Metal Detecting for Surveying Marching Camps? Some Thoughts Regarding Methodology in Light of the Lower Ebro Roman Camps Project’s Results

The following article is a methodological reflection in the light of the results of surveys conducted in the sites of La Palma and Camí del Castellet de Banyoles, in North-eastern Spain, as a part of the lower Ebro Roman camps project (2006-2010). Both camps are dated around 200 BC. La Palma is related to the Second Punic War, and Camí del Castellet de Banyoles to the repression of the successive Indigenous uprisings between 200 and 180 BC. Both interventions are in their final phase of study, the second being resumed as a teaching project since 2010. Now, the project has been expanded to two new sites with a wider chronology: Les Aixalelles, a possible Roman camp of the Sertorian Civil War, and Terrer Roig, from the Caesarean Civil War. In this situation, we consider it necessary to reflect on the viability of our methodology.