Books by Michael Mackensen
Münchner Beiträge zur Provinzialrömischen Archäologie Band 10
The Roman fort of Gheriat el-Garbia is located 280 km south of Tripoli in the pre-desert, above a... more The Roman fort of Gheriat el-Garbia is located 280 km south of Tripoli in the pre-desert, above an oasis, on the central route to the land of the Garamantes. Along with Bu Ngem and Ghadames, it is the largest of the three new vexilliation forts of the limes Tripolitanus, advanced far to the south under emperor Septimius Severus. By autumn AD 201 at the latest, its defences were finished by a detachment of legio III Augusta from Lambaesis. Since the English surveys (1953, 1981), the fort with its spectacularly well-preserved main gate has provided a valid basis for architectural reconstructions of 3rd century forts.
Within the framework of an interdisciplinary project of the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces at the University of Munich, funded by the Excellence Initiative, two campaigns each year were conducted in 2009 and 2010. The focus was laid on surveys and excavations within the fort, which had been overbuilt by a Berber village (gates, headquarters building, barracks), and in one of the sanctuaries. In addition to scientific investigation methods (geodesy, geophysics, archae-ometry, radiocarbon analyses), terrestrial 3D laser scanning was used. The ancient place-name Myd(---) is recorded on a pedestal for a statue. Surprisingly, in addition to the occupation of the fort until AD 275/280, there was a late antique reoccupation: from AD 390/400 until the middle of the 5th century, a unit of limitanei, the milites munifices, was garrisoned in the castra Madensia of the Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XXXI 30.
The first volume presents the history of research in the Tripolitanian frontier zone in north-western Libya and southern Tunisia from 1819 to 1996, as well as the location and topography of Gheriat el-Garbia. This is followed by the geodetic recording of the topography of the fort and temple plateau based on radar data from the German earth observation satellite TerraSar-X. The focus is on the archaeological surveys: numerous architectural elements from the interior area of the fort result in seven orders of columns, which suggest a sophisticated architectural decoration of the central buildings of the fort. The extensive material from the ceramic survey provides information on the supply of the garrison with African red slip ware and cooking wares as well as with wine, olive oil and fish preserves transported in various types of amphorae. In addition, bronze small finds, coins and radiocarbon analyses are presented; the latter form the basis for dating the resto-ration of the fort between AD 390 and 425.
Münchner Beiträge zur Provinzialrömischen Archäologie 8,1-2
The study presents a summary of the development over 500 years of the high-quality North African ... more The study presents a summary of the development over 500 years of the high-quality North African red slip ware, a fineware which was mainly used as tableware. The masterful handicraft of several large pottery production centres in one of Rome’s economically most important provinces, Africa Proconsularis, is particularly well reflected in the exceptional relief-decorated wares. The study focuses on the rare appliqué-decorated north Tunisian red slip ware of the late 2nd/early 3rd century and also the wide range of forms and decorations of the appliqué-, relief- and stamp-decorated red slip ware of the early 3rd to mid 6th century, produced in Sidi Marzouk Tounsi, the most important pottery production centre in central Tunisia which operated for at least 350 years. Production at this site included lamps and terracotta figurines in red slip ware as well, but in particular a wide variety of plain and decorated red slip ware vessels made not only for a regional market, but for Mediterranean long-distance trade.
Research is based on the exceptionally extensive collection accumulated by K. Wilhelm mainly between 1960 and 1995. The material is presented in a catalogue containing 138 vessels and 104 fragments, including several unique vessel forms and a series of unknown appliqués and stamp types. For comparison, some important, but partially unpublished vessels and fragments in several European, North American and North African museums and private collections were additionally taken into account.
