At the limits of the empire: food plant introductions and socio-economic changes in the Roman provinces of Germania

Abstract

This study examines the introduction, distribution and potential adoption of new food plants in the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Superior. Drawing on a broad dataset of both published and unpublished archaeobotanical studies from a large geographical area and a wide range of settlement types, the study provides detailed insights into how food plants circulated within varying social structures in the northern reaches of the Roman Empire and beyond. A consideration of chronology and site type enabled the identification of three agents responsible for the distribution of new food plants in the northern provinces. These are related to military logistics, urban networks and ceremonial practices. The analysis of the changing distribution of food plants through time indicated that most never became part of the general local foodways but were rather integrated into specific contexts at particular times. It was only a limited number of species that were adopted and/or integrated into local cultivation and culinary regimes and these again were related to specific social groups and/or regions.