The last gates to the East: the Roman army outpost of Biğān on the Euphrates revisited

2021, 30, No. 2


Publication date

31.12.2021

Publishing model

open access

License type


Field

Humanities

Discipline

archeology

Language of publication

English

Downloads

PDF 3 MB

Article

Number of views:362

Number of downloads:77

Crossref citations:0

Altmetric score:0


Abstract

The army outpost on Biğān Island on the Euphrates (in Iraq) was excavated in the early 1980s, but it is only now that a thorough examination of the material from the Roman layers has been completed, giving grounds for a revisiting of issues related to the site’s chronology, function and role in the frontier zone between Rome and the empires of the East. The archaeological sources, mainly pottery and coins, are discussed in light of the army post’s island location and its role in interregional and long-distance trade. Of greatest interest in the pottery category are the transport/storage vessels that seem to belong to the same family as the broadly discussed so-called Mesopotamian Torpedo Jars.

Keywords:

Bibliography

Amodio, M. (2007). La classe di ceramica da cucina “brittle ware” rinvenuta a Tell Barri (Siria). In M. Sartre (ed.), Productions et échanges dans la Syrie grecque et romaine. Actes du colloque de Tours, juin 2003 (=Topoi Supplement 8) (pp. 231–248). Lyon: Maison de l’Orient Méditerranéen

Amodio, M. (2008). La “Brittle Ware” da Tell Barri. In R. Pierobon Benoit (ed.), Tell Barri: storia di un insediamento antico tra Oriente e Occidente (pp. 322–336). Naples: Macchiaroli

Begley, V., Francis Jr., P., Karashima, N., Raman, K.V., Sidebotham, S.E., and Will, E.L. (2004). The ancient port of Arikamedu: New excavations and researches 1989–1992, II (=Mémoires archéologiques 22/2). Pondichéry: Centre d’histoire et d’archéologie, École française d’Extrême-Orient

Casal, J.M. (1949). Fouilles de Virampatnam-Arikamedu: rapport de l’Inde et de l’occident aux environs de l’ère chrétienne. Paris: C. Klincksieck

Cherry, D. (2007). The frontier zones. In W. Scheidel, I. Morris, and R.P. Saller (eds), The Cambridge economic history of the Greco-Roman world (pp. 720–740). Cambridge–New York: Cambridge University Press

Connan, J. and Mouton, M. (1999). Study of some bituminous lumps of Mleiha: Preliminary results. In M. Mouton (ed.), Mleiha I. Environnement, stratégies de subsistance et artisanats (=Travaux de la Maison de l’Orient Méditerranéen 29) (pp. 245–264). Lyon: Maison de l’Orient Méditerranéen

Connan, J., Priestman, S., Vosmer, T., Komoot, A., Tofighian, H., Ghorbani, B., Engel, M.H., Zumberge, A., and van de Velde, T. (2020). Geochemical analysis of bitumen from West Asian torpedo jars from the c. 8th century Phanom-Surin shipwreck in Thailand. Journal of Archaeological Science, 117, 105111

Durand, C. (2021). From ‘ovoid jars’ to ‘torpedo jars’: Investigations into bitumen-lined transport containers in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean in antiquity (second century BCE–third century CE). Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 32(1), 21–32

Dyson, S.L. (1968). The excavations at Dura-Europos. Final report IV.1.3. The commonware pottery: The brittle ware. New Haven: Dura-Europos Publications

Excavations in Iraq, 1981–82. (1983). Iraq, 45(2), 199–224

Gawlikowski, M. (1985). Bijan in the Euphrates. Sumer, 42, 15–21

Gawlikowski, M. (1994). Palmyra as a trading centre. Iraq, 56, 27–33

Gawlikowski, M. (2017). The Indian trade between the Gulf and the Red Sea. In I. Zych (ed.), Research on the Red Sea (=Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 26/2) (pp. 15–30). Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press

Geschwind, M. (2004). Qreiye/Ayyash—Ein römisches Kastell am Euphrat. In Zwischen Kulturen und Kontinenten: 175 Jahre Forschung am Deutschen Archäologischen Institut (pp. 160–161). Berlin: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

