EN
Show menu

Tracing the conquerors

Funding: The project is funded by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency. Start of financing: 1.10.2021.
Duration: 01. 10. 2021 - 30. 09. 2024
Acronim: J6-3125

Tracing the conquerors. Roman Army and indigenous communities in the Karst and Notranjska regions (SW Slovenia)

Po sledeh osvajalcev. Rimska vojska in skupnosti domačinov na Krasu in Notranjskem (JZ Slovenija)

The area between Aquileia and Siscia in the time of Octavian’s Illyrian Wars with marked findspots of the Types Alésia A–D hobnails, characteristic of Roman military footwear between 80/60 and 20/15 BC. Adapted after Istenič 2019 - Caligati in the eastern hinterland of Aquileia up to the Early Augustan period. – In/V: H. Dolenz. K. Strobel (eds.), Chronologie und vergleichende Chronologien zum Ausgang der Römischen Republik und zur Frühen Kaiserzeit, Kärntner Museumsschriften 87, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, 271–295.
Ulaka–Nadleški hrib site complex, Loška dolina (SW Slovenia). Archaeological interpretation of the LiDAR data visualization. Ulaka (Iron Age hillfort and Roman settlement), Ulaka - tabor (Roman fort from the pre‐Augustan period), Nadleški hrib (Roman fort of the pre‐Augustan and Augustan period). Made by Matic Zupan.

The main objective of the project is to improve the knowledge of the structure and functioning of the Roman state in the period of integration of the Karst and Notranjska regions (2nd - 1st centuries BC - Augustan period) and to try to understand the reaction of the indigenous peoples to the incoming conquerors. Recent research in the region under question indicated Roman military actions took place in the mid or second half of the 2nd century, during Octavian’s Illyrian wars (35–33 BC), in the Augustan period (27 BC – AD 14) and perhaps also in the decades just before Octavian’s Illyrian wars. Roman military engagement in the region in many ways influenced the interrelations between the Romans and local communities. Roman military, for example, seems to be associated with the abandonment of several Late Iron Age settlements. On the other hand, there are indigenous settlements with clear continuity into the Roman time.

One of the key research challenges in studying the traces of the Roman military of the period is the interpretation of small finds. The research will take advantage of a rich collection of Roman military finds and other contemporaneous material kept in the NMS and of topographic data provided by airborne LiDAR technology. High‐resolution airborne LiDAR data are available for free in Slovenia and have great potential for discovering and research of Roman military sites, site complexes and archaeological landscapes.

An important body of evidence for the research problem is Ulaka – Nadleški hrib site complex in Loška dolina valley. Our previous research suggests the site complex played an important role in the Late Iron Age, late Republic and Early Principate within the wider geographic context of the control over passes and corridors between Caput Adriae and western Balkans. It includes the Late Iron Age fortified settlement (hillfort) at the Ulaka hilltop, two Roman forts and presumably also remains of a Roman military attack in the last decades of the Republican period. The northern military camp and the traces of a battle were discovered recently. Ulaka–Nadleški hrib site complex is therefore an excellent case study of a conflict landscape from the period of Roman conquest of the region east of the province of Gallia Cisalpina (Italy after 42 BC). We can reasonably expect that an in‐depth examination of this site complex would make a significant contribution to our knowledge on Roman expansion in the second half of the 1st century BC and at the beginning of the 1st century AD.

Items of military equipment and other Roman stray finds, together with preliminary airborne LiDAR data evaluation suggest further similar and presumably roughly contemporaneous sites in the region. Especially promising data is from sites like Grad near Šmihel pod Nanosom with the surrounding area, where the earliest traces of roman military interventions (small finds and a preliminary lidar data analysis) in the wider area were documented and dated to the middle or the 2nd half of the 2nd century BC. Our research will take advantage of the lidar data analysis, GIS tools, both invasive and uninvasive methods of archaeological topography, archaeological ground-truthing as well as typo-chronological and archaeometric treatment of archaeological artefacts.

