f abrica

on

t he

B onner

and a lso the a uxiliary s ites Zwammerdam6 a nd

( Netherlands),

a lthough n either o f t hese contexts

i s

a s

well d efined a s o ne c ould w ish. D espite

a ll

t he l imitations,

l eather,

because i t i s o ne o f

t he f ew o rganic materials t o be preserved i n a ny quantity, u nequalled

s ource

P roblems

8

f rom

p ictorial

sources,

while

t he

d isintegration

c onstituent parts makes t he a ccurate a rticles

s uch t he

a s

t ents

r econstruction

d ifficult.

r ole

o f

purses,

9

l etter

a re

and

a ll

wood

S till,

o f

t he

c lear

complex essential

e nough ,

purposes

t ablet

c ertainly m ay

e nvelopes, a ttested

o n

c ushion

c overs

m ilitary

b e

e xpected:

a wnings,

s ites:

s mith 's

f urnishings,

w ine a nd water s kins,

q uivers

well a s i nnumerable s traps a nd f ittings.

a s

1 0

f lask c overs,

1 1

u naccountable l ack o f horse harness, s ites.

B oth

r egiments

t he m any a nd

The u se o f otherwise

b elts a nd sheaths o n

kinds o f l eather w ere c ertainly w idely u sed

f or t hese purposes i n the a rtillery

s traps,

a nd

aprons,

s heaths

o iled o r a lum-tawed l eather may be r esponsible f or t he R oman

a nd

S hoes, s hield covers, t ents, s addles a nd horse trappings,

f unction o f m any o ther f ragments c an o nly be g uessed a t and more

o r

l eather i n a n a rmy which s eems to h ave

been unfamiliar w ith tarpaulin . baggage c overs a nd k it bags, briefcases,

a t

o f l arger items into t heir

i dentification o f a l arge number o f i tems i s e mphasises

i f

o f i nterpretation o f f unction r emain due t o t he

d isappearance o f o ther o rganic c omponents s uch a s g lue , s tuffing,

a n

o f i nformation f or many i tems of c lothing a nd

e quipment o therwise known o nly a l1.

i s

i n

1 8th t he

a nd

1 9th

N etherlands

4 4

c entury a nd

c avalry

a nd

the u se of o iled

L _ _ _

F ig.

1 .

I

a .

P rimary cutting l ines marked on s kin

b .

Primary

( scale

o ff

c uts

f rom

1 :2).

4 5

V elsen

( not t o s cale).

w ith natural orifice

l eather f or horse harness was a ctually l aid down i n m ilitary

s pecifications.

c lothing,

a s proposed

d iscounted.

N ot

1 3

e xtremely r are, t he

a rmy

Any

1 2

by

l arge-scale

Gansser-Burckhardt

o nly

must

p robably

the

s ources

l ooked primarily t o t extiles f or i ts c lothing.

bouilli m ight have been u sed f or nothing

has

c urrent be

a re any positively i dentified e xamples

but i t i s a lso evident f rom

1 4

t he

u se o f l eather i n

s urvived.

D ue

m uscle

t o

c uirasses,

t hat C uir

1 5

but

a gain ,

i ts l ow water r esistance,

t awed l eather would have been unsuitable c lothing.

f or

out-door

a lum

m ilitary

I t w ill be c lear that t he R oman a rmy i n t he f irst and s econd c enturies

must

have

r equired

l eather

E xact quantification i s o f c ourse a ssess r eplacement r ates, e ight

m en i s

a truly v ast s cale.

i mpossible,

s ince

r equires a bout 7 0 c omplete goatskins, s taggering.

we

c annot

but when i t i s r ealized t hat a tent f or

f or e ach a uxiliary s hield a mount

o n

d emands

a

f urther

while the c over

11 2/ 2

s kins,

t he

To f ully e quip a n ewly raised unit o r to

r e-equip one a t a t ime o f emergency o r f ollowing hostilities m ust have posed f ormidable problems o f s upply.

F urthermore,

1 6

tanning

i s a r elatively s low process a nd e xcessive s laughter o f l ivestock f or t heir s kins a lone will have s evere s upply. s teady

r epercussions

s upply

o f

r aw m aterials,

f uture

to hold adequate s tocks a nd to

keep e quipment permanently i n good r epair - and this what

on

By f ar the most s atisfactory s olution i s t o ensure the

1 7

i s

e xactly

t he types o f f inds f rom m ilitary s ites s uch a s B onn,

Velsen

a nd Valkenburg s eem t o s how . B efore going i nto d etail, o n which any hypotheses on the l eather

we must f irst l ook a t t he evidence m anufacture

e quipment must be f ounded.

a nd

m aintenance

o f

A basic m isconception a s f ar

a s t he s tudy o f the manufacture o f l eather goods i s c oncerned

i s

t hat c oncentrations of f inished products i dentify t he p resence o f t he

c raftsman making them .

c ase,

1 9

A lthough t his may sometimes be t he

1 8

i n g eneral t he c onverse w ill be t rue:

a re d ispersed a nd u ltimately e nd up , o n t he r ubbish t ip, r ubbish

d isposal

production we ( although

t hese

a bout

d ependent, c an

c onvey

manufacture. n ot

o n

l eft whether

a

l eather

whether

t here

o n

the

s nippets

worker

y et i t i s t hese s craps w as

present, what

o f

T hese w hich

w hether he was p roducts

w ere

was a ny c raft s pecialization and what

v alue was placed on the r aw material u sed. a nimal f rom which t he s kin 20

o f

a rticles

a fter t he c ompletion o f t he i tem concerned.

