Collaborative Research: Luwian-Roman Interaction in Western Rough Cilicia

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support Drs. LuAnn Wandsnider, Nicholas Rauh and an international group of collaborators will conduct archaeological research in the Western Rough Cilicia region of Turkey. Located in the Eastern Mediterranean the area was famous both as a pirate base and for the tenacity with which it resisted incorporation into the succession of empires which sought to dominate this large Near Eastern region. During the first and second centuries BC pirates reportedly amassed 1000 warships and 30,000 combatants and extended their naval operations and depredations throughout the Mediterranean, roving as far as Italy and Spain. In 67 BC the Roman general Pompey temporarily eliminated the pirate menace and in 71 AD the region was formally incorporated into the Roman empire. Although literary sources attest to this fact, it is unclear to what extent the Rough Cilicia maintained a degree of autonomy or the nature of the relationship between this peripheral area and the core of the Roman empire. Through archaeological research the investigators will study the changes in social organization which took place after incorporation and the evidence for direct Roman presence in the area. To meet these objectives they will develop a ceramic reference collection which will allow dating of individual sites. They will conduct a coarse grained foot survey (supplemented by remote sensing and interview with local inhabitants) and will document architectural sites to establish stylistic conventions and construction and remodeling sequences for domestic, fortification, religious and industrial structures. They will also carry out a preliminary paleoenvironmental studies to determine whether detailed environmental reconstruction is possible. If so, this will establish the groundwork for looking at utilization and degradation of the landscape. Empires arose independently in many regions of the world and archaeologists wish to understand the processes which underlay their origins and the functioning. By definition, power rests with a central ethnic group which attempts to extend control - usually through actual or implied use of force - over the maximum area possible. At the same time subject peoples try to retain as much autonomy as possible. Researchers have posited multiple strategies both for the conqueror and the conquered and Rough Cilicia provides an excellent context to evaluate them.