Imperial control in Roman and Byzantine Arabia : a landscape interpretation of archaeological evidence in Southern Jordan
The dominant interpretation of Roman imperialism in the provinces of Arabia and then Palaestina Tertia holds that the Empire was seeking to combat external military threats from nomads. This interpretation is based on archaeological evidence of Roman military sites forming a static defensive system linked by a road network. Recent scholarship in Jordan has questioned this interpretation. Alternative hypotheses have been advanced proposing that these sites acted as points of provincial control or were situated to maintain routes for long distance trade. It is proposed here that these interpretations of imperial control are flawed, either because of poorly realised explanatory models or improperly sampled datasets. In contrast, this study achieves an integration of textual and archaeological data through the conceptual framework of landscape. This approach stresses the spatial correlates of human behaviour and allows an alternative interpretation of imperial control to be validated. This study proposes the hypothesis that the aim of Roman imperialism in this area was to control directly imperial material resources. It does not present a historical reconstruction but demonstrates the power of a landscape approach
Findlater, George MacRae
Roman imperialism ; Arabia ; Romans ; Archaeology ; Dana Archaeological Survey
Imperial control in Roman and Byzantine Arabia : a landscape interpretation of archaeological evidence in Southern Jordan. The dominant interpretation of Roman imperialism in the provinces of Arabia and then Palaestina Tertia holds that the Empire was seeking to combat external military threats from nomads. This interpretation is based on archaeological evidence of Roman military sites forming a static defensive system linked by a road network. Recent scholarship in Jordan has questioned this interpretation. Alternative hypotheses have been advanced proposing that these sites acted as points of provincial control or were situated to maintain routes for long distance trade. It is proposed here that these interpretations of imperial control are flawed, either because of poorly realised explanatory models or improperly sampled datasets. In contrast, this study achieves an integration of textual and archaeological data through the conceptual framework of landscape. This approach stresses the spatial correlates of human behaviour and allows an alternative interpretation of imperial control to be validated. This study proposes the hypothesis that the aim of Roman imperialism in this area was to control directly imperial material resources. It does not present a historical reconstruction but demonstrates the power of a landscape approach
imperial control roman byzantine arabia landscape interpretation archaeological_evidence southern_jordan dominant interpretation roman_imperialism province arabia hold empire seek combat external military threat nomad interpretation base archaeological_evidence roman_military site form static defensive system link road_network recent_scholarship jordan question interpretation alternative hypothesis advance propose site act point provincial control situate maintain route long_distance_trade propose interpretation imperial control flaw either poorly realised explanatory_model improperly sample datasets contrast study integration textual_archaeological data conceptual_framework landscape stress spatial correlate human_behaviour allow alternative_interpretation imperial control validate study propose hypothesis aim roman_imperialism area control directly imperial material resource present historical_reconstruction demonstrate power landscape