Analysing Roman itineraries using GIS tooling: the case of the road XIX (mansions from Tude to Luco Augusti)

Abstract

Reconstruction of the Roman road network must be approached from different methodologies of multidisciplinary character. Once the traditional approaches have been exhausted without achieving a historiographical consensus, the problem may appear insurmountable. However, leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provides an avenue for re-evaluating existing proposals and suggesting more fitting layouts. This can be accomplished through a meticulous analysis that incorporates topographic and non-Euclidean correlations; allowing a more nuanced and accurate understanding of the subject matter than conventional methods might offer. In this context, the aim of this article is to discuss intriguing research points. But also emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary and multi-proxy studies in relation with the Roman terrestrial networks. We explore a case study in the Galician territory, where we have detected methodological shortcomings reconstructing the route of the XIX road: Item Bracaram Asturicam. One of the sections, from Tude to Luco Augusti, has aroused a greater debate, based on several basic problems: (1) the identification of the mansions, (2) the lack of consensus in the measurements of the distances, (3) the miles referred to in the classical sources, and (4) the complex orography of this territory. To propose answers and theories, that may solve the current problems of the description of this route of the XIX road, a multi- proxy approached methodology is proposed. Thus, by applying Geographic Information Systems techniques, we will be able to calculate the optimal path, and compare the results with historical data and archaeological evidence.