Cite this as: Picker, A. 2025 Significance in the Suburbs: Grasping the 'Monument Syntax' of a Roman Town for Developers and Heritage Managers Alike (Brigantium/Bregenz, Austria), Internet Archaeology 70. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.70.11
The assessment of significance lies at the heart of the definition and management of archaeological monuments, especially in built-up urban and suburban areas. The case study discussed in this paper, the mid-sized Roman town of Brigantium in modern Bregenz (Austria), occupies the area of a prominent suburb with relatively large green spaces between residential buildings. It therefore represents a rather rare category: it is neither a complete archaeological reserve nor a post-Roman town mostly built over by later construction. A digital 'city map' of all documented Roman-era structures has existed since 2016 and has become a valuable tool for heritage management as well as research. However, when addressing issues of significance (how important is a Roman town?), some differentiation is necessary. The Austrian Monuments Authority has, in recent years, reflected upon possible criteria for the assessment of 'high' significance. This paper, utilising a spatial approach towards quality and quantity, integrity and authenticity, presents an attempt to work out 'layers of meaning' in the syntax of the assemblage that constitutes the archaeological monument.
Corresponding author: Andreas Picker
andreas.picker@bda.gv.at
Federal Monuments Authority Austria
Figure 1: An aerial view of the 'Ölrain' suburb of Bregenz (Austria), the site of the Roman town of Brigantium (source: State of Vorarlberg, pid.volare.vorarlberg.at/o:293769, CC BY 4.0).
Figure 2: A reconstruction of the Roman town of Brigantium as it may have looked in the 2nd century AD (source: Vorarlberg Museum, painting by Roland Gäfgen).
Figure 3: A digitised Roman 'city map' of Brigantium showing all the known (partially excavated, refilled or destroyed) features from the stone building period (source: areal image: State of Vorarlberg, vogis; archaeological data: Vorarlberg Museum and Federal Monuments Authority; A. Picker).
Figure 4: Remains of Brigantium's middle imperial 'traders' quarter' (building 23), partially conserved inside and outside of the retirement home Tschermakgarten, an architecturally remarkable building erected between 1977 and 1979 (source: A. Picker).
Figure 5: Areas of varying depth of known or expected archaeological strata in Bregenz, from approximately 3 m (dark blue) to none (red) (source: A. Picker; areal image: State of Vorarlberg, VoGIS).
Figure 6: Objects of research within the urban structure of Brigantium (source: A. Picker; forum reconstructions: K. Oberhofer and S. Geiermann).
Figure 7: Areas covered by excavation plans of Brigantium (now digitised) illustrating the density and quality of the paper evidence; green: historic plan drawings from the 19th and early 20th centuries; yellow: accurately surveyed plans, c. 1960–2010 (source: A. Picker/Federal Monuments Authority; plans: Vorarlberg Museum).
Figure 8: So-called 'intervention polygons' of archaeological measures in Bregenz, 2010 to present; continuous line: excavations; hashed line: geophysical prospections (source: A. Picker/Federal Monuments Authority; photo: K. Oberhofer/Talpa GnbR).
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