Graf, D.F. (2018). The Silk Road between Syria and China. In A. Wilson and A. Bowman (eds), Trade, commerce, and the state in the Roman world (pp. 443–529). Oxford: Oxford University Press

Invernizzi, A. (1986). Researches in Kifrin—Al-Qadissiya Dam project. Sumer, 42, 22–26

Jasim, S. and Yousif, E. (2014). Dibba: An ancient port on the Gulf of Oman in the early Roman era. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 25(1), 50–79

Kennedy, D.L. (1986). Ana on the Euphrates in the Roman period. Iraq, 48, 103–104

Kennedy, D.L. and Northedge, A. (1988). ‘Āna in the Classical sources. In A. Northedge, A. Bamber, and M. Roaf, Excavations at ʻĀna: Qalʻa island (=Iraq Archaeological Reports 1) (pp. 6–8). Warminster: Aris & Phillips

Kennet, D. (1991). Excavations at the site al-Qusur, Failaka, Kuwait. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 21, 97–111

Krogulska, M. (1987). Bijan. Archiv für Orientforschung, 34, 155–156

Krogulska, M. (1992). Bijan Island. Polish excavations on the Middle Euphrates (Iraq). Études et Travaux, 16, 353–362

Krogulska, M. and Stępniowski, F.M. (1995). Bidżan – polskie wykopaliska w Iraku w latach 1979–1983 (Bijan – Polish excavations in Iraq in 1979–1983). In M.L. Bernhard (ed.), Od Nilu do Eufratu: Polska archeologia śródziemnomorska 1981–1994 (pp. 127–134). Warsaw: Uniwersytet Warszawski, Centrum Archeologii Śródziemnomorskiej im. prof. Kazimierza Michałowskiego (in Polish)

Linck, R., Fassbinder, J.W.E., Buckreuss, S., and Seren, S. (2012). Satellite-based geophysical prospection of the Roman fortress of Qreiye-‘Ayyāš in Syria. Paper presented at the “Recent Work in Archaeological Geophysics” conference, Burlington House, Tuesday, 4th December 2012. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259896671_Satellite-based_geophysical_prospection_of_the_Roman_fortress_of_Qreiye-Ayyas_in_Syria (accessed: 14.10.2021)

Lischi, S., Odelli, E., Perumal, J.L., Lucejko, J.J., Ribechini, E., Mariotti Lippi, M., Selvaraj, T., Colombini, M.P., and Raneri, S. (2020). Indian Ocean trade connections: Characterization and commercial routes of torpedo jars. Heritage Science, 8, 76.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-020-00425-9

Lönnqvist, M. (2009). Archaeological surveys of Jebel Bishri: The preliminary report of the Finnish Mission to Syria, 2005–2006. Kaskal, 6, 2–42

Majcherek, G. and Taha, A. (2004). Roman and Byzantine layers at Umm el-Tlel: Ceramics and other finds. Syria, 81(1), 229–248

Moriggi, M. (2020). Hatran Aramaic and Old Syriac: Parallelisms and differences in Aramaic epigraphy of late antique Jazirah. Archiv Orientální, 88, 1–13

Northedge, A., Bamber, A., and Roaf, M. (1988). Excavations at К»ДЂna: QalК»a island (=Iraq Archaeological Reports 1). Warminster: Aris & Phillips

Oates, D. and Oates, J. (1959). Ain Sinu: A Roman frontier post in northern Iraq. Iraq, 21(2), 207–242

Palermo, R. (2019). On the edge of empires: North Mesopotamia during the Roman period (2nd–4th c. CE). Abingdon: Routledge

Pavan, A. (2017). A cosmopolitan city on the Arabian coast: The imported and local pottery from Khor Rori (=Arabia Antica 12). Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider

Priestman, S. (2013). A quantitative archaeological analysis of ceramic exchange in the Persian Gulf and Western Indian Ocean, AD c.400–1275 (Ph.D. diss.). University of Southampton

Reynolds, P. and Waksman, Y.S. (2007). Beirut cooking wares, 2nd to 7th centuries: Local forms and north Palestinian imports. Berytus, 50, 59–81

Salomon, R. (1998). Indian epigraphy: A guide to the study of inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan languages. New York: Oxford University Press

