Roman Textile Production

A fiercely debated aspect of Pompeii's history, is the nature of the city's textile economy. This paper presents a new perspective, in which the Pompeian textile economy is contextualized and discussed in relation to local, regional and supra-regional economic networks.

per aver messo a disposizione materiali e immagini di archivio. Per l'aiuto nell'agevolare tutte le fasi delle ricerche dei documenti per il volume, si ringrazia lo staff della Soprintendenza ABAP ve-met, del Museo Nazionale Atestino e dei Musei Civici di Padova, in particolare

In ihrer Zusammenschau können die römischen Textilien von österreichischem Staatsgebiet verschiedenen Funktionsbereichen zugewiesen werden, sei es als Kleidung, als militärische Ausstattung, als textiles Behältnis, als technisches Textil oder als Stoff in religiöser oder grabspezifischer Funktion. Damit wäre jedoch der Einsatzbereich von Textilien in der Römerzeit bei weitem nicht abgedeckt, denke man etwa an die vielfältige Verwendung von Stoffen bei textiler Raumausstattung (Kissen, Matratzen, Vorhänge, Wandbehänge). In diesem Kapitel werden die wichtigsten Ergebnisse zu den erforschten Funktionsgruppen zusammengefasst.

We are indebted to various sources for our knowledge of the pre-Roman Iron Age textile production on the territory of Austria (800-15 BC), such as well-preserved textiles, grave finds, textile tools, archaeological evidence in settlements and depictions of textile producers and their products.
We can find evidence of their activities in each settlement, where they lived and worked. Spindle whorls, loom weights and needles in graves may indicate that the deceased who were accompanied by these tools were textile workers, and furthermore point to a special social status these persons occupied in their communities. Particularly during the early Iron Age  predominantly women have textile tools in their graves, sometimes even being accompanied by tool sets (e.g. spindles and knifes or spindles and needles). Depictions of textile work, such as on the Sopron Urn and the Bologna tintinnabulum, illustrate different stages of the textile production process from spinning to weaving.
The two case studies of Hallstatt and Dürrnberg demonstrate that textile production in Iron Age Austria was organised in different ways, providing diverse archaeological evidence concerning the producers, consumers and traders of textiles.

The World of the Fullo takes a detailed look at the fullers, craftsmen who dealt with high-quality garments, of Roman Italy. Analyzing the social and economic worlds in which the fullers lived and worked, it tells the story of their economic circumstances, the way they organized their workshops, the places where they worked in the city, and their everyday lives on the shop floor and beyond.

Through focusing on the lower segments of society, Flohr uses everyday work as the major organizing principle of the narrative: the volume discusses the decisions taken by those responsible for the organization of work, and how these decisions subsequently had an impact on the social lives of people carrying out the work. It emphasizes how socio-economic differences between cities resulted in fundamentally different working lives for many of their people, and that not only were economic activities shaped by Roman society, they in turn played a key role in shaping it.

Using an in-depth and qualitative analysis of material remains related to economic activities, with a combined study of epigraphic and literary records, this volume portrays an insightful view of the socio-economic history of urban communities in the Roman world.

This paper summarises the results of the TRAMA (Textiles in Roman Archaeology: Methods and Analysis) project, which aims to analyse Roman textiles from Venetia. As elsewhere in Italy, because of the unfavourable climatic conditions and geological features, fibres, yarns and textiles are rarely preserved in this area, with only one Roman fabric known until recently. This project focuses on a systematic census of organic and mineralised fabrics, in order to better understand textile production and consumption patterns in the region, which was praised for the high quality of its textile products by contemporary writers. To date, 29 artefacts found in the Veneto Region with preserved, mineralised textile traces have been recorded and analysed. These are predominantly bronze or iron objects that were excavated from funerary contexts in urban (including Padua, Verona, Altino, Este) and rural cemeteries. The textile traces include linen and wool fabrics of various qualities. This study provides new data regarding textile production and the funerary rituals, offering for the first time a picture of textiles produced in the area.

