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Romanisation: Interaction, Conquest and Change in Late Iron Age and Roman Dacia

Module description

The module assesses the archaeological impact of the Roman conquest on people and conquered territories through the case study of ancient Dacia, the only province to be conquered through warfare in the second century AD, when Rome was at the height of her power. The module employs extensive comparison with other Roman provinces conquered previously in order to build student awareness of how archaeological evidence contributes to critical, decolonized understandings of ancient imperialism.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Focusing on the case of one province of the Roman Empire, students will develop an archaeological understanding of the impact of the Roman civilisation on native cultures as an Empire-wide, changing phenomenon.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand the concept of Romanisation as a process of cultural interaction and acculturation
• 2. Know the key features of the archaeology of Iron Age and Roman Dacia (main sites, current problems and interpretations)
• 3. Demonstrate ability to assess comparatively various datasets as commonly encountered in Roman provincial archaeology
• 4. Demonstrate awareness of the different scales of social and political organisation and how they are expressed in the archaeological record

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Research a topic guided by a reading list, to understand and interpret archaeological information from a range of sources
• 6. Organise a range of information synthetically in order to address key thematic issues

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Self-reflect on progress within a co-operative group environment
• 8. Learn from peers, both giving and receiving constructive criticism
• 9. Write clearly and concisely in good English, to strict word limits

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction to Romanisation
• The archaeological and historical background of the area
• The Roman conquest of Dacia and its provincial organisation
• Military presence
• Settlement pattern
• Economy
• Religion and spiritual life
• Society: colonists and natives
• The end of Roman Dacia
• Colonialism and nationalism in the archaeology of the Roman conquest of Dacia

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Hanson, W.S. and Haynes, I.P. (eds) (2004). Roman Dacia: the making of a provincial society, JRA Supplementary Series 56, Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
• Oltean, I.A. (2007) Dacia. Landscape, Colonisation, Romanization, Routledge, London, New York.
• Oltean IA, Hanson WS (2017). Conquest strategy and political discourse: new evidence for the conquest of Dacia from LiDAR analysis at Sarmizegetusa Regia. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 30, 429-446
• Oltean I, Fonte J (2019). Microtopographies of Dacian upland settlement strategies and community aggregation trends in the Or??tie Mountains, Romania. In Cowley DC, Fernandez-Gotz M, Romankiewicz T, Wendling H (Eds.) Rural Settlement Relating Buildings, Landscape, and People in the European Iron Age, Leiden: Sidestone Press, 251-261
• Pitts, M. and Miguel John Versluys, M.J. (eds) (2015). Globalisation and the Roman world: world history, connectivity and material culture Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (online).
• Popa, C. N. and Stoddart S. (eds) (2014). Fingerprinting the Iron Age: approaches to identity in the European Iron Age: integrating South-Eastern Europe into the debate. Oxford: Oxbow Books (online).
• Roselaar, S.T. (ed) (2015). Processes of cultural change and integration in the Roman world Leiden; Boston: Brill (online).
• Wells, P.S. (1999) The Barbarians speak: how the conquered peoples shaped Roman Europe, Princeton.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1783

Key words search

Dacia, Roman, Archaeology