Transformation: an EU Project
Roman building techniques outside the empire
While Roman imports found in graves and settlements outside the
empire attest the close trade links between the inhabitants of the
provinces and the population on the far side of the frontier, a
series of sites with buildings of Roman type indicates the presence
of the Romans themselves. One of these is the ca. 50 ha site on
the Hradisko at Mušov (CZ). Numerous pieces of military equipment confirm the presence here of Roman soldiers in the years
between AD172 and 180, during the Marcomannic Wars. In ad-
The Hradisko at Mušov
The Roman remains excavated to date on the
Hradisko. Black edged: only known through
prospection
Already in existence by the mid-second century AD was a rectangular timber framed building on dry stone foundations at Stupava, near Bratislava (SK). Attached to it was a walled courtyard.
The discovery of a piece of mail armour in the ruins of the house
suggests a military use of the building. In the second half of the
second century, two new buildings were erected on the same
spot. They were linked by a wall to form a complex in the manner
Reconstruction of the Roman building at Stupava in the midsecond century
Foundations of bath and building 4
Foundation of Building 5
of a simple Villa rustica. The outer timber framed walls were plastered and emplaced in sills of mortared stone. At the turn of the
second and third centuries, the courtyard was enlarged and areas
within it partitioned to form a typical Villa rustica. The rooms,
some equipped with underfloor heating, and decorated with
painted plaster, testify to the Romanised lifestyle of the owner.
Reconstruction of the Roman building at Stupava in the midsecond century
The site at Bratislava-Dúbravka (SK) is an oddity: next to a timber
hall-like building, roofed with Roman tiles, a small bath-house was
built of mortared rubble, in the way commonly found at villas
within the empire. Like all Roman baths it possessed a changing
room (Apodyterium) and hot, warm and cold plunge baths
(Caldarium, Tepidarium, Frigidarium). But no underfloor heat was
supplied to the Caldarium and Tepidarium, so the baths can not
have functioned in the Roman manner. Evidently here a Roman
building form was being imitated – but without a mastery of the
accompanying technology.
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dition, the mud-brick defensive circuit with defensive ditches (1)
and towers (3), and a timber gate (2), are all recognisable as
Roman military work. The shape of the site, however, and the interior buildings, are unusual for a Roman fort of this period. The
buildings are best paralleled in Roman civil contexts. They include
a 21m long timber frame building on brick foundations, with four
partly heated rooms close to a set of baths (4); and a building
raised on timber sills with apse and colonnaded court (5).
The bath-house at Bratislava-Dúbravka
Reconstruction of the Roman building at Stupava after the turn of
the second and third centuries
The construction of the walls of the bath-house
at Bratislava-Dúbravka