Commission for the Comparative Archaeology of the Roman Alpine and Danube Regions
The Roman period had a significant formative influence on the development of European history. The historical transition periods played an important role, initially when the superior Roman culture encountered Iron Age tribal societies around the time of Christ’s birth, and again when the Roman empire gradually began to decline in the 5th century AD. These historical processes are the focus of the commission’s research projects. The area of study comprises the entire Alpine arc, with the emphasis on the central alpine regions of North and South Tyrol and the Trentino. Targeted excavations bring to light new archaeological source material which is documented in detail and placed in a larger geographical context by way of conducting regional studies. This forms the basis upon which to reconstruct paths of continuity as well as breaks in continuity in terms of all areas of life.
From the advanced pre-Roman Iron Age to the Early Roman Imperial period
(1st cent. BC–1st cent. AD)
The early period of transition involved the change-over from the Iron Age to the Roman period. Usually, the year 15 BC is equated with the end of the Iron Age and the beginning of Roman rule. At that time the emperor’s stepsons Drusus and Tiberius conducted a military campaign recorded in historical sources, resulting in the conquest of the central Alpine region between the Brenner Pass and the Alpine Rhine Valley as well as parts of southern Germany. The focus of the research is on much-debated questions regarding the changes in society, in settlement patterns, the economy and the forms of religious expression that occurred between the period immediately preceding the Roman period and the establishment of the Roman military and civilian administration. This field of research is supervised by Werner Zanier.
The commanders Drusus and Tiberius present laurel branches to their stepfather the Emperor Augustus as a symbol of their victory over the Alpine tribes in 15 BC. Reverse of a Roman denarius, minted in 15/13 BC in Lugdunum/Lyons.
From Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages
(3rd /4th –7th/8th cent. AD)
This field of research focuses on the continuity from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The commission is mainly interested in aspects of settlement, population and cultural history. In terms of the study area of the commission the questions asked are: how did the Roman population in the central Alpine region react to the increasingly turbulent times from the late 3rd century onwards? Were valley settlements with their well-established infrastructures abandoned in favour of supposedly safer settlements at higher altitudes? The excavation currently ongoing on Monte San Martino (www.small.tn.it) is particularly significant in this regard. Settlements of this type were characteristic of the transition period from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. They concentrate all the central questions the commission deals with in terms of its research into the late period. This field of research is supervised by Marcus Zagermann.
Gloria Romanorum: The Roman Emperor Gratianus (AD 367 to 383) unceremoniously grabs a captured barbarian and drags him along the ground. Reverse of a Late Roman bronze coin. Photograph Staatliche Münzsammlung München (Munich State Collection of Coins)