RoMEC XVIIII: Cavalry in the Roman World, St Andrews 6–11th June 2016
The nineteenth edition of the prestigious Roman Military Equipment Conference (RoMEC), dedicated to the theme of cavalry in the Roman world was hosted by the University of St Andrews, in St Andrews, Scotland, on 6–11th June 2016. This year the Conference organizer was Dr. J. C. N. Coulston, one of the authors of the idea of RoMEC. Next to professional archaeologists - with an especially large turnout from Great Britain this year - the Conference, typically for RoMECs, was attended by re-enactors and Roman military equipment buffs from around the world. Among some hundred or so participants some came from countries outside Europe, eg, Israel and New Zealand. Poland was represented by MPOV Project Team member Bartosz Kontny who presented a paper, in his own name and in the name of another Project Team Member, Marcin Rudnicki. The previous RoMEC conference editions have tended to devote more room to Barbarian themes, but this time things were different. All the same, we were proud to be able to report on new materials, some of them presented earlier, briefly, within the MPOV Project at this year’s annual conference at Nieborów, proving a perfect fit with the theme of the Conference. Our presentation dedicated to Roman military equipment from the Roman Period, but more particularly, from the early Migration Period, from discoveries made in the north-central region of Poland (Kujawy) sparked some interest; none of the conclusions concerning the artefacts attribution was challenged, even with the flower of specialists on Roman weapons and equestrian gear in the audience. Needless to say, we took good care to have the MPOV logo properly displayed.
One of the Conference highlights was a display of Roman cavalry of the early and late Empire, its main organizer and actor John Conyard, outstanding reconstructor of Roman military equipment. Two one-and-a-half hour long show left the viewers asking for more, but enough opportunity was provided for a discussion on many important aspects of cavalry and combat. Another enjoyable highlight of the Conference was an excursion to Antonine Wall sites (Rough Castle), and visiting the Hunterian Collections, University of Glasgow, and archaeological collections of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Last but not least, there was even a whisky tasting at the School of Classics, University of St Andrews.
The full program of the Conference may be found here: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/classics/events/conferences/2015-2016/romecxviiii/programme/. We expect to see the Conference papers published in two years’ time, traditionally, in the Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies.
Bartosz Kontny
