Roman Archaeology Conference 12 Theoretical Roman

Transcription

Roman
Archaeology
Theoretical Conference
Roman 12
Archaeology
Conference
26
R
A
C
12
T
R
A
C
26
Roma
2016
Roma
16 - 19 March 2016
Edited by
Chiara Maria Marchetti
Sapienza Università di Roma
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità
Welcome
L’organizzazione romana dell’incontro ormai periodico dedicato contemporaneamente all’Archeologia Romana (RAC) e alla riflessione teoretica collegata a questo settore di ricerca (TRAC) costituisce
un’occasione particolarmente significativa. Questo perché per la prima volta si svolge in Italia e a Roma,
poi perché permette di proseguire la condivisione, non solo dei temi della ricerca archeologica ma anche del senso che essa assume nella società attuale, infine perché agevola il rapporto fra tradizioni di
studio differenti che dal confronto reciproco possono trarre stimoli e nuovi indirizzi.
La trasformazione rapida e anche radicale del sistema culturale contemporaneo richiede che lo studio del mondo antico, del suo sistema sociale e della sua cultura materiale si interroghi sulla capacità di
dialogare con le esigenze della società attuale. La riproposizione acritica di modelli educativi e di studio
affermatisi nel Novecento non può essere sufficiente a rispondere agli obiettivi, alle forme di comunicazione e alle necessità dei fruitori dell’era digitale. La dimensione storica, la comprensione antropologica
e la ricostruzione materiale delle forme culturali del passato devono adeguarsi alle domande culturali e
ai linguaggi della società attuale e, in particolare, dei diversi registri del suo alfabeto informatico.
Incontrarsi, quindi, significa comprendere, attraverso il passato, anche il mondo in cui viviamo e le
sue esigenze, cercare di comunicare il senso dello studio che conduciamo, non solo per riproporre una
tradizione che ci è consueta ma soprattutto per verificare insieme se abbia ancora un senso e un’utilità
culturale effettiva.
Dopo le numerose edizioni precedenti del RAC/TRAC tenute a Londra, Nottingham, Durham,
Glasgow, Leicester, Birmingham, Oxford, Reading, gli organizzatori degli incontri hanno avvertito l’esigenza di una crescita attraverso il coinvolgimento di università non inglesi, esportando occasione e modello seminariale. I convegni di Ann Arbour e di Frankfurt am Main, in questo senso, ne hanno mostrato
chiaramente il successo e l’edizione romana attuale procede in questa direzione. Quindi, è necessario
esprimere innanzitutto un doveroso ringraziamento ai colleghi inglesi che ci hanno proposto la possibilità di un’edizione romana e hanno poi costantemente condiviso e sostenuto ogni momento della sua
complessa organizzazione. Dobbiamo ringraziare poi i tanti colleghi che hanno accolto con entusiasmo
l’iniziativa e hanno proposto di presentare le loro ricerche più recenti, in un numero molto maggiore rispetto ai condizionamenti di tempo e di spazio delle due iniziative.
Le oltre 450 comunicazioni, le 48 sessioni e i molti paesi rappresentati testimoniano la disponibilità
a condividere e a confrontarsi. Questo forse è uno dei segnali più importanti che può dare la comunità
scientifica in un contesto politico internazionale che vede ampliarsi scenari di guerra e affermazioni di
fondamentalismo in varie forme. Le stesse tracce archeologiche di cui discutiamo sono divenute, soprattutto in Siria, una testimonianza ‘negativa’, il segno di un rifiuto radicale, della volontà di cancellare
la storia e i suoi modelli interpretativi della società. L’importanza di questi segni assume così un valore
simbolico che ci costringe a riflettere anche su quello che realmente significa l’esperienza della ricerca
archeologica, e l’archeologia delle società ‘romane’ in particolare, per la cultura contemporanea. Incontrarsi nella città centro dell’impero che cerchiamo di raccontare può essere l’occasione migliore per
riscoprire e comprendere popolazioni e comunità che l’hanno combattuto, subito, cambiato, che hanno
partecipato e che hanno costruito quei processi di integrazione da cui sono nate nuove culture e nuove
realtà sociali.
Nel dare il benvenuto a tutti i partecipanti e alla pluralità di idee, esigenze culturali e modi di approccio che rappresentano, speriamo che l’occasione romana possa risultare gradevole anche a livello individuale, pur nella semplicità della sua organizzazione. Visite ed escursioni potranno essere complementari
alle sedute del convegno e spero che incontrarsi possa permettere non solo il confronto delle idee ma
anche la conoscenza tra le persone, le loro diverse storie, il loro immaginario mentale.
Benvenuti !
Enzo Lippolis
Direttore del Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità
Sapienza Università di Roma
1
Roman Archaeology Conference 12
Organising Committee
Christopher Smith – British School at Rome
Enzo Lippolis – Sapienza Università di Roma
Maria Teresa D’Alessio – Sapienza Università di Roma
Kristian Göransson – Swedish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome
Conference Secretary
Chiara Maria Marchetti – Sapienza Università di Roma/Università degli Studi di Verona
Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference 26
Local Organising Committee
Roberta Cascino – British School at Rome/University of Southampton
Francesco De Stefano – Sapienza Università di Roma
Antonella Lepone – Sapienza Università di Roma
Chiara Maria Marchetti – Sapienza Università di Roma/Università degli Studi di Verona
Jeremia Pelgrom – Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome
Standing Committee
Chairperson: Darrell J. Rohl – Canterbury Christ Church University
Vice-Chair: Ian Marshman – University of Leicester
Treasurer: Lisa Lodwick – University of Reading
Secretary: Alexandra Guglielmi – University College Dublin
Tom Brindle – University of Reading
Matthew Mandich – University of Leicester
2
Contents
4
An Overview of Events
6
Detailed Programme
24
Conference Location Maps
26
Key Informations
28
The Sponsoring Organizations
30
Roman Archaeology Conference 12: session abstracts
108
Roman Archaeology Conference 12: poster abstracts
118
Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference 26: session abstracts
155
Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference 26: list of poster
3
An Overview of Events
Tuesday 15 March, 16 - 19
RAC/TRAC Registration opens in the Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia Foyer
Wednesday 16 March, MORNING
Aula I
Aula II
Aula III
Aula IV
Odeion
Aula “Partenone”
Auletta “Archeologia”
23. FONTI E METODI PER LA RICOSTRUZIONE DELLA STORIA URBANA DI ROMA ANTICA
5. INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ROMAN DIETS (Part 1)
T1. BEYOND THE ROMANS: WHAT CAN POSTHUMANISM DO FOR CLASSICAL STUDIES?
T9. THEORISING ‘PLACE’ IN (ROMAN) ARCHAEOLOGY
26. L’ADRIATICO NELL’ANTICHITA’ QUALE LUOGO DI TRANSITO DI UOMINI, DI MERCI E
MODELLI CULTURALI (Part 1)
3. EMPERORS AND FRONTIERS
29. REPLICATION AND STANDARDIZATION IN THE ROMAN WORLD
Wednesday 16 March, AFTERNOON
Aula I
Aula II
Aula III
Aula IV
Odeion
Aula ”Partenone”
22. ROMA: I PALAZZI DEL POTERE TRA LA METÀ DEL I E LA METÀ DEL II SECOLO D.C.
NUOVE RICERCHE
5. INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ROMAN DIETS (Part 2)
T3. MARXIST TRADITIONS IN ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY
T11. BEYOND PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN THE ROMAN HOUSE
26. L’ADRIATICO NELL’ANTICHITÀ QUALE LUOGO DI TRANSITO DI UOMINI, DI MERCI E
MODELLI CULTURALI (Part 2)
8. ROME’S INTERNAL FRONTIERS
11. INNOVATION THROUGH IMITATION IN THE ROMAN WORLD: CREATIVE PROCESSES
AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON IN ROMAN CRAFTS
Wednesday 16 March, EVENING (18.15 - 20.00)
Rettorato, Aula Magna:
Official Welcome:
Eugenio Gaudio, Magnifico Rettore, Sapienza Università di Roma
Stefano Asperti, Preside della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Sapienza Università di Roma
Christopher Smith, Unione Internazionale degli Istituti di Archeologia,Storia
e Storia dell’Arte in Roma
Catharine Edwards, President of the Roman Society
Presentation of the Roman Archaeology Dissertation Prize
Welcome drink offered by the Roman Society
Thursday 17 March, MORNING
Aula I
Aula II
Aula III
Aula IV
Odeion
24. OGGETTI, AVVENIMENTI E STORIA
13. USING AND ABUSING PRECIOUS METAL IN THE LATE ROMAN EMPIRE
T2. METHOD MATTERS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE IN ROMAN COLONIZATION STUDIES
T4. THEATRICALISING MEMORY. AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACH TO RELIGIOUS PERFORMANCE IN THE ROMAN WORLD
17. RELITTI E COMMERCIO ROMANO NEL MEDITERRANEO OCCIDENTALE IN EPOCA
ROMANA
32. DYNAMICS OF CULTS AND CULT PLACES IN THE EXPANDING ROMAN EMPIRE
15. GEOLOGIA, IDROGRAFIA, MORFOLOGIA: ELEMENTI DETERMINANTI PER LA NASCITA DEI CENTRI URBANI
Thursday 17 March, AFTERNOON
Aula I
Aula II
1. INTEGRATING REGIONAL SURVEY DATABASES AROUND ROME: METHODOLOGICAL
CHALLENGES AND INTERPRETIVE POTENTIAL
18. GOLD FLOWS AND IMPERIAL POWER: A FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE END OF
THE WEST ROMAN EMPIRE
4
Aula III
Aula IV
Odeion
T5. BEYOND HYBRIDITY AND CODE-SWITCHING: NEW APPROACHES TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE LATE HELLENISTIC ROME, ITALY, AND THE WIDER MEDITERRANEAN
T7. APPROPRIATING TRADITIONS – NEGOTIATING FORMS: MATERIAL CULTURE AND
ROMAN RELIGION BETWEEN CATEGORIES AND VARIABLES
14. PORT SYSTEMS IN THE ROMAN MEDITERRANEAN
27. RETHINKING THE CONCEPT OF “HEALING SETTLEMENTS”: CULTS, CONSTRUCTIONS
AND CONTEXTS IN THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE
16. SETTLEMENT TOPOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – METHODOLOGICAL
APPROACHES IN SEVERAL MEDITERRANEAN REGIONS
Thursday 17 March, EVENING (18.15 - 20.00)
Aula I
Plenary lecture
Fausto Zevi, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei - I Fasti di Privernum
Simon Keay, University of Southampton - Trajanic Portus Revisited
Thursday 17 March, EVENING (20.30)
Conference Dinner at Casa dell’Aviatore
Friday 18 March, MORNING
Aula I
Aula II
Aula III
Aula IV
Odeion
30. ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: ARTEFACTS, GOODS, TRADE (Part 1)
9. DIVERSITY AND IDENTITY IN ROMAN IUDAEA / SYRIA PALAESTINA
T. GENERAL SESSION 1
T12. SUSTAINING THE EMPIRE: BALANCING BETWEEN POPULATION GROWTH AND
FOOD RESOURCES
2. SENSING ROME: SENSORY APPROACHES TO MOVEMENT AND SPACE
4. QUALE MEMORIA? COMUNICAZIONE E FORME DEL RICORDO NELL’ARCHEOLOGIA
FUNERARIA ROMANA
7. BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: INTERSECTED PERSPECTIVES
ON LUSITANIA
Friday 18 March, 13.00 - 14.00
Aula III
TRAC AGM
Friday 18 March, AFTERNOON
Aula I
Aula II
Aula III
Aula IV
Odeion
30. ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: ARTEFACTS, GOODS, TRADE (Part 2)
10. ROMAN DACIA: GENERAL AND SPECIFIC PATTERNS IN A PROVINCE BEYOND THE DANUBE
T10. MEDIA, MEMORY AND ARCHAEOLOGIST
T6. FILLING THE GAP: INVESTIGATING ABANDONMENT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
25. TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY CENTRAL SPACE
20. THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE – RECENT RESEARCH AND NEW INSIGHTS
21. RECENT WORK ON ROMAN BRITAIN
Friday 18 March, EVENING (21.00)
RAC/TRAC Festa
Saturday 19 March, MORNING
Aula I
Aula II
Aula III
Aula IV
Odeion
19. PORTS OF THE PERIPLUS: RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK IN THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA
6. MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR! SEX, GENDER, AND FAMILY IN THE ROMAN PROVINCES
T8. ANIMALS AND LANDSCAPE IN THE ROMAN WORLD
31. SETTLEMENT SYSTEMS: STRUCTURES HIERARCHIES AND TERRITORIES
12. URBAN STREETS AS COMMUNICATION SPACES IN THE ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD
28. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF DALMATIA: NEW APPROACHES
AND CHALLENGES
Sunday 20 March, MORNING/AFTERNOON
Excursion to Portus and Isola Sacra
5
ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE 12 - SAPIENZA UNIVERSITA’ DI ROMA
16 - 19 MARCH
15 MARCH 2016, TUESDAY
16 - 19
16 MARCH 2016, WEDNESDAY
Aula I
Odeion
Aula II
Organised by: David Breeze,
Erik Graafstal and Rebecca H.
Jones
5. INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ROMAN DIETS 1/2
Organised by: Ricardo Fernandes and Roksana Chowaniec
29. REPLICATION AND STANDARDIZATION IN THE ROMAN
WORLD
Organised by: Greg Woolf
MORNING SESSIONS
23. FONTI E METODI PER LA
RICOSTRUZIONE DELLA STORIA
URBANA DI ROMA ANTICA
Organised by: Alessandra Ten e
Domenico Palombi
26. L’ADRIATICO NELL’ANTICHITA’ QUALE LUOGO DI TRANSITO
DI UOMINI, DI MERCI E MODELLI CULTURALI 1/2
Organised by: Roberto Perna
and Francis Tassaux
9.00
Le fonti hanno sempre ragione? Lo spazio adriatico tra golfo
Agrippa, il Campo Marzio e la
Ionio et Caput Adriae, Jean-Luc
riorganizzazione delle factiones Lamboley
circenses, Maria Letizia Caldelli
Gaius and Claudius, 40-43: the
slow build-up for Britain, Erik
Graafstal
Greg Woolf
Multidisciplinary Approaches
to Human-Chicken Interactions:
Contextualising Britain in the
Wider Roman World, Mark
Maltby, Julia Best and Mike
Feider
9.30
L’Aventino: “the most aristocratic quarter of the city”,
Alessandra Capodiferro e Paola
Quaranta
Lo sviluppo del modello urbano
tra le due sponde dell’Adriatico
quale strumento di trasmissione e assimilazione culturale,
Roberto Perna
Domitian on the Danube:
Dealing Death to the Dacians?,
Christoph Rummel
Investigating ‘lifeways’ in Impe- Astrid Van Oyen
rial Roman Italy: an integrated
bioarchaeological approach,
Oliver Craig, Luca Bondioli and
Peter Garnsey
10
Percorso tra i documenti di archivio per la ricostruzione della
storia urbana, Luigia Attilia e
Paola Chini
AdriAtlas et les routes de
l’Adriatique, Maria Paola
Castiglioni, Clément Coutelier,
Marie-Claire Ferriès, Nathalie
Prévôt, Yolande Marion, Sara
Zanni and Francis Tassaux
Antoninus Pius: A peaceful
reign?, David Breeze
Latrine rumours from Augusta Jennifer Trimble
Raurica – Roman toilets as a
source of information about
diet and health, Sabine Deschler-Erb, Örni Akeret, Heide
Hüster Plogmann and Christine
Pümpin
10.30
COFFEE BREAK
11
11.30
12
Il Tevere, i ponti e l’Annona,
Paolo Liverani
Proprietà imperiali e produzioni Marcus Aurelius: from Philosonel Delta Padano in età roma- phy to Reality, Sonja Jilek
na, Livio Zerbini, Laura Audino,
Silvia Ripà and Federica Maria
Riso
Finding Millet in the Ancient
World, Charlene Murphy
Fonti letterarie e storia urbana di Roma antica: i limiti
dell’interpretazione, Domenico
Palombi
Produzioni ceramiche nella
Septimius Severus – Expeditio
Apulia et Calabria. Spazi, forme, felicissima Britannica, Rebecca
strutture, Custode Silvio Fioriel- H. Jones
lo, Anna Mangiatordi and Paolo
Perfido
Cereals and Pulses in Roman
Katherine McDonald
diet and nutrition: a biochemical approach, Frits Heinrich and
Annette Hansen
La pianta marmorea severiana: Sistemi di comunicazione tra
una messa a punto, Francesca Ravenna e Altino: nuove prosde Caprariis and Alessandra Ten pettive, Alberto Andreoli
12.30
DISCUSSION
13-14
LUNCH
Studi di topografia urbana: aggiornamenti sulle città antiche
dell’area sud adriatica, Maria
Luisa Marchi
Andrew Bevan
Caracalla beyond the Limes
Raetiae – Planned campaign,
immediate reaction or pure
fiction?, C. Sebastian Sommer
Animal consumption, social inequality, and economic change
in a non-elite area of Pompeii,
Emily Holt
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
Reconstructing ancient diet
through archaeological resources: Agriculture in Switzerland
from 800 B.C.E. to 754 C.E.,
Ryan E. Hughes
Alicia Jiménez
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
14
22. ROMA: I PALAZZI DEL
POTERE TRA LA METÀ DEL I E
LA METÀ DEL II SECOLO D.C.
NUOVE RICERCHE
Organised by: Mirella Serlorenzi
and Fulvio Coletti
26. L’ADRIATICO NELL’ANTICHITA’ QUALE LUOGO DI TRANSITO
DI UOMINI, DI MERCI E MODELLI CULTURALI 2/2
Organised by: Roberto Perna
and Francis Tassaux
Organised by: Eckhard Deschler-Erb
5. INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ROMAN DIETS 2/2
Organised by: Ricardo Fernandes and Roksana Chowaniec
11. INNOVATION THROUGH
IMITATION IN THE ROMAN
WORLD: CREATIVE PROCESSES
AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON IN
ROMAN CRAFT
Organised by: Elizabeth M.
Greene and Thomas Schierl
Palatino. Indagini archeologiche
negli ambienti a sud-est del
Triclinio Imperiale della Domus
Flavia, Valentina Santoro
Circolazione di merci e uomini a
Bononia e Mutina alla luce della
documentazione epigrafica,
Daniela Rigato, Manuela Mongardi and Mattia Vitelli Casella
Natural versus political regions
of the Roman Empire: The
example of the northwestern
provinces, Sabine Deschler-Erb
Celsus’ therapeutic galactology Imitation and the mass pro(γαλακτολογία ἰατρική), Maciej duction of elite status markers:
Kokoszko
Intaglios in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries, Elizabeth M. Greene
14.30
Il Progetto Domus Tiberiana
(Roma). Cantieri edili fra l’età
neroniana e l’età adrianea
lungo la Nova Via: primi risultati, Mirella Serlorenzi, Fulvio
Coletti, Lino Traini, Giulia Sterpa
e Stefano Camporeale
Insediamenti, territorio e
Can we define Roman provincial
materiali ceramici nella Puglia identities on the basis of matemeridionale tra media e tarda rial culture?, Stefanie Hoss
età imperiale, Giovanni Mastronuzzi, Renato Caldarola, Carlo
De Mitri, Nicola Laghezza and
Valeria Melissano
Bread and Barley: The relationship between staple foods, nutrition and health in the Roman
world, Erica Rowan
At the limits of creativity: The
creation of style in dress accessories between mass supply and
individualism, Thomas Schierl
15
Il settore settentrionale del
palazzo flavio: costruzione e
prime trasformazioni, Françoise
Villedieu
Circolazione di uomini, di merci,
di modelli nell’area basso adriatica fra età romana e tardo
antica, Sara Santoro, Marco
Moderato and Gloria Bolzoni
Importance of internal boarders
in the Roman Empire: written
sources and model cases?, Anne
Kolb and Lukas Zingg
From the mouths of babes:
subadult diet in Roman London,
Rebecca Redfern, Rebecca
Gowland and Lindsay Powell
Craftsmen and consumers: Who
was trend-setter for local ceramic products in the northern
part of the Roman province
Germania Superior?, Markus
Helfert
15.30
Il cuore del Palazzo Flavio - Le
diverse funzioni della domus
Augustana, Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt
Salapia: città rifondata
dell’Apulia adriatica. Lo spazio
urbano, il sale e i commerci tra
età romana e tardoantica, Giuliano Volpe, Giovanni Devenuto, Roberto Goffredo, Darian M.