For the first time, the decoration schemes and also the vessel forms of an appliqué-decorated pottery produced in a north-eastern and in another central Tunisian production centre throughout the late 2nd and 3rd century, are classified and clearly represented. The research also succeeded in defining the late phase of the so-called El Aouja ware and highlights the stylistic development leading to the appliqué-decorated red slip ware of the 4th century. Moreover, the analysis of the appliqué and relief decoration with pagan, allegoric and early Christian motifs emphasises an iconographic transformation over the centuries based on the visible change in the figural scenes. Of utmost importance is the fact that the production centre at Sidi Marzouk Tounsi clearly survived the Vandal rule of the provinces Africa and Byzacena (429-533/534). Alongside the late relief-decorated red slip wares, there is now also evidence for the production of mould-made, relief-decorated red slip ware platters and several specific forms with mainly Christian motifs, far exceeding the previously suggested end of production (c. 430/440) and suggesting an end around the middle of the 6th century.
This book is based on a German-Arab colloquium held in Amman in September 2013, where current exc... more This book is based on a German-Arab colloquium held in Amman in September 2013, where current excavation and research results on death and burial from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt were presented. For the first time, Arab and Near Eastern scholars were able to discuss the main features and differences in the development of funerary practices of the dead in Roman, Byzantine and Islamic times, mainly based on archaeological sources. It also reports on the processing of old excavations and summary studies on local or regional burial customs. Apart from ten lectures presented in the colloquium, five other contributions by international scholars have been included. Among the more prominent places presented here are Palmyra, Beirut, Petra, Gerasa, Alexandria, Hermupolis and St. Paul's Monastery of Deir el-Bakhît (Thebes-West).
The Roman site Submuntorium/Burghöfe is situated on a plateau of a promontory above the valleys o... more The Roman site Submuntorium/Burghöfe is situated on a plateau of a promontory above the valleys of the rivers Danube and Lech, about 30 km north of the provincial capital of Augusta Vindeli-cum/Augsburg. It represents one of the most important military sites of the province of Raetia during the early and late Roman periods. From 2001–2007, four excavation seasons, including a geophysical and a field survey, were conducted on the so-called east plateau, a spur of the promontory, as well as on the tip of the spur by the University of Munich. Research focussed on the late Roman fortification and its period of occupation. However, it also offered new information on the early Roman military sites and the extension of the civil settlement (vicus) in the 1st c. AD. One of the most important results is the verification of a fortification of 1.5 ha, consisting of a curved system of two defensive ditches and possibly an accompanying turf or earth and timber rampart. They pre-date the well-known auxiliary fort and should belong to the early 40s of the 1st c. AD. After the abandonment of the fortification and the construction of the auxiliary fort the so-called eastern vicus developed in this area. It was destroyed by fire around AD 80.
The late Roman fort and its 1.5 m wide opus caementicium wall were documented in various areas on the tip of the spur. The fortification dates to the late 290s AD and belongs to a group of forts that were built around AD 300 as part of an official Tetrarchic building programme in Raetia. The Notitia Dignitatum mentions the deployment of a mounted unit and a detachment of the legio III Italica at Submuntorium. During the Constantinian period, an artisanal settlement of combined workshops and living quarters processed ferrous and non-ferrous metals. It was fortified around AD 350 with a defensive ditch and an earth or turf rampart. The small finds provide evidence of the period of occupation of the late Roman fortification and the adjacent vicus as well as of the military and civil population. Two gold coins of Leo I probably attest a military presence during the third quarter of the 5th c. AD. It seems likely that the security of the frontiers and military structures of the provinces Raetia prima et secunda, both part of the Italian diocese Italia annonaria, were main-tained until the death of Aetius in AD 454. Raetia may have consequently acted as a type of defensive glacis for the Italian prefecture until the abdication of the last Roman emperor of the western empire, Romulus Augustulus.
