Settlement size, site history, and mortality at Roman Viminacium: Testing the urban graveyard hypothesis
Апстракт
It is a widely held view that ancient cities were unhealthy environments. Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that larger pre-Industrial cities were so lethal as to be unable to sustain their population levels without constant immigration from rural hinterlands. The present study therefore examines mortality at the ancient city of Viminacium on the Danube frontier in an attempt to test the Urban Graveyard Hypothesis using skeletal remains from a provincial Late Roman context. Given the known trajectory of urban development at Viminacium, which began as a small military outpost on the Roman Limes during the 1st Century and evolved into a large, regionally
important political and economic center persisting into the 5th century, it was possible to study changes in health as settlement size and density increased through examination of skeletons from the graveyards surrounding the city. The results suggest that local, historically-specific conditions – namely the Third Century Cri...sis known from ancient documentary sources – were far more influential upon general public health than increasing population size at Viminacium.
Кључне речи:
provincial roman urbanism / urban graveyard effect / third century crisis / paleodemography / event history analysis / survival analysis / transition analysisИзвор:
Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Limes XXIIII, 2nd - 9th September 2018 Viminacium Belgrade, Serbia. Vol. 2, 2023, 1011-1022Издавач:
- Beograd : Arheološki institut
Колекције
Институција/група
Археолошки институт / Institute of ArchaeologyTY - CHAP AU - Speal, C. Scott AU - Stojić, Goran PY - 2023 UR - http://rai.ai.ac.rs/handle/123456789/1475 AB - It is a widely held view that ancient cities were unhealthy environments. Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that larger pre-Industrial cities were so lethal as to be unable to sustain their population levels without constant immigration from rural hinterlands. The present study therefore examines mortality at the ancient city of Viminacium on the Danube frontier in an attempt to test the Urban Graveyard Hypothesis using skeletal remains from a provincial Late Roman context. Given the known trajectory of urban development at Viminacium, which began as a small military outpost on the Roman Limes during the 1st Century and evolved into a large, regionally important political and economic center persisting into the 5th century, it was possible to study changes in health as settlement size and density increased through examination of skeletons from the graveyards surrounding the city. The results suggest that local, historically-specific conditions – namely the Third Century Crisis known from ancient documentary sources – were far more influential upon general public health than increasing population size at Viminacium. PB - Beograd : Arheološki institut T2 - Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Limes XXIIII, 2nd - 9th September 2018 Viminacium Belgrade, Serbia. Vol. 2 T1 - Settlement size, site history, and mortality at Roman Viminacium: Testing the urban graveyard hypothesis EP - 1022 SP - 1011 UR - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_rai_1475 ER -
@inbook{ author = "Speal, C. Scott and Stojić, Goran", year = "2023", abstract = "It is a widely held view that ancient cities were unhealthy environments. Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that larger pre-Industrial cities were so lethal as to be unable to sustain their population levels without constant immigration from rural hinterlands. The present study therefore examines mortality at the ancient city of Viminacium on the Danube frontier in an attempt to test the Urban Graveyard Hypothesis using skeletal remains from a provincial Late Roman context. Given the known trajectory of urban development at Viminacium, which began as a small military outpost on the Roman Limes during the 1st Century and evolved into a large, regionally important political and economic center persisting into the 5th century, it was possible to study changes in health as settlement size and density increased through examination of skeletons from the graveyards surrounding the city. The results suggest that local, historically-specific conditions – namely the Third Century Crisis known from ancient documentary sources – were far more influential upon general public health than increasing population size at Viminacium.", publisher = "Beograd : Arheološki institut", journal = "Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Limes XXIIII, 2nd - 9th September 2018 Viminacium Belgrade, Serbia. Vol. 2", booktitle = "Settlement size, site history, and mortality at Roman Viminacium: Testing the urban graveyard hypothesis", pages = "1022-1011", url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_rai_1475" }
Speal, C. S.,& Stojić, G.. (2023). Settlement size, site history, and mortality at Roman Viminacium: Testing the urban graveyard hypothesis. in Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Limes XXIIII, 2nd - 9th September 2018 Viminacium Belgrade, Serbia. Vol. 2 Beograd : Arheološki institut., 1011-1022. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_rai_1475
Speal CS, Stojić G. Settlement size, site history, and mortality at Roman Viminacium: Testing the urban graveyard hypothesis. in Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Limes XXIIII, 2nd - 9th September 2018 Viminacium Belgrade, Serbia. Vol. 2. 2023;:1011-1022. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_rai_1475 .
Speal, C. Scott, Stojić, Goran, "Settlement size, site history, and mortality at Roman Viminacium: Testing the urban graveyard hypothesis" in Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Limes XXIIII, 2nd - 9th September 2018 Viminacium Belgrade, Serbia. Vol. 2 (2023):1011-1022, https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_rai_1475 .