22. Speaking of the dead. Returning to funerary customs and grave goods from late Roman military burials

Session Chairs: Vince Van Thienen & Sofie Vanhoutte
Affiliation: Ghent University, Belgium
Affiliation of co-organiser: Flanders Heritage Agency / Ghent University, Belgium

Session Abstract: Fifty years after the publication of the late Roman graveyard at the Oudenburg fort by Mertens & Van Impe (1971), and nearly as long since the influential publication by Böhme (1974) on Germanic grave goods in the Late Roman period, it is time to reassess our ideas of late Roman burial customs, grave goods and their chronology (period c. AD 250-450).

During the past half century, our understanding of the Late Roman period has developed significantly, mainly because of the increasing archaeological evidence of its military population. Nevertheless, many of the chronologies for grave goods published in the 1970s are still used as standard references to date late Roman artefacts and their contexts. However, many of these typo-chronologies and interpretations have become outdated, often tied up in biases based on circular reasoning related to traditional notions of the Germanic immigration.

Since the 1970s and ’80s burial archaeology has gradually become less prominent, allowing outdated knowledge to persist into the present-day identification and dating of late Roman military burials (cf. cremation versus inhumation; the uncritical use of numismatic evidence; the correlation between weapons as grave goods and Germanic people). Fortunately, recent studies and techniques can bring new data to the table and allow us to take a fresh look on the identity of late Roman soldiers at the frontiers (e.g. isotopes and DNA) that can be paired with a reinvestigation of the material culture and burial customs.

Given that the most prominent late Roman burials are military graveyards and that they serve as a basis for much of the material chronologies (e.g. Krefeld-Gellep), a re-evaluation of them would not only adjust our understanding of the late Roman military communities at the frontiers, but would also have implications for the dating and interpreting of many late Roman (military) sites across the Empire.

The late Roman coastal fort at Oudenburg (Belgium): from reassessment of new and old burial data towards new ideas on the chronology, identity, and lifestyle of a late Roman military community
Sofie Vanhoutte, Flanders Heritage Agency / Ghent University, Belgium

Late Roman graves of the Vieuxville cemetery (province of Liege, Belgium)
Sofie Vanhoutte, Vince van Thienen on behalf of Olivier Vrielynck, Service public de Wallonie – Agence wallonne du Patrimoine, Fabienne Vilvorder, Laurent Verslype, Université catholique de Louvain – Centre de recherche d’archéologie nationale, Christian Lauwers, Société royale de Numismatique de Belgique

The Late Roman and Merovingian site of Vieuxville is famous for having yielded a funerary assemblage attributed to the first half of the 5th century, discovered fortuitously in 1938 and published in 1956 (BREUER & ROOSENS, 1956). The presence of coins of Constantine III and Jovin have made this ensemble a regularly cited reference since. The site also gave its name to a particular type of belt (BÖHME, 1974, p. 61). Other objects from the 1938 find were published in 1982 (VAN OSSEL, 1982). Systematic excavations carried out from 1980 to 1985 shed light on the context of this discovery. They showed that the material published in 1956 did not come from an isolated grave, but from several burials. These tombs belong to a vast cemetery of about 190 tombs used from the beginning of the 5th century to the middle of the 7th century (e.g. ALÉNUS-LECERF, 1986). These excavations have only recently been studied in detail. Despite the various degradations it has suffered over time, the Vieuxville cemetery has proved to be exceptional for the chronology of 5th century burials in northern Gaul, for several reasons. Firstly, most of the graves yielded material. Secondly, the necropolis developed regularly and continuously from north-west to south-east. Finally, several graves from the first half of the 5th century have been dated by coins, which makes it possible to set some reliable chronological markers. In particular, the phase of the ‘simple’ belts, dated approximately to the middle third of the 5th century, is particularly well represented, with some thirty tombs, eight of which yielded this type of belt. The transitions from this phase to the Kerbschnittverzierte Gurtelgarnituren phase that preceded it, and to the so-called ‘Childeric horizon’ that succeeded it, are clearly discernible. Bibliography: ALÉNUS-LECERF J., 1986. Le cimetière de Vieuxville : quelques considérations préliminaires. In : OTTE M. & WILLEMS J. (éd.), La civilisation mérovingienne dans le bassin mosan. Actes du colloque international d’Amay-Liège (22-24 août 1985), Liège (Études et Recherches archéologiques de l’Université de Liège, 22), p. 181-193. BREUER J. & ROOSENS H., 1956. Le cimetière franc de Haillot, Annales de la Société archéologique de Namur, 48, p. 171-376 (= Archaeologia Belgica, 34, 1957). BÖHME H.W., 1974. Germanische Grabfunde des 4 bis 5. Jahrhunderts zwischen unterer Elbe und Loire. Studien zur Chronologie und Bewölkerungsgeschichte, München (Münchner Beiträge zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 19/1-2). VAN OSSEL P., 1982. Quelques trouvailles inédites provenant de la nécropole de Vieuxville. In : Varia III, Bruxelles (Archaeologia Belgica, 246), p. 5-15.