Abkürzungen siehe Verzeichnis S.673. Die Inventarnummer (AO. Musée de Carthage, Depot der DAI-Gra... more Abkürzungen siehe Verzeichnis S.673. Die Inventarnummer (AO. Musée de Carthage, Depot der DAI-Grabung) setzt sich aus der Fund stelle M I oder M Ila-c (vgl. S. 43 ff., bes. $oAbb. 10), dem Jahr der Prospektion und der Objektnummer zusammen. Die Farbangaben in den Katalogen A-F beziehen sich auf die Munsell Soil Color Charts (1975 edition): 510 und des Borstenkamms auf dem Rücken sowie des Ringelschwanzes mit den beiden Hoden. Maxima le Höhe noch 1,85 cm.-Fuchs mit langem, buschi gem Schwanz nach rechts laufend. Maximale Höhe noch 1,5 cm. Auf der ungleichmäßigen, leicht wel ligen Unterseite mit dem Stilus freihändig einge ritztes Haus-oder Wildschwein nach rechts ste hend. H. 1,65 cm; L. 2,7 cm. Graffito von zwei vor Katalog der Arbeitsgeräte dem Brand verursachten breiteren Scharten in der hinteren Hälfte beeinträchtigt. An den Schmalseiten der Matrize zur oberen Kante hin bis 0,5 cm breite, leicht angeschrägte Ab glättspuren. H. der Matrize 6,8 cm; Br. noch 4,9 cm; Stärke 1,5-1,6 cm.
Papers African Red Slip Ware and Lamps by Michael Mackensen
After the second quarter of the 3rd century, no-red clay, relief-decorated lamps of type Deneauve... more After the second quarter of the 3rd century, no-red clay, relief-decorated lamps of type Deneauve VIII B were made and produced as red slipped lamps in two sigillata potteries in Central Tunisia (so-called surmoulage) (fig. 4, 1.2). These predecessors of the novel red slipped lamps made of red clay of types Atlante I-IV A (fig. 3), were produced in a sort of typological experimental phase from around AD 230/250. The lamps, which were mainly produced in the workshops at Henchir el Guellal near Djilma, often depict decorative motifs based on pagan gods, but also amphitheatre and circus themes. These motifs can be found on high quality, applique-decorated red slipped vessels in fabric C 1/2 (or El Aouja sigillata), made in the well-known potteries of Sidi Marzouk Tounsi. Further appliqués were then moulded from these vessels. One example is the depiction of Prometheus, chained to the rock, on a lamp type Atlante IV A Var., which is an otherwise unknown motif on red slipped lamps. The identical image can be found on a sigillata jug in fabric C 1/2 (figs. 5-6). The lamp can be dated to the last third of the 3 rd or the early 4 th century AD.
H. Bender, Die Ausgrabungen 1978-1980 in der Klosterkirche Heiligkreuz zu Passau-Niedernburg. Materialhefte Bayer. Archäologie 108 (2018) 333-339, 2018
Stempeldekor auf dem Boden, ließen sich -unter Berücksichtigung der Klassifikation der Ware/ des ... more Stempeldekor auf dem Boden, ließen sich -unter Berücksichtigung der Klassifikation der Ware/ des Fabrikats nach Andrea Carandini und Stefano Tortorella 3 -auch kleine Fragmente klassifizieren oder eine Formzuweisung zumindest wahrscheinlich machen. Der Forschungsstand zu einzelnen, meist offenen Gefäßformen, zu deren chronologischer Einordnung ebenso wie zur Herkunft