Totten and Carlo De Mitri
Calculating borders? Possibilities and risks of spatial analysis
for reconstructing roman provincial borders, Sandra Schröer
and Martin
Dietary diversity across the
Roman world: outcome from a
Bayesian meta-analysis, Ricardo Fernandes
Archetype, copy and innovation:
Grave monuments in the Rhine
and Danube provinces as social
media, Markus Scholz
C.D. Domus severiana sul
Palatino: fasi architettoniche e
organizzazione dei cantieri tra
l’età di Domiziano e Adriano,
Fulvio Coletti, Anna Buccellato
and Giulia Sterpa
La via Egnatia e la via Lissus –
Naissus: infrastrutture stradali
al servizio dell’Adriatico, Luan
Perzhita
Brooches as indicators of
boundaries or regional identity
in western Raetia, Katharina
Blasinger and Gerald Grabherr
Meat or fish? Exploring consumption patterns in the peripheral town of Acrae (Sicily),
Roksana Chowaniec and Anna
Gręzak
Equal in death? Considerations
about urns, sarcophagi, cinerary-funerary altars, tombstones
and sepulchral architecture,
Thomas Knosala
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
A balance of differences and
DISCUSSION
similarities: A GIS approach to
territories of Baetica, Maria del
Carmen Moreno Escobar Art and Artifice: The Gardens
and Garden Paintings from the
Villa Arianna, Stabiae, Maryl B.
Gensheimer
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
16
16.30
17
17.30
COFFEE BREAK
18.15 -19 RETTORATO, AULA MAGNA
Official Welcome:
Eugenio Gaudio, Magnifico Rettore, Sapienza Università di Roma
Stefano Asperti, Preside della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Sapienza Università di Roma
Christopher Smith, Unione Internazionale degli Istituti di Archeologia,Storia e Storia dell’Arte in Roma
Catharine Edwards, President of the Roman Society
Presentation of the Roman Archaeology Dissertation Prize
19 - 20
Welcome drink offered by Roman Society
17 MARCH 2016, THURSDAY
Aula I
Odeion
Aula II
MORNING SESSIONS
24. OGGETTI, AVVENIMENTI E
STORIA
Organised by: Paolo Carafa
17. RELITTI E COMMERCIO
ROMANO NEL MEDITERRANEO OCCIDENTALE IN EPOCA
ROMANA
Organised by: Gloria Olcese
32. DYNAMICS OF CULTS AND
CULT PLACES IN THE EXPANDING ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: Tesse Stek
15. GEOLOGIA, IDROGRAFIA,
MORFOLOGIA: ELEMENTI DETERMINANTI PER LA NASCITA
DEI CENTRI URBANI
Organised by: Luisa Migliorati e
Pier Luigi Dall’Aglio
13. USING AND ABUSING
PRECIOUS METAL IN THE LATE
ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: Richard Hobbs
and Philippa Walton
9.00
Saxa loquuntur: integrare e
narrare monumenti e paesaggi
antichi, Paolo Carafa
Relitti, volume del traffico commerciale e costi di transazione
nel Mediterraneo romano, Elio
Lo Cascio and Marco Maiuro
Coloniae, civitates foederatae,
ager: culti e santuari nel Piceno
meridionale tra romanizzazione
e municipalizzazione, Filippo
Demma and Tommaso Casci
Ceccacci
Quae arx.. esset: il caso della
“nascita” di Norba, tra condizionamenti naturali e strategie politiche, Stefania Gigli
Bashing me gently: the Vinkovci
treasure in context, Hrvoje Vulic
and Damir Doracic
9.30
Le Termopili da Leonida a
La quasi-disparition des épaves
Giustiniano: problemi storici,
chargées de vin au II siècle de
archeologici e topografici, Fran- notre ère, André Tchernia
cesco Guizzi, Pietro Vannicelli
and Alessandro Iaia
Cult places during the Roman
conquest of Eastern Iberia
(3rdc. BC-1stc. AD). Transformations of ritual practices and
sacred landscapes, Ignacio Grau
Mira
Dialoghi antichi tra paesaggio e
insediamenti.Morfologie urbane
nelle terre del sorgere del sole
(Anatolia), Guido Rosada
Argentum balneare. Late
Roman silver vessels used for
bathing and washing, Zsolt
Mráv
VRBS : de la linguistique à
l’archéologie, Alexandre Grandazzi
Romans at Greek sanctuaries: a Ostra e i centri di mediavalle
The role of silver plate in late
view from the Aegean, Annelies delle Marche settentrionali, Car- Roman society: some new
Cazemier
lotta Franceschelli
approaches, Richard Hobbs and
Janet Lang
10
10.30
COFFEE BREAK
Relitti, mercanti e punzoni (in
età romana), Piero Alfredo
Gianfrotta and Fausto Zevi
11
11.30
12
12.30
13-14
The social role of “things” in
archaic Rome. Archaeology,
history, and economic anthropology, Cristiano Viglietti
Relitti e carichi di ceramiche dall’I- De-Romanizing religious develtalia tirrenica (fine IV-I secolo a.C.) opments in the Roman West,
nel Mediterraneo occidentale:
Ralph Haussler
nuovi dati dalla ricerca archeologica e archeometrica, Gloria Olcese
Minturnae e il Garigliano, Kevin All that glitters: analysing preFerrari
cious metal hoards recorded by
the Coin Hoards of the Roman
Empire Project, Philippa Walton
Riduzione dei corredi funerari a
Veio; le XII Tavole a Roma. Evidenza archeologica e tradizione
letteraria a confronto, Marco
Arizza
Tra epigrafia e archeologia marittima in Campania. Qualche nota
prosopografica, Giuseppe Camodeca, Stefano Iavarone, Gloria
Olcese and Michele Stefanile
DISCUSSION
Mithraism and Religious
Indices de commercialisation des récipient céramique
Change: A View from Apulum
Mithraeum III, Matt McCarty
italiques (amphores, vaisselle
fine, commune et culinaire) à
Alexandrie du IIème s.av. J.-C
au Ier ap. J.-C., Sandrine Élaigne
and Séverine Lemaître
La città e il suo fiume nella
DISCUSSION
Campania antica: condizionamenti geomorfologici e adattamenti urbanistici delle città
romane lungo l’alta valle del
Clanis, Vincenzo Amato, Raffaella Bonaudo and Amedeo Rossi
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
Cremona: una città lungo il
The impact of empire on cult
places and ritual practices in
fiume, Gianluca Mete
Roman Gaul and Germany, Ton
Derks
DISCUSSION
Silver and the transition from
late Roman Britain to Early Medieval Scotland, Alice Blackwell
LUNCH
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
14
1. INTEGRATING REGIONAL
SURVEY DATABASES AROUND
ROME: METHODOLOGICAL
Organised by: Peter Attema,
Paolo Carafa, Willem Jongman
and Christopher Smith
Organised by: Simon Keay and
Pascal Arnaud
27. RETHINKING THE CONCEPT
OF “HEALING SETTLEMENTS”:
CULTS, CONSTRUCTIONS AND
CONTEXTS IN THE WESTERN
ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: Maddalena
Bassani, Marion Bolder-Boos,
Annalisa Calapà, Ugo Fusco e
Jens Koehler
16. SETTLEMENT TOPOGRAPHY
AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – METHODOLOGICAL
Organised by: Christiane Nowak
and Ralf Bockmann
Introduction and presentation
of datasets on Rome’s Suburbium: “Integrating data from
the Pontine Region Project,
the Tiber valley Project and
the Suburbium project”, Peter
Attema, Paolo Carafa and Christopher Smith
L’infrastruttura portuale urbana di
Roma: emporium e Porticus Aemilia alla luce dei recenti scavi, Alessia Contino, Lucilla D’Alessandro,
Edvige Patella, Renato Sebastiani
/ A Comparative Approach to
Roman port systems: the ports of
Rome and Narbo, Simon Keay, Nicholas Carayon, Ferreol Salomon
and Mari-Carmen Moreno
Luoghi di culto alle aquae salutifere: osservazioni da alcuni
casi in Italia, Germania e Gallia,
Maddalena Bassani, Matteo
Marcato and Cecilia Zanetti
Infrastructure, Agriculture,
Imperial finance and diplomatic
Production, and Consumption
payments (4th-5th century),
in the Pergamon Micro-Region: Peter Heather
Continuities and Changes in the
Use of Landscape and Resources, Felix Pirson and Daniel
Knitter
18. GOLD FLOWS AND IMPERIAL POWER: A FINANCIAL
PERSPECTIVE ON THE END OF
THE WEST ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: N.G.A.M. Roymansand Stijn Heeren
Rome’s suburbium; the poten- Narbonne and the ports of Nar- Healing by water: Therapy and
tial of an integrated database
bonensis, Nicholas Carayon and Religion in the Roman Spas of
on the Suburbium, Rob Witcher Corinne Sanchez
the Iberian Peninsula, Silvia
González Soutelo and Sergio
Carneiro
Resource management and
Power and prestige: late roman
settlement topographies in late gold outside the empire, Peter
Roman Tripolitania - PrelimiGuest
nary results of a remote sensing
project, Ralf Bockmann
Integrating regional-scale data: Roman Portolans, Pascal Ara case study from the Pontine
naud
Region, Tymon de Haas and
Gijs Tol
Before the Hammam: The
Ancient Spas of Roman North
Africa, Jens Koehler
Roman Resource Cultures: The
Use of Resources and its Impact
on socio-cultural Dynamics in
Roman North Africa, Frerich
Schön
15.30
Case studies from the Suburbium project, Maria Cristina
Capanna
The Concept of so-called ‘Heal- Römische Städte und ihre Wirt- Late Roman silver in Germania:
ing Sanctuaries’ Revisited, Velia schaftsgrundlagen in Hispanien Constantine III and the Rhine
Boecker
am Beispiel Muniguas, Thomas Frontier, David Wigg-Wolf
Schattner
16
16.30
COFFEE BREAK
Integrating survey data: why?,
Willem M. Jongman
14.30
15
17
DISCUSSION
17.30
The ports of southern Baetica
and Mauretania Tingitana,
Dario Bernal
Gold, Germanic foederati and
the end of imperial power in
the Late Roman North, Nico
Roymans
Federate settlements and
gold finds in the province of
Germania Secunda: barbarian
identities?, Stijn Heeren
Utica, Carthage and the ports of Sacred Caves and ‘Fertility
eastern Tunisia, Andrew Wilson Cults’. Some Considerations
about Cave Sanctuaries in Etruria, Annalisa Calapà
Regional Solutions in the
Building of Roman Farms and
Productive Villas in Central Italy
(2nd Century BC to 2nd Century
AD), Michael Feige
The Maritime Topography of
the Pergamene coastal region:
The Kane Regional Harbour
Survey 2014-2015, Eric Laufer,
Felix Pirson and Stefen Feuser
New Data and Interpretations:
the Case of Veii-Campetti and
Ostia, Ugo Fusco and Marion
Bolder-Boos
La cultura ellenistica come
DISCUSSION
“risorsa”: il caso di Benevento,
Alessandra Avagliano and Christiane Nowak
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
18.15 - 20 Aula I: Plenary lecture
Fausto Zevi, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei - I Fasti di Privernum
Simon Keay, University of Southampton - Trajanic Portus Revisited
18 MARCH 2016, FRIDAY
Aula I
Odeion
Aula II
MORNING SESSIONS
30. ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: ARTEFACTS,
GOODS, TRADE 1/2 Organised
by: Clementina Panella 1. New
Approaches to Republican
Ceramics
Organised by: Laura Banducci,
Antonio F. Ferrandes and Marcello Mogetta
2. SENSING ROME: SENSORY
APPROACHES TO MOVEMENT
AND SPACE
Organised by: Eleanor Betts
9. DIVERSITY AND IDENTITY
IN ROMAN IUDAEA / SYRIA
PALAESTINA
Organised by: Adi Erlich
4. QUALE MEMORIA? COMUNICAZIONE E FORME DEL
RICORDO NELL’ARCHEOLOGIA
FUNERARIA ROMANA
Organised by: Marianna Castiglione
7. BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC
AND THE MEDITERRANEAN:
INTERSECTED PERSPECTIVES ON
LUSITANIA
Organised by: Cristina Corsi and
Victorino Mayoral
9.00
Approaching ceramics in the
Republic, Laura Banducci and
Marcello Mogetta
A Multisensory Exploration of
Movement through Rome’s
Urban Bridges, Catherine Hoggarth
Space and Identity in Iudaea The Test Case of Masada, Guy
Stiebel
Non omnis moriar. Parole,
immagini e committenza nelle
necropoli di Pompei, Marianna
Castiglione
Los centros monumentales en
las ciudades romanas de la
Lusitania, Pedro Mateos Cruz
9.30
Economy and Society behind
Stratigraphies, Contexts and
Fragments: A Systemic Approach to the Roman Republic,
Antonio F. Ferrandes
Experiencing Rome’s Tiberscape, Simon Malmberg
Reflections of Jewish Identity in Memoria su pietra: ricordo dei On the walls of Lusitanian
towns: their meaning and functhe Art of Early Roman Judaea, defunti e pratiche funerarie
Orit Peleg-Barkat
nella regio II Apulia et Calabria, tions, Adriaan De Man
Maria Luigia Dambrosio and
Giuseppe Schiavariello
10
10.30
11
Roman, local or just global?
Multisensory Mapping of OsA diachronic and integrated
tia’s Regio I.IV, Eleanor Betts
approach to Republican pottery
from Satricum (Latium, Central
Italy), Muriel Louwaard and
Martina Revello Lami
COFFEE BREAK
The Hidden Treasures of Rome Structure of Noise: Aural
Project: Preliminary Results
Architecture and Movement in
from the University of Missouri, Ostian Streets, Jeffrey Veitch
Columbia, Johanna Hobratschk
What can We Learn from Gardens about Identity in Roman
Iudaea/Syria Palaestina?, Rona
Evyasaf
La scelta di un monumento
funerario come memoria di
appartenenza sociale: le pseudo
cupae da una necropoli suburbana sulla via Triumphalis,
Marco Arizza and Marzia Di
Mento
The finis terrae of the Roman
Empire? Diet and animal
husbandry in Lusitania in the
context of the Iberian Peninsula
and beyond, Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas
Roman Urban Space before the
Emergence of Christianity in
Hippos (Sussita) of the Decapolis, Michael Eisenberg
Comunicazione in ambito funerario a Verona: casi di studio dal
Museo Maffeiano, Silvia Braito
and Myriam Pilutti Namer
“Roman Port Systems”: on
the efficiencies of the Lusitanian maritime economy, Felix
Teichner
11.30
12
12.30
13-14
Becoming Roman in a colonial
context: a consumption perspective, Marleen Termeer
Commerce and the Senses:
Everyday work and the Roman
Urban Landscape, Miko Flohr
From Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina – Changes in the Urban
Landscape and in the Identity of the Population, Shlomit
Weksler-Bdolah
La riscoperta della concorrenza: iconografie ‘ufficiali’ nei
sarcofagi tardoantichi, Fabio
Guidetti
Uncofessable intentions:
evolving commercial strategies
of Rome in western Mediterranean (3rd c. BCE), Jordi Principal
Visibility and Movement in the
Ancient Space: Some Thoughts
about the Use of 3D GIS, Giacomo Landeschi
Roman Jews, Jewish Romans:
the Sarcophagi from Beth
She’arim between Two Worlds,
Adi Erlich
Forme e codici dell’autorappre- Trading ornamental stone in
sentazione dei defunti nell’im- central Lusitania, Devi Taelman
maginario figurativo catacombale, Matteo Braconi
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
I protagonisti tra produzione e DISCUSSION
consumo: un approccio di storia
sociale, David Nonnis
LUNCH
Lusitania in the context of
Roman globalization, Carlos
Fabião
DISCUSSION
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
30. ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: ARTEFACTS, GOODS,
TRADE 2/2 Organised by: Clementina Panella 2. North Africa:
Territories, Centers of production and Trade in Ancient
Mediterranean
Organised by: Clementina
Panella, Michael Bonifay, Sami
Ben Tahar, Youssef Aïbeche and
Mofhtah Ahmed
14
14.30
25. TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE
COMMUNITY CENTRAL SPACE
Organised by: Andrew Wallace-Hadrill and Dunia Filippi
10. ROMAN DACIA: GENERAL AND SPECIFIC PATTERNS
IN A PROVINCE BEYOND THE
DANUBE
Organised by: Csaba Szabò and
Cristian A. Găzdac
21. RECENT WORK ON ROMAN
20. THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE – RECENT RESEARCH AND BRITAIN
Organised by: Pete Wilson
NEW INSIGHTS
Organised by: Tony Wilmott
and Thomas Hufschmid
Regions and production system: Le agorai di Atene. Dinamiche The archaeological landscape
The Pompeii amphitheatre:
Mauretania/Numidia, Youssef insediative, processi sociali
of the Dacian Wars: a remote
a new conjecture, David
Aïbeche
e spazi del potere ad Atene
sensing approach, Ioana Oltean Bomgardner
dall’alto arcaismo all’età classica, Nikolaos Arvanitis
Regions and production system: Continuità e cambiamenti nel
Zeugitana and Byzacena, Sami Foro Romano, Dunia Filippi
Ben Taher
Lived Ancient Religion and the
case of Roman Dacia, Csaba
Szabó
The Roman Army in Britain: a
Review of Recent Research, Ian
Haynes
Tabulatia in ... sublime crescen- The Rural Settlement of Roman
tia - Überlegungen zu den Lift- Britain, Alex Smith
systemen in den Amphitheatern
von Puteoli und Capua, Thomas
Hufschmid
Regions and production system: The Roman Forum and the toTripolitania, Mofhtah Ahmed
pography of autocracy in early
imperial Rome, Hannah Price
The Roman Gold Mining Settlement from Alburnus Maior,
Carmen Ciongradi
Le tracé des amphithéâtres de
narbonnaise : du cercle à l’ellipse, documents préparatoires
et implantation des courbes,
Myriam Fincker
The Towns of Roman Britain
in an Imperial Context, Martin
Millett
15.30
Markets, economies: The
North-Africa and Rome, Clementina Panella
The ‘Populus of the Future’:
Children in the Forum?, Ray
Laurence
General and specific patterns
of coin circulation in a roman
province. The case of roman
Dacia, Cristian Găzdac
The Viminacium amphitheatre:
A contribution to the study of
Roman amphitheatres on the
Danube limes, Ivan Bogdanović
From rags to ritual: Two key
phases of activity in Londinium,
as revealed by excavations at
Bloomberg London, Sadie Watson and Jessica Bryan
16
16.30
COFFEE BREAK
Markets, economies: The
Mediterranean Trade, Michael
Bonifay
Transformations of public space
in the cities of Italy under the
Principate: the case of the Forum, John Patterson
Current researches at Colonia
The Amphitheatre of Chester
Dacica Sarmizegetusa, Carmen (Deva), Britain: The final analysis, Tony Wilmott
Ciongradi, Paolo Mauriello,
Emilian Bota, Enzo D’Annibale,
Emanuel Demetrescu, Elisa Di
Giovanni, Cristian Dima, Daniele
Ferdani and Natascia Pizzano
15
17
DISCUSSION
17.30
DISCUSSION
Forum and female presence:
The evidence of honorific
statuary from Italian and North
African Cities, Cristina Murer
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
Inscribed altars from Roman
Britain, Tony King
A restoration of the Ptolemaic
map of the British Isles, Philip
Crummy
DISCUSSION
19 MARCH 2016, SATURDAY
Aula I
19. PORTS OF THE PERIPLUS:
RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL
FIELDWORK IN THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA
Organised by: Roberta Tomber
9.00
Odeion
31. SETTLEMENT SYSTEMS:
STRUCTURES HIERARCHIES AND
TERRITORIES
Organised by: Michel Tarpin
12. URBAN STREETS AS COMMUNICATION SPACES IN THE
ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD
Organised by: Annette Haug
and Philipp Kobusch
The lived experience at Berenike Lo sviluppo di una conquista.
