Marcomannic Wars

Roman-Barbarian contacts are a special phenomenon and enjoy a long tradition in various fields of archaeological research on the Roman Period in the Middle Danube region. One of the most interesting forms of these relations, which vary in type and intensity considerably, are traces of military confrontations dating into the period of the Marcomannic wars. Next to the known sites with evidence of Roman military presence in Mušov-Burgstall and Iža, our knowledge of spatial deployment, dynamics and structure of Roman military offensive forces on Germanic territory is primarily based on the research of the so-called temporary camps. During the last decades, our state of knowledge in this field of research has improved considerably through the discovery of numerous new temporary camps of the Roman army as well as through the compilation of all available information on this research topic. It was the aim of an international research project, among other things, to determine the topographical location of the temporary camps, their chronological classification and period of use as exactly as possible. In a second step, an attempt was made to define their role within the overall geostrategic concept of the Roman offensive forces.
At present, we register 16 localities within the Marcomannic settlement zone west of the Little Carpathians, where it has so far been possible to distinguish or reconstruct a total of 26 separate temporary military camps or their phases. East of the Little Carpathians, in the settlement area of the Quades, we now know 6 sites with 20 identified fortifications. The purpose of the presented paper is to give a comprehensive overview of the current state of research.

Mařín hillfort and its surroundings in the Roman period.  The concentration of finds from the Roman period, including militaria, together with the configuration of the terrain with its relicts of extinct roads in the form of cuttings in the hilly landscape west of Jevíčko is evidence of the existence of a road in the Roman period, the embouchure of which was controlled by a short-term Roman camp. Artefacts and the strategic situation of Hradište hill with its wide visual surveillance enable us to form the hypothesis of a possible forward guard point controlled by a Roman garrison in this place. The finds could as well represent lost items, or evidence of the ritual behaviour of Barbarians.

During the rescue archaeological excavations from the site of
Schineni – ‘La Islaz’ (2017-2020), a multi-layered site was identified, dated from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. The aim of this paper is to present the coin finds from the 2nd-4th century AD settlement. Five Roman imperial denarii were discovered inside three houses (H6, 17, 20). All coins came exclusively from the earliest habitation level of the site (ca. AD 106-170), which is divided into two chronological phases. The earliest issue (denarius of Vespasian, H17) belongs to the first occupation phase of the site (ca. AD 106-150). The remaining denarii (of Domitian – H17, Hadrian – 2 pcs. – H6 and H17 and Marcus Aurelius / Lucius Verus – H20) were discovered in the upper layer, which represents the second habitation phase of the site (ca. AD 150-170). Some of these relics even bear the traces of the fire that led
to the destruction of the housing complexes and the cessation of the first habitation level. Among this small coinage batch, there are some very particular issues, such as: a denarius subaeratus (of Vespasian) and two pierced denarii (of Domitian and Hadrian). So far, most of the Roman coins from a ‘Free Dacian’ site have been discovered in the settlement of Schineni. The fact they were found in clear, well-dated archaeological contexts contributes to the understanding of the chronology of Roman coin finds in this part of the Barbaricum. The imperial denarii arrived in Western Moldavia in already formed hoards likely since the first half of the 2nd century AD. Starting with this early period, the local population, of ‘Geto-Dacian’ origin, reworked and awarded them with new functions, different from those held within the Empire.

The Roman-barbarian interactions along the Middle Danube Limes exhibit a wide range of forms, from peaceful contacts and trading
activities to full-scale military conflicts. The direct evidence of the latter type of events represents a specific source of archaeological information – generally referred to as temporary camps. The regions of Moravia, W Slovakia and Lower Austria, which could be considered as
a Marcomannic settlement territory, currently encompass 24 verified Roman military field installations. The specifics of these archaeological
contexts and the present unsatisfactory state of knowledge have raised the necessity of approaching the given questions with advanced
techniques, not least with respect to their chronological position. Along with multiple methods and analytical procedures of relevant natural
sciences (geophysics and geochemistry, archaeobotany, microstratigraphy, etc.), radiocarbon (14C) dating has also been involved in order to further establish the chronological position of temporary camps because the archaeological data provide limited possibilities in this respect. In multiple cases, the method has augmented traditional dating techniques and allowed more secure establishment of the chronological position of the field camps of the Roman army. Using a series of 14C data and synchronizing it with other records obtained during the last years of an international research project, it has been possible for to establish dating of many camps on more solid ground. The data so far do not provide any dating support allowing the camps to be associated with the campaign against Marobuduus in 6 AD. On the contrary, in most instances radiocarbon data clearly contribute to their assignment to a group of Roman military structures from the period of the Marcomannic wars of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Roman camps in the Middle Danube region as geographic, military strategic and cultural defined places of mobilitiy
The variation in spatial context in the barbarian lands north of the Danube, which were populated by the germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi, and the axial nature of the main watercourses in the region were the basic natural conditions for penetrating the landscape and for potentially carrying out the geostrategic plans of the Roman occupation forces. In particular, the distribution of evidence of the latter’s presence creates favourable conditions for spatial analysis using GIS (Geographic Information System) to help resolve questions relating to the Roman military occupation of the barbarian territory. Concerning the character of the activities of individual military contingents of various sizes and different operational deployment, we mainly used the tools available for analysing how the landscape could be crossed as a continuous space through modelling potential marching routes. Knowing this is crucial not only for identifying potential communication corridors for the transfer of military units, but also for the study of the possibilities for provisioning such units in campaigns that could last over long periods in a territory without a secure road network. Although many different factors must have influenced the selection and planning of these routes, the principle of minimal expenditure of movement in a variable geomorphological context can logically be regarded as one of the most important aspects. Apart from the courses of modelled routes and their buffer zones in the form of corridors (which reflect the potential for lateral variation), the distances covered by a socalled day’s march were inferred from existing estimations, analogous situations and directly calculated costs within the modelled linear courses of potential routes. This not only makes it possible to compare the difficulty of the various modelled routes and assess their role in the overall scheme of the Roman army’s occupation strategy, but also offers the possibility to predict the location of further, yet undetected, traces of the Roman military presence in the barbarian territory.