Publications:
Laharnar B., N. Dolinar 2024 - Raziskave na območju rimskega vojaškega tabora na Ulaki nad Starim trgom pri Ložu. In: Novaković, Predrag (ed.). Arheologija v letu 2023, dediščina za javnost: zbornik povzetkov. Strokovno srečanje Slovenskega arheološkega društva 11. in 12. junija 2024 v Mestnem muzeju v Ljubljani, str. 23.
Laharnar B., J. Istenič 2024 - Ulaka site complex. Late Republican and Augustan Roman military earthworks and small finds. In: van Enckevort H., M. Driessen, E. Graafstal, T. Hazenberg, T. Ivleva, C. van Driel-Murray (eds.), Strategy and Structures along the Roman Frontier (LIMES XXV volume 2). Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies 2, 175-184.
Laharnar B. 2023 - The End of Grad near Šmihel pod Nanosom (Notranjska, Slovenia). The Roman Army and the Indigenous Community. In: Horvat, J., Bernardini, F., Belak, M. (ur.) - The Roman Conquest beyond Aquileia, Opera Instituti Archaeologici Sloveniae 45, 91-110.
Laharnar B. 2023 - Tracing the Conquerors. Roman Military Installations between Ocra and Albion. In: Herbert B., Schwarzkogler K. et al. - Conference "Late Republican and Early Augustian influences on the fringes of the Eastern Alps - architecture and military" in Magdalensberg (Carinthia), June 10th, 2022; Fundberichte aus Österreich, Band 60, 2021 (2023), D11-D13.
Laharnar B. 2023 - Tisočletja slavinskih gradišč. O prazgodovinskih gradiščih v okolici Slavine. Goriški letnik: zbornik Goriškega muzeja 47, 53-78.
Laharnar B. 2023 - New evidence for the Late Iron Age in the Posočje region, Slovenia. Studia Hercynia XXVII/2, 77-97.
Laharnar B. 2023 - Arheološke raziskave na Ulaki in Nadleškem hribu. Obrh: Glasilo Občine Loška dolina, letnik 24, november 2023, 16-17.

Research group

Project execution plan

Year Research of select sites (intrusive / ground‐truthing and non‐intrusive survey) Typo‐chronology and archaeometry of Roman military equipment and other objects
1 ‐ processing, in‐depth analysis and archaeological interpretation of airborne LiDAR data relevant to sites of the Ulaka–Nadleški hrib complex and sites Šmihel pod Nanosom, Tabor and Strmca above Povir, Baba and Ambroževo gradišče near Slavina and Stari grad above Unec
‐ trial trenching at Ulaka‐tabor fort (4–5 larger trenches, in total up to 80 m2) as well as of the linear features associated to forts Ulaka‐tabor and Nadleški hrib (3–4 larger trenches, in total up to 50 m2) and their evaluation
‐ intrusive surveys with 50 × 50 and 100 × 100 cm trenches along the south‐eastern rampart of the Ulaka‐tabor fort and on the ridge leading from this fort to the Ulaka hillfort and their evaluation
‐ typo‐chronological characterisation of Roman military equipment from Tabor and Strmca above Povir, Baba and Ambroževo gradišče near Slavina and Stari grad above Unec, including finds obtained by groundtruthing of the Ulaka – Nadleški hrib complex
‐ characterisation of non‐ferrous metals (elemental composition by EDS XRF and PIXE methods) in select objects
‐ creation of the catalogue (descriptions, drawings, photos) of select and examined objects, including data on the elemental composition of non‐ferrous metals
2 - processing, in‐depth analysis and archaeological interpretation of airborne LiDAR data relevant to the sites Šmihel pod Nanosom, Strmca and Tabor above Povir, Baba and Ambroževo gradišče near Slavina and Stari grad above Unec, followed by non‐intrusive survey (filed walking) to evaluate the archaeological interpretation of LiDAR data
‐ exhibition on Ulaka–Nadleški hrib site complex and other presentations of the research project and its preliminary results to the general public
‐ talk on (preliminary) research results at the Limes congress (2022) and paper for congress proceedings
- discussion and evaluation of the results obtained in year 1, including additional characterisations if necessary
‐ talk on (preliminary) research results at the Roman Military Equipment Studies congress (2022) and paper for congress proceedings
3 ‐ preparation of the scientific publications in Slovene and English, to be concluded by the end of the project
‐ preparation of the scientific publications in Slovene and English, to be concluded by the end of the project