Diana Veteranorum and the Dynamics of an Inland Economy
In: Local Economies?
Author:
Elizabeth Fentress
Elizabeth Fentress
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Abstract
A small survey carried out in 1991 throws some light on Late Roman settlement in the region of Diana Veteranorum in the Belezma Mountains in Numidia. All the sites examined showed 5th c. pottery, which suggests that occupation peaked around that time. The reasons for the high occupation density seem to lie in intensive textile manufacture, as well as stock raising, the products of which would have been sold to the army or to the provincial capitals. The collapse of this settlement in the 6th c. can be attributed to the disappearance of the market provided by these sources, as well as to increasing insecurity and, perhaps, the arrival of nomadic groups from the south.