Centuriation (in Latin centuriatio or, more usually, limitatio[1]), also known as Roman grid, was a method of land measurement used by the Romans. In many cases land divisions based on the survey formed a field system, often referred to in modern times by the same name. According to O. A. W. Dilke,[2] centuriation combined and developed features of land surveying present in Egypt, Etruria, Greek towns and Greek countryside.
Centuriation is characterised by the regular layout of a square grid traced using surveyors' instruments. It may appear in the form of roads, canals and agricultural plots. In some cases these plots, when formed, were allocated to Roman army veterans in a new colony, but they might also be returned to the indigenous inhabitants, as at Orange (France).[3]
The study of centuriation is very important for reconstructing landscape history in many former areas of the Roman empire.