Mirobriga and Regina Turdulorum: Town and Country in the Roman Far West

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Felix Teichner
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology ; Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447718941

The archaeological landscape project proposed is dedicated to study ancient towns – Mirobriga (Lusitania, Portugal) and Regina Turdulorum (Baetica, Spain) – and particularly their hinterlands between the late Iron Age and Roman times (2nd cent. BCE to 3rd cent. CE). In previous research emphasis was overwhelmingly given to towns, the study of which was isolated from their landscape setting. Thus often a contrast was constructed between the urban centre and the rural periphery minimising the fundamental part the rural context plays in urban development. This approach promoted the view that towns, especially when privileged, were more homogeneous and Roman, while in countryside more options of heterogeneity – reaching from Roman-style agriculture to ‘landscapes of resistance’ – have been possible. To overcome this separation between urban and rural studies and to critically review – on a sound data basis gathered by state-of-the-art approaches – the supposition of a dichotomy between town and countryside is the main aim of the project proposed. The primary task will be to identify similarities and differences in dealing with new social, economic, cultural and political demands resulting from the incorporation into the Roman Empire. Then it shall be researched whether the postulated similarity of the selected towns – privileged as municipia and inhabited mainly by indigenous populations – in terms of origin, size, organisation and development stands the scrutiny of detailed analysis and whether, if so, this similarity really implies also similar land use. Thus the addressed main objectives are: 1. the relationship between an urban centre and its countryside in economic, social and cultural terms; 2. the changing (or unchanged) ways of land use and organisation of rural production in connection with the development of the urban centre; 3. the impact of non-urban residents on the urban settlements as well as the agency of town dwellers in the rural hinterland in consideration of the changing social conditions of the Roman rule. Therefore, the project is an important new approach for the Hispania Romana but it is highly innovative also for research of the Roman Empire in general as it studies town and country not as separate entities but as closely interrelated and mutually influencing. The project adopts a multiple method approach that encompasses geophysical prospection, systematic surveys, remote sensing and small-scale excavations. It brings together Prof. G. Schörner (Univ. of Vienna), an expert in landscape archaeology of the Mediterranean with a profound expertise of social, economic and cultural changes in the Roman Empire, and Prof. F. Teichner (Univ. of Marburg), a specialist both in non-invasive prospection and in Roman archaeology of the Iberian Peninsula, and assembles a multidisciplinary team of leading experts as cooperation partners.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Günther Schörner