Layout del testo: Matteo Annibaletto Nella collana Antenor Quaderni sono pubblicate opere sottoposte a revisione valutativa con il procedimento in «doppio cieco» (double blind peer review process), nel rispetto dell'anonimato dell'autore e dei due revisori. I revisori sono professori di provata esperienza scientifica, italiani o stranieri, o ricercatori di istituti di ricerca notoriamente affidabili. Il revisore che accetti l'incarico di valutazione, formula il suo giudizio tramite applicazione di punteggio da 1 a 5 (sufficienza: 3 punti) in relazione ad ognuno dei seguenti profili: originalità o rilevanza della trattazione; sviluppo e coerenza interna delle argomentazioni; conoscenza degli studi pregressi sull'argomento; livello di leggibilità e correttezza formale (sintattico-stilistica). Il valutatore fornisce inoltre un giudizio complessivo sull'apparato illustrativo e indica se l'opera sia pubblicabile nella versione presentata senza modifiche, pubblicabile dopo le modifiche suggerite, se sia da riesaminare dopo un'attenta rielaborazione oppure da rigettare. Quindi, il valutatore fornisce un giudizio conclusivo con dettagliate indicazioni sulle eventuali modifiche da apportare. Nel caso di giudizio discordante fra i due revisori, la decisione finale sarà assunta dai direttori responsabili della Collana e dal comitato scientifico, salvo casi particolari in cui i direttori medesimi provvederanno a nominare un terzo revisore cui rimettere la valutazione dell'elaborato. Le valutazioni sono trasmesse, rispettando l'anonimato del revisore, all'autore dell'opera. L'elenco dei revisori e le schede di valutazione sono conservati presso la sede della Collana, a cura della redazione. Il termine per lo svolgimento dell'incarico di valutazione accettato è di venti giorni, salvo espressa proroga, decorsi i quali, previa sollecitazione e in assenza di osservazioni negative entro dieci giorni, il direttore della Collana e il comitato scientifico, qualora ritengano l'opera meritevole, considerano approvata la proposta. A discrezione del direttore responsabile e del comitato scientifico sono escluse dalla valutazione opere di indubbia meritevolezza o comunque di contenuto da ritenersi già adeguatamente valutato in sede accademica con esito positivo, per esempio scritti pubblicati su invito o di autori di prestigio, atti di particolari convegni, opere collettive di provenienza accademica.

Il presente lavoro, incentrato sulla storia del lavoro e dei lavoratori nel mondo romano, si propone di ricostruire, attraverso l'epigrafia monumentale, l'identità e il profilo socio-economico di alcuni individui vissuti a Mutina o nel suo ager in età tardorepubblicana e altoimperiale. Si tratta di alcuni uomini e una donna le cui iscrizioni, di natura prevalentemente funeraria, ricordano diverse figure professionali: un aurifex, un copo,  un medicus, un negotians lanarius, un praeceptor, un tonsor, diversi vestiarii, un vicesimarius, un possibile unctor e una vilica. Nel testo si formulano inoltre alcune ipotesi in merito alle funzioni esercitate in ambito domestico dai cosiddetti "delicia" o "pueri delicati"; vengono infine analizzati i tre gentilizi di derivazione professionale finora attestati nel Modenese: Aerarius, Aurarius e Purpurarius. Quest'ultimo nome, in particolare, fino a oggi sembrerebbe attestato esclusivamente nella colonia di Mutina e nel suo ager.

Reservados todos los derechos. De conformidad con lo dispuesto en los artículos 270-272 del Código Penal vigente, podrán ser castigados con penas de multa y privación de libertad quienes reprodujeren o plagiaren, en todo o en parte, una obra literaria, artística o científica fijada en cualquier tipo de soporte sin la preceptiva autorización.

The Roman villa dels Antigons, in Reus, was one of the richest and most
important agricultural concerns in the territory of the city of Tarraco. The farm was in operation between the second century BC and the seventh century AD. In the Imperial Age a rich residence was built for the owner with remains of a nymphaeum, baths, sculptures, marble and mosaics. Many major economic activities have been identified. Many bone tools have been found in the excavations that reveal the presence of a textile workshop.

