CONSIDERAȚII DESPRE VALURILE ROMANE DIN BANAT
CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT THE ROMAN EARTH EMBANKMENTS IN BANAT

Summary/Abstract: The Roman earth embankments in Banat are part of the border system called limes Sarmatiae by the Hungarian archaeologists. This paper brings into question their defensive military role and presents also the hypothesis of using this artificial barrier primarily for controlling sheep herds in the context of transhumance, a theory I took over from the late professor Alexandru Diaconescu. There are two major analogies in the space dominated by the Roman Empire: fossatum Africae and the “linear fortification” in Syria. Although the latter is poorly studied and, compared to the African ditch, there are some differences in the Danube area, I believe that the three border systems provided with fossatum (North Africa, Syria and the Carpathian Mts. – Danube River) were conceived by the Romans as a measure of controlling seasonal movement of sheep and represented an important source of tax revenue. Shepherds were taxed according to the number of sheep along their way with their flocks to wintering places. The administrative and legal issues involved in this supposed system of economic control can be discussed, in their complexity, when the functioning of the Sarmatian „limes” will be clarified. For this, archaeological exca-vations are required in the most delicate areas of the Roman vallum: the crossing points through this border. On the sheep roads, there were probably some gates arranged that were used in our case (Carpathian – Danube area) only for a short time, during the fall, when the flocks were herded on wintering in the plain. On the other hand, even if the relationship of this so-called limes with transhumance will not be confirmed, the areas of intersection of ancient roads with the earthen embankments must be archaeologically investigated, because this border could not be hermetically closed.

• Details
• Contents