ABSTRACT
The southern extremities of the province appear to be characterized by still a third political strategy. Unlike the pure military situation on the Danube, the southern region has a strong Roman civilian flavour with some military sites and good Roman road networks. A tentative model for understanding the southern zone is that political control was so secure and long-lasting through a combination of metallurgy, agriculture and communication with other provinces to the south and east that native populations may have had a great tendency towards acculturation; certainly more so than in the previous two regions of the province. This southern zone has yet to be tested through an excavation strategy developed explicitly to confirm this interpretation.
