This stimulating book is the first of TRAC's themed volumes on theoretically informed developments in Roman archaeology. Its genesis lies in two RAC/TRAC sessions organised by the editors (both of whom conducted PhDs around the topic). The preface sets out their stall: a desire to study trans-frontier interactions and bridge gaps between different national perspectives with their differing histories. How far does the volume meet these ends?
Eight papers from authors based in five different countries are topped and tailed by thoughtful comparative pieces from Hingley (his main critique reserved for limes studies rather than trans-border scholarship) and Mattingly (viewed from the North African frontier). There is both useful diversity and less useful divergence among the other articles; more battle-hardened editors would have taken a tougher line on Mata's rather over-speculative paper. Two articles are primarily historiographical (Moschek, on 19th-century German utilisation of the Roman frontier in the country's unification and wider ambitions, and Irvin, whose dual focus on American concepts of the Republican period and Gaul's provincial development sits rather to one side of the theme); others usefully include the history of study in their areas (Cahill Wilson for Ireland, where Roman interaction became a political hot potato, and Grane for Denmark, where it was a scholarly one). Sensitive historiographical analysis is critical, and could have made a volume in itself; the editors have perhaps sought to squeeze in too many topics here.
For this reviewer, the main interest lies in regional case studies of trans-border interactions: Cahill Wilson for Ireland, Gardner with a subtle and fascinating comparison of Britain's northern and western frontier zones which offers much food for thought, papers by Grane and Pauli Jensen on Denmark, and one by Voß and Wigg-Wolf on Germany. The wealth of Danish evidence has been matched by a sustained interpretative drive, which Grane reviews with valuable insights (not least the clear phases of contact with Rome and how this material integrated with existing local developments). He assesses debates over whether contacts were direct or indirect, arguing plausibly for the former. Voß and Wigg-Wolf touch on aspects of this from a German perspective, not always with the same results, amply demonstrating the subtle interpretations possible from their wealth of painstakingly catalogued data, much of this from settlement finds which balance a previous reliance on burial assemblages. Both papers provide evidence for shifting Roman interactions over time, arguing for political or diplomatic motives; Mattingly feels that trade and exchange networks also need consideration.
Research traditions risk fossilising embedded or entrenched perspectives; Pauli Jensen offers a refreshing challenge to prevailing views of the spectacular south Scandinavian weapon deposits, rich in Roman militaria, arguing that their interpretation as booty of the vanquished foe from single battles is over-simplistic and ignores inconsistencies in the evidence.
Cahill Wilson's discussion of the Late Iron Age and Roman Ireland (LIARI) project is exciting but frustrating. The project did not run for as long as it needed to in order to tackle the diverse problems it identified. Results from its very varied approaches (from conventional catalogues of imports to isotopic work on burials and geophysical surveys) are intriguing but do not hang together; more research is needed to make interpretations plausible, and some data need checking. For instance, Cahill Wilson notes that the project greatly expanded the amount of Roman material from Ireland, but many are unprovenanced antiquarian finds whose date of arrival on the island is uncertain. The coin diagram that she presents (fig. 4.2), dominated by bronzes in all periods, contrasts markedly with that of Voß and Wigg-Wolf (fig. 7.9): the overwhelming predominance of silver coinage in the early Empire in their trans-frontier case study area is typical of most areas beyond the frontier (with rare exceptions, notably the southern Baltic). Maybe Ireland was different, and this represents the small change of extensive trade; or, more likely, later introductions of coinage from returning tourists and travellers have contaminated this material.
In sum, this useful volume falls a little short of the editors’ hopes, as it does not grow much beyond the sum of its parts, but the parts include several significant papers which sustain careful return visits for fresh thoughts and insights. The editorial aspirations should fuel further attempts in this critical and relevant area of cross-border studies.
