Agriculture, underemployment, and the cost of rural labour in the Roman world

Abstract

On many important aspects of the economic life of the rural population there is little that can be said. The complaint about the lack of secure data regarding the rural population of the ancient world has often been repeated, and there is no reason to restate the remarks about the lack of interest in the ancient sources for this topic. There is a danger, however, that absence of information may lead to an over-simplified picture of what actually happened. It is generally assumed that 80 or 90% of the ancient population was engaged in agriculture and that, conversely, only a small part of the population was engaged in non-agricultural work. Ancient historians have a tendency to treat the various sectors in the economy—commercial farming, subsistence farming, industries, and services (especially transport)—as strictly detached from each others. This is too simplistic a picture. We should not underestimate the importance of the employment of various economic strategies by the ancient farming population. This means that a peasant might also have been from time to time a charcoal maker, muleteer, or textile worker. If so, then agriculture and the non-agricultural sectors were indissolubly connected.

A multi‐method assessment of bone maintenance and loss in anImperialRoman population: Implications for future studies of age‐related bone loss in the past

“…What is important to emphasize is that strenuous activity would have probably begun early in life (Dixon, ; Redfern, ; Sigismund‐Nielsen, ) and would have persisted for much of the life course. Additionally, although a gendered division of labor would have been present for many occupations, non‐elite women were not immune from difficult lives of manual labor and would have participated in maintaining agricultural crops and perhaps participated as unskilled laborers (Brunt, ; Erdkamp, ; Scheidel, ; Toner, ).…”

Age-Related Cortical Bone Maintenance and Loss in an Imperial Roman Population

“…Although the isotopic evidence suggests agriculture was likely a primary source of food, clearly not everyone was involved in this production; historical documents indicate that a substantial variety of occupations were found in Roman cities (Leftkowitz and Fant, ; Kleiner and Matheson, ; Toner, ). Yet despite this apparent diversity of work, some scholars have emphasised that most people in Roman cities were unskilled labor and would partake in physically demanding jobs even within city walls (Brunt, ; Erdkamp, ; Toner, ). Although occupations were certainly organised along gender lines, among commoners, most women would have helped with farming or provided skilled labor in more urban areas to find regular work, to survive and to support a family (Scheidel, ).…”

Gendered Differences in Accidental Trauma to Upper and Lower Limb Bones at Aquincum, Roman Hungary

“…Aside from everyday mobility hazards, men in the Roman period may also have been involved in dangerous military, agricultural, animal husbandry, and construction activities (Erdkamp 1999;Giardina 1993b;Redfern and DeWitte 2011b). The documented female occupations were comparably less physically demanding, but women were by no means relegated to private spaces and domestic roles (Allison 2007;Scheidel 1995).…”