Mail armour is made of many interlinking metal rings. It has been a popular type of defensive gear through the centuries, and this popularity has in part been due to mail armour’s flexibility. However, this very flexibility today hinders its conservation, interpretation and display. Mail pieces retrieved from archaeological contexts are often in such poor state of preservation that their original shape is unrecognizable. This poses a challenge not only for conserving these artefacts, but also for understanding them. This paper describes a conservation technique for flexible mail that involves restoring preserved rings to their original position and filling in the remaining gaps with dummy rings. In addition to stabilizing the mesh of mail, this measure also aids the artefact’s interpretation. The advantages of using this method with archaeological specimens are presented by means of a case-study concerning the remains of a Roman mail coat found near Novae, Bulgaria. The case-study shows that the choice of conservation technique greatly influences the amount of information that researchers can obtain from this material.

The city of Mutina (Modena) was known throughout the Roman world for the quality of its wool and the textile production, in various way, was in Roman times an engine of economic development and social mobility.
The literary and epigraphic sources are quite clear in this regard. Near the city, at the Campi Macri, starting from the beginning of the Imperial age the most important suburban cattle fair in Northern Italy took place. Here also went Turranius Niger, to whom Varro dedicated his book on ars pecuaria (VARRO rust. 2, praef. 6). The archaeological evidence related to this important productive sector of Mutina has been more elusive. Apart from the epigraphic data, the subject of interest have been loom weights of truncated pyramidal shape decorated using matrix stamps. No installation intended for sheep keeping has been so far identified. In the light of the review of old discoveries, it is however possible to suggest the presence of a textile workshop at the villa Scartazza, partially excavated in 1877. Of particular interest is the transformation of the residential part into a productive installation through the inclusion of dolia in the masonry and the presence of adjacent areas, of which at least one is interpretable as a tub with a drain channel, arranged on two levels. Interesting is also the finding of various balance weights and an aequipondium for scales of large dimensions, possibly usable for weighing of large quantities of wool or textiles. The villa is located in a favorable position for the implantation of a textile workshop, ca. 200 m south of the Via Aemilia and not far from the course of the river Panaro (Scultenna), on whose banks Strabo (STR. 5, 12) noted a pasture for sheep with precious wool.

"There is evidence that ever since early prehistory, textiles have always had more than simply a utilitarian function. Textiles express who we are - our gender, age, family affiliation, occupation, religion, ethnicity and social, political, economic and legal status. Besides expressing our identity, textiles protect us from the harsh conditions of the environment, whether as clothes or shelter. We use them at birth for swaddling, in illness as bandages and at death as shrouds. We use them to carry and contain people and things. We use them for subsistence to catch fish and animals and for transport as sails. In fact, textiles represent one of the earliest human craft technologies and they have always been a fundamental part of subsistence, economy and exchange. Textiles have an enormous potential in archaeological research to inform us of social, chronological and cultural aspects of ancient societies. In archaeology, the study of textiles is often relegated to the marginalised zone of specialist and specialised subject and lack of dialogue between textile researchers and scholars in other fields means that as a resource, textiles are not used to their full potential or integrated into the overall interpretation of a particular site or broader aspects of human activity.

Textiles and Textile Production in Europe is a major new survey that aims to redress this. Twenty-three chapters collect and systematise essential information on textiles and textile production from sixteen European countries, resulting in an up-to-date and detailed sourcebook and an easily accessible overview of the development of European textile technology and economy from prehistory to AD 400. All chapters have an introduction, give the chronological and cultural background and an overview of the material in question organised chronologically and thematically. The sources of information used by the authors are primarily textiles and textile tools recovered from archaeological contexts. In addition, other evidence for the study of ancient textile production, ranging from iconography to written sources to palaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains are included. The introduction gives a summary on textile preservation, analytical techniques and production sequence that provides a background for the terminology and issues discussed in the various chapters. Extensively illustrated, with over 200 colour illustrations, maps, chronologies and index, this will be an essential sourcebook not just for textile researchers but also the wider archaeological community. 512p, 320 col & b/w illus, 22 maps, 30 tables (Ancient Textiles Series 11, Oxbow Books in association with the Centre for Textile Research, 2012)"

This contribution discusses work hierarchies and gender structures in Roman agricultural economy and production. It is largely based on agricultural texts, starting with Cato the Elder, and the focus is on female work roles and identities. It will be argued that textile production was an essential part of the agrarian economy and that it was mainly the responsibility of women. The evidence of work identities of Roman women is more limited than those of men, especially for those outside urban contexts. This has made rural women largely invisible to a modern reader but more information can be added by using material evidence more firmly. This chapter is an attempt to discuss possibilities of identifying female work roles in agricultural contexts.