Late Roman funerary customs and grave goods on the burial ground at Kozolec (Emona/Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Mateja Ravnik on behalf of Bernarda Županek, Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, Špela Karo, Mateja Ravnik, Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Alenka Miškec, National Museum of Slovenia, Gojko Tica, Tica Sistem d.o.o.

Archaeological investigations in the northern part of Ljubljana have uncovered part of the northern cemetery of the Roman colony of Emona at the Kozolec site. This well-researched Roman city, which lies below the centre of Ljubljana, was constructed at the beginning of the 1st century AD. However, the date of its abandonment is difficult to confirm, as different views on the end of Emona are placing it roughly between the mid-5th and mid-6th century. Throughout its existence, Emona had three extensive cemeteries that lined its main arteries, as was customary in the Roman world. Of these, most is known on the northern cemetery, where the total number of graves excavated thus far exceeds 3000. Investigations at the Kozolec site revealed a part of the cemetery with 61 graves, 16 of which were early cremations, and another 45 inhumations from the 2nd century onwards, most of them dating from the 4th to the middle of the 5th century. In this paper we focus on the later burials and the individuals buried in them. They include 19 male, 14 female and 10 children’s graves, while two burials remain undetermined. Although the burial rite does not differ significantly between individuals, the differences in attire and other accessories suggest that a certain number of buried males may have been soldiers and foreigners. According to the objects of attire they could have been members of late Roman military units as well as foreigners of Germanic and/or Sarmatic origin. This is consistent with the observation that in the Late Roman period the wider area of Emona was a military zone established around the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum, and with the observation that the density of military material from the wider area is very similar to that from the border areas of the Rhine and Danube.

Challenging late antique chronology – graves as indicators of continuity
Rebecca Nashan, Newcastle University

The research perspective on Late Antiquity is gradually changing due to the growing archaeological knowledge and the prevailing zeitgeist. There is a clear shift away from the concept of omnipresent decline towards the idea of transformation and continuity. However, there is a lack of a robust chronology of material culture that can substantiate this change in the dating of finds and find complexes. In the course of my doctoral thesis, I am evaluating hitherto unpublished and published material evidence from 4th and 5th century Belgian, French and German burial sites in a transnational study. A large-scale database will not only facilitate the reappraisal of dating sources but also clarify possible patterns in burial customs and the composition of grave goods. This paper exemplifies the problematic nature of established typo-chronologies on the basis of so-called key finds from selected, newly researched graves. Due to the absence of more reliable sources, dating approaches emerged at this research stage that are influenced by a historical narrative generated from ancient written sources. These chronological fixed points are still replicated by less critical citation and lead to circular arguments and a pronounced early dating of material culture. The result is a hiatus in the settlement landscape at the beginning of the 5th century AD. Consequently, this creates a distorted perspective on Late Antiquity and limits the interpretation potential of further research questions on topics such as border communities and cultures, ethnicity, identity and religion.

