Panel 5.20 – Roman transport systems II: "Rivers and lakes in the Roman Transport Economy"


Organiser/Chair:

  • Koenraad Verboven (Ghent University)

External Discussant:

  • Pau De Soto (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Panel abstract

Most modern scholars follow the opinion of ancient authors that, given the right hydrological and geographic conditions, transport by river (and lakes) was many times more efficient, profitable and cheaper than land transport. Archaeological data showing the transport routes for non-perishable items, such as ceramics and stone cargoes, seem to confirm this idea. The epigraphically documented prestige and influence enjoyed by the Barge-skipper guilds (the nautae) in Narbonensis, Germania Superior, and the southern parts of Lugdunensis further support that picture. And yet the natural efficiency of river and lake transports is far from self-evident. River basins are not naturally connected. Waterfalls, narrows, and rapids obstruct navigation. Levels and flows depend on unpredictable rainfall causing floods and torrents. River banks erode. Sediments change the course of rivers. In the north, rivers and lakes may freeze in winter. In the south, many run dry in summer. Strong currents greatly hamper upstream traffic. Territorial and administrative divisions, as well, pose problems. Differences in regulation, control procedures, and water management practices affect conditions on different stretches of the same river. Tolls and fees burden profitability. Social and political unrest pose threats as barges are vulnerable to attacks by land from brigands, raiders or soldiers. Rivers and lakes, moreover, are useless without a connecting land road network. Without investments in the construction and maintenance of roads the contribution of riverine trade to overland transport networks is doomed to remain limited. Not surprisingly, rivers remained complementary to roads in early modern Europe until 'national' policies improved and regulated navigation. Without tow-paths, canals, portages, locks, connecting roads, ports and warehouses, rivers offer only a marginal contribution to trade. Riverine transport routes are as much man-made as roads are. What does this imply for the supposed efficiency of river and lake transport in the Roman period? In this panel we want to discuss the material and institutional conditions that supported this.

 

Paper abstracts

1. Koenraad Verboven (Ghent University)

Rivers and laks in the Roman transport economy
Most modern scholars follow the opinion of ancient authors that transport by river (and lakes) was more efficient, profitable and cheaper than land transport. Archaeological data showing the transport routes for ceramics and stone cargoes, seem to confirm this idea. The epigraphically documented prestige enjoyed by the Barge-skipper guilds in Narbonensis, Germania Superior, and southern Lugdunensis further support that picture.
But the efficiency of river and lake transports is far not evident. Basins are not naturally connected. Without roads the contribution of riverine trade to overland transport networks is doomed to remain limited. Waterfalls, narrows, and rapids obstruct navigation. Levels and flows depend on unpredictable rainfall. River banks erode. Sediments change the course of rivers. Rivers and lakes may freeze in winter or run dry in summer. Currents hamper upstream traffic. Administrative divisions also pose problems related to different regulations, control procedures, and water management practices, tolls and fees. Barges are vulnerable to attacks by land from brigands, raiders or soldiers. Without tow-paths, canals, portages, locks, connecting roads, ports and warehouses, rivers offer only a marginal contribution to trade. Riverine transport routes are as much man-made as roads are. What does this imply for the supposed efficiency of river and lake transport in the Roman period?

"Rivers and Lakes in the Roman Transport Economy" (Fulltext)

 

2. Allard Mees (RGZM)

Rivers and trading hubs
A quarter of a million Roman Samian (Terra Sigillata) stamps are now Open Access available for distribution research analysis at the digital research platform Samian Research of the RGZM (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (http://www.rgzm.de/samian). The fully georeferentiated data collection not only covers the distribution area of Samian made in the Gallo-Germanic and Raetian tradition, but also comprises the complete Mediterranean market of Samian made in the Italian tradition, notably from Arezzo and Pisa.
A network of researchers throughout Europe is actively engaged in further enhancing this internet based dataset by online curating existing records and adding new materials.
This largest digital online resource on Roman trading goods gives us a unique opportunity to study Roman sea, river and land transport mechanisms. The dominance of river transport in the North-Western part of the Roman Empire, already suggested by the authors in antiquity, is clearly reflected in Samian distribution of this area. Least cost network analysis confirms the enormous influence of the river transport cost on the distribution patterns. However, the influence of towns and military installations along the rivers on the river transport system itself is something which has not been studied yet. The network agent based hub functions of these conglomerations can easily be detected and visualised.