aus nord-oder zentraltunesischen Töpfereizentren und zur Verbreitung mittelkaiserzeitlicher und spätrömischer nordafrikanischer Sigillata und Lampen in der Provinz Raetia (prima et secunda) hat sich während der letzten eineinhalb Jahrzehnte dank den Bearbeitungen des einschlägigen Materials aus Chur 4 und Regensburg-Niedermünster 5 , vom Martinsbühel bei Zirl 6 und aus Innsbruck-Wilten 7 wesentlich verbessert. Insbesondere haben aber die Untersuchung der nordafrikanischen Sigillata aus Burghöfe mit Vorlage einiger bislang unbekannter Fragmente von verschiedenen raetischen Fundorten, die zur jüngsten Phase des Zustroms dieser Ware zu rechnen sind 8 , und die Aufarbeitung und monografische Vorlage des umfangrei-AUSWERTUNG Bereits im Mai 1981 übertrug mir Rainer Christlein die Bearbeitung der in den Provinzen Africa Proconsularis und Byzacena hergestellten Sigillata und ermöglichte mir eine erstmalige Sichtung des entsprechenden Fundmaterials aus den in Passau durchgeführten Ausgrabungen in der Heiligkreuz-Kirche und 1983 aus denjenigen im Hof der Staatlichen Bibliothek, dem sog. Bimmeslehner-Haus. Erstmals wies Thomas Fischer auf von mir identifizierte Sigillatafragmente aus der Mitte des 5. Jahrhunderts hin 1 , ohne dass zu diesem Zeitpunkt schon ein Überblick über das kleinteilig zerscherbte Material möglich gewesen wäre. Von den insgesamt 25 Scherben 2 entfallen sieben auf Randfragmente und zwei auf Bodenstücke; bei den restlichen 16 handelt es sich vielfach um dünnwandige Wandscherben. Aufgrund der wenigen in Passau-Niedernburg vertretenen Formen, darunter solche mit charakteristischen Wandumbrüchen und teilweise einer Verzierung durch sog. Ratterdekor auf der Gefäßaußenseite oder
Dm. 32,0 cm; Wandstärke: 0,6 cm; muscheliger Bruch. Ton u. Eng. stark durch sekundären Brand verf... more Dm. 32,0 cm; Wandstärke: 0,6 cm; muscheliger Bruch. Ton u. Eng. stark durch sekundären Brand verfärbt: 7.5YR 5/0-7.5YR 5/4-5/6. 8 RS eines Tellers Hayes 61 B Nr. 30/Bonifay sig. 38 (= Hayes 61 B Var. B2) (Abb. 4,2) Dm. 28,5 cm; Wandstärke: 0,6-0,7 cm; muscheliger Bruch. Ton u. Eng. 2.5YR 5/8. Ware: D 2 ; Provenienz: Nordtunesien. Probe 362; Lab. Nr. X312 (Tabelle). FO. Westliches Plateau, Schnitt I, aus kiesig-humoser Schicht. Lit. Pohl 1969a, 104; Pohl 1969b, 163 Taf. 31,7. AO. ASM Inv. Nr. 1954,25. 9 RS eines Tellers Hayes 61 B Nr. 30/Bonifay sig. 38 (= Hayes 61 B Var. B2) (Abb. 4,3) Wandstärke: 0,5-0,6 cm; muscheliger Bruch. Ton u. Eng. 2.5YR 5-6/8. Ware: D 2 ; Provenienz: Nordtunesien. Wandstärke: 0,7 cm; muscheliger Bruch. Ton u. Eng. 2.5YR 5/8. Ware: D 2 ; Provenienz: Nordtunesien. Probe 364; Lab. Nr. X314 (Tabelle). FO. Schnitt K4, südl. Erweiterung. 11 RS eines Tellers Hayes 61 B Nr. 30/Bonifay sig. 38 (= Hayes 61 B Var. B2) (Abb. 4,5) Wandstärke: 0,5 cm; muscheliger Bruch. Ton u. Eng. 2.5YR 5-6/8. Ware: D 2 ; Provenienz: Nordtunesien. Probe 365; Lab. Nr. X315 (Tabelle). FO. Schnitt I, aus Schuttschicht der Umfassungsmauer. Pohl 1969a, 99, wo dieses Stück Schnitt F 3 zugewiesen wurde. AO. ASM Inv. Nr. 1954,15.