Visual Communication in the
(Egypt) during the time of the
Dalla fondazione della colonia Streets of Pompeii, Annette
Periplus, Iwona Zych
di sena Gallica all’organizzazio- Haug and Philipp Kobusch
ne dell’ager, Giuseppe Lepore e
Michele Silani
Aula II
6. MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR! SEX,
GENDER, AND FAMILY IN THE
ROMAN PROVINCES
Organised by: Rob Collins and
Tatiana Ivleva
28. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN
THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF
DALMATIA: NEW APPROACHES
AND CHALLENGES
Organised by: Nirvana Silnovićand Dora Ivanišević
Sexuality Embodiment in
Roman Provinces. Towards
Improved Theoretical and
Methodological Models, Sanja
Vucetic
Mithras and the Sacred
Landscape: The Case of Gacka
Valley, Nirvana Silnović
9.30
10
10.30
11
11.30
12
12.30
Aynuna (Saudi Arabia): a
L’impact de la colonisation
The Appia in town. A highway
Nabataean port on the Red Sea, romaine sur la structuration du as urban public space, Patric-AlMichał Gawlikowski
paysage rural de la Macédoine exander Kreuz
orientale, Antonio Gonzales and
Georges Tirologos
Imports and exports with the
Roman world during the reign
of Zoskales and in Aksum at
the time of the Periplus Maris
Erythraei, Chiara Zazzaro and
Andrea Manzo
COFFEE BREAK
A port in Arabia on the Indian
Ocean between Rome and
India, Alexia Pavan
Indian Ocean as a trade lake:
the critical role of Pattanam
(Muziris?), P.J. Cherian
Rythmes censoriaux et temps de Ruhe und Bewegung: städcréation des colonies : quelques tischer Straßenverkehr im
pistes?, Michel Tarpin
frühkaiserzeitlichen Pompeji,
Jens-Arne Dickmann
On a Knife-Edge: Images of
The Cults of Isis, Inga Vilogorac
Erotic Performance and the
Brčić
Iconography of ‘Small Finds’ in
the North-West Provinces, John
Pearce
Sex on the Edge: Same-sex,
Polygamous, and Single-parent
Families in the Roman Frontiers,
Tatiana Ivleva
Roman, Illyrian or Dalmatian?
(Re)interpretations of Roman
Religion in a Provincial Context,
Josipa Lulić
Tra autonomia e integrazione:
diritti locali e giurisdizione
prefettizia nelle comunità di
cives sine suffragio, Simone
Sisani
Children in the Streets – InterThe Phallus and the Frontier:
action between Children and
The Physical and Metaphysical
Adults in Pompeii, Ray Laurence barrier of Hadrian’s Wall, Rob
Collins
The Epigraphic Evidence for Early Christianity at Salona, Dora
Ivanišević
The impact of colonisation
on landscape and settlement
dynamics in central Adriatic
Italy: contributions from survey
archaeology, Frank Vermeulen
Gender and Sexuality in NorthSpeaking in tongues, listening
ern Britannia, Robyn Crook
for meaning: modes of epigraphic discourse along the
streets of Graeco-Roman antiquity, Peter Keegan
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
Converging spotlights: Indian
Ocean archaeology and the
Periplus Maris Erythraei, Federico de Romanis
Write Where the People Are –
Contextualizing Wall Inscriptions in the Streetscapes of
Pompeii, Eeva-Maria Viitanen
Female identities and the
construction of cultural borders,
Kaja Stemberger
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE 12 - POSTER SESSION
SESSION 3. EMPERORS AND
FRONTIERS
SESSION 4. QUALE MEMORIA?
COMUNICAZIONE E FORME DEL
RICORDO NELL’ARCHEOLOGIA
FUNERARIA ROMANA
Carla Cioffi
A bilingual mensa ponderaria from the eastern Danube
Necropoli e riti funerari a Siracusa tra l’età repubblicana e la prima età imperiale
Memoria e autorappresentazione tra arte funeraria ed epigrafia in età tardo imperiale. Il caso della
catacomba dei Ss. Marco e Marcelliano
Federica Maria Riso, Giovanna Analisi archeobotaniche a confronto tra la necropoli suburbana di Mutina (scavo ex Parco Novisad)
Bosi, Rossella Rinaldi and Dona- e una necropoli prediale nell’agro centuriato mutinese (scavi cava Corpus Domini – Marzaglia)
to Labate
Michela Stefani
L’area archeologica del Sepolcro degli Scipioni: pratiche funerarie e rituali
Sabina Veseli
A reassessment of the small necropolis of III-IV centuries AD of Zgerdhesh (Albania)
SESSION 5. INTERDISCIPLINARY Veronica Aniceti and Mauro
Animal food resources in Roman Britain: changing husbandry practices and dietary preferences at
APPROACHES TO ANCIENT
Rizzetto
Castleford (West Yorkshire, England)
ROMAN DIETS
Andrew James Donnelly
Contextualizing the Flat-Bottomed Cooking Pan
Jack Dury and Oliver Craig
Stable isotopes of processed fish products in Roman coastal environments
Julia Hurley
An Integrated Approach to Mapping Foodways in Iron Age and Roman-Period Britain
Tzvetana Popova and Hana
Use of Pinia (Pinus pinea) – for food or ritual?
Hristova
Giovanni Distefano and Angeli- Sardina pilchardus, tonno ed anfore lusitane Almagro 50-51 nel Mediterraneo. Relitti e commerci
SESSION 7. BETWEEN THE ATnel IV sec. d.C. Il caso di Randello (Sicilia)
LANTIC AND THE MEDITERRA- ca Ferraro
NEAN: INTERSECTED PERSPEC- Gianluca Minetto and Cristina
The Lusitaniana fish products in the port of Olbia (North-estern Sardinia)
TIVES ON LUSITANIA
Nervi
Joey Williams
An Early Roman Watchtower in Central Lusitania: Colonial Negotiation, Cultural Exchange, and
Surveillance Archaeology
SESSION 11. INNOVATION
Giulia Bison
Una variante di fibula tipo Aucissa dal Palatino
THROUGH IMITATION IN THE
ROMAN WORLD: CREATIVE
PROCESSES AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON IN ROMAN CRAFTS
SESSION 12. URBAN STREETS AS Nùria Romanì Sala
La calle y la escenificacion del estatus urbano y social. Embellecimiento y mejoras viarias en la
COMMUNICATION SPACES IN
ciudades del conuentus tarraconensis en época altoimperial
THE ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD
Giancarlo Germanà Bozza
Agnese Pergola
SESSION 16. SETTLEMENT
TOPOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT – METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN
SEVERAL MEDITERRANEAN
REGIONS
SESSION 17. RELITTI E COMMERCIO ROMANO NEL MEDITERRANEO OCCIDENTALE IN
EPOCA ROMANA
SESSION 20. THE ROMAN
AMPHITHEATRE – RECENT RESEARCH AND NEW INSIGHTS
SESSION 24. OGGETTI, AVVENIMENTI E STORIA
Ulla Rajala and Philip Mills
Pottery circulation, villas and Roman Nepet from the Republican period to late antiquity
Raffaele Laino and Fabrizio
Mollo
Il relitto di Diamante (CS): un’esperienza di archeologia subacquea nel medio Tirreno calabrese
Sonja Vuković-Bogdanović
Beasts from the games or something else? Animal remains from roman amphitheatres
Milena Raycheva
Nicola Luciani and Paolo Rosati
Caracalla in Philippopolis. Another perspective on Cassius Dio
Soppiantare un dio: strutture e fonti per una narrazione storica del mitreo-chiesa di S. Nicola a
Guidonia
Produzione, commerci e scambi tra le due sponde dell’Adriatico nel corso dell’Ellenismo e dell’età
romana attraverso i casi di Urbs Salvia (Picenum) e Hadrianopolis (Epiro)
L’olio piceno: una merce trascurata dell’economia dell’Italia centrale Adriatica nell’età romana?
Sofia Cingolani
SESSION 26. L’ADRIATICO
NELL’ANTICHITA’ QUALE LUOGO DI TRANSITO DI UOMINI, DI Dimitri Van Limbergen
MERCI E MODELLI CULTURALI
SESSION 27. RETHINKING THE
Mariya Avramova
CONCEPT OF “HEALING SETTLEMENTS”: CULTS, CONSTRUCTIONS AND CONTEXTS IN THE
WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE
SESSION GENERAL
Chiara Fornace
Alice Landskron
Healing Settlements in Roman Thrace: Past Scholarship and Future Perspectives
L’opera poligonale in Cilicia Tracheia
Roman sculpture in domestic spaces in context: the evidence of the third and fourth century AD in
Roman Ostia
THEORETICAL ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE 26 - SAPIENZA UNIVERSITA’ DI ROMA
16 - 19 MARCH
15 MARCH 2016, TUESDAY
16-19
16 MARCH 2016, WEDNESDAY
Aula III
Aula IV
17 MARCH 2016, THURSDAY
Aula III
Aula IV
18 MARCH 2016, FRIDAY
Aula III
19 MARCH 2016, SATURDAY
Aula IV
Aula III
Aula IV
T4. THEATT. GENERAL SESRICALISING
SION 1
MEMORY. AN
ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACH
TO RELIGIOUS
PERFORMANCE
IN THE ROMAN
WORLD
Organised by Valentino Gasparini
T12. SUSTAINING
THE EMPIRE:
BALANCING BETWEEN POPULATION GROWTH
AND FOOD
RESOURCES
Organized by
Wim De Clercq, Dimitri Van
Limbergen, Frank
Vermeulen and
Rinse Willet
T. GENERAL SEST8. ANIMALS
AND LANDSCAPE SION 2
IN THE ROMAN
WORLD
Organized by
Clare Reinsford
and David Roberts
The Theatre-Temple Pattern in the
Italic Sanctuaries:
Origins and Functions, Alessandro
D’Alessio
Land and population in the Roman
Empire. East and
West compared,
Paul Edkamp
The Everyday
Ritual: Social
Practice and the
Animalscape,
Clare Rainsford
and David Roberts
MORNING SESSIONS
9.00
T1. BEYOND THE
ROMANS: WHAT
CAN POSTHUMANISM DO
FOR CLASSICAL
STUDIES?
Organised by Linnea Åshede and
Irene Selsvold
T9. THEORISING
‘PLACE’ IN (ROMAN) ARCHAEOLOGY
Organised by
Darrell Rohl and
Nicky Garland
Posthumanism
and the Romans – prospective, potential
and the road
ahead, Irene
Selsvold
An Archaeology
of Place: The
development of
‘place’ theory in
archaeological
studies and its
application to the
Roman world,
Darrell Rohl and
Nicky Garland
T2. METHOD
MATTERS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL
METHOD AND
THE CONSTRUCTION OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
IN ROMAN
COLONIZATION
STUDIES
Organised by
Jesús García-Sánchez and Anita
Casarotto
Making use of
secondary data:
the feedback of
ceramic surveys,
Damjan Donev
Roman Grid Planning in Cross-Cultural Perspective,
Simeon D. Ehrlich
Contextualizing
Small Finds at
Pompeii: A New
Take on Old
Things, Catherine
Baker
9.30
Priapus can be
Anything: Bodies
Without Borders
in Roman Art,
Linnea Åshede
Moving money:
Coin hoards,
place, movement
and memory in
Roman Britain,
Adrian M. Chadwick
Testing settlement models in
early Roman colonial landscapes,
Anita Casarotto,
Jeremia Pelgrom
and Tesse D. Stek
Inside Out: Spectacularisation of
Grief and Joy in
Isiac Hilaria, Valentino Gasparini
Negative and
positive multicultural interaction
as a precondition
to Roman expansion: changing
group identities
in central Italy
from the Archaic
to the Late Republican period,
Ulla Rajala
Growing vines in
a populous landscape. Viticultural
practices in EarlyImperial central
Adriatic Italy (1st
-2 nd century
AD), Dimitri Van
Limbergen
How animals
co-created the
Romano-British
countryside – towards archaeologies of animality,
Adrian Chadwick
Your place or
mine? Eating and
drinking practices
across Roman
London in the 1st
century AD, Michael Marshall,
Karen Stewart
and Amy Thorp
10
Venusti (semi)
viri vates: Posthuman visions
of early Roman
encounters with
the Galli, Lewis
Webb
Waterworks:
Temporal engineering and the
creation of place
in Late Iron Age
and Roman Britain, Jay Ingate
Looking at Sites
in a Colonial
landscape. The
importance of
data visualization, Jesús García
Sánchez
Activating the
Circus: Sacred
Space, Collective
Performance and
Spectactor Memories, Sinclair Bell
Spinning your
own yarn: Spindle
whorls and spinners in the forts
of the Romano
British Frontier
Land and population in the Roman
Empire. East and
West compared,
Paul Edkamp
The Consumption
and Ritual Treatment of Animals
in Northern Gallic
Sanctuaries, David Rose
Cooking pots,
table ware and
storage ceramics.
Culinary practice
and savoir-faire
in Roman Nora,
Cristina Nervi
10.30
11.00
COFFEE BREAK
The agency of
Roman funerary
monuments:
from human
to incarnated
(biographical)
entity?, Vladimir
D. Mihajlović
Layers of place
and space in Iron
Age and Roman
Britain, Caroline
Pudney
Geomorphology
as a research tool
to assess Roman
colonial studies,
Kevin Ferrari
Stirring Scenes:
Performing
Religion in the
Roman East,
Frederick G.
Naerebout
Corporeal Connections: Grave
Disturbance, Reuse and Violation
in Roman Italy,
Liana Brent
The Economy &
the Archaeology
of Roman wine. A
proposal for analyse an intensive
wine production
system and trade.
Case study: Regio
Laeetana (Hispania Citerior
Tarraconensis),
Antoni Martin i
Oliveras
Hunting scenes
on mosaics from
Roman Africa,
Anna Mech
Reassessing
Roman building
materials: economics, logistics
and social factors
in the supply of
tile and stone to
Dorchester-onThames, Oxfordshire, Edward
Peveler
11.30
DISCUSSION
12
12.30
13-14
LUNCH
Co-producing
‘Place’ and ‘Identity’ in the Upper
Durius Valley,
Henry Clarke
Modelling Roman
agriculture in
a theoretical
colonial framework. Riparian
vegetation and
viticulture in Hasta Regia, Daniel
J. Martín-Arroyo
Sánchez
The Creation of
A changing
game: InvestigatRitual ‘Place’ in
ing native ecothe Rural Environment of the
nomic responsRoman Near East, es to Roman
conquest in the
Paul Newson
Dutch limes zone
via agent-based
modelling, Jamie
Joyce and Philip
Verhagen
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
Choreographing
Religious Spectacle: Processional
Movement at
Ostia, Katherine
Crawford
Escaping heat
and ‘killing time’
in the desert –
Revisiting the
archaeology of
Roman garrison
at Bu Njem, Anna
Walas
Performing the
DISCUSSION
Rituals of Imperial Cult in Late Antique Rome: Temples, Topography,
and Inscriptions,
Douglas Boin
DISCUSSION
Urbanism and
demography in
Roman Asia Minor, Rinse Willet
DISCUSSION
‘This land is your
land, this land is
my land’. Ownership, attitudes,
and animal
management systems in northern
Britannia, Sue
Stalibrass
DISCUSSION
The translation
of the context: a
case study from
Portugal, Vincenzo Soria
DISCUSSION
TRAC AGM (13-14)
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
T3. MARXIST
TRADITIONS IN
ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Organised by
Andrew Gardner and Mauro
Puddu
T11. BEYOND
PUBLIC AND
PRIVATE IN THE
ROMAN HOUSE
Organised by
Kaius Tuori
T5. BEYOND
HYBRIDITY AND
CODE-SWITCHING: NEW
APPROACHES
TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE
LATE HELLENISTIC
ROME, ITALY,
AND THE WIDER
MEDITERRANEAN
Organised by
Francesca Diosono and Dominik
Maschek
T7. APPROPRIATING TRADITIONS – NEGOTIATING FORMS:
MATERIAL
CULTURE AND
ROMAN RELIGION BETWEEN
CATEGORIES
AND VARIABLES
Organised by
Anna-Katharina
Rieger
T10. MEDIA,
MEMORY AND
ARCHAEOLOGIST
Organized by
Clare Rowan
T6. FILLING THE
GAP: INVESTIGATING ABANDONMENT IN
THE ROMAN
EMPIRE
Organized by
Rocco Palermo
and Maria Amodio
14
Finding the
marginalised?
Being the marginalised?, Steve
Roskams
Venus in Pompeian Domestic
Space, Carla
Brain
Social networks
in Late Hellenistic
Northern Etruria:
From a multicultural society to a
society of partial
identities, Raffaella Da Vela
Resonance of objects and a new
theory of religion,
Jörg Rüpke
Premediation,
Remediation, and
Cultural Memory
in the Roman
World, Clare
Rowan
Abandoned
Traditions? The
Case of Courtyard
Houses and Peristyle Mansions in
Late Hellenistic
and Early Roman
Judaea, Shulamit
Miller
14.30
Divorcing theory
from politics:
Marxist thought
in Eastern European Roman archaeology, Emily
Hanscam
Questioning the
functions of the
cubiculum in
the archaeological and literary
sources, Laura
Nissin
From magistri to
Ermaistai. The
self-representation of Italian
mercatores in the
eastern Mediterranean between
professional and
religious associations, Francesca
Diosono
The votive offering: a category in
need of a challenge?, Jessica
Hughes
Premediation
and Perception:
Colour in Roman
Archaeology,
Vicky Jewell
Abandonment,
Transformation
and Adaptation
along the Rhine
in the Roman
period, Tyler
Franconi
15
Crisis, Marxism
and Reconstructions of Time,
Paul Pasiek
The domus of
Apuleio at Ostia
Antica, Antonella
Pansini
Graecia capta
ferum victorem
cepit...’ ? Violence and cultural
change in the
Late Roman Republic, Dominik
Maschek
The Gods don’t
live here anymore, do they?
Conceptualizing
the materiality of
religious change,
Norman Wetzig
The Missing
On the decline of
Piece. Reduction Myos Hormos,
as a Medial Strat- Dario Nappo
egy in Roman
Portraiture?,
Annabel Bokern
15.30
Worshipping the
Roman emperor:
uneven and combined developments?, Dies van
der Linde
Were peristyles
conspicuous
consumption or a
functional addition to the atrium
house?, Samuli
Simelius
Religious landscape “in between”: the Almo
valley at the
borders of Rome,
Rachele Dubbini
16.00
16.30
COFFEE BREAK
Marxist dialectic
vs. the predominant notion of
local identities:
the study of cult
centres in the
Hauran (southern
Syria) (100BC–
AD300), Francesca Mazzilli
Beyond idealism
and realism. On
how to evaluate
nude portrait
statues in Late
Republican Central Italy, Barbara
Sielhorst
Portrait as a
medium. Reading
Palmyra Reliefs
with the ‘Empire
and Communication’ by Harald
Innis, Łukasz
Sokołowski
Private Inscriptions in Public
Spaces?, Polly
Lohmann
Samnites just
in Samnium?!
Archaeological
and epigraphical
sources for the
integration of
Samnites in Italian and Mediterranean (religious)
trade, Claudia
Widow
Cursing the
DISCUSSION
neighbours?
Beyond motive
categories in the
study of Roman
defixiones, Stuart
McKie
Abandonment
and Revival
between Late
Antiquity and
the Early Middle
Ages: Facts and
Fiction, Athanasios Vionis
Contesting Sacred Landscapes:
Continuity and
Abandonment in
Roman Cyprus,
Giorgios Papantoniou
17.00
Dynamics of power: an architectural reading of
concentration of
power (Ullastret,
northern Iberia,
IV-III century BC),
David Cebrian
17.30
Welcome-back
DISCUSSION
Marx! The rise,
the fall and
the rebirth of a
thought. Marxist
perspective for
Roman Archaeology at the end of
the Post-Modern
Era, Edoardo
Vanni
18
18.15 20.00
Structuring Olfactory Space in the
Roman House,
Thomas J. Derrick
Switching to
Roman? Translating late Iron
Age mortuary
contexts from the
Lomellina (IT),
Sarah Scheffler
Mimetic Practice
in Provincial Religious Iconography: A Case Study
of Roman Britain,
Stephanie Moat
Investigating the
transformation
through the
archaeological
record in the
heart of Tuscany:
the case of the
late roman villa
at Aiano (4th7th cent. AD),
Marco Cavalieri
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
DISCUSSION
Rettorato, Aula Magna: Official Welcome,
Presentation of the Roman Archaeology Dissertation
Prize and Welcome drink offered by Roman Society
Plenary Lecture
Conference Location Maps
RAC/TRAC 2016 will be centred on the Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia on the Campus of Sapienza Università di
Roma (all the entrances are indicated by the red arrows).
24
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia: ground floor (Museo dell’Arte Classica)
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia: first floor
25
Key Information: various
Busses in Rome
For information: ATAC, (english) http://www.atac.roma.it/page.asp?p=229
Lines and maps (english): http://www.atac.roma.it/page.asp?p=18
Take advantage of ATAC tourist cards and tickets to move freely around the city and enjoy its cultural heritage.
To meet the growing demand for mobility in combination with culture, ATAC has improved offer with integrated tourist packages in partnership with leading cultural agencies and tour operators.
Roma pass
The Roma Pass card includes the use of public transport within the territory of Rome and allows access to all
state and municipal monuments, museums and archaeological sites included in the offer, with free admission
to the first two sites/museums chosen and reduced admission to all other visited sites/museums. Valid for
three consecutive days from first validation, it can be purchased for € 36,00 in all museums and sites included
in the offer, as well as in Tourist Information Points of the Municipality of Rome and in all ATAC ticket offices.
For futher information: www.romapass.it.
