Roman Stone Working

A previous programme of archaeological assessment and evaluation at this site had revealed the presence of a Roman enclosure and possible Bronze Age activity. Nearly eighty similar enclosures have been detected as cropmarks on aerial photographs within Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and West Lancashire, but very little archaeological investigation has so far taken place. Further excavation of the Southworth site was undertaken in 2013 in advance of proposed quarrying and landfill operations. This covered an open area measuring c 0.5ha, targeted over what remained of the enclosure, which was confirmed to be a rural settlement of second century AD date. Other plough-truncated features were recorded within and beyond the enclosure. The features outside the site may be medieval, but there was no evidence of prehistoric activity. The project has highlighted the destructive nature of agriculture at the Southworth site, with implications for the future management of similar sites across the region.

Abstract: The Roman army required large quantities of different objects for daily-use and it was an important consumer and producer of diverse craft goods, such as everyday tools, clothing items, vessels for storage, cooking and consumption, luxury personal items, and many more.
The Limes regions in Pannonia Inferior and Moesia Superior had an important role in the economic and political life of these provinces, because of the permanent presence of the Roman army and state administration, and also thanks to the convenient geographical position and numerous natural resources. Along with the establishment of the Roman government in the Pannonia Inferior and Moesia Superior, diverse goods from different parts of the Empire began to arrive, and craft production by Roman standards was established in the borderland areas as well. At the same time, autochthonous, traditional techniques of production were not neglected. In this paper, we will offer a brief overview of the archaeological and epigraphic evidence for craft production of objects made from clay, stone and osseous raw materials, related to the Limes on the present-day territory of Serbia.

Keywords: craft production, workshops, craftsperson, ceramic technology, stone objects, osseous technology