Die reliefverzierten rechteckigen Sigillataplatten mit Standfuß, flachem Boden und Horizontalrand... more Die reliefverzierten rechteckigen Sigillataplatten mit Standfuß, flachem Boden und Horizontalrand der Form Hayes 56 wurden in mehreren grundlegenden Studien von J. W. Salomonson unter unterschiedlichsten Fragestellungen zwischen 1962 und 1973 untersucht 1 , ohne dass zu diesem Zeitpunkt das zentraltunesische Herstellungszentrum bzw. die hochspezialisierten, ca. 60 km südwestlich von Kairouan im Djebel Trozza-Gebiet bei El Ala gelegenen Sigillatatöpfereien von Sidi Marzouk Tounsi schon entdeckt gewesen wären 2 . Salomonson analysierte nicht nur das umfangreiche Repertoire der Mittelfeldbilder mit Darstellungen aus den Bereichen der im Amphitheater stattfindenden Spiele (munera et venationes) und der staatlichen Repräsentation sowie der Mythologie, sondern stellte auch Zusammenhänge mit den gleichzeitigen Vorlagen wie elfenbeinernen Diptychen und reliefverzierten bronzenen Kästchenbeschlagblechen und Silbergefäßen her 3 , wobei von letzteren die lances quadratae als Prototypen fungierten 4 . Als Datierung schlug er das letzte Viertel des 4. Jahrhunderts und die ersten drei Jahrzehnte des 5. Jahrhunderts vor und erschloss eine Produktion in einem nordafrikanischen Töpferzentrum 5 . Die weit im Mittelmeerraum, vor allem in den nordafrikanischen und ägyptischen Provinzen, vereinzelt aber auch in den Nordwest-und den Ostprovinzen verbreiteten Sigillataplatten finden sich ebenso in zahlreichen Museen, dann jedoch häufig ohne oder mit unsicherer Provenienzangabe. Die zahlenmäßig wohl in großen Serien hergestellten Platten wurden von J. W. Hayes in seinem Referenzwerk zur nordafrikanischen Sigillata als Form 56 klassifiziert, nach den thematischen Vorgaben Salomonsons untergliedert und als Produktionszeit ca. 360-430 vorgeschlagen 6 . Die Ware bzw. das Fabrikat der ursprünglich als "sigillata chiara D" bezeichneten Form Hayes 56 (Abb. 1,2) wurde von E. Tortorici der "sigillata africana C 4 " zugewiesen 7 .
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Books by Michael Mackensen
Within the framework of an interdisciplinary project of the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces at the University of Munich, funded by the Excellence Initiative, two campaigns each year were conducted in 2009 and 2010. The focus was laid on surveys and excavations within the fort, which had been overbuilt by a Berber village (gates, headquarters building, barracks), and in one of the sanctuaries. In addition to scientific investigation methods (geodesy, geophysics, archae-ometry, radiocarbon analyses), terrestrial 3D laser scanning was used. The ancient place-name Myd(---) is recorded on a pedestal for a statue. Surprisingly, in addition to the occupation of the fort until AD 275/280, there was a late antique reoccupation: from AD 390/400 until the middle of the 5th century, a unit of limitanei, the milites munifices, was garrisoned in the castra Madensia of the Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XXXI 30.
The first volume presents the history of research in the Tripolitanian frontier zone in north-western Libya and southern Tunisia from 1819 to 1996, as well as the location and topography of Gheriat el-Garbia. This is followed by the geodetic recording of the topography of the fort and temple plateau based on radar data from the German earth observation satellite TerraSar-X. The focus is on the archaeological surveys: numerous architectural elements from the interior area of the fort result in seven orders of columns, which suggest a sophisticated architectural decoration of the central buildings of the fort. The extensive material from the ceramic survey provides information on the supply of the garrison with African red slip ware and cooking wares as well as with wine, olive oil and fish preserves transported in various types of amphorae. In addition, bronze small finds, coins and radiocarbon analyses are presented; the latter form the basis for dating the resto-ration of the fort between AD 390 and 425.
Research is based on the exceptionally extensive collection accumulated by K. Wilhelm mainly between 1960 and 1995. The material is presented in a catalogue containing 138 vessels and 104 fragments, including several unique vessel forms and a series of unknown appliqués and stamp types. For comparison, some important, but partially unpublished vessels and fragments in several European, North American and North African museums and private collections were additionally taken into account.
