The making of the Roman landscape: conceptual investigations into the genesis of centuriated field systems

From a technical perspective, the body of late Roman documents known collectively as the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum has proved an invaluable source for the study of the development of centuriated and other Roman field systems. However, over-reliance on the Corpus as an analytical source has resulted in the idea of a landscape defined under the Roman land surveyor’s technical criteria. Roman surveying text interpretations have also promoted the application of rather rigid parameters in the morphologic analysis of these structures. In this paper we would like to move beyond the practicalities of Roman field surveying applications and explore the concepts and ideas behind the making of a centuriated landscape, of which the city layout was an essential part. Through a combination of GIS-based archaeomorphological research and visual analysis we aim to show the centuriation as a land appropriation process in which cultural and religious factors played an essential role. Particularly, this landscape appropriation draws its basis in a complex cosmogonical conception related with the foundation rite of Roman colonies. This paper will finally try to demonstrate the flexibility and adaptability of the Roman land surveying techniques illustrating how their application, rather than being rigid, allowed the constraints of the physical environment to be overcome in order to create a truly Roman landscape. All these considerations will be central to the discussion about the study of the centuriations associated with the ancient city of Tarraco (modern Tarragona, Spain). This area will be employed as a case study given the appropriateness of its archaeological data