The late Roman grave of the children of the triarch Domitianus at Boulogne-sur-Mer: A re- interpretation
Julie Flahaut, Olivier Blamangin, INRAP, Angélique Demon, Service archéologique de Boulogne-sur-Mer, Christine Hoët Van Cauwenberghe, université de Lille

Excavations at Boulogne-sur-Mer began during the 16th century, but it was really during the 19th century that the Late Antique cemeteries of this city were systematically explored. After a gap of a century, several new excavations have added to our understanding of this topic, in particular those of 1973 and two intervention in advance of development in 2007 and 2008.  They are mainly located between Vieil-Âtre/Val-Saint-Martin and Bréquerecque, at the known limits of the occupation on the Gesoriacum-Bononia site. The tombs excavated at Vieil-Âtre in 1888-1889 by Jean-Baptiste Lelaurain yielded a remarkable assemblage: lead sarcophagi, complete funerary monuments, and extremely well-preserved furnishings including an exceptional collection of glassware, ceramics, pewter objects and “black rocks” (shale, jet). Twenty-nine burials have been reconstructed thanks to the surviving documentation (museum catalogues and newspaper articles for instance). Among them, one funerary group attracts our attention in particular, that of the children of the triarch Domitianus, discovered on 27 October 1888. This is the only intact funerary monument in Boulogne-sur-Mer with an explicitly military inscription (CIL, XIII, 3545) associated with grave furniture. Few tombs from Late Antiquity have been identified as ‘military’ in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Claude Seillier made an inventory in 1995 based on the 19th century publications and certain objects held in museum collections in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Oxford. He was particularly interested in the metal objects such as belt fittings and cruciform fibulae found at Vieil-Âtre and Bréquerecque. The study of the funerary ensemble of the children of the triarch Domitianus, belonging to the classis britannica, gives us the opportunity to propose a global and contextualised re-reading of an ancient discovery, relatively well documented. Through this burial, it is possible to propose a new interpretation of this group, supported by the furniture and the historiography of its discovery, and thus to shed new light on the historical, military and archaeological context of the site of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the second half of the 3rd century.

Foederati and the villa landscape? small-scale burials in Germania Secunda in Late Antiquity
James Dodd, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

The end of the villa landscape in the north-western Roman provinces is characterized by significant transformation. One facet is the use of the villa complex and its surrounding area for funerary purposes. Traditionally, these burials have been divided into large-scale reuse of sites in the Migration period and small-scale transitional burials. The study of these burials, and their relation to foederati burials and the military community have been neglected. This paper will explore this relationship and assessing where more work is needed to develop a picture of the funerary landscape at the interface between military and civilian in Late Antique Germania Secunda.

Solitary and deviant burials in late Antique Tongeren
Steven Vandewal, City of Tongeren

Archaeological traces prove that in the early fifth century events occurred that influenced the evolution of Tongeren (Atuatuca Tungrorum) as a town greatly. Not only did the number of archaeological traces decrease, there was also, for example, a sharp decline in the number of burials in the late Roman cemeteries around the town (although these presumably remained in partial use until the seventh century). Contrary to what has been assumed up to now, namely that the city was virtually deserted in the fifth century, there are indications to the contrary. In this, Tongeren follows a historiographical discussion – about continuity of habitation or not – which has already taken place in several other locations in northern Gaul and Britannia. To persist that Tongeren was a deserted place in the fifth and sixth centuries, however, can no longer be maintained. One of the elements that could lead to a new insight into the development of the town or its habitation during this period are the so-presumed ‘solitary’ burials, found in the town or in the immediate vicinity of the late Roman town wall. What are considered solitary burials seem rather to form part of a pattern. Haphazardly found inhumations appear to be intentional burials, oriented towards certain Roman buildings or in the vicinity of locations that had a certain symbolism. Apart from being some of the few traces from that chaotic fifth century, these burials give a clue as how the capital of the civitas Tungrorum evolved during the early Middle Ages.