For the first time, the decoration schemes and also the vessel forms of an appliqué-decorated pottery produced in a north-eastern and in another central Tunisian production centre throughout the late 2nd and 3rd century, are classified and clearly represented. The research also succeeded in defining the late phase of the so-called El Aouja ware and highlights the stylistic development leading to the appliqué-decorated red slip ware of the 4th century. Moreover, the analysis of the appliqué and relief decoration with pagan, allegoric and early Christian motifs emphasises an iconographic transformation over the centuries based on the visible change in the figural scenes. Of utmost importance is the fact that the production centre at Sidi Marzouk Tounsi clearly survived the Vandal rule of the provinces Africa and Byzacena (429-533/534). Alongside the late relief-decorated red slip wares, there is now also evidence for the production of mould-made, relief-decorated red slip ware platters and several specific forms with mainly Christian motifs, far exceeding the previously suggested end of production (c. 430/440) and suggesting an end around the middle of the 6th century.
The late Roman fort and its 1.5 m wide opus caementicium wall were documented in various areas on the tip of the spur. The fortification dates to the late 290s AD and belongs to a group of forts that were built around AD 300 as part of an official Tetrarchic building programme in Raetia. The Notitia Dignitatum mentions the deployment of a mounted unit and a detachment of the legio III Italica at Submuntorium. During the Constantinian period, an artisanal settlement of combined workshops and living quarters processed ferrous and non-ferrous metals. It was fortified around AD 350 with a defensive ditch and an earth or turf rampart. The small finds provide evidence of the period of occupation of the late Roman fortification and the adjacent vicus as well as of the military and civil population. Two gold coins of Leo I probably attest a military presence during the third quarter of the 5th c. AD. It seems likely that the security of the frontiers and military structures of the provinces Raetia prima et secunda, both part of the Italian diocese Italia annonaria, were main-tained until the death of Aetius in AD 454. Raetia may have consequently acted as a type of defensive glacis for the Italian prefecture until the abdication of the last Roman emperor of the western empire, Romulus Augustulus.
Papers African Red Slip Ware and Lamps by Michael Mackensen
Within the framework of an interdisciplinary project of the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces at the University of Munich, funded by the Excellence Initiative, two campaigns each year were conducted in 2009 and 2010. The focus was laid on surveys and excavations within the fort, which had been overbuilt by a Berber village (gates, headquarters building, barracks), and in one of the sanctuaries. In addition to scientific investigation methods (geodesy, geophysics, archae-ometry, radiocarbon analyses), terrestrial 3D laser scanning was used. The ancient place-name Myd(---) is recorded on a pedestal for a statue. Surprisingly, in addition to the occupation of the fort until AD 275/280, there was a late antique reoccupation: from AD 390/400 until the middle of the 5th century, a unit of limitanei, the milites munifices, was garrisoned in the castra Madensia of the Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XXXI 30.
The first volume presents the history of research in the Tripolitanian frontier zone in north-western Libya and southern Tunisia from 1819 to 1996, as well as the location and topography of Gheriat el-Garbia. This is followed by the geodetic recording of the topography of the fort and temple plateau based on radar data from the German earth observation satellite TerraSar-X. The focus is on the archaeological surveys: numerous architectural elements from the interior area of the fort result in seven orders of columns, which suggest a sophisticated architectural decoration of the central buildings of the fort. The extensive material from the ceramic survey provides information on the supply of the garrison with African red slip ware and cooking wares as well as with wine, olive oil and fish preserves transported in various types of amphorae. In addition, bronze small finds, coins and radiocarbon analyses are presented; the latter form the basis for dating the resto-ration of the fort between AD 390 and 425.
Research is based on the exceptionally extensive collection accumulated by K. Wilhelm mainly between 1960 and 1995. The material is presented in a catalogue containing 138 vessels and 104 fragments, including several unique vessel forms and a series of unknown appliqués and stamp types. For comparison, some important, but partially unpublished vessels and fragments in several European, North American and North African museums and private collections were additionally taken into account.