Schmidt-Colinet, A. and al-As’ad, W. (eds). (2013). Palmyras Reichtum durch weltweiten Handel: Archäologische Untersuchungen im Bereich der hellenistischen Stadt II. Vienna: Holzhausen der Verlag

Schneider, G., Vokaer, A., Bartl, K., and Daszkiewicz, M. (2007). Some new results of archaeometric analysis of Brittle Wares. In M. Bonifay and J.-C. Tréglia (eds), LRCW 2. Late Roman coarse wares, cooking wares and amphorae in the Mediterranean. Archaeology and archaeometry (=BAR International Series 1662) (pp. 715–730). Oxford: Archaeopress

Sedov, A.V. (2007). The port of Qana’ and the incense trade. In D.P.S. Peacock and D.F. Williams (eds), Food for the gods: New light on the ancient incense trade (pp. 71–111). Oxford: Oxbow

Shai, I. and Maeir, A.M. (2003). Pre-lmlk jars: A new class of Iron Age IIA storage jars. Tel Aviv, 30(1), 108–123

Sidebotham, S.E. (2011). Berenike and the ancient maritime Spice Route. Berkeley: University of California Press

Stern, B., Connan, J., Blakelock, E., Jackman, R., Coningham, R. a. E., and Heron, C. (2008). From Susa to Anuradhapura: Reconstructing aspects of trade and exchange in bitumen-coated ceramic vessels between Iran and Sri Lanka from the third to ninth centuries AD. Archaeometry, 50(3), 409–428

Tomber, R. (2008). Indo-Roman trade: From pots to pepper. London: Duckworth

Tomber, R., Spataro, M., and Priestman, S. (2020). Early Islamic torpedo jars from Siraf: Scientific analyses of the clay fabric and source of Indian Ocean transport containers. Iran, 1–24.

https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2020.1792797

Valtz, E. (1985). Kifrin, la fortezza del limes. In La terra tra i due fiumi: venti anni di archeologia italiana in Medio Oriente. La Mesopotamia dei Tesori (pp. 111–120). Alexandria: Il Quadrante

Vokaer, A. (2009). Brittle Ware trade in Syria between the 5th and the 8th centuries. In M.M. Mango (ed.), Byzantine trade, 4th–12th centuries: The archaeology of local, regional and international exchange. Papers of the thirty-eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, St John’s College, University of Oxford, March 2004 (pp. 121–136). Farnham: Ashgate Publishing

Vokaer, A. (2010). Cooking in a perfect pot. Shapes, fabrics and function of cooking ware in late antique Syria. In S. Menchelli, S. Santoro, M. Pasquinucci, and G. Guiducci (eds), LRCW 3: Late Roman coarse wares, cooking wares and amphorae in the Mediterranean. Archaeology and archaeometry. Comparison between Western and Eastern Mediterranean I (=BAR International Series 2185/1) (pp. 115–129). Oxford: Archaeopress

Vokaer, A. (2010–2011). Byzantine cooking ware imports in Syria: The “Workshop X.” Berytus, 53–54, 213–232

Vokaer, A. (2013). Continuity and changes in ceramic production and exchange in Syria during the Byzantine and early Islamic periods (5th–8th c. AD). In A. Kralidis and A. Gkoutzioukostas (Eds), Proceedings of the International Symposium “Byzantium and the Arab World: Encounter of Civilizations (Thessaloniki, 16–18 December 2011) (pp. 517–544). Thessaloniki:

Vokaer, A. (2013). Continuity and changes in ceramic production and exchange in Syria during the Byzantine and early Islamic periods (5th–8th c. A.D.). In A. Kralidēs and A. Gkoutzioukōstas (eds), Proceedings of the international symposium “Byzantium and the Arab world: Encounter of civilizations” (Thessaloniki, 16–18 December 2011) (pp. 483–510). Thessaloniki: Aristoteleio Panepistēmio Thessalonikēs

Wheeler, R.E.M., Ghosh, A., and Deva, K. (1946). Arikamedu, an Indo-Roman trading-station on the East Coast of India. Ancient India, 2, 17–124

Ziółkowski, A. (2004). Historia Rzymu (A history of Rome). Poznań: Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk (in Polish with English summary)

Similar publications