Living in barracks: when the cat is away...

[Kegluneq]

Thanks for replying, Robert. My initial response would be that, if the evidence is not clear cut, it shouldn't be used to make sensational claims. Until such time as footwear in barracks can safely be diagnosed as female, we shouldn't be claiming that women definitely lived there. This is certainly the assumption that Elizabeth Greene has made, and (imho) this is the fatal weakness in her thesis.

I don't really see it as sensational at all, to be honest. We can readily accept the idea that people other than soldiers (and the family of the commander) had access to Roman forts - such as the grooms of cavalrymen and other slaves - and smaller sizes of footwear have been readily associated with adolescents and children. We know that Roman soldiers were not universally celibate and that many (although not most) will have had unofficial marriages by the end of their service. It's possible that women and children resided outside the forts within the vicus, although this again lacks positive evidence AFAIK (and begs the question of what would qualify).

However, when all other evidence speaks against female residency, we really need to be sure of our evidence before we start asserting that women definitely lived there, too.

This is starting to sound rather Putin-esque now! What level of evidence would be appropriate? Any form of material culture could simply have been brought in and dumped by a man after all (an opinion certainly mooted in the past for smaller items such as jewellery). Tab. Vindol. 154 and 310 strongly imply the close involvement of women within military circles, yet don't state where they were living - but this is pretty much par for the course within the tablets. Is there any positive evidence against women in forts other than the idealised writings of distant authors?

(Edit: Obviously the barracks can be safely assumed to be occupied by males; the point of the small finds remark was to point out the additional burden of proof placed upon women. It's worth noting that discussions of chalet barracks have generally moved on from assuming that they were purpose-built family buildings.)

It's a pity you don't have access to my Ancient Warfare discussion, as it includes a detailed refutation of Pim Allison's claim that she can prove that women lived in the fort at Oberstimm, including a site plan plotting all the alleged "female" artefacts, so that you can make your own mind up.

Time to get the bank card out I guess! Welp.