To browse Academia. This paper presents graffiti discovered on a few plates discovered in a barrack from the fort of ala I Batavorum milliaria in Dacia. Typical for the Batavian troops, the onomastics is Latin and Greek. The instrumenta prove that the soldiers scribbled their names on everyday use vessels and offer us a glimpse of the very men that lived there together.
Natives of the Low Rhine region, the Batavi were a community of ethnic soldiers engaged in a treaty with Rome, overseeing a heavy supply of men to the Roman auxiliary units. Their status as military sites shaped around the consumption habits of Batavian auxiliary troops makes them comparable. The comprehensive examination of pottery consumption patterns provides valuable insights into the dynamics of material culture in Dacia and Pannonia, facilitating our understanding of supply networks, consumption preferences, and cultural interactions within these frontier regions.
The quantitative analyses of fabric and form distributions reveal distinctive trends at each site, reflecting variations in local production, regional trade networks, and social practices. The qualitative interpretations highlight the significance of certain vessel types and their cultural associations. While in the overall perspective, they emphasise the similarity between pottery consumption at the three forts shaped by military presence and regional trade networks, they also highlight potential markers of Batavian identity within the auxiliary units stationed there.
By contextualising pottery within broader historical and archaeological frameworks, this research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the cultural aspects of auxilia. At some settlements, notably military ones [native pottery] was never used in any quantity at all.
Limes XXV volume 3. Living and dying on the Roman Frontier and Beyond, This paper aims to explore whether Batavian presence can be attested in other provinces through the study of material culture, specifically pottery.
