#A2ZChallenge O is for Oats

O is for oats… and some other things

 Theme: Ancient Roman Scotland during the Flavian era

Imagine the scene: The Ancient Roman Legions are on the march in northern Caledonia (present-day Aberdeenshire). General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola possibly had something like 18,000 - 23,000 soldiers in his advancing armies, if the auxiliary units from the Classis Britannica were alongside. 

What did they do to ensure such an enormous amount of men had enough food?

Water is a necessity of life and the Roman soldier carried a day’s supply of water in a water-skin attached to their sarcina (backpack). Temporary camps needed to be situated near a plentiful water source so that those water-skins could be refilled every day.

Tramping through barbarian territory, the Roman armies might have hoped in some locations to pilfer, or requisition, food from the local population. However, since the north-east of Scotland seemed to have had no large towns or cities, there being only archaeological evidence for small clusters of roundhouses lived in by what logically would have been extended family groupings, the food supplies they would have had would have fed hardly any of Agricola's Roman soldiers.

ancient oat variety - Wikipedia Commons

There’s some archaeological evidence for grain pit storage, where the locals kept essential oats and barley in an edible condition during the winter, but the chances of the locals having year after year of bumper yields is unlikely – the weather conditions not thought to have been too different from current weather patterns. That’s likely to have meant little extra supplies. It would have been typical for the local Iron-Age people to have farmed the amount of strip-fields that they could cope with, when they had sufficient people to do the essential manual labour.

Wikimedia Commons 

Archaeological evidence makes it seem unlikely that they would have had surplus stocks to trade with their neighbours, and no extras to give to marauding Ancient Roman invaders, though I image they were pilfered by Roman soldiers when possible.

The local Late Iron Age farmers had small herds of horses and other domestic animals – cows, sheep, pigs, hens etc. – but again they would only have reared an amount of animals that they could feed. Most of their animals would probably have been slaughtered before the onset of winter for two main reasons, retaining only sufficient to breed for the following year. The reasons being:
A) Feeding them in winter conditions may have been virtually impossible
B) The stored, or dried, meat products would have been a source of protein for themselves over the winter.

So, again, what the ancient Romans would have acquired from locals wouldn’t have made a dent in the huge food requirements for the legions.

One very important aspect we must take into account is that some 2000 years ago the diet of everyone was different from today. Meat eating would have been occasional rather than a daily consumption, for Celts and Romans. The vegetables we now expect on our plates in 2019 would not have been so varied back then in northern Caledonia (Aberdeenshire). In fact, most brassicas and root vegetables (cabbage, onion, leek, shallots, carrots, endive, globe artichokes, cucumber, marrow, asparagus, parsnip, turnip, radish and celery) were introduced to Britain by the Roman army, though it seems highly unlikely they were ever grown in northern Caledonia during the Agricolan invasion. However, some vegetables were grown in the permanent forts in the present-day Scottish Borders (e.g. Trimontium) probably even during the late Flavian occupations (see gardening tools in the J is for Jugs post). So, in general, the dietary expectations of the local population, and of the Roman army, were quite different from today.

How could the Ancient Roman General Agricola expect his legions to survive when on campaign in barbarian territory?

Since locally sourced food could not be guaranteed on a campaign, the Roman army was incredibly organised and took stocks with them when they campaigned around the Roman Empire. Their supply and distribution systems were critical to campaign success.

Nancy Jardine-Photo taken at Trimontium Museum, Melrose

Frumentum was the daily grain ration allotted to each soldier as part of their contract with Rome when they signed up for their 25 (+) years. The actual grain supply – wheat; oats; barley etc. – they received may have depended on where their supplies had been shipped from, and perhaps even the time of year.

Written evidence indicates that each basic contubernium group of 8 (+or-) soldiers was issued approx. 1.5 kg of grain a day, which they ground down into a coarse meal for making porridge, or when milled even more finely for making an unleavened bread.

(see post K is for Kintore to see an image of a typical on-campaign ‘bread oven’).

In the photo taken at the Trimontium Museum you can see a reconstruction of a typical coarse grain sack, and a round of flat bread in behind on the pottery plate.