Reservados todos los derechos. De conformidad con lo dispuesto en el Art. 534 bis del Código Penal vigente, podrán ser castigados con penas de multa y privación de libertad quienes reprodujeran o plagiaren, en todo o en parte, una obra literaria, artística o científica, fijada en cualquier tipo de soporte, sin la preceptiva autorización.

Jelen tanulmány középpontjában azok a rézötvözet (esetenként vas) huzalból készült apró római kori kampók állnak (2. kép), melyeket a Római Birodalom tartományainak anyagi kultúráját kutatók orsókampónak, míg a birodalom határain túl élőkét faggatók elsősorban ruhatűnek tartanak.
Vörös Gabriella 2013-ban megjelent összefoglaló cikkében a szarmata temetők női sírjaiból ismert rézötvözetből készült kampós végű tűket a korábbi hagyományokat követve nemcsak ruhatűzőkként határozza meg, de a temetkezésekben dokumentált elhelyezkedésük alapján (a jobb és a bal vállaknál, a mellkason, a csípőknél és a kézfejek körül) több rajzos rekonstrukciót is közöl ruhatűző funkciójukra vonatkozóan (1. kép).
A dolgozat célja a Dunántúlról ismert leletanyag és előkerülési kontextusának (elsősorban egy ruhaneműk megújításával: javításával és tisztításával is foglalkozó 1-2. századi műhely hagyatékából) bemutatása, illetve orsókampóként való használatukkal kapcsolatosan felmerülő olyan kérdések megválaszolása, mint pl. megjelenésük a római kori leletanyagban valóban egy technológiai változás indikátoraként értelmezhető-e.

Excavations (2003 -2006) along via di Passolombardo, in southeastern limit of Rome municipality, allowed to identify an
articulated and unpublished archaeological complex, mainly based on three structures: a large concrete basin, a vaulted cistern
and an awesome underground water-powered device. This is an hydraulic machina, consists of an overshot vertical water wheel
powered by the water stored in the adjacent cistern and, probably, also supplied by the close aqueducts. The hydraulic machina of
Passolombardo seems to be part of an industrial activity developed in this district of suburbio between the 2nd and 4th centuries
AD. The famous Mosaic of Gladiators, now on display in Rome’s Galleria Borghese, has been discovered in the same site in 1834.
Key word: hydraulic machina, water wheel, hydraulic device

The «Ager Tarraconensis Project» (PAT in Catalan) has studied an area of the Baix Camp region, focusing on landscape studies. An evaluation of sites of military importance has shown that, within the PAT area of study, visual control points from Iberian times did not survive into the Roman era. The Romans set up military control points next to the main towns from the Iberian era, as well as some strategic points on the coastal hills. The structure of the countryside’s population also underwent a radical change in the 2nd and 1st century BC, together with a totally new division of agricultural land. A study of how water was managed has provided important findings for the countryside. It has been deduced that the significant linen production industry mentioned in various sources was located on the banks of the River Francolí due to the location of bleaching grounds in this area. The irrigation channels that brought water from dams on the Francolí River and the rivercourse of Maspujols supplied potteries, crops and bath and fountain installations for the villas. In summary, these are very significant developements in the subsequent evolution of the landscape at the Camp de Tarragona.