m aking n ew i tems o r o nly r epairing o ld o nes, c oncerned ,

q uestions

c ompleted

i nformation on manufacture through

o ff c uts a re a ll too often i gnored, r eveal

For

t he

d etails o f t echnology and s kin c hoice) but l eather

i tems

where t hey r eveal more about the p rocesses of t han

a re

t he f inished

n ot back i n the workshop but

I dentification o f t he

was t aken a llows f urther

i nferences

a s to t he s election or a vailability o f particular a nimals and t he possibilities o f i mport.

4 6

5

0

F ig.

1 0C M

2 : S econdary o ff c uts f rom V elsen a rranged i n t heir r elevant positions a round s ole s hapes g aps

where

V elsen).

N ote

a dditional t rimming would be r equired

( scale

1 :2).

4 7

( also

f rom

0

Fig.

3 . O ff

c uts

f rom

M aastricht

c haracteristic

m anufacture of s ingle-piece f ootwear

4 8

SC M

f or

( scale 1 :2).

t he

I t

i s

f ragments

perhaps more

c ategories,

worthwhile

c losely.

e ach

t o

They

l ook

may

r eflecting

a t

be

a

these u ninspiring

d ivided

particular

i nto

t hree

part

o f

t he

m anufacturing process: 1 )

P rimary o ff c uts

( Fig.1):

u seless

o r

r emoved before cutting-out begins. t he

t annery

Xanten , were

t o

n eaten

t he product,

Maastricht a nd Vindonissa 21

d elivered

a nd e ven e dges,

poor

s till

a ttached.

t he

s kins

with head,

Characteristic

t ails

a re

s kin

c ut a way f rom the better parts i n s traight s trips,

s houlders i n a s traight l ine, o ff

o ut i tems,

o ften a s a s ilhouette.

between

c uts

c ut

away

f rom

a s a t Vindonissa and Bonn.

S econdary

( Fig.2):

and t he

2 2

t he p ieces l eft between the c ut I n

f act,

t he

d istinction

primary a nd s econdary o ff c uts i s not a lways c lear i n

R oman contexts, t he

t hat

e ntire to t he l eatherworker,

u dders

portions

but R oman e vidence f rom

s uggests

e specially t he heads and n ecks o f goats, 2 )

quality

This m ight a lso be done a t

s ince a rticles t end to be

u nneatened

s kin,

c ut

d irectly

f rom

e xcept where l arge s heets a re r equired ,

a s for t entage o r s hields.

S maller i tems were s imply a rranged

a round the l ess s uitable o r damaged a reas which nowadays would have been r emoved beforehand. o ff

c uts

which

manufactured , parts

o f

g ive

and ,

t he

most

I t i s,

however,

because they o ften

s kin,

t he

s econdary

i nformation on the type of i tems

t hese

a re

c ome

f rom

t he

better

a lso most s uited f or animal

i dentification. 3 ) Trimmings: s haped

n arrow

a rticle,

s livers o ften

l eft

d one

a fter

n eatening

a

r oughly

on c ompletion of t he i tem ( e.g.

r emoval o f t he e xcess f rom a made-up s hoe s ole,

s hown in F ig.2

a s narrow white a reas n ext t o the s oles). By f ar the most d istinctive a re t he o ff c uts f rom s hoemaking ( Fig.2) o f

and these are e specially u seful i n e stablishing the

l eatherwork being carried out i n Velsen ,

w hich we will e xamine below. c ontext, s ingle

a

f ind

worn-out

i llustration H ere, -

c onsisting

o f

s hoe) t he

f rom

t he

a

Maastricht 23

p rovides

potential of a well-defined g roup

s tratigraphy

production

i n

o f

c ivilian

a lmost e ntirely o f o ff c uts

( and a

a

g ood

( Fig.3).

c haracteristic

was s ufficiently c lear - to enable the

i dentification o f a n i ndividual workman , t he

Valkenburg and B onn,

A lthough i t o ccurs

the l eft o ver s ilhouettes were s ufficiently

and

t ype

s ingle-piece

e ntirely s pecialized

f ootwear

( the

i n

s o-called

c arbatinae 23 a ) o n the e vidence of t he o ff c uts a lone. Such

r estricted,

M aastricht a nd Vechten ,

i s

r are.

i ndividual,

r ubbish

d isposal

a s

a t

More u sual i s the s ituation a t Z wammerdam

w ith their extensive r iverfronts,

where t he

m ixture

o f obviously m ilitary i tems with obviously c ivilian o nes s uggests t hat

r efuse

f rom

both

t he c amp a nd i ts n eighbouring v icus was

t hrown i ndiscriminately into the r iver.

4 9

Apart f rom t he intrinsic

1 .

•

.* • *'• +

J 2 •:

r

•A

•

• , ` • • •*:Ä+

+

•A." , A.*

1 ++

+• A ++ + + + + . +• •

' 4 • *

*

*

+

•• •• + •

r ; 21

*• • •

•

+