The finds from Kariv offer a great deal of material for discussion; on one hand with
regard to the trans-regional contact networks of the barbarian elites in the 2nd century
AD, and on the other, with regard to the connections of these elites with the Roman
world and their involvement, in particular, in the events known as the Marcomannic Wars
(AD 166/168–180). Whereas previously known finds had focused attention mainly on the
northern part of the Central Danube region and on areas along the southern coast of the
Baltic Sea, the Suebian cauldron from Kariv now extends this focus eastwards to include
areas which have hitherto received little attention in this context: the eastern periphery of
Suebia and the areas of eastern Europe beyond, and the territory occupied by the Western
Balts. From the point of view of Roman Imperial archaeology, Graves 1 and 2 from Kariv
are amongst the most important and interesting discoveries of recent times. A series of
questions arises merely from the situation of the find site, in an area on the periphery of the
2nd-century Empire that was obviously subject to a settlement dynamic which has not yet
been sufficiently studied, and was not one of the known settlement centres.

Das Forschungsprojekt zu den römischen Feldlagern nördlich der Donau konzentrierte sich auf die Erprobung verschiedener Methoden zur Untersuchung dieser temporären Strukturen. Die Analyse historischer Karten sowie von Luftaufnahmen, unterschiedliche geophysikalische Messmethoden, Rammkernsondierungen, Metalldetektor-Surveys und kleinräumige archäologische Ausgrabungen wurden angewandt. Die untersuchten Strukturen sind von sehr großen Dimensionen (Engelhartstetten: 46,57 ha, Ruhhof: 36,5 ha, Kollnbrunn: 23,3 ha), aber neben Graben / Toranlagen sind keine antike Innenstrukturen dokumentiert. Im Zuge eines archäologischen Strategie zur Erforschung römischer Feldlager wird eine Kombination aus geophysikalischen Prospektionen, Rammkernsondierungen und / oder kleinräumigen Grabungen  und Metalldetektorsurveys über den Grabenverläufen empfohlen.
Im Zusammenhang mit den Forschungen der Nachbarländer Slowakei und Mähren eröffnete die historisch-archäologische Analyse der Daten des Projektes im Nordosten von Niederösterreich völlig neue Einblicke in die Organisation der römischen Militärpräsenz sowie in die verschiedenen strategischen militärischen Maßnahmen außerhalb des römischen Reiches nördlich der Donau.

An archaeological situation documented in 2016 in the cadastral territory of Boršov (Svitavy district, Pardubice Region, Czech Republic)
contained more than 70 metal artefacts scattered mostly over an area of 5 x 2 m. The finds were made with the use of metal detectors
in an otherwise unsettled space in close proximity to defunct roads crossing a sharp local terrain fault. The finds were concentrated
on hilly terrain between two slight watercourses. The collection is composed mainly of fragments of intentionally broken artefacts
made from a copper alloy, castings of the mouth of casting channels, ingots, as well as craft tools, coins, a fragment of a bronze
mould, fibula parts, etc. The assemblage dates to the end of the Marcomannic Wars or the period immediately following them and
documents a close relationship with the processing of non-ferrous metals. The assemblage also contains antiques, especially in the
form of a La Tène belt hook.

První čtyři století našeho letopočtu prostor středního Podunají zastihují ve výrazně bipolárním uspořádání. Sousedství dvou odlišných světů, Římské říše a germánských společností za jejími hranicemi, provází řada různých forem vzájemných interakcí od „mírových“ obchodních kontaktů až po rozsáhlé vojenské konfrontace. Zejména ty poslední zanechaly zřetelné stopy v literárních a také v archeologických pramenech. Těžiště těchto stop spadá do období římsko-barbarského konfliktu označovaného jako markomanské války, které se s různou intenzitou odehrály mezi lety 166 až 180 n. l. V rámci tohoto konfliktu se měla římská vojska dostat hluboko do barbarských území středního Podunají. Variabilita prostorového kontextu naddunajského barbarika, osídleného germánskými kmeny Markomanů a Kvádů, a axialita hlavních vodních toků přirozeně formovaly základní podmínky regionu pro prostupnost krajiny a pro možnosti naplnění geostrategických záměrů římského okupačního vojska. Zejména geografická distribuce jeho stop vytváří vhodné podmínky pro aplikaci prostorových statistik prostřednictvím GIS (geografických informačních systémů) při řešení otázek římské vojenské okupace na barbarském území.

