Carnuntum Jahrbuch 2017, pp. 47-54, 2018/12/05
Zeitschrift für Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte des Donauraumes
Roman watchtowers were erected at strategic points along the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Various functions have been attributed to such towers. One of these functions was the transmission of messages or communications. These would have been relayed by optical signals. It is therefore assumed that sight-lines existed between watchtowers. This paper discusses the extent to which the existence of such visual relationships may have played a role in the location of watchtowers, on the basis of a landscape archaeology case study. The selected study area includes a section of the Lower Austrian “Danube Limes” near Mautern, where several burgi were discovered on the south bank of the Danube River, west of the fort at Favianis. Visual field evaluations based on a digital terrain model (DTM) spatially analyze the visual relationship between burgi, as well as between them and the fort, in a Geographic Information System (GIS).
