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PERSPECTIVES ON ROMAN TECHNOLOGY
Author(s) -
GREENE KEVIN
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0092.1990.tb00223.x
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , roman empire , archaeology , industrial revolution , architecture , white (mutation) , history , water supply , engineering , civil engineering , environmental engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
Summary.This paper considers the very different views on Roman technology expressed by K.D. White, O. Wikander and J.P. Oleson. The concept of Roman technology is explored in the light of recent archaeological research into boats, vehicles, water‐lifting devices and water‐mills. It is argued that the application of appropriate, evolving, and occasionally innovative technology can be detected in several spheres of civil and military engineering, such as water‐supply and architecture. However, the application of technology is most impressive in the context of food production and transport. Whilst agreeing that the Roman empire was not fertile ground for an Industrial Revolution of the kind experienced in eighteenth‐century England, I hope to demonstrate that this conclusion does not require a wholesale rejection of the possibility of technical innovation.