Livestock morphological variation as evidence for cultural and economic change during the Roman occupation of southeast Europe

This study explores cultural and economic change during the Roman occupation of southeast Europe via the analysis of spatiotemporal variation in livestock size. Along with increased specialisation, the Roman period saw livestock morphological change across Europe. This paper presents cattle, sheep/goat and pig metrical data from sites across modern Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, spanning the late Iron Age to the early Byzantine period. Data are analysed from three regions subject to varying levels of Roman control: (1) the Balkan provinces, under long-term occupation; (2) Dacia, a province from 106 to 271/275 CE; and (3) regions to the northwest and northeast that remained beyond the Empire. There is little evidence for any livestock size change during the early Roman occupation in the Balkan provinces, despite major changes in many other aspects of life; the data indicate continued reliance on long-established modes of production. The mid-Roman period sees statistically significant increases in cattle and sheep/goat size, concurrent with the development of a cattle-focused economic system across occupied regions. The occupation of Dacia and the relative stability it brought may have helped facilitate these changes. While the late Roman period sees livestock size decrease in post-Roman Dacia, larger cattle and sheep/goat persist in the Balkan provinces through the late Roman and early Byzantine periods. Their continued presence amid widespread political and economic instability suggests that mid-Roman size increases were achieved predominantly via genetic change, rather than improved feeding, enabling larger animals to persist despite disruption and fluctuating Roman control.