Gontia als "Melting pot"? - Die Zusammensetzung der militärzeitlichen römischen Bevölkerung Günzburgs im Spiegel der Gräber. Ein Modell für Raetien

• Applicant: Professor Dr. C. Sebastian Sommer (†)
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2012 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 191679530

The Roman occupation consisted mainly of military personnel. According to the current model, the people of the sutler settlements surrounding the Roman forts arrived together with the first troops and followed them when they moved to a new site. As a result, the individuals buried at the Günzburg garrison - soldiers, family members, and tradesmen - must all have come from other areas. The necropolis at Günzburg constitutes a unique source of material regarding the origins of the population. Not only has it been excavated using modern techniques, it contains more than 1,800 burials. Furthermore, the state of the cremated bones is in a well-preserved condition. The cemetery was used continuously from Flavian times into Late Antiquity (1st-5th c. AD). This subproject concentrates on the burials from the period of Günzburg's early settlement following the earliest phases of the occupation in Raetia as subject of subproject 6. It includes the early mid-Imperial occupation phase and the two decades following the troop's withdrawal. There is archaeological evidence for a considerable "Romanisation" of the local culture. An example is the presence of more than 500 lamps in the graves. Indigenous components and hints of some contacts to the eastern Alpine region have been discovered as well. In addition, the relationship with the Heimstetten group (TP 6) is being explored through an analysis of the finds. The various burial practices and goods found in the small portion of the graves that has been examined have already provided a strong indication for the heterogenic origins of the early population of Günzburg - and Raetia. In phase II of the project, the archaeological analysis of the people's origins based on the finds and features of the early burials will be completed and then compared to the results of the strontium isotope analysis of the cremated bones.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 1670: Transalpine Mobility and Culture Transfer