For the first time, the decoration schemes and also the vessel forms of an appliqué-decorated pottery produced in a north-eastern and in another central Tunisian production centre throughout the late 2nd and 3rd century, are classified and clearly represented. The research also succeeded in defining the late phase of the so-called El Aouja ware and highlights the stylistic development leading to the appliqué-decorated red slip ware of the 4th century. Moreover, the analysis of the appliqué and relief decoration with pagan, allegoric and early Christian motifs emphasises an iconographic transformation over the centuries based on the visible change in the figural scenes. Of utmost importance is the fact that the production centre at Sidi Marzouk Tounsi clearly survived the Vandal rule of the provinces Africa and Byzacena (429-533/534). Alongside the late relief-decorated red slip wares, there is now also evidence for the production of mould-made, relief-decorated red slip ware platters and several specific forms with mainly Christian motifs, far exceeding the previously suggested end of production (c. 430/440) and suggesting an end around the middle of the 6th century.
The late Roman fort and its 1.5 m wide opus caementicium wall were documented in various areas on the tip of the spur. The fortification dates to the late 290s AD and belongs to a group of forts that were built around AD 300 as part of an official Tetrarchic building programme in Raetia. The Notitia Dignitatum mentions the deployment of a mounted unit and a detachment of the legio III Italica at Submuntorium. During the Constantinian period, an artisanal settlement of combined workshops and living quarters processed ferrous and non-ferrous metals. It was fortified around AD 350 with a defensive ditch and an earth or turf rampart. The small finds provide evidence of the period of occupation of the late Roman fortification and the adjacent vicus as well as of the military and civil population. Two gold coins of Leo I probably attest a military presence during the third quarter of the 5th c. AD. It seems likely that the security of the frontiers and military structures of the provinces Raetia prima et secunda, both part of the Italian diocese Italia annonaria, were main-tained until the death of Aetius in AD 454. Raetia may have consequently acted as a type of defensive glacis for the Italian prefecture until the abdication of the last Roman emperor of the western empire, Romulus Augustulus.
Notable progress was achieved by the British-Tunisian survey, which located several new production centres in central Tunisia. Yet the repertoire of forms and decorations of the workshops at Djilma and Sidi Marzouk Tounsi, presented in 1990, is by no means representative, especially for the 3rd century. Furthermore, the outset of production was not defined, while the organisational structures as well as the reasons for the foundation of these pottery production centres remain unclear.
Different approaches with varying methodology, however, enable a more extensive appraisal and presentation of the range of forms and decorations of the 3rd century, which is to be attempted here. Utilizing archaeometric investigations such as quantitative chemical analyses of main and trace elements, it was possible to form reference groups specific to each pottery workshop. Earlier A/D forms as well as C1 and C2 forms are in evidence for Djilma, while no C1 forms with appliqués were found. For Sidi Marzouk Tounsi, on the other hand, there are only the characteristic open C1 and C2 forms, as well as few thin-walled closed el-Aouja forms (C1). Both chemical analysis and the use of C1 appliqués on the C3 goblet Löffler 591 have shown Sidi Marzouk Tounsi as the only production centre for appliqué decorated C1 and C2 sigillata (el-Aouja ware) in central Tunisia. This means that plain and appliqué decorated sigillata was produced in different workshops (officinae) at this site since the early 3rd century – and not since the mid 3rd century as previously believed. It is reasonable to propose continuous development throughout the 3rd century. Obviously a wide range of forms was produced here, while the manufacturing potential of the site enabled cutting edge development, perfection, modification and combination of various techniques of decoration – from feather-rouletting and appliqué decoration to incised and stamped decoration.
The evidence of late Roman occupation within the fort (castra) may be attributed to the deployment of a unit of limitanei between A.D. 360/380 and 430/455 as well as to the presence of a Libyan chieftain and his tribe during the second half of the 5th c., continuing thereafter until A.D. 540+.