This book is the author's doctoral thesis (October 2007, Free University Amsterdam). The meticulous excavations of two settlements and a cemetery in Tiel-Passewaaij in the Eastern Dutch River Valley provide an exceptionally well-documented archaeological record to study social and economic changes in a rural community of the civitas Batavorum between 60 b.c. and a.d. 270. While providing a detailed account of the excavations and the various animal bone deposits, this study not only analyses the changing role of animals in the local economy, in ritual and funerary contexts, but also explores the integration of a rural community in a wider trade network.
It becomes apparent that the local population took up opportunities provided by markets, especially from the second half of the first century onwards (ch. 2). In this region, specialisation in animal husbandry is seen as the only lucrative way to produce a surplus, reacting to demands of market, Roman army and perhaps tax demands. The changes in species ratio are revealing: after a dominance of sheep and cattle up to c. a.d. 120, horse breeding became more and more important. The animals’ average age ratio allows us to identify what animals were used for: cattle were mainly kept for traction and manure (not meat), sheep for milk and meat. In the late first century the production of wool provided an important income, but from the second century onwards wool was no longer produced in large quantities; people instead profited from the infrastructure in the Eastern Dutch River Valley and imported textiles of superior quality. Although there was a need for cereals and beef in Nijmegen and along the limes, these were not produced locally. Instead horse breeding became increasingly important, probably for the Roman army, whereby stock improvement is an important indicator for market-orientated production.
Having worked out criteria for how to distinguish ritual bone deposits from animal bone refuse, a range of ‘special’ deposits can be identified (ch. 3). As ever, the author develops a taphonomical approach to ritual, discussing the psychology of ritual as well as the strong relation between ritual and economy.
In the cemetery (a.d. 60–270), Groot's meticulous study analyses the complexity of funerary rituals and the various ways in which animal bones were incorporated in the native-Roman funerary ritual (ch. 4). Apart from ceremonial pits and animal burials, animal bones can be found in cremation graves and grave ditches. Horses and cattle play an important role in post-burial rituals. The ceremonial pits could be offerings to the ancestors or perhaps funerary rites for a member of the community who died away from home, especially if we consider the role of the Batavians in the Roman auxiliaries (182).
To sum up, many activities can be identified that deviated from general Roman practice (193), despite the village's integration in the wider economic system of the Roman West. Throughout the book, G. excels in the detailed presentation of data and in her profound understanding of taphonomic processes. She carefully develops a research methodology, making use of comparative material and ethnographic studies to underpin her findings. In this respect, the absence of a reference to Junkelmann's Die Reiter Roms seems surprising. Altogether, this is an important study for our understanding of the social, economic and cultural development of a rural community in the limes hinterland during the Principate.