 

3. Tyler Franconi (University of Oxford)

The environmental context of riverine trade in the Roman world
Successful riverine trade depended on environmental factors that allowed for the safe transit of goods, people, and information through and across river systems. Rivers were not static entities, and varied greatly in flow characteristics throughout the year; these variations had important influences on riverine navigation in the Roman world. The environmental factors that dictated flow characteristics have been overlooked in scholarship investigating riverine trade, which has typically focused on the goods that were transported rather than the conditions in which they moved. This paper provides an overview of the fluvial shipping season of Western Europe, discussing how precipitation, flow velocity, volumetric discharge, and sediment transport and deposition influenced Roman riverine trade networks. Using a combination of palaeo-environmental data, archaeological evidence, and comparative written evidence from the Medieval and early-modern periods, this paper argues that Roman fluvial transport networks needed to constantly adapt to the changing environmental conditions of their transport routes. Such adaptations necessitated both technological and institutional developments that are visible in the spread of new infrastructural elements such as canals, the adoption of different ship building techniques, and in the development of specialised guilds of shippers responsible for specific rivers.

"The Environmental Context of Riverine Trade in the Roman World" (Fulltext)

 

4. Jean Paul Bravard (University Lumière - Lyon 2)

Changing rivers during the Roman period: climate and human action
This paper deals with the conditions of Roman navigation during the Roman period, in the Gaule watersheds and in watersheds of present Europe.
Based on the concept of river metamorphosis, which is widely accepted in the Northern hemisphere and in this geographical area since almost 40 years, river landforms are considered as transient structures due to controls exerted by external variables (climate, different types of human actions) and to characteristic adjustments of rivers at certain time and space scales. The general principles, relevant to fluvial geomorphology, will be exposed.
Then, the presentation will show convincing examples of river metamorphosis from the Latenian period to the Late Roman period and will document original landforms and river behavior in specific conditions of external control. Thee homogeneity of river responses or adjustments in Europe is now considered as a matter of fact but local variations as well as discrepancy in time sequences may exist.
The third objective of this paper is to propose a review of the impacts of river channel changes on the the conditions of navigation along the river axis and on the setting of bridges across selected rivers. It will be proposed that the Roman period may have been quite favorable to the economic uses of rivers.

"Changing Rivers during the Roman Period: Climate and Human Action" (Fulltext)

 

5. Wim De Clercq (Ghent University)

All rivers lead to Nehalennia. An archaeo-geological study of the votive stones and their transport routes to the sanctuaries of Colijnsplaat and Domburg
The now submerged Roman sanctuaries of Colijnsplaat and Domburg on the isle of Walcheren on the North Sea coast, have yielded the most extensive collection of votive stones found in Northern Gaul. These bear testimony of the central role the area of the river Scheldt mouth played as a hub for the international trade between the Rhineland, Britain, Northern and Southern Gaul. Sailors, merchants, civil servants and military all dedicated votive stones and statues to the local goddess Nehalennia, next to other deities.
So far however, only the epigraphic evidence on the stones had been thoroughly studied. In our paper we will present the results of the archaeo-geological study of the extensive collection of votive stones, pottery and ceramic building material retrieved from the sea floor during the last 40 years. We will assess the chronology of both sites but foremost focus upon the mineralogical study of the votive stones, revealing the complex network of riverine and land-routes leading from the inland of Germania Inferior and Gallia Belgica, to the sanctuaries.