This paper reassesses the literary and epigraphic evidence for the urban textile economies of Roman Asia Minor. The argument focuses on three case studies, Tarsus, Miletus and the lower Lycus valley. A closer inspection of the evidence for these places actually urges to rethink their identification as centres of textile manufacturing: the evidence for textile production in these cities is very thin, and claims to the contrary by past scholars like Harry Pleket and T. R. S. Broughton appear untenable on closer inspection. Rather than as centres of textile manufacturing, these cities should be seen as places from which locally and regionally manufactured textiles were exported, and the location of these cities should be understood within the context of regional and supra-regional trade networks.

Der textile Fundbestand der Prähistorischen Abteilung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien umfasst neben Objekten aus der Urgeschichte auch einige wenige Stücke der Römerzeit und des Frühmittelalters. Dabei handelt es sich in der Regel um Metallfunde mit ankorrodierten Textilresten aus Gräbern des 1.-5. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. Diese unscheinbaren Textilreste können durch neue naturwissenschaftliche Analysen wertvolle Beiträge zur textilarchäologischen Grundlagenforschung liefern, welche in dieser Abhandlung vorgestellt werden.

F ra le numerose attività artigianali svolte in Lomellina tra la tarda età celtica e la prima età romana, la lavorazione delle fibre tessili ha certamente svolto un ruolo centrale nella pratica quotidiana e nell'economia locale. Il rito funerario dell'incinerazione, praticato a partire dall'età del Bronzo fino all'epoca tardoantica, ha fatto sì che la maggior parte dei resti organici presenti nelle tombe non sia giunta fino a noi, tuttavia la ricostruzione delle varie fasi della lavorazione tessile, dalla scelta delle fibre, alla filatura ed alla tessitura, è possibile grazie al ritrovamento di numerosi strumenti di lavoro, come le cesoie, le fusaiole ed i pesi da telaio , e grazie all'analisi di alcuni frammenti di tessuto casualmente sopravvissuti perché mineralizzati su oggetti di metallo. A supporto dei dati archeologici è inoltre utile un confronto con le fonti scritte romane e con le fonti iconografiche dell'Italia preromana e romana.

Summary of: Kordula Gostencnik,Textilproduktion in der Austria Romana. In: Karina Grömer, Römische Textilien in Noricum und Westpannonien im Kontext archäologischer Gewebefunde 2000 v.Chr. bis 500 n.Chr. in Österreich. Austria Antiqua 5, Graz 2014, 57-109.

Jelen előadás középpontjában azok a rézötvözet (esetenként vas) huzalból készült apró római kori kampók állnak, melyeket a Római Birodalom tartományainak anyagi kultúráját kutatók orsókampónak, míg a birodalom határain túl élőkét faggatók elsősorban ruhatűnek tartanak.
Vörös Gabriella 2013-ban megjelent összefoglaló cikkében a szarmata temetők női sírjaiból ismert rézötvözetből készült kampós végű tűket a korábbi hagyományokat követve nemcsak ruhatűzőkként határozza meg, de a temetkezésekben dokumentált elhelyezkedésük alapján (a jobb és a bal vállaknál, a mellkason, a csípőknél és a kézfejek körül) több rajzos rekonstrukciót is közöl ruhatűző funkciójukra vonatkozóan.
A dolgozat célja a Dunántúlról ismert leletanyag és előkerülési kontextusának (elsősorban egy ruhaneműk megújításával: javításával és tisztításával is foglalkozó 1-2. századi műhely hagyatékából) bemutatása, illetve orsókampóként való használatukkal kapcsolatosan felmerülő olyan kérdések megválaszolása, mint pl. megjelenésük a római kori leletanyagban valóban egy technológiai változás indikátoraként értelmezhető-e.