Roma plus
The Roma Plus 24/48h ticket combines public transport with open top bus tickets «City Sightseeing Roma»,
offering the possibility to discover Rome in different ways. It is valid for 24/48 hours from first validation for
unlimited journeys within the city of Rome, plus a 24/48 hour ticket for the open top bus «City Sightseeing
Roma». The price is €30,00 for 24h and €40,00 for 48h; children under 10 years travel for free.
The integrated Metrebus tariff system was created to facilitate mobility in Rome and Lazio. Thanks to the collaboration between Atac, Cotral and Trenitalia, it allows to travel on different forms of public transport with
a single ticket:
METREBUS ROME
Tickets and Season Passes within the Metrebus Rome System allow you to travel on buses, trams and trolleybuses, Metro lines, the Regional trains Roma-Lido, Roma-Viterbo and Termini-Centocelle, as well as Cotral
and Trenitalia lines in 2nd class, except bus/train connections to Ciampino and Fiumicino airports (Cotral/
Trenitalia) and sightseeing tours (open top buses, etc.).
METREBUS LAZIO
Tickets and passes of the Metrebus Lazio system allow you to travel in the Lazio Region within the zones
indicated on the ticket or season pass. Some subscriptions include also the transport system of a Regional
Municipality affiliated with the system.
Taxis
We recommend Samarcanda (06/5551), Radiotaxi 3570 (06/3570), Roma - La Capitale (06/4994) or Pronto
Taxi (06/6645). Please only use official taxis.
Registration & Welcome desk
Registration will be open from 16.00 to 19.00 on Tuesday 15 March in Building Foyer (first floor, FF).
Thereafter it can be done in the Welcome desk, which will be staffed from 8.30 each morning in Building
Foyer (first floor, FF). Delegates who have booked as a student must bring a valid student card to Registration.
Information and Bookstalls
During the Conference, many publishers, distributors and booksellers will have display stalls in the Museo
dell’Arte Classica (ground floor, GF).
Posters Session
A Poster display will take place in both the Museo dell’Arte Classica (ground floor, GF) and the Building Foyer
(firts floor, FF). Posters must be given to the Welcome desk by 08.30 on Wednesday through to Saturday. Authors are encouraged to stand by their posters during coffee breaks.
26
Coffee and Lunches
There are coffee breaks in the mornings and afternoons, and this will be served in both the Museo dell’Arte
Classica (ground floor, GF) and the Building Foyer (firts floor, FF). Lunches are included in the conference fee
only for speakers speakers, poster presenters and session organisers, and will be served in both the Museo
dell’Arte Classica (ground floor, GF) and the Building Foyer (firts floor, FF).
Key Information: Events
WEDNESDAY EVENING, 18.15/19.00: Rettorato – Aula Magna, Official welcome and presentation of the Roman Archaeology Dissertation Prize; 19.00/20.00: Welcome drink offered by Roman Society.
THURSDAY EVENING, 18.15/20.00: Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Aula I, Plenary Lecture; 20.30: Conference
Dinner, Casa degli Aviatori (booking essential).
FRIDAY EVENING, 21.00: RAC/TRAC Festa.
SUNDAY MORNING/AFTERNOON: Excursion to Portus and Isola Sacra (booking essential).
PLEASE NOTE: holders of a RAC conference badge will also have free entry to selected museums and archaeological sites in Rome.
27
Together with Sapienza Università di Roma the Sponsoring Organizations are:
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Catharine Edwards (President) and Peter Guest (Chair, Archaeology Committee)
The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies - The Roman Society - was founded in
1910 as the sister society to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. The Roman
Society is the leading organization in the United Kingdom for those interested in the study
of Rome and the Roman Empire. Its scope is wide, covering Roman history, archaeology,
literature and art down to about A.D. 700. It has a broadly based membership, drawn from
over forty countries and from all ages and walks of life. The Society supports a library of over 130,000 volumes
and 675 periodicals; it supports a programme of public lectures and conferences; it has a grants programme for
research and to support teaching and students. Membership is open to all.
The Roman Archaeology Conference is its biennial conference.
www.romansociety.org
The British School at Rome
Christopher Smith (Director)
The British School at Rome is the UK’s leading research institute abroad –
it is a centre of interdisciplinary research excellence in the Mediterranean, supporting the full range of arts,
humanities and social sciences. The BSR was founded in 1900, and for over a century we have supported artists
and scholars in their work in Italy. Residential awards at the BSR provide unprecedented access to Rome and
Italy. They offer a superb opportunity to research and focus upon work, and to use the BSR as a base to make
the best use possible of the remarkable resources that the city offers, including our specialist library with 70,000
volumes. The vibrant interdisciplinary community and common table provides a unique environment in which
to exchange ideas and viewpoints. The regular programme of events that are open to the public enables scholars
to meet and interact with others in their own and other disciplines.
We welcome applications to stay with us, and also to use our archaeological services, which include support for
concession applications and also geophysics.
www.bsr.ac.uk
International Association for Classical Archaeology (AIAC)
Kristian Göransson (President), Maria Teresa D’Alessio (Vice President), Simonetta Serra (Secretary General)
The International Association for Classical Archaeology (AIAC) engages institutes and
scholars from many countries in an international collaboration in the field of Classical Archaeology. Founded
in Rome in 1945, AIAC runs the Fasti Online (www.fastionline.org), a database of archaeological excavations,
organizes periodic seminars in Rome for doctoral students in classical archaeology from the various institutes in
Rome, coordinates the quinquennial International Congress of Classical Archaeology and arranges study trips
and other events in classical archaeology. The association is directed by a Council, elected by the members,
which in turn elects the President, Vice President and Secretary General.
www.aiac.org
28
Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference
(TRAC)
Darrell J. Rohl (Chairperson) and Ian Marshman (ViceChair)
TRAC is an unincorporated voluntary association that has developed from and around the annual Theoretical
Roman Archaeology Conference series held since 1991. The first TRAC conference was held to widen the
range of perspectives offered, and voices heard, in Roman archaeology. This was a major success, and TRAC
has made a major contribution to research in Roman archaeology over the past 25 years. Following on from
the initial conferences, TRAC continues to organize an annual conference and to produce a publication of
selected Proceedings within 12 months. Individual conferences are primarily organized by a Local Organizing
Committee with the support of the TRAC Standing Committee and a number of sponsoring organizations.
Since the mid-1990s, TRAC has been held – in alternate years – alongside the Roman Archaeology Conference
(RAC) organized by the Archaeology Committee of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (aka “the
Roman Society”).
In 2013 it launched its website which includes a forum to promote discussion and debate in the 12-month gaps
between conferences. Visit it, sign-up and engage with the online community. The site also hosts many of the
past TRAC published volumes on Open Access.
trac.org.uk
TRAC Bursaries
The TRAC Bursaries have been funded by generous donations from both the Roman
Society and from Barbican Research Associates, an independent consultancy specialising
in the analysis of archaeological finds and post-excavation management.
www.barbicanra.co.uk
29
ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE 12
SESSION ABSTRACTS
1.INTEGRATING REGIONAL SURVEY DATABASES AROUND ROME: METHODOLOGICAL
Organised by: Peter Attema (University of Groningen), Paolo Carafa (Sapienza Università di Roma), Willem
M. Jongman (University of Groningen) and Christopher Smith (The British School at Rome)
Ever since Giuseppe Lugli’s pioneering work for the Forma Italiae in the Pontine region in the early 20th c. on the Roman
towns of Tarracina and Circeii, a vast amount of field survey data has been amassed for the suburbium of Rome sensu lato.
North of the Tiber, the Tiber Valley Project, building on earlier projects, systematically recorded the southern Etruscan landscape. South of the Tiber the Latium Vetus project, and then the Suburbium project, covered large tracts of northern Latium
Vetus, and the Pontine Region Project covered large parts of the southern part of Latium Vetus.
Whilst the data of these individual projects have led to fundamental reassessments of developments in settlement and
economy at the regional scale in relation to Rome, they have never been analyzed in tandem to confront fundamental questions regarding the role of ancient Rome as a regional centre with an expanding suburbium. This is not surprising as the challenges of integrating datasets acquired with different aims and methodologies, and stored in very different data formats, are
considerable. It is certain, however, that a concerted effort of bringing together these data in an integrated data structure that
allows detailed questions on demographic and socio-economic developments will be a major step forward in our understanding of the growing regional role of Rome from the Early Iron Age onwards north and south of the Tiber.
This session will bring together scholars currently working on the integration of regional data pertaining to the suburbium
of Rome. The aim of the session is to, first, present an overview of current work in this field; second, to identify and present
shared methodological and interpretive issues in integrating the regional datasets available. Third, to establish a network of
interested scholars, who may want to contribute to finding solutions to technical and methodological issues and to prepare a
common research agenda, streamlining and guiding future work in this field.
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]
Thursday 17 March, Aula I (FF)
14.00 – Introduction and presentation of datasets on Rome’s Suburbium: “Integrating data from the Pontine Region
Project, the Tiber valley Project and the Suburbium project”, Peter Attema, Paolo Carafa and Christopher Smith
14.30 – Rome’s suburbium; the potential of an integrated database on the Suburbium, Rob Witcher
15.00 – Integrating regional-scale data: a case study from the Pontine Region, Tymon de Haas and Gijs Tol
15.30 – Case studies from the Suburbium project, Maria Cristina Capanna
16.00 – Coffee break
16.30 – Integrating survey data: why?, Willem M. Jongman
Introduction and presentation of datasets on Rome’s Suburbium: “Integrating data from
the Pontine Region Project, the Tiber valley Project and the Suburbium project”
Peter Attema (University of Groningen), Paolo Carafa (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Christopher Smith
(British School at Rome)
[email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]
Ever since Giuseppe Lugli’s pioneering work for the Forma Italiae in the Pontine region in the early 20th c. on the Roman
towns of Tarracina and Circeii, a vast amount of field survey data has been amassed for the suburbium of Rome sensu lato.
North of the Tiber, the Tiber Valley Project, building on earlier projects, systematically recorded the southern Etruscan landscape. South of the Tiber the Latium Vetus project, and then the Suburbium project, covered large tracts of northern Latium
Vetus, and the Pontine Region Project covered large parts of the southern part of Latium vetus.
Whilst the data of these individual projects have led to fundamental reassessments of developments in settlement and
economy at the regional scale in relation to Rome, they have never been analyzed in tandem to confront fundamental questions regarding the role of ancient Rome as a regional centre with an expanding suburbium. This is not surprising as the
30
challenges of integrating datasets acquired with different aims and methodologies, and stored in very different data formats,
are considerable.
It is certain, however, that a concerted effort of bringing together these data in an integrated data structure that allows
detailed questions on demographic and socio-economic developments will be a major step forward in our understanding of
the growing regional role of Rome from the Early Iron Age onwards north and south of the Tiber.
This introduction and presentation of the separate projects will set out the challenges and opportunities for a new initiative
to unite the three databases.
Rome’s suburbium; the potential of an integrated database on the Suburbium
Rob Witcher (University of Durham)
[email protected]
The territory around Rome is one of the most intensively studied regions of the Mediterranean. For over a century, archaeologists have documented monuments, artefact scatters, and other landscape features. The resulting data are vast in quantity,
and variable in quality. During the 1990s, three separate initiatives (the Suburbium Project; Pontine Region Project; Tiber
Valley Project) began collating legacy datasets and supplementing them with targeted fieldwork. Individually, these projects
have generated large databases and published re-evaluations of the data and new synthetic interpretations. While work on the
individual projects continues, recent discussions have raised questions: could these separate initiatives be networked? What
are the methodological and technological challenges? And – most importantly – what new questions could be addressed by an
integrated database?
The problems of combining field survey data are well known. The proximity of the existing projects lessens, to some degree, the difficulties. Most importantly, however, each of these projects has already demonstrated that disparate datasets can
be integrated and used to address broader research questions. With the growth of computing power, the concept of ‘Big Data’
has recently come to the fore. Integrating the three project databases would produce a hinterland-scale dataset unparalleled by
that from any other ancient Mediterranean metropolis. But more data does not guarantee better results. The aim of this paper
is therefore to consider the potential of an integrated database to transform interpretations.
There are two broad approaches: methodological and modelling. First, by comparing and integrating individual datasets,
we understand better what is general and what is unique, and how these are affected by scale of observation. Questions of
methodological (in)compatibility can elucidate issues of historical relevance, for example, were pots of the same form type used
at the same time (and in the same way)? In turn, the integration of these projects will provide a case study for the incorporation
of more diverse datasets from other parts of the Mediterranean/Roman world.
Second, a key area for consideration is demographic modelling; population figures are central to varied social and economic questions; integration would provide a more robust dataset for understanding the scale, distribution, organisation and
flow of population. In turn, such figures feed into issues of urbanisation, market economies, inequality, migration/mobility,
technological innovation, and environmental sustainability/resilience. All of these topics speak to the list of ‘Grand Challenges
for Archaeology’ (Kintigh et al. 2014) and remind us that, collectively, these datasets are of great potential interest to a wide
range of researchers seeking high-quality data to explore these topics using theories and methods such as niche construction,
urban scaling, and network analysis.
Clearly both technical and conceptual problems abound – which platform should be used? How can we explore ‘hinterland’ data without resorting to a teleological account of the rise and fall of Rome? – but we perceive transformative potential
in the process of addressing these issues and the ability to contribute to wider archaeological debates.
Integrating regional-scale data: a case study from the Pontine Region
Tymon de Haas (University of Groningen) and Gijs Tol (University of Groningen)
[email protected] and [email protected]
As part of the long-term Pontine Region Project (PRP), the authors are in the process of integrating existing survey
datasets and databases (including sub-phases of the PRP, Forma Italiae and other topographic studies) into a single database
structure. This database currently holds information on some 600 sites and more than 250.000 artefacts. In this paper we will
first discuss the challenges encountered in the process of database design and data entry, which include both methodological
and interpretive issues. Subsequently we will illustrate the considerable potential of this type of integration of both site and
artefact data for a better understanding of regional trends in settlement and economy and the intra-regional trajectories within
such regional trends.
31
Case studies from the Suburbium project
Maria Cristina Capanna (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
The Suburbium project covered an area of 200 sq km within the Comune di Roma coinciding with a large portion of
Rome’s ancient suburbium and those of neighbouring ancient cities (on the left bank of the Tiber: Fidenae, Crustumerium,
Cameria, Ficulea, Caenina, Bovillae and a small part of Tusculum; on the right bank Veii). In this paper we will discuss
the data obtained from the surveys and will present research results of three different contexts, viz. Rome’s northern and
south-eastern Suburbium; the suburbia of the other Latin cities and that of Veii). First, data sets will be compared with datasets
resulting from previous research. Second, results of spatial analyses will be presented (Thiessen poligons) elaborated in GIS
and aimed at the reconstruction of the territories of cities and land plots belonging to villas. The size of territories and land
plots will be adjusted according to the average distribution of sites per square kilometer taking into account “archaeological
visibility”. Third, it will be shown how “weighted average analyses”, which only include precisely date objects, may be of help
in evaluating whether data increase corresponds with increase of productive and commercial activities during certain periods.
Integrating survey data: why?
Willem M. Jongman (University of Groningen)
[email protected]
The study of Roman society has witnessed enormous changes in recent years. It was not long ago that the big narratives
such as Finley’s Ancient Economy were primarily written from written sources, while the archaeological data were often used
to underscore the local and the particular. This has changed quite dramatically in recent years, with significant revisions of
economic history based on aggregate archaeological data, and an increasing interest in generalization among archaeologists.
Survey results are beginning to figure in such revisionist histories, but the analysis is hampered by the fragmentation and inaccessibility of the data.
Field survey data can indeed play an important role in big histories of larger chronological trends in, for example, population, market integration, rural manufacture, agricultural technology, rural material culture, or social (in)equality. However,
such bigger data driven histories can only be written if the results of surveys from many regions of the Empire are integrated
and aggregated into one coherent dataset or set of datasets. And once we have reconstructed a bigger trend, we are in a much
better position to identify and understand the locally specific.
2.SENSING ROME: SENSORY APPROACHES TO MOVEMENT AND SPACE
Organised by: Eleanor Betts (The Open University)
Roman archaeology is currently experiencing both a spatial and a sensory turn. Taking as its theme the multiple perspectives of sensory space, this session explores the role played by the senses in recognising, understanding and using Roman urban
space, with a specific focus on movement within the cities of Rome, Ostia and Pompeii.
The multisensory body is the locus of human identity, experience and memory, and the body in motion gives meaning
to space and place. Bringing these perspectives together, this session explores the value of applying a sensory approach to the
archaeology of Roman urbanism. It will examine the extent to which the senses played a central role within distinctive cultural,
social, political and economic activities, with the aim of increasing our understanding of how people identified and interacted
with the city as they moved within it.
In particular, the speakers will ask how we might develop and apply methodologies for recreating experiences of Roman
urban landscapes, as well as the activities, behaviours and meanings associated with them, with attention given to how empirical sensory data may combine or conflict with that of ancient sources. Consideration will be given to the impact sensory
stimuli had on the perceptions and experiences of those who lived in Rome, Ostia and Pompeii, and the extent to which an
attempt to recapture sensory data and reconstruct sensory experiences alters our perceptions of these cities. Were sensory
stimuli instrumental to navigating urban space and characterising particular locales or activities, or did they cut across them?
A further aim of the session is to develop methodologies for reconstructing sensory experiences of space, with a particular
focus on movement through urban landscapes, as well as to consider the issues of approaching movement from a multisensory
perspective, some methodological problems and their solutions.
[email protected]
32
Friday 18 March, Odeion (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
Chair: Ray Laurence
9.00 – A Multisensory Exploration of Movement through Rome’s Urban Bridges, Catherine Hoggarth
9.30 – Experiencing Rome’s Tiberscape, Simon Malmberg
10.00 – Multisensory Mapping of Ostia’s Regio I.IV, Eleanor Betts
11.00 – Structure of Noise: Aural Architecture and Movement in Ostian Streets, Jeffrey Veitch
11.30 – Commerce and the Senses: Everyday work and the Roman Urban Landscape, Miko Flohr
12.00 – Visibility and Movement in the Ancient Space: Some Thoughts about the Use of 3D GIS, Giacomo Landeschi
A Multisensory Exploration of Movement through Rome’s Urban Bridges
Catherine Hoggarth (University of Kent)
[email protected]
The urban bridges of ancient Rome have been relegated to obscurity by scholars; conventional wisdom perceives them
as structures devoid of agency and impact, or simply as extensions of roads. However the bridges that spanned the Tiber
were far from passive structures, they were agents of change: they shaped the topography of Rome, created iconic routes and
determined key areas of trade and ritual.
The bridges spanning the urban section of the Tiber represented a unique and diverse series of spaces and multisensory
experiences. The array of sensory stimuli a person would have encountered when approaching and crossing one of the bridges
illustrates the bridges’ unique role within urban movement: crossing between light spaces and dark, and from enclosed to
open areas, the sense of the elements on the skin and the visual assault of the decoration, all served to create discrete sensory
experiences. These experiences would also have altered significantly over time, as wood was replaced by stone and as increased
building and the erection of walls changed the visual landscape, altering the Tiberscape beyond recognition. An exploration
of the senses can offer a new perspective on Rome’s bridges and demonstrate their central role in both the life and movement
of the city.
Experiencing Rome’s Tiberscape
Simon Malmberg (University of Bergen)
[email protected]
How did people experience the spatial relationship between river and city – the Tiberscape of Rome? By the Empire, the
Tiber was mostly screened from view by a dense mass of housing, with only brief moments of engagements as travellers crossed
the bridges – much like the Servian Wall, which was only glimpsed when passing one of the gates. Indeed, in Late Antiquity
the Tiber banks got its own set of city walls, described by Claudian ‘as they were two cities parted by the sundering waters:
with equal threatening height the tower-clad banks rise in lofty buildings’.
The river was thus mainly experienced in Rome when used, either on river craft or from the docks. The tight curves of the
Tiber’s urban course give rise to a series of spaces and visual revelations. The series of river spaces were often framed by bridges,
working as both portals and viaducts. The bridges were decked out with symbols and inscriptions similar to triumphal arches
or city gates, creating delimited spaces that could be viewed as elongated riverine fora. This interaction between river and city,
the Tiberscape of Rome, became central to the city’s commercial and social life.
Multisensory Mapping of Ostia’s Regio I.IV
Eleanor Betts (The Open University)
[email protected]
Underpinned by a theoretical framework which builds on Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception and the concept
of the human body as a ‘universal measurement’, and Lefebvre’s Architecture of Enjoyment, in which he categorises sensations
(2014, pp. 114-15), this paper examines the role played by sensory data in the definition and use of space within insula I.IV in
Ostia. It presents a methodology for obtaining multisensory data from the archaeological record, as well as use of comparative
data mined from textual sources. The main focus is a quantitative assessment of the architectural spaces within and bordering
the insula, which illustrates how particular sounds, smells, tastes, textures, visual effects and kinaesthetic experiences defined
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those spaces, as well as movement within and between them. In combining spatial theory and sensory approaches, we can
begin to better define and understand the ‘intimate’ and ‘open’ spaces within the insula, as well as the relationship of the insula to the surrounding streets, in the context of the rhythms of everyday life in Ostia. A key question addressed is the extent
to which sensory stimuli helped characterise particular locales and activities, and how reconstructing sensory data alters our
perceptions of this ancient city.
