Feeding the Roman Army on the Frontiers: isotope research on animal provisioning in Britannia and beyond
A Joan Pye webinar, hosted on behalf of the Roman Research Trust.
Presented by Professor Richard Madgwick
It was a major logistical challenge to supply Rome’s soldiers on distant, environmentally diverse and often hostile frontiers with food. We know little about how the imperial administration was able to do this so effectively over such a large area and for such a long time, yet this was key to the resilience of the empire.
Isotope analysis can address this issue by examining the networks of supply that provided animals to the frontiers and the catchments for different forts and fortresses. In addition, it can assess the strategies of animal management that were employed to meet the demands of the army.
These methods are used to explore these themes across three frontier zones in Britannia – Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall, and south Wales, analysed as part of the ‘Feeding the Roman Army in Britain’ project, as well as presenting preliminary results from the Danube frontier in Moesia, as part of a new European frontiers project.
