INTRODUCTION

Written sources, in particular the handbooks of the agronomists Varro, Cato and Columella, show that slaves were systematically deployed on the large villa complexes of Italy. Historians long regarded them as the principal form of labour. Unfortunately, we have almost no written sources that paint a picture of the situation in the countryside in the northern provinces. Our question then is to what extent were slaves deployed there too to work the estates of villa owners? What archaeological evidence is there? Can slavery even be ‘captured’ in archaeological terms?

Slavery is a much neglected topic within archaeology. The literature on Roman villas has almost nothing to say on the subject. In part, this is because slavery is a vexed ethical issue that does not accord with the picture that many people like to present of a civilised antiquity. According to Samson, the prevailing bourgeois and capitalist worldview and its corresponding historical tradition was unable to generate any enthusiasm for archaeological research into slavery. All of this serves to make the lack of evidence for slavery a self-fulfilling prophecy: those who do not seek shall not find.

The lack of research findings and literature on this topic is certainly also the result of methodological obstacles, however. It has long been assumed that slavery lies outside the scope of archaeology. Slaves are themselves property, and the little that they possess is difficult to tell apart from the possessions of other lower social groups. What could they possibly have bequeathed us in the way of an archaeological footprint, apart from the most obvious indications of slavery such as chains, collars and slave bullae? Given that these material categories are only seldom encountered, many archaeologists remain sceptical about the archaeological tangibility of slavery. Yet there is a case to be made, as Webster, Thompson and George above all demonstrate, that archaeologists can make a valuable contribution to discussions on rural slavery in the Roman world.