GIS applications to Roman Limes in Germania Inferior
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2024-03-13

Raffaele Rizzo, Vincenzo Ria

The roman limes can be considered and studied as the result of fossilization a contact line between two or more conflicting forces (Maggi 2011). In the case of the province of the Germania Inferior (corresponding to today’s Netherlands and part of West Germany), the roman limes come to coincide with the course of the river Rhine, a natural barrier. In the specifics of this investigation, it was decided to apply some spatial analysis to demonstrate how the Roman forts responded to specific requirements, like visual control of the surrounding area and capacity and timing of movement. 
The use of GIS and spatial analysis can be useful for understanding the Roman fortification system, like communication networks or hierarchical relationships, as well as for hypothesizing the position of unknown forts.
This model can also be useful for reconstructing the ancient landascape of the area and the impact of Roman Empire. This model has been partially analyzed in a recent article (Ria, Rizzo 2023), in the present contribution we intend to extend the results to all the forts located along the limes.