The contubernium group cooked and ate together, possibly using a mess can as seen in the ‘J is for Jugs’ post for the sort of  porridge that was common, or for an occasional ‘stew’. Part of the soldier's basic kit also seems to have included a cooking pot, so the communal cooking was maybe on a rotational basis. The individual soldier may have eaten from his own pot if he had no other plate or bowl to eat from.

Nancy Jardine - oatcake

There are references to something being made by the Ancient Roman soldiers that we'd tend to call 'hard tack' today - a type of hard biscuit made from flour, water and generally a little salt. If made from oats it might have been like a more solid and less crumbly type of oatcake than I'd eat today. I love oatcakes and cheese!

Dairy products and eggs would have been a delightful extra while on campaign for the Roman soldier. 

Research seems to vary regarding who carried what during a long campaign. According to some sources, soldiers of the earlier Roman period carried their own issue of grains in their sarcina (backpack), sometimes for as many as fourteen or sixteen days. Other sources indicate that pack mules carried the goods which were issued to each contubernium group at each new marching camp.

It’s not clear how the food stocks arrived at the Agricolan Deer’s Den Kintore Temporary Camp in A.D. 84, but the huge amount of ovens uncovered show that bread was definitely cooked there. Some evidence of herbs led the archaeological team to postulate that the flat bread had additions to the top before cooking – herbs, possibly scraps of meat, perhaps some garum (fish sauce), olives and olive oil– creating a sort of pizza!

Wine watered down with vinegar would have been the common drink for the rank and file soldier. At some Hadrian's Wall forts (e.g. Vindolanda), some 20-40 years after the Agricolan campaigns, there's evidence that some auxiliary units originally from 'Belgium and Holland' drank beer -Tungrian and Batavian forces. It may have been the case that some Agricolan forces might also have drunk beer if stocks were able to be transported to them on campaign.

(In northern Caledonia, the local Iron-Age Celts would likely have drunk beer as well.) 

Cibaria were the non-grain rations issued to the soldiers and could have included – meat, herbs, vegetables, vinegar and seasonal and stored fruits and nuts.

Venators were highly specialised soldiers who went on the hunt, presumably when it was considered safe enough to do so, therefore venison from deer, or meat from wild boar may have been a very occasional addition to the soldiers' diet. Hares were to be found around Aberdeenshire but the rabbits only came much later...a legacy from Ancient Roman imports!

The local Iron Age Celts may not have eaten fish, since there's little archaeological evidence for this, though fish bones do not survive well in Aberdeenshire soil. There is also a possibility that there was an aversion to eating fish for religious reasons. However, the Romans (depending on their country of origin) probably did eat fish. There's evidence that garum (strong fish sauce) was transported across the empire in clay vessels, so fish may have been part of the diet when the Agricolan forces were in northern Caledonia.

spelt 

One major drawback to being on campaign in northern Caledonia might have been the fact that there’s little archaeological soil-sampling evidence for wheat growing. Since wheat seems to have been the most commonly consumed grain eaten by Roman soldiers across the empire, that might have been a cause for a bit of a grumble now and then from the rank and file.

Spelt, a type of ancient wheat, was possibly grown in the milder Moray Firth area but the more common grains found across the rest of Aberdeenshire have been oats and barley.

The Ancient Roman soldiers don’t seem to have minded oats, which is an excellent 'slow-release' food source. However, it was written that a frumentum of barley was highly disliked and regarded as a form of ‘punishment’. Perhaps that’s because the type of hulled barley locally grown in the north-east was less digestible than wheat or oats. It’s known from samples of faeces from midden and latrine pits that ringworm and other digestive problems were relatively common. UGH!

Personally, I eat porridge quite regularly so I do love oats.

For what the senior officers more likely ate and drank, if they didn't share the same diet as their underlings, hop over to this post for more information HERE or use the blog archive to search for other posts about Roman food.

Do you have a favourite amongst wheat, oats or barley? If so, what form is your favourite? (bread, porridge, biscuits etc)

Till tomorrow and another #A2ZChallenge post....

Slainthe!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oat 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustration_Hordeum_vulgare0B.jpg