Silvia Polla, Institut für Klassische Archäologie, Freie Universität BerlinDigital Classicist Berlin, 18.10.2016

Between Demography and Consumption: Digital and Quantitative approaches in the Mediterranean Surface Survey

Hobson 2012

Hobson 2012

Hobson 2012

Hobson 2012 Hobson 2012, after Bonifay 2004

de Vos, Attoui 2012

Bonifay 2004

Mattingly 2011, 139, Tab 5.2

Economic structure Location Economic mechanism Archaeological

correlates

Imperial Economy Empirewide and

beyond frontiers

Taxation, imperial exploitation

of land, labor,

resources,

redistribution,

largesse, and salary

commitments

Monetization focusedon military needs, taxgathering (Egyptiantax grain

arrangements, etc.); long range movementof many commoditiesto frontier provinces or

Rome, military bias in distribution patterns

ExtraprovincialEconomies

Empirewide andbeyond frontiers

Free-market economy,

response to

opportunities

of imperial supply, gift

exchange

Interprovincialmovement

of goods to local

markets,

consumption of

imported

goods on civilian sites

Provincial Economies Within provincial

borders, often

localized around

major towns

Free-market economy,

response to taxation,

monetization

Local marketdistributions

of locally produced

goods,

spread of monetization

to smaller market

centers

de Vos, Attoui 2012

Stone 2004

de Vos 2013

de Vos, Attoui 2012

Hobson 2012

Hobson 2012

192; 75%

65; 25%

good soils bad soils

22

1

6

6

2

2

1

2

6

0 5 10 15 20 25

Flat

North

North-East

East

South-East

South

West

North-West

North

Nr Farms (tot = 48 belonging to the Vandal-Byzantine Phase)

Duration of occupation Topography (Slope facing)

Soil quality

Test on 257 „farms“, all periods

Nucleated settlements Farms

Insch Press CW ACW HM BGW IS GLA CBM DW AMPH PW LA

ARS correlationcoefficient ,153** ,318** ,892** ,506** ,484** ,193** ,337** ,444** ,683** ,446** ,772** ,153** ,523**

15,77%

38,56%

0,65%1,72%0,08% 0,25%

1,15%7,97%

0,57%

27,77%

0,05%

0,41%

2,50% 2,01% 0,53%

0,01% ARS

CW

ACW

HM

BGW

IS

GLA

CBM

DW

AMPH

PW

LA

MW

M

OS

TW

>>Very poor assemblages

Sites with no ARS WareCeramic Classes

Correlation between ceramic classes in the surface assemblages

Rajala, Mills 2014

Rajala, Mills 2014

Dougga Survey: Clusteranalysis of „Farms“

Methods: hierarchical Clusteranalysis, Ward-Method, Gower-Distance

Single Variables:

„Location“ + „Size“ + „Slope“ + „Inscriptions“+ „Oil presses“ + „Ceramic Classes

(„ARS","CW","ACW","HM","BGW","IS","GLA","CBM“,"DW","AMPH","PW","LA","TW„)“, +

+ „Phase1",„Phase2",„Phase3",„Phase4",„Phase5",„Phase6",„Phase7"

Group 1: 119Group 2: 10Group 3: 44

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Early Roman Middle Roman Late Roman Vandal Byzantine Islamic

New Continuing Reoccupied Abandoned

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Pre-Roman Early Roman MiddleRoman

Late Roman Vandal Byzantine Islamic

Total sites

Byzantine

pots = sites = people ?

> Population growth vs decline ?

Dougga Survey: Fine Wares Distribution

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

year

60

year

75

year

90

year

105

year

120

year

135

year

150

year

165

year

180

year

195

year

210

year

225

year

240

year

255

year

270

year

285

year

300

year

315

year

330

year

345

year

360

year

375

year

390

year

405

year

420

year

435

year

450

year

465

year

480

year

495

year

510

year

525

year

540

year

555

year

570

year

585

year

600

year

615

year

630

year

645

year

660

year

675

year

690

ARS-based Survey Chronology (Weighted mean/year)

Dougga Survey: Site Density and Settlement Pattern

Dougga Survey: Theoretical territories

Dougga Survey: Cost Distance Analysis

2.5 2.5

Dougga Off-site Pottery Survey Survey Intensity/ Number of sites

Visibility / Number of sites

Terrenato 2004

2.5

2.5

Witcher 2006

Mapalia, El Alia (Mahdia, II AD). /HaCeramics/ha

Archaeological record and past social variability