Structure of Noise: Aural Architecture and Movement in Ostian Streets
Jeffrey Veitch (University of Kent)
[email protected]
In this paper the streets of Ostia will be analysed for their acoustic properties. The architecture of streets, consisting of
facades, carriageways and street furniture, provide the foundation for the acoustic character of the street, an examination of
which will nuance the role of Ostian streets in the sensory landscape. The density of doorways along Ostian streets is higher
than that of doorways in Pompeii (Laurence 2007: 107), with the result that the two cities’ acoustic characteristics differ. The
acoustic measures for Ostian streets can also be compared with space syntax studies of the street network (Stöger 2011; Kaiser
2011), offering insights into the way sounds influenced potential movements. The prevalence of porticoes along Ostian streets
created an acoustic division between the carriageway and the portico, which also served to separate types of movement. This
paper argues that the division of movement, between pedestrian and cart, was structured by the acoustic division of the street
space. Through the use of porticoes, the inhabitants of Ostia were able to acoustically separate the different experiences of
travelling along the streets.
Commerce and the Senses: Everyday work and the Roman Urban Landscape
Miko Flohr (University of Leiden)
[email protected]
Urban landscapes in Roman Italy were to a large extent defined and dominated by commerce. There was a proliferation
of shops and workshops, especially along through-routes, which, through their wide openings, were closely connected with
the street. This not only enhanced the possibilities of commercial interaction, it also had a deep impact on the sensory experience of public urban space, particularly in cases where commercial space was used for activities in the productive sphere. This
sensory impact of commerce has often been alluded to in discussions of Roman urban space, but it has rarely been critically
investigated.
Starting from the material evidence of Pompeii and Ostia, this paper will discuss some new ways to assess and contextualize the impact of everyday work on the Roman urban experience, focusing not only on possible ways to identify locations with
higher or lower sensory impact, and on comparing urban landscapes with each other, but also on the more complex issue of the
extent to which perceived impact led to counter-measures or taboos. The paper will discuss the existence of sensory ‘hotspots’
in city centres and highlight some apparent spatial conflicts, particularly related to the use of fire and to food production.
Visibility and Movement in the Ancient Space: Some Thoughts about the Use of 3D GIS
Giacomo Landeschi (University of Lund)
[email protected]
A recently developed project about the digitization of insula V.1 in Pompeii has raised new research questions, not only
concerned with visualisation, but also offering potential for multisensory analyses. The possibility of three-dimensionally
acquiring and importing in a GIS the structures of the various buildings provided archaeologists with novel opportunities of
investigation. A superimposed reconstruction of the house of Caecilius Iucundus was added to the still visible structures of the
buildings, and new methods of spatial analysis introduced. The main purpose was to try to define a methodological framework
through which to quantitatively assess the visual impact of artefacts originally placed within the space of the house. As the space
of the private house was usually intimately connected to the patron’s self-representation, it is plausible that objects on display
within the house were intended for a precise type of view. By making a quantitative assessment of this significance it has been
possible to determine the existence of certain patterns of presence and areas of movement within the house. Compared to other
methods of investigation recently explored, 3D GIS presents several advantages and encourages further investigation into the
use of this platform as a ‘heuristic’ tool for multisensory analysis and interpretation.
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Organised by: David Breeze (Universities of Durham), Erik Graafstal (Municipal Archaeologist, City of Utrecht)
and Rebecca H. Jones (Historic Environment Scotland)
This session will explore the relationships between various emperors and activities on frontiers during their reigns. How
do the literary sources relate to the archaeological evidence? How active were emperors, especially those who did not move
from Rome? How much did they leave decision making to their governors? How can we recognise the activities of particular
emperors on frontiers? The session aims to reach behind the conventional interpretations of the actions of emperors, especially
the bias of the ancient sources, and thereby also examine the interplay between these sources and the archaeological evidence.
Wednesday 16 March, Aula “Partenone” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Gaius and Claudius, 40-43: the slow build-up for Britain, Erik Graafstal
9.30 – Domitian on the Danube: Dealing Death to the Dacians?, Christoph Rummel
10.00 – Antoninus Pius: A peaceful reign?, David Breeze
11.00 – Marcus Aurelius: from Philosophy to Reality, Sonja Jilek
11.30 – Septimius Severus – Expeditio felicissima Britannica, Rebecca H. Jones
12.00 – Caracalla beyond the Limes Raetiae – Planned campaign, immediate reaction or pure fiction?, C. Sebastian
Sommer
Gaius and Claudius, 40-43: the slow build-up for Britain
Erik Graafstal (Municipal Archaeologist, City of Utrecht)
[email protected]
The actions of Roman emperors have mostly come down to us through narrative sources with a keen eye for anecdote.
This has tended to highlight short-term aspects of decision-making. Imperial biography, in particular, had a special appetite for
the eccentric and whimsical. This tendency may have tainted the military record of Gaius (‘Caligula’). His German campaign
of 39 was presented as an impulsive rush for quick victory, while Suetonius’ story about the mad Emperor ordering his troops
to collects shells on the North Sea coast as trophy over Oceanus has largely concealed the big project that was on the stocks.
When the invasion of Britain finally happened in 43 it was framed in a context of short-term personal dynamics, with Rome
supporting recently expelled friends – a reflection of Claudian propaganda for a ‘just war’.
Modern scholarship has emphasised the need of new rulers for a quick and clear victory to enhance their military prestige.
However, we may note that the campaigns of Gaius and Claudius came two years after their accession, suggesting careful
preparation. Can archaeology further balance the picture? Recent advances in the western Netherlands suggests a rather different picture. The first installations in the Rhine delta played a crucial role in preparing and sustaining the first stage of the
Invasion of Britain. Dendrochronology and coins both suggest a careful build-up of infrastructure in 41-43. The paper will
also present an overlooked corpus of evidence from NW Europe. This points to centrally coordinated investment in the main
‘vertical’ lines of communication that connected with the great transport corridors of the north. A picture emerges of the major
campaigns and commitments of 43-47 being carefully prepared several years in advance.
Domitian on the Danube: Dealing Death to the Dacians?
Christoph Rummel (Freie Universität Berlin)
[email protected]
Regardless of his image as a pessimus princeps in primary literature, Titus Flavius Domitianus, Emperor from 81-96, is
often seen as a great strategist and emperor close to the military: one of his first acts was to increase the pay of soldiers to ensure
the loyalty of the Roman army; he celebrated a triumph over the Chatti and carried the title Germanicus; and famously set up
the equus Domitiani at Rome in celebration of his German and Dacian victories. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, historians and archaeologists alike identified him as a great consolidator and creator of fixed frontiers across Europe. On the Danube,
however, Domitian’s reign, far from any consolidation, saw two Dacian Wars, the first celebrated in a triumph at Rome, and
two less successful Pannonian Wars between 89 and 98, culminating in an ovatio at Rome. Most recent research on the central
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Danube suggests that there may even have been preparations for a third campaign. This paper contrasts archaeological data
from this region with primary sources and historical studies to identify to what extent Domitian actively shaped the military
policies of his day and followed a greater design, and to what extent they were driven by local necessities. At the same time
it investigates to what extent modern perceptions of Domitian are shaped primarily through a historical narrative based on
data from North-Western Europe, which is not always seen in connection with relevant data from other parts of the Empire.
Antoninus Pius: a peaceful reign?
David Breeze (Universities of Durham, Edinburgh and Newcastle)
[email protected]
The twenty-three-year long reign of Antoninus is seen as a period of peace, but was it? He extended the empire in Britain
and in Germany and his reign saw military activity of various degrees of seriousness on all three continents – on the northern
frontier in Britain and Germany, on the Black Sea coast, in the Caucasus and in Mauretania – as well as diplomatic activities
in the East and on the northern frontier in Europe. In addition, there were rebellions in at least three provinces, Egypt, Greece
and Dacia, while a certain Cornelius Priscianus was condemned for ‘disturbing the peace of the province of Spain in a hostile
manner’. Several of these wars are mentioned in the Historia Augusta which also recorded his ‘love of peace’. In spite of all this
military activity, Antoninus only took the title of Imperator once, when Lollius Urbicus conquered the Britons, the occasion
also for the creation of one of the most important collections of Roman military sculpture, the distance slabs of the Antonine
Wall. The relationship between the view offered in the Historia Augusta and the reality on the ground will be explored, as well
as the significance of the distance slabs.
Marcus Aurelius: from Philosophy to Reality
Sonja Jilek (Vienna University)
[email protected]
Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161-180, is often addressed as the philosopher on the throne of the empire and
is best known for his intellectual pursuits. His greatest intellectual interest was Stoicism, a philosophy that emphasized fate,
reason and self-restraint. He worked alongside his adopted father Antoninus while learning the ways of government and public
affairs. After Antoninus Pius died in 161 Aurelius rose to power, while his adopted brother Lucius Verus served as co-ruler.
Both were immediately faced with conflicts with the Parthian empire and later on with massive attacks by German tribes,
which is said to have led to the creation of two new frontier provinces on the left shore of the Danube, called Sarmatia and
Marcomannia. Was Marcus Aurelius actually the man who planned to start a new major military offensive to expand the Roman territory to the north of the Danube to subdue new territory, which for a long-term had been controlled by client tribes
installed and supported by Roman policy? Or was he forced into such action purely by outside threats?
It is a fact that the Roman army was massively empowered by the recruitment and installation of two completely new
legions first stationed in the territory of western Illyricum, nowadays Slovenia, as early as 165/166, when the major attack
on northern Italy, which destroyed Aquileia along with many other Roman settlements and towns, had not even happened.
According to many historians the Marcomannic Wars did not start before 169. This paper will look into most recent research,
contrasting ancient sources with the newest archaeological data on the ground.
Septimius Severus – Expeditio felicissima Britannica
Rebecca H. Jones (Historic Environment Scotland)
[email protected]
Septimius Severus’ rule as emperor is one characterised by military activities, a love of glory and triumph, and visits to the
provinces. Born in Leptis Magna on the southern fringes of the Empire and dying in York in its north-western province, he
adopted an expansionist policy on the frontiers. In Britain, his expedition is seen as one with the dual purpose of removing
his lazy sons from the luxury of Rome together with a desire to conquer the whole of the island of Britannia, an ambition
unfulfilled after his death in February 211. Archaeological evidence for the preparations for the war in northern Britain can
be clearly seen in the changes to some of the installations along and near Hadrian’s Wall: granaries at Corbridge (Coria) and
South Shields (Arbeia). As for the conquest itself further north, we have tantalising evidence from a couple of forts together
with theories regarding undated series of marching camps – evidence which will be explored in this paper.
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Caracalla beyond the Limes Raetiae – Planned campaign, immediate reaction or pure fiction?
C. Sebastian Sommer (Chairman German Limes Commission, Chief Archaeologist of Bavaria, Bayerisches
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege)
[email protected]
Soon after the elimination of his brother Geta on his return to Rome from Britain Caracalla left the capital again and
crossed the Alps. We assume that he was looking for relief for his troubled soul and body, as indicated by his visits to the
sanctuaries of Apollo Grannus. At the same time, it appears that he was preparing – or forced to prepare? – campaigns against
the Germans, later called Alamanni. The Fratres Arvales mention a short operation for the autumn of 213 beyond the Limes
in southern Germany.
But what are the archaeological traces of the Emperor’s presence in Raetia and Upper Germany? How far did he and
his entourage affect the appearance and future development of the region? Are there signs that his stay in the provinces (and
perhaps earlier experiences in Britain with his father Septimius Severus) influenced the decision to grant citizenship to every
free man (Constitutio Antoniniana)? In this paper I shall try to parallel the sources with the archaeological record of that short
period in Roman history.
4. QUALE MEMORIA? COMUNICAZIONE E FORME DEL RICORDO NELL’ARCHEOLOGIA
FUNERARIA ROMANA
Organised by: Marianna Castiglione (Università di Pisa)
Le aree funerarie di età romana sono contesti archeologici complessi e fonti imprescindibili per la ricostruzione demografica e sociale delle città antiche, così come per una più articolata indagine storica, economica, urbanistica e artistico-artigianale.
Luoghi del ricordo stricto sensu, esse concorrevano alla conservazione della memoria dei singoli e dei relativi nuclei familiari,
delle loro scelte funerarie e di status, delle pratiche rituali e delle credenze legate a questo estremo momento di passaggio.
Le tombe, proprio grazie all’intrinseca capacità evocativa, partecipavano anche della memoria culturale, identitaria e
sociale della comunità di pertinenza. Sia la memoria individuale sia quella collettiva, che interagivano e si influenzavano
vicendevolmente, erano veicolate e divulgate attraverso un efficace apparato verbale e figurativo, intimamente connesso alla
localizzazione topografica delle sepolture stesse. La realizzazione di una simile comunicazione prevedeva necessariamente il
coinvolgimento sensoriale ed emotivo di un pubblico, il cui ruolo era determinante nella trasmissione e amplificazione dei
messaggi espliciti o simbolici predisposti dalla committenza. Sulla qualità e validità di questi espedienti, così come sull’effettiva
durata della conservazione della memoria occorre interrogarsi in modo problematico, confrontando cronologie, aree geografiche, dinamiche spaziali e sociali. Obiettivo della sessione è, pertanto, l’analisi di alcuni casi relativi a contesti e a classi di materiali differenti, pertinenti a più centri d’Italia, in cui riuscire a cogliere il rapporto semantico tra scrittura e forme figurative di
autorappresentazione, nelle diverse declinazioni di pittura, scultura e architettura. L’esame di tali linguaggi, sintassi e strategie
comunicative si affiancherà a quello degli avvicendamenti spaziali, dell’organizzazione urbanistica delle necropoli stesse e, non
ultimo, all’attenzione per la ritualità, elemento essenziale della memoria performata. Le evidenze, che forniranno certamente
nuovi dati alla ricostruzione storica delle singole realtà geografiche, contribuiranno a delineare in diacronia le mutevoli strategie
individuali del ricordo, in relazione alle tendenze collettive della memoria.
[email protected]
Friday 18 March, Aula “Partenone” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Non omnis moriar. Parole, immagini e committenza nelle necropoli di Pompei, Marianna Castiglione
9.30 – Memoria su pietra: ricordo dei defunti e pratiche funerarie nella regio II Apulia et Calabria, Maria Luigia
Dambrosio and Giuseppe Schiavariello
10.00 – La scelta di un monumento funerario come memoria di appartenenza sociale: le pseudo cupae da una necropoli suburbana sulla via Triumphalis, Marco Arizza and Marzia Di Mento
11.00 – Comunicazione in ambito funerario a Verona: casi di studio dal Museo Maffeiano, Silvia Braito and Myriam
Pilutti Namer
11.30 – La riscoperta della concorrenza: iconografie ‘ufficiali’ nei sarcofagi tardoantichi, Fabio Guidetti
12.00 – Forme e codici dell’autorappresentazione dei defunti nell’immaginario figurativo catacombale, Matteo
Braconi
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Non omnis moriar. Parole, immagini e committenza nelle necropoli di Pompei
Marianna Castiglione (Università di Pisa)
[email protected]
“Come l’individuo conserva o ritrova i suoi ricordi? Come la società conserva o ritrova i suoi?”.
L’interrogativo di M. Bloch se applicato all’età romana non può prescindere dall’analisi delle aree funerarie, il paesaggio
della memoria per eccellenza, il luogo della visibilità dei singoli e della comunicazione tra familiari, amici e sconosciuti.
L’intervento si propone di affrontare tale tema attraverso l’esame di alcuni monumenti delle necropoli suburbane di Pompei, che saranno analizzati in diacronia, tenendo conto della localizzazione topografica e degli avvicendamenti nell’intero sepolcreto, delle scelte architettoniche e del relativo apparato decorativo. Le iscrizioni rinvenute in situ, esaminate in connessione
con il monumento nella sua interezza, offriranno informazioni sulla società della città antica, permettendo sia di delineare le
caratteristiche etniche e sociali dei defunti, sia di riflettere sull’appropriazione della semantica della memoria funeraria da parte
degli indigeni. Le scelte scultoree operate dai committenti consentiranno, poi, di meglio definire l’immagine di sé che ciascun
defunto voleva tramandare e le strategie messe in atto per la partecipazione e il coinvolgimento degli osservatori. Considerare,
infine, l’effettiva conservazione, nel tempo, delle tombe permetterà di problematizzare ulteriormente il tema della memoria,
verificando la sua reale durata e la validità degli espedienti adottati al fine di perpetuarla.
Memoria su pietra: ricordo dei defunti e pratiche funerarie nella regio II Apulia et
Calabria
Maria Luigia Dambrosio and Giuseppe Schiavariello (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro)
Le complesse modalità di veicolazione del ricordo dei defunti nella regio II Apulia et Calabria saranno ricostruite in questa relazione attraverso l’analisi della documentazione epigrafica e archeologica. In particolare, lo studio dei dati biografici e
biometrici, i rapporti tra il defunto e i vivi costituiscono utili elementi per riflettere criticamente su tale tema. Come pure le
particolari espressioni, cariche di affetto sincero e di profondo dolore, riscontrabili nelle iscrizioni che ricordano chi è morto
lontano dalla propria terra, i bambini, le persone amate. L’epigrafia sepolcrale si pone quindi come campo privilegiato per
indagare a fondo le forme del ricordo e la comunicazione tra vivi e morti.
Saranno pure considerate le aree necropolari della regio II interessate da indagini archeologiche. È chiaro, infatti, come
anche la scelta di diverse tipologie monumentali sia legata all’esercizio della memoria e del ricordo. Interessante, da un punto
di vista culturale, è anche l’esame del passaggio dalle pratiche funerarie tradizionali ‘locali’ ad altre più ‘convenzionali’ da un
punto di vista della riconoscibilità archeologica.
Tale lavoro, pertanto, analizzerà alcune significative iscrizioni sepolcrali della regio II e il dato archeologico al fine di poter
delineare la pratica della memoria in questo articolato territorio nel corso dell’età romana.
La scelta di un monumento funerario come memoria di appartenenza sociale: le pseudo
cupae da una necropoli suburbana sulla via Triumphalis
Marco Arizza (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Marzia Di Mento (DAM Srl)
Le aree sepolcrali di età romana dislocate lungo le arterie consolari hanno sempre costituito, nell’ambito della “archeologia
funeraria”, un bacino di informazioni utili alla ricostruzione del profilo sociale della popolazione urbana e suburbana di età
imperiale. Tuttavia l’omogeneizzazione delle pratiche funerarie riscontrabile per i ceti medio bassi della popolazione, rende
complesso questo processo conoscitivo. In tale ottica, il rinvenimento di contesti che documentano l’uso di pratiche funerarie
e architetture specifiche, offre l’occasione per approfondire alcuni aspetti della ritualità funeraria di tale ambito. Un esempio è
lo scavo di un tratto di basolato al Km. 9 della via
Trionfale effettuato nel 2000 dagli autori, che ha restituito, oltre alla strada in perfetto stato di conservazione, un gruppo di 20 sepolture, databili nell’ambito del II sec. d.C. Tra queste, tre appartengono ad una tipologia specifica: monumenti
funerari troncoconici, costruiti in muratura sopra il luogo di sepoltura; l’evidente richiamo alla nota tipologia delle cupae e
le conseguenti implicazioni di carattere socio-culturale sono uno degli aspetti che verranno approfonditi nel contributo. La
possibilità di analizzare i corredi funerari di tutto il complesso necropolare, oltre che di queste specifiche sepolture, permetterà
dunque di ricostruire lo status sociale dei titolari di questi monumenti e di proporre alcune considerazioni sul messaggio culturale sotteso alla scelta.
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Comunicazione in ambito funerario a Verona: casi di studio dal Museo Maffeiano
Silvia Braito (Università degli Studi di Verona) and Myriam Pilutti Namer (Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia)
L’intervento si propone di illustrare le principali tipologie di monumento funerario e i relativi contenuti concepiti per
trasmettere la memoria del defunto in ambito veronese, in particolare concentrandosi su casi di studio tratti dalle collezioni
conservate presso il Museo Maffeiano.
Particolare attenzione verrà data, innanzitutto, allo spaccato sociale ricavabile dall’analisi epigrafica dei testi e dalla
prosopografia dei personaggi ricordati nelle iscrizioni; in secondo luogo si faranno alcune osservazioni di carattere tecnico sui
materiali impiegati per il supporto e sulle tipologie di monumento identificabili. Non si prescinderà infine dal necessario confronto con i reperti ascrivibili al vasto corpus della X Regio (Venetia et Histria), e dalle informazioni che se ne potranno trarre.