Gabriel García Márquez író kezdi visszaemlékezéseit így: „Az élet nem az, amit az ember átélt, hanem az, amire visszaemlékszik, és ahogy visszaemlékszik rá, amikor el akarja mesélni.” A helyi pannoniai textilművesség vizsgálatának eddigi eredményei alapján úgy tűnik, hogy a tartományban élő rómaiak hasonlóan gondolkodhattak, hiszen véleményem szerint sokszor sírköveiken is úgy ábrázoltatták magukat, ahogy az utódok emlékezetében megjelenni szerettek volna, és nem feltétlenül, ahogy valójában öltözködtek, éltek. A Soproni Múzeum kőtárában őrzött egyik Walbersdorfról (Borbolya) származó római síremlék (Petronius Rufus és Iulia Urbana sírsztéléjének) érvelésem középpontjába helyezésével szeretném bemutatni a fent felvázolt jelenséget.
A római sírsztélék egyértelműen azért készültek, hogy az érdeklődő szemlélő felé írott és képi elemeiken keresztül közvetítsenek információt. A két komponens elemeit legtöbbször gondosan válogatták, így a család céljainak megfelelően közvetített információt az elhunyt(ak) társadalmi neméről, jogállásáról, társadalmi presztízséről, gazdagságáról stb. A fent említett sírkő két vizuális elemének: Iulia Urbana kezében ábrázolt fonóeszközök, valamint Petronius Rufus togája kapcsán is felvetődik a kérdés: milyen viszonyban is állt az ilyen módon elmesélt az átélt életükkel.

It is Pannonia, one of the European administrative units of the Roman Empire which is brought into the geographical scope of my research. This study intends to grasp a more detailed picture of the local Roman provincial textile production with analyzing textile tools found in archaeological context.
The tools in question are elongated rectangular, 200-300 mm long iron blades with short teeth (1-3 per cm) on one of their longer sides and with an iron tang for the handle at a right or an obtuse angle in the middle of the other.
To date, at least 35 iron objects of the same type are known among the archaeological finds from the Transdanubian region. The earliest of these items may have already been in use during the 2nd -3rd centuries AD, but from the beginning of the 4th century onwards, there is no doubt about their use. From the Transdanubian region they were found in several settlements, but never in urban context. Five items are known from 4th century AD burial context and one further item was found in an iron hoard.
These toothed iron tools are usually published as curry combs for horse-grooming. Differing from this generally accepted identification, an alternative possibility is presented here.
Close morphological parallel to our tool is known from modern time and it provides us with another plausible alternative to its function. Identical examples from the modern Turkey or Morocco are used for beating the weft into its place while weaving on two-beam upright looms. Evidence from the first half of the 20th century for the use of a very similar toothed iron blade mounted in a wooden handle could be also mentioned from Greece, Turkey, Syria and Hungary, where the same two-beam upright loom was in use for preparing the coarse fabric of tent-coverings, sacks and bags.
What is common in these modern looms that they could be the direct descendants of a vertical two-beam loom which is generally considered to be widely used in the whole Mediterranean area from the 1st century AD. Although several depictions of this two-beam vertical loom are known from the Roman period, neither of them shows other tool in use than a one-ended pin-beater. Differing from this iconographic evidence, the ancient literal sources do mention a certain comb in association to the two-beam upright loom, which was used for beating in the weft. Depictions of the two-beam vertical loom did not stop by the end of the Roman era and some of these later representations show very clearly a serrated weft-beater in use. The earliest miniature in the Utrecht Psalter and its later copy in the Eadwin Psalter provide us a profile view of the tool, while on an Italian miniature it was drawn in a frontal view. An example is known from a 13th century Byzantine manuscript, where it is depicted lying on the ground under the loom. 
Based on a closer look at the archaeological evidence from Pannonia, we can also presume that these toothed iron objects were used as textile tools for weaving. As it was mentioned before, five items of this kind are known from 4th century burials. In two cases it was found together with a spindle whorl, and in four cases together with a 200-300 mm long iron spike with a round cross-section and pointed on its one end. For weaving on the two beam upright loom a pointed shaft, the so called pin-beater is used to clear the shed. The weft is passed through the shed as a small skein by hand, and arranged with the pin-beater before beating-in downwards by the toothed weft-beater. The beating-in with the weft-beater is sufficient to give the close weave desired, but if there is any unevenness the pin-beater can be used to pluck at individual threads till they lie close and even. As the quite long, one-ended pin-beaters were in use indeed during the Roman period for weaving on the two-beam upright loom, their side-by-side depiction on two funeral slabs shows clearly.
As we saw, both iron tools - the pointed pin-beater as well as the toothed weft-beater –, which were found together in Transdanubian burials, could have been used for weaving on the same kind of loom, but were not suitable for the use with the other two types of loom known from the Roman period.
Of further interest is the question of what sort of textile could be produced by these weaving tools. First, by looking at certain characteristics of the iron weft-beaters we can get some clues. These characteristics to be considered are weight and width of the blade as well as density and length of the teeth. By considering these common characteristics, we can exclude some less likely alternatives (e.g. piled fabrics or complicated tapestry) from among the possible textile products.
Secondly, as it was mentioned earlier, neither of these iron weaving tools were found in urban context. Furthermore, in their Transdanubian distribution area an obvious discrepancy is visible: they are from the eastern part, with dominance in the area to the south of the Lake Balaton which dominance is especially obvious if we look at the burial evidence.
To briefly summarize, the expansion of the area under cultivation and the promotion of the food-producing capacities of the territory to the south of Lake Balaton by large-scale state investment became a very successful economic enterprise during the 4th century AD. It is testified to by the need for the large inland forts as new collection-storage-redistribution points some 30 years after the drainage of the lake to hold the abundant surplus in agricultural production from this region.
We can assume that in addition to the demands for more stocking facilities (e.g. huge granaries in the inland forts), the increasing surplus production in grain could have also an effect on the 4th century AD textile production of Pannonia due to the arising needs for more textile containers, like sacks for packing cereals. Without thorough studies, which would make an attempt to use the abundant archaeological evidence of textile tools to explore if and how these needs for more utilitarian textiles effected the local textile production to the south of Lake Balaton, in and around the inland forts, it is impossible to say anything which is more than a guess, but we cannot exclude the possibility that these iron weaving tools were used for preparing these commodity containers and deposited into the 4th century burials of this rural region as symbols to the economic welfare deriving from this agricultural surplus production.

