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In Conflict Archaeology: Materialities of Collective Violence in Late Prehistoric and Early Historic Europe, edited by M. Fernández-Götz and N. Roymans. New York: Routledge, 2018, 115-126.
A. Jiménez, J. Bermejo, R. Liceras, F. Moreno and K. Tardio. Archaeological perspectives on the siege of Numantia: the new fieldwork project at the Roman camps at Renieblas (Spain, 2nd-1st c. BCE)Routledge: https://tinyurl.com/ydgoj9x6. Google books: https://tinyurl.com/y6uvvkcl --- Recent studies have highlighted the need to understand violence not as an action taking place at a particular moment in time, but as a continuum of various interconnected forms of violence, including structural violence, everyday micro-violence and exceptional public violence (Scheper-Hughes and Bourgois, 2004: 1–5: Žižek, 2008). In that respect our project at the Roman camps near Numantia (Renieblas, Spain, 2nd- 1st c. BCE) intends to go beyond traditional studies of the Roman army centred around particular battles and generals mentioned by the Roman sources to understand how the colonial machinery that subjugated the provinces was created and maintained over a period of 200 years during the Late Republic (late 3rd–late 1st centuries BC) (Erdkamp, 2007: 108–111). To that end, the archaeological study of Renieblas, one of the earliest and largest areas of Roman camps in the Mediterranean, where at least five camps were discovered in the early 20th century, is particularly relevant. The camps were involved in the conquest of the early province of Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) and the siege of the native Celtiberian settlement at Numantia, which resulted in Rome’s annexation of much of the Iberian Peninsula in 133 BCE. During the fieldwork seasons of 2015 and 2016 we excavated trial trenches in two selected sectors of the earliest camps at Renieblas (Camps I, II) and studied for the first time the material culture of the site using modern archaeological techniques and methodology. The goal of the project is not only to contribute to discussions on the origins of the Roman Empire and colonialism and the role of the community of soldiers in that process, but also to an anthropological debate about the material traces of domination, resistance and violence, beyond the specific battles and campaigns recorded by the ancient sources.
2012 •
The traditional Iberian panoply developed during the 5th and 4th centuries BC, superbly adapted to the local circumstances of warfare in the Iberian Peninsula, underwent major modifications and adaptations in the late 3rd century BC. After their defeat in the First Punic War, the Carthaginians, and in particular the Barcid faction, used the Southern and Eastern parts of the Iberian Peninsula, already subject to much Semitic influence since the ninth century BC, to rebuild some sort of territorial and economic ‘empire’. A big part of Spain became a logistical and military base, thousands of mercenaries were hired and local subjects and allies recruited, and by the time Hannibal marched on Italy, a sizeable part of his army was built around a hard core of African and Iberian or Celtiberian contingents. These troops (already partly familiar with foreign warfare through their previous employment as xenoi in Sicily and Greece), now increasingly employed new types of weapon, such as the oval thureos, the cut-and-thrust straight sword, and bronze Montefortino type helmets. These were used in a more sophisticated tactical framework of traditional, fourth-century vintage tactics (already based in a type of dualpurpose ‘line’ infantry with light infantry capabilities) but within the structure of a Hellenistic-type army in which those thureophoroi could be most useful in combination with other troop types. Although Hannibal’s army was not strictly a Hellenistic one, we will show that the implication of Iberia, velis nolis, in the ‘World Wars’ of the late 3rd century BC and later in the Roman Civil Wars, introduced military developments of ultimately Hellenistic origin. However, these oval shields, bronze Montefortino helmets, and straight swords never completely displaced the traditional weaponry based on the round shield, leather helmet and curved falcata, except probably in those units serving under Carthaginian standards on a more or less permanent basis. During this period Iberians were increasingly being used (as allies, subjects or mercenaries) by the Carthaginians and later by the Romans as either line (dual-purpose) or light infantry, and as cavalry, but also fought each other, or on their own against both Carthaginians and Romans.
Commonly accepted wisdom says that the ‘tribes’ that stood against the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula were only capable of quite primitive warfare in strategic, logistical, organisational and tactical terms. If they could resist the might of the regular Roman legions for so long, it was because of the warlike nature of the peninsular peoples,because of Rome’s other, more pressing commitments elsewhere and because their style of guerrilla warfare was notoriously difficult to deal with. in fact, most of these points can be shown to be misleading or plain wrong.
El Pedrosillo (Casas de Reina, Badajoz) lies at the northern foothills of Sierra Morena. The surveys and diggings undertaken during the years 2004-2006 showed a Roman military complex, formed by two polygonal marching camps built in stone, circular redoubts and an attached system of complementary defenses as isolated walls (titula) that take up both banks of a stream, extend more than 350 ha. This entire complex seems to be part of a battlefield set by the Roman Army against the indigenous cavalry during the Lusitanian Wars (155-138 BC). The excavations undertaken during 2007 have confirmed that we are dealing with two polygonal forts, 9. 9 and 3.5 ha respectively, whose walls were some 1.6m wide and were built in emplecton with two facings built with medium and big stones, in irregular rows. The walls are about 1.20 meter high. The inner face of the wall is slightly bent (17˚). The same constructive system was found in the fortlets and titula or stretches of wall isolated in the terrain and in the circular constructions. The georeferenced surveys with metal detectors have shown up characteristic Roman military collection of Republican times as a slingshot, an iron head of pilum catapultarium and a tent peg, as well as a Punic coin from the end of the 3rd century BC.
Conimbriga 50, 2011, 59-78.
The Roman Republican battlefield at Pedrosillo (Casas de Reina, Badajoz, Spain). New research (2007)El Pedrosillo (Casas de Reina, Badajoz) lies at the northern foothills of Sierra Morena. The surveys and diggings undertaken during the years 2004-2006 showed a Roman military complex, formed by two polygonal marching camps built in stone, circular redoubts and an attached system of complementary defenses as isolated walls (titula) that take up both banks of a stream, extend more than 350 ha. This entire complex seems to be part of a battlefield set by the Roman Army against the indigenous cavalry during the Lusitanian Wars (155-138 BC). The excavations undertaken during 2007 have confirmed that we are dealing with two polygonal forts, 9. 9 and 3.5 ha respectively, whose walls were some 1.6m wide and were built in emplecton with two facings built with medium and big stones, in irregular rows. The walls are about 1.20 meter high. The inner face of the wall is slightly bent (17˚). The same constructive system was found in the fortlets and titula or stretches of wall isolated in the terrain and in the circular constructions. The georeferenced surveys with metal detectors have shown up characteristic Roman military collection of Republican times as a slingshot, an iron head of pilum catapultarium and a tent peg, as well as a Punic coin from the end of the 3rd century BC.
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