Completeranno l’intervento l’analisi del dato contestuale sul rinvenimento dei pezzi, qualora possibile, e della ricostruzione dei processi di reimpiego e rifunzionalizzazione in epoca successiva, oltre che delle vicende collezionistiche e museali.
La riscoperta della concorrenza: iconografie ‘ufficiali’ nei sarcofagi tardoantichi
Fabio Guidetti (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)
[email protected]
Come è noto, la produzione di sarcofagi con decorazione mitologica, assai diffusi per tutto il II e i primi decenni del III
secolo, subisce una notevole contrazione nel corso di quest’ultimo, fin quasi a scomparire intorno al 300 d.C. Nello stesso
periodo si assiste alla nascita e alla diffusione di nuove iconografie, tratte dalla vita quotidiana, privata e pubblica, dei committenti: sui sarcofagi si incontrano scene di vita aristocratica, spesso con riferimenti all’ambito della villa e alle attività che ivi si
svolgevano, quali cacce e banchetti; accanto a questo troviamo scene tratte da cerimonie pubbliche, specialmente processioni
religiose e cortei di magistrati. L’intervento si soffermerà in particolare su queste ultime iconografie, che mostrano come in
questo periodo l’immaginario della competizione aristocratica non fosse limitato all’ambito privato, ma mostrasse anche un
rinnovato interesse per le manifestazioni della vita pubblica. Questa particolarità sarà messa in relazione con la situazione politica che caratterizzò l’Urbe a partire dagli ultimi decenni del III secolo, quando, con l’allontanamento della corte imperiale,
tra le principali famiglie dell’aristocrazia si sviluppò una nuova versione di quella ‘società di concorrenza’ che era stata tipica
del periodo repubblicano, di cui un aspetto essenziale era la partecipazione ai rituali civili e religiosi consacrati dalla tradizione.
Forme e codici dell’autorappresentazione dei defunti nell’immaginario figurativo
catacombale
Matteo Braconi (Università degli Studi di Roma Tre)
[email protected]
Il plesso eterogeneo delle manifestazioni pittoriche che si riscontrano all’interno delle catacombe cristiane d’Italia, si presenta – come è ovvio – marcatamente contraddistinto dalla presenza costante di scene e iconografie recuperate direttamente
dai referenti testuali di tipo biblico, talvolta alternate con immagini “da repertorio” e con simboli asintomatici, privi cioè di un
qualsivoglia significato religioso e selezionati al pari di segni dal significato augurale, cosmico e idilliaco.
Più rari, invece, sono i casi in cui i committenti decidono di decorare i loro spazi funerari con scene o, in taluni casi, con
veri e propri cicli iconografici incentrati sulle storie della propria vita terrena, per raccontare di loro stessi, della loro professione, dei loro affetti, dei loro successi e dei loro traguardi raggiunti nell’ambito della societas tardoantica. Non mancano, poi,
scene sospese in bilico tra i fatti del mondo e quelli dell’oltremondo, per mezzo delle quali i defunti-committenti esprimono
le ansie, le ambizioni e le aspettative per la propria vita dopo la morte, immaginandosi mentre raggiungono e abitano paesaggi
campestri e spazi architettonici, raffigurati in una chiara prospettiva escatologica, o facendosi raffigurare, da soli o con i propri
cari, ormai salvi, trapassati e beati, come testimoniano le immagini eloquenti dei santi intercessori che spesso affiancano questi
emblematici “quadri di famiglia”.
5. INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ROMAN DIETS
Organised by: Ricardo Fernandes (University of Kiel, University of Cambridge) and Roksana Chowaniec (University of Warsaw)
Ancient Roman diets have been predominantly investigated relying on information from iconographic and written sources. While these data sources have provided important insights, they also present some limitations and may result in a biased
39
perspective of past dietary patterns. Often historical data pertains mostly to the dietary habits of the upper classes and may
include disproportionate references to imported exotic foodstuffs. Furthermore, the relatively limited historical evidence offers
only temporally and geographically localized snapshots while a great diversity in dietary habits throughout the extension and
duration of the Roman world may be expected. These limitations may be overcome by combining data from historical sources
with data obtained from the analysis of material remains using different archaeometric methods. These methods have been applied with great success in the reconstruction of past dietary and culinary habits of diverse historic and pre-historic populations
although their use within archaeological research of the Roman world remains comparatively limited. The aim of this session is
to promote interdisciplinary approaches to the study of ancient Roman diets. Welcomed contributions are those that combine
dietary information obtained from diverse sources including: historical and archaeological, ancient DNA analysis, isotope
studies, archaeozoological and archaeobotanical studies, physical anthropology, and pottery residue analysis. The adoption
of interdisciplinary approaches to investigate Roman dietary patterns should serve to address relevant archaeological research
questions. These include, but are not limited to, the following examples:
a. Potential relationships between access to certain foodstuffs and forms of social or economic differentiation (e.g. gender,
profession, class, ethnicity).
b. Impact of cultural norms in dietary choices.
c. Framing dietary patterns within the local environmental context and available food resources in settlement hinterland
areas.
d. Relationships between nutrition and health.
e. Food trade: variety, extension, and intensity.
f. Identifying diachronic patterns in regional dietary habits and observing possible links with socio-political trajectories.
Wednesday 16 March, Aula II (FF)
9.00 – Multidisciplinary Approaches to Human-Chicken Interactions: Contextualising Britain in the Wider Roman
World, Mark Maltby, Julia Best and Mike Feider
9.30 – Investigating ‘lifeways’ in Imperial Roman Italy: an integrated bioarchaeological approach, Oliver Craig,
Luca Bondioli and Peter Garnsey
10.00 – Latrine rumours from Augusta Raurica – Roman toilets as a source of information about diet and health,
Sabine Deschler-Erb, Örni Akeret, Heide Hüster Plogmann, Christine Pümpin
11.00 – Finding Millet in the Ancient World, Charlene Murphy
11.30 – Cereals and Pulses in Roman diet and nutrition: a biochemical approach, Frits Heinrich and Annette
Hansen
12.00 – Animal consumption, social inequality, and economic change in a non-elite area of Pompeii, Emily Holt
12.30 – Reconstructing ancient diet through archaeological resources: Agriculture in Switzerland from 800 B.C.E. to
754 C.E., Ryan E. Hughes
***
14.00 – Celsus’ therapeutic galactology (γαλακτολογία ἰατρική), Maciej Kokoszko
14.30 – Bread and Barley: The relationship between staple foods, nutrition and health in the Roman world, Erica
Rowan
15.00 – From the mouths of babes: subadult diet in Roman London, Rebecca Redfern, Rebecca Gowland and Lindsay Powell
15.30 – Dietary diversity across the Roman world: outcome from a Bayesian meta-analysis, Ricardo Fernandes
16.30 – Meat or fish? Exploring consumption patterns in the peripheral town of Acrae (Sicily), Roksana Chowaniec,
Anna Gręzak
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Multidisciplinary Approaches to Human-Chicken Interactions: Contextualising Britain in
the Wider Roman World
Mark Maltby, Julia Best and Mike Feider (Bournemouth University)
This presentation will discuss some of the approaches and results from the AHRC funded ‘Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions’ Project. This multidisciplinary research programme is investigating the history of the
exploitation of chickens in Europe. We are utilizing a wide range of approaches in the analysis of zooarchaeological material,
ancient DNA, isotopes, pottery residues, historical documentation and anthropological studies. Although in many areas they
had only recently been introduced, chickens are often briefly dismissed in zooarchaeological reports of Roman assemblages
merely as an unremarkable addition to the diet. This undervalues their impact and their dismissal limits our understanding of
their multiple roles. It can be argued that in some provinces chicken meat and eggs were regarded as luxury foods reflecting
culinary innovations, dietary preferences and cultural associations. There is also evidence that chickens were sometimes used in
entertainment, sacrificed as votive offerings, linked with deities and buried with humans. They were also commonly represented in material culture. By using chickens as a case study, this presentation will show that when zooarchaeological research is
integrated with various types of scientific analyses, material culture studies and contextual analysis, there is potential to develop
a much deeper understanding of past human relationships with animals.
Investigating ‘lifeways’ in Imperial Roman Italy: an integrated bioarchaeological
approach
Oliver Craig (University of York), Luca Bondioli (Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico ‘‘Luigi Pigorini,’’
Rome, Italy) and Peter Garnsey (University of Cambridge)
Human skeletal remains provide direct quantitative data for the diet, health status, geographic origin, demography and
occupational structure of past communities that cut across class divides. In this they clearly standout from all other kinds of
evidence, however significant and useful. Here, we will review osteological and biomolecular analysis of mortuary assemblages
from several Imperial towns and cities in Southern Italy, including the unique ‘snap-shot’ of life offered by the catastrophic
assemblage at Herculaneum. Notably, research over the last decade has resulted in a carbon and nitrogen stable isotope record
of over 500 individuals from Imperial Roman Italian cemeteries, each with detailed osteological records. These data provide
direct evidence of diet that can be contextualised to investigate ‘lifeways’ within and between different populations. We will
comment on the general observed patterns of dietary diversity, highlight ways forward to build even more detailed individual
records (osteobiographies) and discuss the importance of palaeodemography when interpreting such data sets. Finally, we
will review some new prospects for assessing diet and pathology directly from the skeleton using the latest biomolecular and
osteological techniques.
Latrine rumours from Augusta Raurica – Roman toilets as a source of information about
diet and health
Sabine Deschler-Erb, Örni Akeret, Heide Hüster Plogmann, Christine Pümpin (University of Basel)
[email protected], oerni.akeret-at-unibas.ch, [email protected] and christine.
[email protected]
Pits filled with latrine material from the Roman town of Augusta Raurica (Switzerland) were analysed with a multidisciplinary approach, including archaeology, zooarchaeology (micro- and macro-fossils), archaeobotany (macrofossils) and geoarchaeology. Biological remains were well preserved, allowing the identification of a considerable diversity of plant and animal
species. Animal remains indicate that the social status of the population in the lower part of the town was better than thought
before. The plant remains reveal a fully romanized lifestyle with the consumption of many fruit, vegetable and spice species.
Some of them like black cumin, garden cress or mulberry have rarely been found before in Roman Switzerland. A large number
of parasite eggs observed in the micromorphological study indicate the the sanitary situation was problematic. The example
demonstrates the potential of interdisciplinary studies when dealing with questions of diet and health.
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Finding Millet in the Ancient World
Charlene Murphy (UCL)
[email protected]
Examining the evidence for millet in the Roman empire, during the period, circa 753BC-610AD, presents a number of
challenges: a handful of scant mentions in the ancient surviving agrarian texts, several frescoes, only a few fortuitous preserved
archaeological finds and limited archaeobotanical and isotopic evidence. Ancient agrarian texts note millet’s ecological preferences and multiple uses but disparage its lowly status. Recent archaeobotanical and isotopic evidence has shown that millet was
being used throughout the Roman period. The compiled data to date suggests that millet consumption was a more complex
socio-economic issue than the ancient sources alone would lead one to believe. Combining multiple lines of evidence, including the ancient sources, isotopic, archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence the status and role of millet in the Roman
world is examined and placed within its economic, cultural and social background across time and space in the Roman world.
Cereals and Pulses in Roman diet and nutrition: a biochemical approach
Frits Heinrich and Annette Hansen (Groningen Institute for Archaeology)
Over the past decades modern biochemical and (anti)nutritional data on pulses, cereals and cereal products such as bread
has become more important in the debate on Roman nutrition. Such data, in conjunction with the argument that the Roman
diet was mainly cereal based, has been used to explain (often osteological) evidence that suggested (micro)nutrient deficiencies
and malnutrition and paint an overall grim picture of the Roman nutritional status. The antinutrient phytate has especially
received much attention. In this paper we aim to update this view using recent biochemical, nutritional and anthropological
data. These will show that while deficiencies were undoubtedly common in antiquity, their causes were categorically different
from modern day deficiencies. The effect of traditional processing and preparation techniques on nutritional value, especially
in relation to bread making, will feature prominently in this context. This paper will also challenge the often assumed superiority of bread wheat over other subspecies of wheat in bread production. The paper will expand upon two chapters by the
authors in Diet and Nutrition in the Roman World (P. Erdkamp & C. Holleran eds., Ashgate, in press) and will propose a
new method that integrates stable isotope analysis and cereal nutritional biochemistry.
Animal consumption, social inequality, and economic change in a non-elite area of
Pompeii
Emily Holt (State University of New York at Buffalo and the Museum national d’Histoire Naturelle)
[email protected]
The Late Republic and Early Empire have been identified as a time when Roman Italy probably experienced low levels of
real economic growth. What effect, if any, did such growth have on the majority of Romans? This paper will use zooarchaeological data from the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia to reconstruct a background of local economic
change through patterns of animal consumption in a non-elite area of Pompeii. The remains examined include hand-collected
animal bones, micro remains from heavy fractions, and SEM-identified eggshell fragments. These multiple lines of evidence are
combined to understand the foodways practiced in specific structures as indicated by the finds that can be contextualized and
dated more closely. In particular, evidence of increasing social inequality and unexpected foodways with elite connotations –
such as the consumption of dormice – will be explored in relationship to historical and literary expectations for non-elite
Romans and considered against the possible effects of economic growth on average Pompeiians.
Reconstructing ancient diet through archaeological resources: Agriculture in Switzerland
from 800 B.C.E. to 754 C.E.
Ryan E. Hughes (University of Lausanne)
[email protected]
This paper takes a diachronic and comprehensive approach to the study of ancient diet within the modern borders of Switzerland. By combining archaeobotanical, archaeozoological and palynological evidence, this work reconstructs and models the diet of
the ancient inhabitants, and the dietary and agricultural changes that occurred in the region with the arrival of Roman influence and
after its decline beginning in the Late Antique period. This study divides the territory into three major regions: the Alpine heights; the
agriculturally fertile Plateau; and the limestone Jura Massif. By separating these three areas, it is possible to trace Roman influence on
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the local diet of each of the regions, allowing for a spatial study to be conducted. These comparisons have shown less Roman influence
within the more traditional Celtic Alpine Zone, while the Plateau and Jura Massif quickly and enthusiastically adopted a Mediterranean style diet, particularly due to the influence of Roman military personnel at the sites of Augusta Raurica and Vindonissa. While
Roman dietary influence is found throughout the territory of ancient Switzerland, it becomes clear that by combining archaeobotanical, archaeozoological and palynological data, significant differences depending on altitude, locality, climate, socio-political status
and cultural traditions can be deduced which are not discussed in the ancient agronomists.
Celsus’ therapeutic galactology (γαλακτολογία ἰατρική)
Maciej Kokoszko (University of Łódź)
[email protected]
The planned presentation will concern Roman medical galactology, galaktología iatriké (γαλακτολογία ἰατρική), i.e. the ancient knowledge of milk and its by-products in medical procedures as described by Celsus in his treatise entitled De medicina. The
author will elaborate on the sources of Celsus’ medical theory of milk, comment on the place of the Roman author’s theory against
the doctrinal background of other medical writers of the period (and especially on Pedanius Dioscurides’ De materia medica,
Ruphus’ of Ephesus dietetic work (of unknown title), Galen’s De simplicium medicamntorum teperamentis ac facultatibus and
De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos) and medical information preserved by Pliny the Elder in his work Naturalis
historia), demonstrate pharmacological characteristics attributed to milk and milk-obtained products by Celsus, specify main
cures in which milk and its by-products were made use of as either simple or compound medicines, give examples of the latter, delineate the progress of the theory on milk’s medicinal use (Oribasius’ Collectiones medicae, Aetius’ of Amida Iatricorum libri and
Paul’s of Aegina Epitome), and finally comment on the role of milk and milk-obtained products in the diet of the Mediterranean.
Bread and Barley: The relationship between staple foods, nutrition and health in the
Roman world
Erica Rowan (University of Exeter)
[email protected]
Within a particular region, the choice of staple foods is dictated by a combination of social, economic and climatic factors.
The cultural and geographical variability of the Roman Empire meant that staple foods differed and the traditional Roman
triad of wheat, wine and olive oil was not consumed everywhere. Archaeobotanical research has contributed significantly to
our understanding of the varieties of cereals, fats and alcoholic beverages that were utilized as staples during the Roman period.
These differences, however, have never been examined from a nutritional perspective and to date, little work on nutrition in
the Roman world has been undertaken. Modern data on food sciences and human nutrition are available, yet archaeologists
have not fully engaged with the vast quantities of available material. This paper seeks to combine modern nutritional data with
archaeobotanical evidence from around the Roman Empire, and in particular the geographically distant sites of Herculaneum
(Italy) and Aphrodisias (Turkey), to demonstrate that differences in staple foods had a considerable impact on an individual’s
nutrition and health. Foods not only differ in their caloric, fat and protein contents, but also in the quantity of protective and
often necessary vitamins and minerals. Thus the importance of micronutrients will also be discussed.
From the mouths of babes: subadult diet in Roman London
Rebecca Redfern (Museum of London), Rebecca Gowland (Durham University) and Lindsay Powell (Durham
University)
London (48-410 AD) was the focus for Roman administration and trade in Britain; it was established and inhabited by
people from across the Empire who continued to practice their diverse food-ways. London was a unique settlement, whose
fluctuating economic and political fortunes throughout Roman occupation are clearly evidenced in the archaeological and
historical records. This study conducts stable isotope analysis of the diet of a large sample of children (0-18 years old) dating
from the 1st-4th centuries AD in London. It aims to assess breastfeeding and weaning practices, as well as the transition to
‘adult’ dietary behaviours. Bioarchaeological and funerary data were collected for 247 subadults and 686 adults, and the rib
bones of 100 subadults and 20 adults were sampled for carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Using these data, we identified adult and
child migrants, an infant feeding pattern that differed from contemporaneous sites in Italy and which remained unchanged
over time, a special diet for nursing females, and temporal changes in diet, whereby subadults consumed greater quantities of
marine resources compared to adults during periods of economic instability. The funerary evidence revealed that many dietary
changes could be linked to social age transitions, as well as status and gender.
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Dietary diversity across the Roman world: outcome from a Bayesian meta-analysis
Ricardo Fernandes (University of Kiel, University of Cambridge)
[email protected]
The reconstruction of Roman dietary habits has been traditionally done through the use of a wide variety of independent
methods. These methods have provided valuable insights into Roman dietary preferences and how these were related to social
variables. However, no approach was previously employed that fully integrated the diverse sources of dietary information
to quantitatively reconstruct dietary habits. To address this limitation, a novel Bayesian statistical method was developed in
which multiple sources of dietary data can be combined to provide truly quantitative dietary estimates. Such an integrated
approach was applied in a broad meta-analysis of Roman diets across different regions and time periods. This was performed
relying on isotopic data and other sources of dietary information collected from previously published case studies. The aim
of the study was to quantify for individuals and social groups the dietary contributions from three major foods groups: plant
foods, terrestrial animal foods, and marine or freshwater foods. The outcome of the meta-analysis provided an overview of the
dietary diversity throughout the Roman world. Generated dietary estimates also allowed for a better understanding of Roman
dietary habits and how these were associated with geographical, temporal, social, economical, or cultural factors.
Meat or fish? Exploring consumption patterns in the peripheral town of Acrae (Sicily)
Roksana Chowaniec and Anna Gręzak (University of Warsaw)
The presentation is a preliminary discussion about the ancient Roman diet and the confrontation of Roman literary tradition and iconography with archaeological artefacts, subjected to traditional and modern analysis. Most of all, the paper will
present available data related to the diet and nutrition of the inhabitants of ancient town Akrai/Acrae, localised in southeastern Sicily, in Hyblaean Mountains region. The ancient town is commonly known as a Greek colony, but since ca. 211 BC it
was also stipendiariae civitates, settled and functioning efficiently in the new political situation till 7th century AD. This will
be followed by a presentation of newly implemented archaeometric analysis as well as and osteological and archaeobotanical
material, both species domesticated and wild, collected in recent excavations (2013-2015), supplemented by descriptions of
archaeological everyday-life objects, which may tell us something about the ancient diet. Finally, the relation between diet and
landscape will be shortly discussed.
6. MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR! SEX, GENDER, AND FAMILY IN THE ROMAN PROVINCES
Organised by: Rob Collins and Tatiana Ivleva (Newcastle University)
The subjects of the human sexuality, flexible gender identities and the past attitudes towards sex and sexuality has become
the trend in the contemporary theoretical vocabulary of art historians and classical archaeologists alike (Clarke 2001, 2003;
Flemming 2010; Williams 2010; Conde Feitosa 2013; Masterson et al. 2015). Books and exhibitions on Classical eroticism
and sexuality have become more commonplace in the past decade, but the subjects relating to constructions of gender and sex
identities has yet to penetrate very deeply into Roman provincial studies. The session’s goal is to critically consider the gender
and sexual behavior in the provinces in light of recent studies on Roman sexuality and flux gender identities. Specifically, the
panel investigates whether one can talk of the extension of the traditional Romano-Hellenistic model to the provinces or more
of a ‘provincialization’ or ‘barbarization’ of sex and gender identities similar to other well-known aspects of cultural negotiation
and syncretism in the provinces. In this light, the session seeks to ask a number of questions:
– How were gender(s) and sexuality perceived and represented in the provinces during the Roman imperial era?
– What is the evidence for non-Roman, or rather ‘provincial’ or ‘barbarian’ gender constructs, sex and familial relations?
– What impact(s) do historical events and trends have upon sex, gender, and familial relationships during the course of
empire, for example with the extension of citizenship or the spread of Christianity?
– What is the role of objects bearing images of genitalia or sex acts, or allusions to such activities, in the constructions of
sexual and gender identities in provinces?
We seek papers that explore these issues from the variety of angles, and which also provide a balanced and rounded view
of literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence.
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Saturday 19 March, Aula II (FF)
9.00 – Sexuality Embodiment in Roman Provinces. Towards Improved Theoretical and Methodological Models, Sanja Vucetic (University College London)
9.30 – On a Knife-Edge: Images of Erotic Performance and the Iconography of ‘Small Finds’ in the North-West Provinces, John Pearce (King’s College London)
10.00 – Sex on the Edge: Same-sex, Polygamous, and Single-parent Families in the Roman Frontiers, Tatiana Ivleva
(Newcastle University)
11.00 – Military Families in Lower Moesia, Agnieszka Tomas (University of Warsaw)
11.30 – Gender and Sexuality in Northern Britannia, Robyn Crook (University of Calgary)
12.00 – Female identities and the construction of cultural borders, Kaja Stemberger (King’s College London)
Sexuality Embodiment in Roman Provinces. Towards Improved Theoretical and
Methodological Models
Sanja Vucetic (University College London)
[email protected]
Much of Roman provincial archaeology is concerned with how provincial people generated, experienced, interpreted, and
responded to the social, cultural, and political forces of the Roman Empire. Archaeologists have successfully argued that the
experience of ‘being Roman’ was not uniformed but varied between individuals and groups, and across time and space. Roman
provincial social identity is thus a complex and dynamic concept that necessitates careful consideration in terms of both imperialism and cultural change. In this vein, sexuality should also be treated as a variable in comparative studies of the Roman
Empire. Yet, Classical scholarship has thus far remained only marginally concerned with sexualities in the imperial periphery.
Generally, research has been limited to the study of ancient texts and sexual imagery decorating luxury objects from the centre
of the empire, which has subsequently produced the overwhelmingly elite-centric characteristic of the archaeological account
of Roman sexuality. Sexuality of the Roman provincial populace is under-theorised and under-studied despite compelling arguments that sexuality, embedded in a dynamic character of human interactions, is integral to the formation of one’s identity.
The study of Roman provincial sexualities is, therefore, crucial to our full comprehension of provincial self-conceptualisation
and self-placement within different dynamics of interaction brought by the imperial expansion.
This paper evaluates the validity of previous and current theoretical conceptualisations and methodological approached
to the study of sexual relations, practices, and identities in Roman archaeology. Drawing upon my current research and more
recent scholarship on colonial and cross-cultural effects on sexualities, the paper further explores the ways sexuality can be
approached as a lived experience of the communities who were subject to imperial, social and gender hierarchies. In doing so,
this paper seeks to open a discussion about theoretical and methodological models that can lead to integration of sexuality into
broader archaeological debates of ancient Roman imperialism and cultural change.
On a Knife-Edge: Images of Erotic Performance and the Iconography of ‘Small Finds’ in
the North-West Provinces
John Pearce (King’s College London)
[email protected]
Abstract: A striking recent discovery of a Roman knife handle from Syston, Lincolnshire (UK) represents three individuals
in a sex act, real or simulated, with one of the participants holding an object, perhaps a theatrical prop or severed head. This is
one of several examples of such scenes from the north-western provinces, all on the handles of small toilette / general purpose
knives. It has occasional echoes in the ceramic medallions from the Rhône valley studied by John Clarke, but otherwise lacks
close parallels. The knife handles have little featured in the literature on ancient erotic images and this scene may, the paper
argues, represent a public erotic performance of interest for the study of Roman provincial spectacle culture. Collectively the
repertoire of figural representations on objects of this kind, including agonistic and hunting scenes as well as erotic images,
might be said to manifest and construct an elite(?) male virtus. However the scene’s configuration on the knife handle creates
certain visual relationship between participants and viewers which subverts such a reading of the erotic and other scenes.
Through the example of an erotic image, the paper explores the significance of context for interpreting classicizing scenes
translated into portable objects
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Sex on the Edge: Same-sex, Polygamous, and Single-parent Families in the Roman
Frontiers
Tatiana Ivleva (Newcastle University)
[email protected]
Any studies on Roman families, Roman army ones in particular, provide us with a lopsided image of a simple nuclear
heterosexual family unit consisting of a man, a woman, and a child/children, sometimes including freedmen and slaves as well.
Using primarily epigraphic evidence I investigate the ‘non-normative’ families that extended the traditional Roman model of
paterfamilias to show the existence of a much more complex and nuanced reality in the family (and sexual) relationships in the
Roman frontiers. While it has been widely accepted in the scholarship that the Roman soldier right of conubium to one woman
only disguised the existence of polygamy relations in the Roman army, the work on that very relations, or even same-sex relations,
has so far been non-existent due to the accepted equation of the Roman army with masculinity, manhood and heterosexuality.
The paper presents various inscriptions to highlight the existence of variety of relations and families on the fringes of the
Roman world. The careful reading of some of these texts tentatively indicates the existence of same-sex unions and polygamous
families. The presentation discusses also single-parent families where a woman or man/soldier may had raised child(ren) on
their own.
In the end, the paper reassesses the traditional model of the military Roman family, a model that is based on the androcentric narratives and gender stereotypes. It suggests that the sexual behavior in the frontiers should be examined in light of recent
studies on Roman sexuality and flux gender identities, which show that what is assumed to be non-normative was actually part
of the mainstream culture.
Military Families in Lower Moesia
Agnieszka Tomas (University of Warsaw)
[email protected]
Numerous examples of military families living in Lower and Upper Moesia and Dacia are known i.a. from military diplomas and funerary tombstones. This paper will focus on the finds discovered in a particular context: near military bases. The
evidence from the military milieu will be compared to the finds from the rural areas settled by veterans. The aim of the analyses
is to find the answer for the question concerning the number of military families living near the army camps compared to those
living in the countryside and what reasons could have made the families to stay in particular places.
Gender and Sexuality in Northern Britannia
Robyn Crook (University of Calgary)
[email protected]
Increased research on frontier areas in Roman archaeology alongside the interest in past constructions of gender and
sexuality has created an opportunity for archaeologists to explore these elements of identity in more depth in dynamic and
changing regions of the empire. This paper will examine ideas of gender and sexuality in the documentary evidence dealing
with Roman frontier contexts in conjunction with material case studies from northern Britannia. Included in this will be a
combination of perceptions of Cartimandua and other information from the primary sources, an examination of funerary
monuments and other inscriptions, and artefactual evidence. In using multiple datasets, the intent is to not only situate these
elements of identity within the larger framework of identities in this part of the empire, but to illustrate possible ways in which
they were understood, expressed, and negotiated in this specific area of Roman Britain.
Female identities and the construction of cultural borders
Kaja Stemberger (King’s College London)
[email protected]
In this paper I will compare the identities of the deceased buried at cemeteries of Colonia Iulia Emona (Ljubljana) with
the identities from other Roman cemeteries unearthed in Slovenia. Although Emona was not the biggest Roman town on the
territory of modern Slovenia, its cemeteries, with over 3,000 graves and 15,000 associated artefacts, are indeed the largest as
well as best explored and documented. Unfortunately, the excavations were carried out mostly before or during the 1970s, and
little attention was paid to skeletal remains. The age and gender identities presented in my study were therefore determined
primarily on the basis of excavated artefacts.
46
I will compare the grave assemblages of women buried at Emona with those from cemeteries of other big Roman towns
located in the eastern part of present-day Slovenia such as Colonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovio and Municipium Claudia Celeia, as
well as with grave assemblages from other smaller settlements and villas which were in use for a shorter period than Emona,
whose graves span from the 1st to 5th century AD.
The traits I will be focusing on are costumes and other artefacts associated with femininity such are mirrors, spinning and
weaving objects, hairpins, and jewellery. It is known that there are differences between Emona, which was a part of Regio X,
and the other towns, Poetovio and Celeia, which were part of the Norican kingdom. I intend to examine these differences in
the context of reconstructed groups of identities. At Emona, two distinct groups of female burials were established. The first is
rather large. Typically found in their graves are hairpins, mirrors, and in a few cases jewellery boxes. Jewellery, if at all present,
was not of great quantity and in most of cases not of great quality either. The second group consists of nine graves with exceptional sets of artefacts and dates from the 1st to the beginning of the 4th century AD. They stand out for their lavish jewellery
made of amber and gold. Such a concentration of rich female graves is unusual for a Roman cemetery anywhere in the empire.
In my presentation, I will discuss the significance of both groups on a bigger scale and attempt to establish the meaning
of such displays. I will address the difference between the Roman clothing tradition, which is prevalent in Emona, and the
Norico-Pannonian style of dress which has a stronger presence towards the east. I will also discuss the issues related to the
reconstruction of identity through dress and appearance in general and in relation to the potential meanings that grave sets
would play at the time of burial.
7. BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: INTERSECTED PERSPECTIVES ON
LUSITANIA
Organised by: Cristina Corsi (Università degli Studi di Cassino) and Victorino Mayoral (Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Científicas)
In the past decades, the conventional equation between ancient Lusitania and modern Portugal, rooted in the state of the
art since the publication of the book by Jorge de Alarção (O Portugal Romano 1974, Roman Portugal 1988), penalised our
understanding of the geo-historical milieu of the Roman province. Indeed, when compared to the strong characterisation of
other Hispanic regions such as Andalusia or coastal Tarraconensis, for Lusitania we still miss a general framework for many
aspects of archaeological research. However, as the recent exhibition of Mérida (“Lusitania Romana”) proved, the time is ripe
for a new season of research. Therefore, the aim of this session will be to bring together scholars working on these themes,
bridging the gap between Spanish and Portuguese scholarship and broadening the horizon to several international projects that
have been recently carried out. The main goal is to contextualise the Lusitanian data in the wider context of the Roman Hispaniae. Lusitania is characterised by a wide diversification of geographical assets, ranging from the dry, inner lands of Spanish
Extremadura to the meadows of Algarve, from the rocky coasts to the sandy river mouths, from the pasturelands of Alentejo
to the granite mountain ranges of the Sierras Centrales Extremeñas. The hydrographic network designs the most important
penetration routes and gives the imprint to the settlements patterns. The large availability of very different resources (ranging
from food to minerals and stones) triggered very interesting economic dynamics and promoted the exchange much beyond
the Iberian Peninsula.
The sessions will focus on urban and rural landscapes, on trades and exchanges, on networks and communication, on
spatial and material characterization of settlements and on settlement dynamics.
Friday 18 March, Auletta “Archeologia” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Los centros monumentales en las ciudades romanas de la Lusitania, Pedro Mateos Cruz
9.30 – On the walls of Lusitanian towns: their meaning and functions, Adriaan De Man
10.00 – The finis terrae of the Roman Empire? Diet and animal husbandry in Lusitania in the context of the Iberian
Peninsula and beyond, Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas
11.00 – “Roman Port Systems”: on the efficiencies of the Lusitanian maritime economy, Felix Teichner
11.30 – Lusitania in the context of Roman globalization, Carlos Fabião
12.00 – Trading ornamental stone in central Lusitania, Devi Taelman
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Los centros monumentales en las ciudades romanas de la Lusitania
Pedro Mateos Cruz (Instituto de Arqueología de Mérida-CSIC)
[email protected]
Las ciudades romanas de la Lusitania delegaron en las legiones militares la construcción de sus primeras edificaciones en
un momento en que se estaban plantando las bases de la unidad organizativa provincial.
Fueron estos primeros colonos los encargados de construir las iniciales infraestructuras públicas, así como los principales
edificios de los centros monumentales. El planteamiento fundamental de estos primeros conjuntos, entre los que destaca la
total ausencia de materiales como el mármol, fue su realización con el objetivo de exaltar el culto dinástico reproduciendo en
sus edificios sacros modelos de tradición itálica. La mayoría de ellos articularon sus espacios forenses siguiendo el esquema
tradicional de “Block fórum”, un esquema tripartito donde la plaza pública emerge como elemento predominante, con templo
y basílica situados a ambos lados.
Posteriormente, con el uso del mármol como protagonista principal de estas nuevas construcciones públicas, se produce
una monumentalización de estos conjuntos fechada fundamentalmente a partir de época Flavia; así se desprende de la evolución urbanística observada, no solo en la capital provincial, Augusta Emerita, donde los nuevos edificios respetarán la arquitectura de los primeros edificios, al igual que sucederá en ciudades como Mirobriga, Pax Iulia, Ebora, Aeminium… En otras
urbes la monumentalización llevó consigo el desmantelamiento de las primeras construcciones como sucedió en el conjunto
monumental de Conimbriga.
On the walls of Lusitanian towns: their meaning and functions
Adriaan De Man (United Arab Emirates University)
[email protected]
Research on the city walls of the Hispanic provinces has led to the notion of two broadly defined and politically inspired
construction periods. The earliest examples have a purpose related to local status, whereas the late third and early fourth century witnessed a different type of building programme. This latter group is indeed quite heterogeneous in terms of planning,
execution and final outcome, yet its relatively short time frame indicates some sort of common inspiration.
Specific legal evidence for this reality is scarce, and often mentioned in literature as a generic argument, which might not
work equally well for different territories of the later Empire. Archaeology, on the other hand, has been providing further
information on a number of sites, namely in the western parts of Roman Spain, in some cases narrowing construction layers
to the decade. Most circumstances, however, offer no such detail. In terms of function, one needs to consider features such
as regional security and fiscal enforcement, more than military defensive arrangements, which assumed other forms in the
province of Lusitania.
The finis terrae of the Roman Empire? Diet and animal husbandry in Lusitania in the
context of the Iberian Peninsula and beyond
Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas (University of Sheffield)
[email protected]
Animal husbandry is one of the main activities in producer societies. In particular, animal husbandry is though to have
been one of the main pillars of economic activity in ancient Lusitania, contrasting with other regions of the Iberian Peninsula.
This paper will provide a regional perspective of the changes in meat diet and husbandry in Lusitania, and will compare them
with Tarraconensis region and beyond (southern Britain and north Africa). From the obtained results, it is apparent that Lusitania shares common traits with the rest of the Empire (e.g. the wide consumption of oysters and the introduction of fallow
deer in the diet, previously almost absent from the archaeological record), but also stands as a region that has a different story
and shows a remarkable continuity in animal husbandry practices.
“Roman Port Systems”: on the efficiencies of the Lusitanian maritime economy
Felix Teichner (Philipps Universität Marburg, Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie)
[email protected]
Currently, the “maritime economy” of the Roman Empire focused on here is at the centre of the recent dialogue in classical studies. Fish processing businesses have long been understood as characteristic not only for the Circle of the Straits in the
south of Hispania but the Atlantic coast in the west as well.
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Especially in the fist and second century, the Hispanic fish products dominated the Roman, globalised market. This
success of the Hispanic “fishy business” was based on a close network of highly specialized individual businesses – i.e. fishing
stations, salines, amphorae potteries, processing plants and trading offices – that were connected via ports and quays. The results of an ongoing multi-disciplinary investigation show that the highly complex port systems and a production based on the
division of labour have to be seen as crucial for this enormous economical success. The natural estuaries typical for the Atlantic
coast of Lusitania were offering the perfect basis for these specialist port systems.
On the other hand it is evident, that these mutually dependent and sea-side-connected production and distribution sites
(settlements) were highly vulnerable due to natural changes and disasters, like erosion, silting or high energy events like tsunami. Based on this aspect, the dramatic and sharp decline experienced on the whole branch of this business at the turn of the
second to the third century has to be reviewed.
Lusitania in the context of Roman globalization
Carlos Fabião (Alameda da Universidade, Lisboa)
[email protected]
Despite being the westernmost province of the Roman Empire, Lusitania was not an outermost province. Lusitania was
an active part of the exchange networks within the Roman Empire as archaeological evidence clearly shows.
From the second century BC onwards, Roman products arrived to the westernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula and after Claudian’s conquest of Britannia, the Atlantic coastal areas of Lusitania became a natural route for supplies to the Northern provinces.
The archaeological evidence, chiefly the amphorae, shows the diversity and complexity of origins for foodstuffs from different Roman provinces.
But Lusitania was not just a stopping-place or a final destination for those foodstuffs. Thanks to the exploitation of marine
resources, Lusitania was also an export area to the rest of the Empire. It was such in its own right and not just a subsidiary area
of Baetican province as sometimes was claimed.
The paper aims to present the evidence for the amphorae imports in Lusitania and their rhythms, from Roman Republic
until Late Antiquity. One should bear in mind that Diocletian’s Edict presented the maritime fares from the eastern provinces
to Lusitania as a solid evidence for those regular contacts.
Amphorae evidence must be seen also as an indication of cultural contact and change linking different areas. Indeed,
people, fashions and ideas did also travel with the amphorae.
Trading ornamental stone in central Lusitania
Devi Taelman (Ghent University)
[email protected]
Roman society was highly hierarchical and its elite class was in constant search of means to showcase, maintain and increase their power and prestige. Monumental architecture, both public and private, was unarguably one of the most powerful
material means for this. The grandeur of this monumental architecture was largely expressed by the sheer investment of manpower or funds. The trade of ornamental stone needs to be seen in this perspective. Unlike building stones that were generally
acquired locally, ornamental stones were considered expensive luxury goods that were often traded over long distances.
Despite that many studies have recently been carried out on the provenance determination of ornamental stones, few
studies have dealt with the wider economic mechanisms that underlie the use and distribution of these goods.
This paper presents some new ideas on the economy of ornamental stones in the inland regions of central Lusitania during
the Roman Imperial period. Some case studies will be selected for identifying supply patterns and modes of distributions of
ornamental stone.
A sketch of the wider context of Lusitania and the Iberian Peninsula will be attempted.
Proposal for RAC 2016 (Roma)
Session: Between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean: Intersected perspectives on Lusitania.
Organised by: Eckhard Deschler-Erb (University of Zurich)
Borders and means of overcoming them are a current topic of historical research. This also applies to provincial Roman
archaeology which, however, has hitherto restricted itself mainly to the exterior borders of the Roman Empire. Although it
would be of the utmost importance, a detailed study of the internal frontiers of the Roman Empire based on current research,
however, is still in its early stages. Was a frontier at the time similar to today’s borders between two administrative districts
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(e.g. departments or cantons) or must one imagine borders like those between two EU member states? Were these purely
administrative borders or should we think of cultural boundaries as well? Was there such a thing as a “provincial awareness”
amongst the population at the time?
The subject matter is complex and can only be tackled using a combined interdisciplinary approach. Possible partners
would be ancient history, archaeology and archaeobiology.
Possible lines of approach:
– Approach 1 includes the study of written records and epigraphical sources in order to identify how important provincial
borders and customs frontiers would have been to society and the authorities at the time.
– Approach 2 involves landscape archaeology and spatial analysis. By taking a settlement geographical and topographical
approach (incl. a GIS) one can ascertain whether an artificially drawn up provincial border was visible in the ancient settlement structure, e.g. in the settlement density petering out closer to the postulated border.
– Approach 3 entails the analysis of finds. Based on the production and distribution of pottery one can examine whether the
economic structure at the time was affected by administrative borders. Archaeometric data derived from clay analyses can
help identify the distribution radiuses of regional potters’ workshops. Accessories (brooches) can be studied to determine
to what extent the Roman provinces can be equated with cultural areas.
– Approach 4 consists of archaeobiological examinations. Besides providing information about human dietary habits, animal bones and botanical remains also contain evidence with regard to the environment, animal husbandry, hunting,
farming, crafts, trade, social structures and religious beliefs. These spheres could all exhibit regional characteristics, thus
highlighting spaces and boundaries within the Roman Empire.
