Materialising Roman Diplomacy: Long-distance connections in the Age of Augustus

Materialising Roman Diplomacy – Using archeometallurgy to identify long-distance contacts or close encounters at the time ofAugustus.The arrival of Roman objects in Jutland and neighbouring islands marks the beginning of the Roman Iron Age in Denmark.They attest to the first interactions with the Roman world, an important moment, the transition from prehistoryto history. The nature of this contact, however, remains to be fully understood. Some objects could have found their way toDenmark indirectly via various exchange routes. However, there is reason to believe that the first items arrived as the result ofdirect interactions with Roman groups. Using Roman bronze vessels as a proxy for contact, this project provides a means totest the nature of these earliest interactions with the Roman world, demonstrating whether some might be the result of directcontacts. Chemical and isotopic analyses will be used to determine whether this group of objects, including one prestigiousiconic type (Eggers 92) found in multiple burials, are materially related (or indeed the same). Should the results confirm thesebronzes to be identical, they may bring to life in material form a single diplomatic gift event as part of the first historical Romannaval expedition to Jutland instigated by General Tiberius in AD 4/5, who shortly after became Emperor of the Roman Empire.