This article describes the major evolution in the settlement of the Conventus Tarraconensis, the Balearic Islands and the Pityusic Islands with the Roman conquest. It analyses the introduction of the Roman economic system, which was heavily based on the production and commercialisation of wine at the end of the Republic and during the High Roman Empire. The key to the added value brought by the villa system lies in the fabric of market relations that the Romans dominated. Linen production was also important, and the technique used to bleach the fabric can be deduced from Pliny. This article concludes with the evolution of the population, settlement and the economy during the Late Empire.

Der Magdalensberg in Österreich als Handels- und Produktionszentrum im frührömischen Noricum von der Mitte des 1. Jh. v. Chr. bis in die Mitte des 1. Jh. n. Chr. wies eine prosperierende Textilwirtschaft auf. Nachgewiesen ist dies durch die zahllosen Spinnwirtel, Webgewichte und Nähnadeln, die sich auf dem gesamten Areal fanden und die in ihrer Anzahl und Zusammensetzung für den norischen Bereich als einzigartig zu bezeichnen sind. Bei den Grabungen am Magdalensberg wurden in den frühen 1970er Jahren im Gebäude OR/23 im Bereich einer Schwelle verschiedene Fragmente von Textilien zutage. Die Textilien vom Magdalensberg zählen unter den römischen Geweben aus Österreich zu jenen, die am besten erhalten sind. Obwohl oberflächlich rein aus einfacher Leinwandbindung bestehend, offenbaren sie bei näherer Betrachtung unter Kenntnis antiker Spinn- und Webtechnik zahlreiche interessante Details, die uns näher an das römische Textilhandwerk heranführen.

Delivered at the Roman Finds Group Spring Conference
"New Research on Finds from the Roman South-West:
The Roman Finds Group and the University of Exeter, 16–17 April 2021"

This presentation will consider the finds evidence for the presence of the army during the early years of Roman Bath. The assemblage of small finds from the excavation at the junction of Bathwick Street and Henrietta Road in Bath provides a starting point for an exploration of possible activities carried out at the site. Of particular interest within the context of Roman Bath is the quantity of objects with military associations. The excellent stratigraphic documentation of the excavation facilitated secure dating of most finds and might even provide one of the earliest dates so far for the use of Newstead type lorica segmentata.