Textiles on the March: Textile Activities in Roman Republican Military Contexts of Western Iberia (1st Century BC)

Abstract

In the absence of textual evidence comparable to that of the Imperial period, archaeological data constitute the key source to reconstruct textile supply to the Late Republican Roman armies. As the scenario of many of the main conflicts of the Late Republic, the Iberian Peninsula offers a particularly fertile ground to study that supply. However, studies on this topic remain rare. This contribution aims to offer a first overview of available evidence through a discussion of selected case studies from Western Iberia which relate to a particularly dynamic phase of the Roman military presence in the Far West – the 1st century BC. The selected case studies cover a range of different situations, all connected with the Roman army. These include formal military camps (e.g. Cáceres el Viejo), militarised indigenous settlements (e.g. Chibanes, Cabeça de Vaiamonte and Cáceres Viejo de Santa Marina), settlements founded ex novo with a strong military presence (e.g. Monte dos Castelinhos and Pedrão) and later small forts with a territorial control function (e.g. Castelo da Lousa). These case studies illustrate various facets of textile supply, production and procurement, from relatively significant ‘in-house’ production in military sites to an intensification of local production in militarised settlements and areas.