From the first to the fourth century AD, the Middle Danube region was in a significantly bipolar state. On their border, two entirely different worlds, the Roman Empire and Germanic communities, interacted in many ways. There were peaceful trading contacts as well as extensive military actions. Especially, the latter left obvious
traces in both literary and archaeological sources. These traces lead to the period of the Roman-barbarian conflict known as Marcomannic wars, which took place with varying intensity between AD 166 and 180. In this conflict, the Roman troops got deep into the barbarian territories of the central Danube area. The variability of
the spatial context of the barbarian territories, inhabited by the Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi, and the axiality of the main watercourses, naturally formed the basic conditions of the region for the permeability of the landscape and for the possibility to fulfill the geostrategic intentions of the Roman occupation troops. Particularly the geographical distribution of their traces creates suitable conditions for the application of spatial statistics through GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to deal with the issues of Roman military presence in barbarian territory.

In the Central Danube region, the largest number of Roman temporary camps is known from the surroundings of Brigetio (Komárom-Szőny). In the southern foreground of the legionary fortress, aerial reconnaissance has revealed traces since the 1990s, and in parallel, their growing numbers on the northern side, in Slovakia, have become known. The camps are basically related to the Marcomannic Wars, but this could only be stated on the basis of analogies, since, unlike our northern neighbour, their verification took place only in 2015-2016 by geophysical survey and trial trenching in some cases in Hungary. In parallel with the excavations, small-scale metal detecting survey helped in their dating. Our investigations mostly confirmed the Roman origin of the phenomena, and we were also able to obtain data on the structure and stratigraphy of the V-shaped ditches. The small number of finds from metal detecting partly coincides with the observations on the other side of the Danube, however, a broader spectrum beyond the Marcomannic Wars could be identified, which may be partly related to Roman land use.

The archaeological traces of the Roman-barbarian confrontations represent a specific group of information sources for understanding of complex aspects of the various interactions of the two profoundly distinctive worlds – Roman and barbarian. Despite the first evidences of the Roman presence come from more distant past, only during the last decades there has been a significant progress in available archaeological sources and data. Besides the distinguishing forms of military installations of more permanent nature (Mušov-Burgstall and Iža), the most significant testimony of the direct presence of the Roman military power throughout the Germanic settlement regions of the Middle Danube region is represented by temporary field camps. Presently there are positive evidence of 26 camps from 16 localities to the west and 21 camps from 7 localities to the east of the Little Carpathians. Except them, among the available sources of information also count indirect indices of probable interactions in form of the finds of the Roman military equipment and weaponry within the local Germanic context or as stray finds. According to the present state of research and ascertained archaeological and other relevant multidisciplinary data the most of the evidences can be associated with the historical period of the Marcomannic wars.

An accidental find of mainly bronze parts of a horse tackle from Roman period discovered in 2017 in the Lesser Carpathians near the municipality of Borinka.  The set includes, as well as a bit with chains, the end forgins of cheek pieces, end forgins of a strap with gold-plated silver metal plate, a frontal metal plate with silver applications, as well as other forgins and fragments. Tie bit is a Vimose I type, finds of which appear over an extensive area of Barbarian territory from southern Scandinavian to the central Danube region, and are dated to B2/C1 and C1a. By the metal items, a preserved part of a strap was find, which was subjected to detailed DNA analysis. The analysis documented the use of cowś leather.

The impact of the Roman army in the territories north of the Middle
Danube can be particularly seen in the core area of Germanic
settlement along the middle reaches of the River Dyje and its tributaries
the Svratka and Jihlava. In the surroundings of the Roman
military base at Mušov-Burgstall several Roman temporary camps
closely connected to the local river network are known. New investigations
have provided more detailed information on these installations
discovered by aerial survey in the 1990s. In Mušov-Na
Pískách it was possible to record several camps in their exact positions
and with detailed characteristics of their defensive circuits.
Comparable results were obtained from the surveys in the Přibice
camps north of Mušov-Burgstall. Further to the north along the
River Svratka there is a camp at Modřice near Brno in the middle of
a local Germanic settlement area. At all sites new results were obtained
on each location, ground-plan, chronology, as well as further
details.

The environment has always featured as an important determinant of human activity in space and represents an essential part in the process of cognition of previous cultures. There are countless aspects of interactions between human communities and the environment. Because of its vast geographical impact the Roman military invasion within territories north of the Middle Danube (Moravia, SW Slovakia and Lower Austria) during the Marcomannic wars (AD 172 to 180) represents an appropriate domain of questions for the GIS application. The base topic of this paper aims to explore some factors which might have influenced Roman logistic behaviour. Local evidence of the Roman military presence is a unique archaeological source of information and its spatial aspects are convenient for the GIS application. This paper aims to outline some basic GIS methods and analyses which may reveal some additional spatial relations in the future.