Could the local population of the Lower Rhine delta supply the Roman army? Part 1: The archaeological and historical framework

Abstract

For a long time, historical sources and the marginal landscape have led to the assumption that the Roman army in the Rhine delta was mainly supplied with products transported over medium and long distances. In a diptych of articles, we will investigate whether this assumption is tenable for wood and food, based on archaeological, palaeo-environmental and geological research carried out in the past twenty years. The first article provides a review of the data, which leads to the argument that the Roman army also procured wood and food (especially cereals and beef) from agrarian settlements in the immediate surroundings. The second article will investigate the scale of local provisioning on the basis of a calculation model.