[email protected]
Wednesday 16 March, Aula “Partenone” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
14.00 – Natural versus political regions of the Roman Empire: The example of the northwestern provinces, Sabine
Deschler-Erb
14.30 – Can we define Roman provincial identities on the basis of material culture?, Stefanie Hoss
15.00 – Importance of internal boarders in the Roman Empire: written sources and model cases?, Anne Kolb and
Lukas Zingg
15.30 – Calculating borders? Possibilities and risks of spatial analysis for reconstructing roman provincial borders,
Sandra Schröer and Martin
16.30 – Brooches as indicators of boundaries or regional identity in western Raetia, Katharina Blasinger and Gerald
Grabherr
17.00 – A balance of differences and similarities: A GIS approach to territories of Baetica, Maria del Carmen Moreno Escobar
Natural versus political regions of the Roman Empire: The example of the northwestern
provinces
Sabine Deschler-Erb (University of Basel)
[email protected]
Even if there are discussions about the exact lines of border, the position of Roman Provinces is more or less known. These
borders were often determined by important topographically phenomenons such as waters or mountains, thus by strategical
requirements. But how about other natural factors such as clima, vegetation or soil quality ? They all have major impact on agriculture and animal husbandry which were the basis of ancient economy. Did they also have an influence on drawing up frontiers
and were these identical to political borders? In the paper we would like to discuss these questions by archaeobiological data.
Can we define Roman provincial identities on the basis of material culture?
Stefanie Hoss (University of Cologne)
[email protected]
While the smaller Roman provinces in the Southeast of the Empire frequently consisted of former kingdoms that had a
long shared history, the provinces of the Northwestern part of the Empire were often constituted along convenient (natural)
borders, such as rivers or the sea.
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Accordingly, they regularly encompassed a number of tribal regions, which can be assumed to each have had their own
identity. It follows, that these provinces did not have had a single provincial identity at first, but most likely a rather more
administrative character.
However, many of these provinces persisted over centuries, giving rise to the question if a shared culture developed after
some time. And if such a culture did develop, in which arenas of material culture was it expressed?
Although the influence of a shared Roman material culture is very visible in all of these provinces, slight differences in the
preferences for cultural expressions such as theatre, the baths and sport may be the result of differences in values and attitudes.
This may also be the case in the preferences of specific gods and manners of burial. Other possibilities of showcasing different
identities are represented in choices of dress and foodways. The overall impression of these cultural patterns across the different
provinces is that the inhabitants were free to pick and choose from the smorgasbord of possibilities offered by the Roman
culture and their own regional cultures.
The paper will try to answer the question of a shared provincial culture in a theoretically informed manner, citing examples of material culture when appropriate and drawing comparisons to the development of shared regional identities in other
regions and centuries.
Importance of internal borders in the Roman Empire: written sources and model cases?
Anne Kolb and Lukas Zingg (Zürich CH)
Ein wichtiger Fokus des laufenden Forschungsprojekts liegt auf der Frage nach der Bedeutung römischer Provinzgrenzen
für Verwaltung, Wirtschaft und den Alltag der Reichsbewohner. Während die Rolle der Provinzen als grundlegende Verwaltungseinheiten des römischen Reiches und eingegrenzten Zuständigkeitsbereichen der Provinzmagistraten unbestritten ist,
neigt die Forschung dazu, den Provinzgrenzen eine weitergehende ökonomische und kulturelle Relevanz abzusprechen. Ziel
des Projektes ist es, anhand der schriftlichen Quellen eine differenziertere Vorstellung der Provinzgrenzen zu gewinnen und
ihre Bedeutung auf verschiedenen Ebenen näher zu beleuchten. Insbesondere gilt es dabei abzuwägen, in welchem Verhältnis
die Provinzgrenzen zu anderen inneren Grenzen (z.B. Zollgrenzen, civitas-Grenzen, etc.) standen. Anhaltspunkte zu den inneren Grenzen Roms liefern zahlreiche literarische Quellen und Inschriften. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf den Belegen
mit einem direkten Bezug zu den Provinzgrenzen. Provinzgrenzen dienen beispielsweise der antiken Geographie und Kartographie (v.a. Plinius und Ptolemaios) als wichtige Bezugspunkte und auch in den rechtlichen Bestimmungen zu den Statthalterschaften tritt der Provinzraum als begrenzter Amtsbereich hervor. An epigraphischen Zeugnissen können neben wenigen
Provinzgrenzsteinen (termini) auch vereinzelte Altäre für Grenzgottheiten sowie Hinweise auf repräsentative Monumente an
Provinzgrenzen zur Auswertung herangezogen werden. In einigen Fällen dienten die Provinzgrenzen auch als Zählpunkte auf
Meilensteinen. Der insgesamt relativ bescheidenen Zahl an Provinzgrenzinschriften steht eine Fülle von Belegen gegenüber,
die einen Bezug zu den Grenzen zwischen einzelnen civitates oder anderer Territorien aufweisen. Worauf ist dieses Zahlenverhältnis zurückzuführen? Welche Rückschlüsse können daraus für die Bedeutung der Provinzgrenzen gezogen werden? Die
ausgewählten Beispielfälle illustrieren einige Aspekte der Provinzgrenzen, zeigen aber auch, wie schwierig es ist, ihre genaue
Bedeutung zu erfassen.
Calculating Borders? Spatial analysis as a Method of reconstructing roman provincial
borders
Sandra Schröer and Martin (Freiburg Brsg. D / Zürich CH)
[email protected]
Der Verlauf der Grenze zwischen den römischen Provinzen Obergermanien und Rätien ist weitestgehend unklar. Anhand
dieses Fallbeispiels untersucht das trinationale Projekt “Limites inter Provincias - Roms innere Grenzen” an den Universitäten
Zürich, Freiburg und Innsbruck seit 2014 mit einem kombinierten Ansatz aus Archäologie, Archäometrie und Alter Geschichte Methoden, um sich dem Verlauf und der Bedeutung von römischen Provinzgrenzen anzunähern.
Jeweils eine Dissertation in Freiburg und in Zürich geht der Grenzfrage dabei in einem landschafts- und siedlungsarchäologischen Ansatz nach. Anhand von GIS-gestützten Raumanalysen soll dabei überprüft werden, ob und wie sich die Siedlungsstruktur im Bereich der Grenze darstellt, ob ein bestimmtes Siedlungssystem oder Netzwerk erkennbar ist und ob sich
dieses in den beiden Provinzen unterscheidet. Darüber hinaus werden Methoden zur Rekonstruktion theoretischer Territorien
daraufhin erprobt, ob sie eine Annäherung an den Verlauf römischer Provinzgrenzen erlauben. Die theoretischen Territorien
werden dabei sowohl für Vici als regionale Anziehungspunkte berechnet, als auch für Gebietskörperschaften als überregionale
Zentren, deren Grenzen im Bereich der Provinzgrenze mit dieser identisch sein sollten.
Die Untersuchungsregion der Freiburger Dissertation umfasst dabei das Remstal, das Schwäbische Albvorland und die
Schwäbische Alb. Von Zürich aus wird dagegen der Nordosten der Schweiz mit den Kantonen St. Gallen, Thurgau und Zü51
rich bearbeitet. Damit liegen für die Untersuchung zwei Arbeitsgebiete vor, die sich sowohl topographisch als auch in ihrer
Besiedlungsentwicklung stark unterscheiden und so verschiedene Voraussetzungen und Untersuchungsmöglichkeiten bieten.
Brooches as indicators of boundaries of regional identity in western Raetia
Katharina Blasinger and Gerald Grabherr (Innsbruck A)
Types and groups of brooches with distinct spatial distribution patterns, along with other items of jewellery and decorative
elements as well as certain dress accessories, allow us to draw conclusions with regard to costume. By examining the distribution patterns of these types of brooches it is possible to archaeologically capture and, ideally, distinguish between different
regional identities and groups of persons (costume regions).
The question is whether and to what extent the distribution and composition of the ranges of brooches in western Raetia
highlight costume regions and, with that, regional identities. Another question is whether the boundaries between costume
regions correlate with the provincial borders of the Imperium Romanum or whether the former transcend beyond the latter,
and whether internal boundaries can be traced within the province of Raetia itself. In order to answer these questions, the
brooches from Brigantium/Bregenz will be analysed and compared with representative assemblages from other important settlements in the border area between Upper Germana and Raetia. By studying the similarities and differences between the dress
accessories, we will attempt to gather clues regarding regional groups and to verify whether they could be linked with different
regional identities. Within western Raetia, one specific type of brooch (the so-called strongly profiled brooch with a hinge) can
be associated with the area of the Alpine Rhine Valley between Brigantium/Bregenz and Curia/Chur.
Besides the question of cultural identity and the extent of Romanisation, other topics such as trade, mobility, workshops,
innovation and technology transfer are also commented on.
A balance of differences and similarities: A GIS approach to territories of Baetica
Maria del Carmen Moreno Escobar (University of Southampton)
[email protected]
Hispania Ulterior Baetica has been highlighted as one of the most urbanised provinces of the Roman Empire (e.g. Keay,
1998). However, this description as being a land of towns and cities is not applicable to its whole extension, since areas such as
Western Sierra Morena present a very different situation than the rest of the province. This paper will present a recent study about
the territorial organisation of Western Sierra Morena in contrast with Lands of Antequera, another Baetican region which followed a more “Roman-standardised” development, in order to demonstrate the diversity of responses both by Rome and by local
communities to the process of integration into the Roman Empire. Both areas will be discussed in their territorial organisations
from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century AD, focussing on the continuities and discontinuities on site placement and location
as identified through the application of GIS techniques of spatial analysis and statistics. Therefore, researchers will gain an insight
into the archaeology of Western Sierra Morena and Lands of Antequera, not so widely known, as well as on the divergences on
the territorial and historical development of regions and communities conquered and integrated within the Roman Empire.
9. DIVERSITY AND IDENTITY IN ROMAN IUDAEA / SYRIA PALAESTINA
Organised by: Adi Erlich (University of Haifa)
The province of Iudaea, becoming Syria Palaestina after 135 C.E., was the home for various ethnicities and religions: Jews,
Samaritans, Christians, local pagans of different origins, and Roman officials and soldiers. The land was occupied by pagan
poleis, Roman colonies, Jewish towns and villages and Samaritan settlements. Worship was conducted in temples, shrines,
synagogues and Christian prayer halls and it left a record in Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, Samaritan and Latin inscriptions. Some
of the people, from diverse backgrounds, lived side by side in the cities, others in separate communities, but they all traded
and negotiated with each other. Normally the relations between the groups were peaceful and based on coexistence, though
sometimes they turned into hostility and struggle. But even during peaceful times of coexistence the boundaries between the
communities remained clear and religious conversions and mixed marriages were uncommon. The diversity of communities in
Roman Palestine is further emphasized by their strong and distinct self-identity.
The diversity and strong identity is echoed in both historical sources and the archaeological data. In our session we
would like to present new studies on the archaeology of Roman Iudaea/Syria Palaestina, rendering the province as multi-ethnic and multi-religious, and presenting its inhabitants as preoccupied with their identity that is mirrored in others.
[email protected]
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Friday 18 March, Aula II (FF)
9.00 – Space and Identity in Iudaea – The Test Case of Masada, Guy Stiebel
9.30 – Reflections of Jewish Identity in the Art of Early Roman Judaea, Orit Peleg-Barkat
10.00 – What can We Learn from Gardens about Identity in Roman Iudaea/Syria Palaestina?, Rona Evyasaf
11.00 – Roman Urban Space before the Emergence of Christianity in Hippos (Sussita) of the Decapolis, Michael Eisenberg
11.30 – From Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina – Changes in the Urban Landscape and in the Identity of the Population,
Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah
12.00 – Roman Jews, Jewish Romans: the Sarcophagi from Beth She’arim between Two Worlds, Adi Erlich
Space and Identity in Iudaea - The Test Case of Masada
Guy Stiebel (Tel Aviv University)
[email protected]
The celebrated excavations at Masada, under the directorship of Yigael Yadin (1963-1965) yielded a wealth of rarely preserved
material culture, from the days of Herod the Great, through the First Jewish Revolt and the Byzantine period. The publication
of eight final reports alongside the conduction of renew excavations ever since 1995 (Netzer and Stiebel) enables us to take the
understanding of the occurrences at the site and the intimate acquaintance with the varied inhabitants of Masada one step further.
The present paper aims to demonstrate the potential of critically combining artefactual data with the historical accounts –
both local, such as Flavius Josephus, as well as of Roman sources. The paper will focus upon the very short period of the First
Revolt (CE 66-73), indicating how far more complex the community of rebels was. Through the recent spatial distribution
analysis one may refer to areas of industrial activity along with specific living quarters of the varied groups. Masada appears to
have been a microcosmos of Judaea of the period of time, mirroring the heterogeneous nature of the community of rebels. For
the first time we may present a plethora of finds that indicate the presence of the Esseans and priests to name only two groups
among others. This data will be used in the paper to critically reconstruct life at this important site and not least to shed light
of what really happened at AD73 at Masada.
Reflections of Jewish Identity in the Art of Early Roman Judaea
Orit Peleg-Barkat (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
[email protected]
Judaism of the late Second Temple period appears to uphold a negative approach toward figurative art. The archaeological
remains from the period exhibit an avoidance of human and animal representation in art, and contemporaneous written sources, likewise, record objections to figural displays. Scholars have interpreted late Second Temple period mosaics, wall paintings,
and architectural decoration, which include floral and geometric designs, as local adaptations of foreign models that served as
mere decorations and manifestations of wealth.
In my talk, I challenge current attitudes toward late Second Temple art and re-examine the concept that art created under the prescription of the second commandment is necessarily merely decorative. Examination of the changes that occurred
during the first century CE in the repertoire of motifs on tomb facades, ossuaries, and other decorated buildings and objects
suggests that what made these decorations “Jewish” was not only what they were lacking, namely depictions of human and
animal figures, but rather also their choice of motifs.
The late Second Temple period is a time when a common Jewish identity emerged. I would like to propose that art was
used already in this early period as a deliberate means to express this common Jewish identity.
What can We Learn from Gardens about Identity in Roman Iudaea/Syria Palaestina?
Rona Evyasaf (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology)
[email protected]
In the first half of the first century BC the Romans have become the new rulers of Palestine, who named the province
Iudaea, later Syria Palaestina. They have brought with them a new garden tradition, different than the previous Hellenistic
one. The main difference between the Roman and Hellenistic garden traditions lies in the role the gardens played in dwellings.
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The main courtyards of Hellenistic houses were paved, whereas in the Roman period the courtyards had gardens. During the
Hellenistic period only the ruling classes such as the Hasmonean kings had gardens in their palaces, while majority of the
private houses lacked gardens. The absence of gardens was common for all ethnicities and religious groups who lived in the
Hasmonean kingdom of Iudaea and its vicinity.
This paper will examine the gardens in Roman palaces and houses in the Roman cities of Iudaea/Syria Palasestina, in
attempt to determine whether and to what extent the new garden tradition influenced the various local ethnic groups. I shall
examine different cities, such as Jewish Jerusalem, Sepphoris with its mixed Jewish and Pagan population and the Pagan cities
of Dor and Caesarea Maritima. An inter-site study of gardens will throw new light on identity in Roman Palestine.
Roman Urban Space before the Emergence of Christianity in Hippos (Sussita) of the
Decapolis
Michael Eisenberg (University of Haifa)
[email protected]
Antiochia Hippos was established about half a century after the Battle of Panion (ca. 200 BC) upon Sussita Mountain, 2
km east of the shores of the Sea of Galilee, overlooking the lake and the Galilee to its west and the southern Golan to its east.
Excavations at the site, initiated in 2000 on behalf of the University of Haifa, allow us further understanding of the
changes in urban planning and architecture during the Roman period. Its urban space was planned and determined as from
the first century CE. The city’s fortifications and outworks are among the most unique urban military architecture built during
the Pax Romana.
Remains of several temples, inscriptions and the unique bronze mask of Pan, recently uncovered, gives us a first opportunity to stare at the pagan believes and identities of Hippos’ inhabitants during the Roman period.
Hippos became the see of a bishop as early as 359 CE. Rapid Christianization process and the 363 CE earthquake are the
main agents for the disappearance of purely Roman establishments such as the odeion, basilica and the southern bathhouse
from the city’s landscape.
From Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina – Changes in the Urban Landscape and in the Identity
of the Population
Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah (Israel Antiquities Authority)
[email protected]
Following the occupation, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, a new era began in the history of
the city. The Jewish city was destroyed, its residents were killed or exiled, and a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion was
established on the ruins. A cannabe- type settlement presumably developed next to the camp. Fifty to sixty years later, Emperor Hadrian decided to found a new city on top of the ruins of Jerusalem, next to the military camp. He honored the city with
the status of a colony, and called it in his name - Aelia Capitolina. The new Roman city was smaller in size, and very different
from the ruined Herodian city. Its builders reshaped the local topography according to the Roman orthogonal design. They
dismantled and removed almost everything that still remained in the Jewish city. An exception was the enclosure of the Temple
Mount that apparently was restored, and on top of it the Capitoline Temple was presumably built. The city was characterized
by straight-lined streets, that ran parallel to each other, or across each other along north to south or east to west routes. The city
was decorated with colonnaded streets, triumphal arches and monumental buildings. Aelia Capitolina residents were soldiers
and veterans of the Tenth Legion, and their families, as well as citizens and merchants who accompanied the soldiers. Jews were
not allowed to enter the city. The official language was Latin, while spoken languages were Greek and Latin. The people were
pagan. Daily life and burial customs of the inhabitants of Aelia Capitolina were totally different from those of their Jewish
predecessors in the Second Temple period.
In my lecture I shall concentrate on few aspects of daily life and burial customs of the Jewish citizens of Jerusalem in the
Second Temple period, as compared with those of their pagan followers – the Roman citizens of Aelia Capitolina.
Roman Jews, Jewish Romans: the Sarcophagi from Beth She’arim between Two Worlds
Adi Erlich (University of Haifa)
[email protected]
The cemetery of Beth She’arim, located in lower Galilee, was a central necropolis in Roman times for Jews throughout the
Land of Israel and the Eastern Diaspora. Catacomb no. 20 in the necropolis is characterized by its Hebrew inscriptions, and
by its numerous sarcophagi, which are varied by means of materials, types and distribution. Their decoration includes pagan
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scenes on imported marble sarcophagi, imitations of simple designs of marble sarcophagi in local stone, and also local and
original works. In my paper I shall examine the motifs decorating the stone sarcophagi in relation to non-Jewish funerary art
as well as to Jewish imagery. As other sarcophagi related to Jews from the Roman Galilee seem to display only a small selection
of the motifs used at Beth She’arim, I will address this disparity. The composition of the motifs and the way they are gathered
or spread on the sides of a coffin may help to interpret them.
The similarity in style and motifs between the stone sarcophagi and reliefs in synagogues of the Late Roman and Early
Byzantine periods point to a deliberate choice of style by Jewish communities. At the same time, the Jewish sarcophagi imitate,
adopt and adapt iconography of Roman sarcophagi. The Jews buried at Beth She’arim lived between the two worlds, and move
between them in a flexible manner. As Beth She’arim represents a crossroads between the Land of Israel and the Eastern Diaspora Jewry, it serves us as a case study for the transmission and application of the ideas of Jewish identity in Roman sphere.
10. ROMAN DACIA: GENERAL AND SPECIFIC PATTERNS IN A PROVINCE BEYOND THE
DANUBE
Organised by: Csaba Szabò (University of Pécs/ Erfurt Universität) and Cristian A. Găzdac (Romanian Academy)
Studies regarding Roman Dacia often use the word “periphery” or “marginal” and despite of the numerous publications
on the archaeology and history of the Trajanic province, it is still considered a marginal topic in the international discourse.
Back in 2004, W. Hanson and I. Haynes have outlined a new direction in the Roman archaeology of Dacia, away from the
‘patriotic’ old view of Romanian historiography. The main aim of the session is to present the latest results of modern researches on Roman Dacia according to the comparative and cognitive streams on research. A forum where various disciplines from
material studies to cultural and social history will reshape the role and impact of the province in a globalized frame and history
of the Principate, still, pointing out the specific patterns of this provinces. The session will focus on various aspects of Roman
history, economy, Limes and the materiality of the spiritual life and art in the province, presenting as case studies the latest
results of the new ‘wave’ of foreign Romanian researchers and their current projects.
Friday 18 March, Aula II (FF)
14.00 – The archaeological landscape of the Dacian Wars: a remote sensing approach, Ioana Oltean
14.30 – Lived Ancient Religion and the case of Roman Dacia, Csaba Szabó
15.00 – The Roman Gold Mining Settlement from Alburnus Maior, Carmen Ciongradi
15.30 – General and specific patterns of coin circulation in a roman province. The case of roman Dacia, Cristian
Găzdac
16.30 – Current researches at Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa, Carmen Ciongradi, Paolo Mauriello, Emilian Bota,
Enzo D’Annibale, Emanuel Demetrescu, Elisa Di Giovanni, Cristian Dima, Daniele Ferdani and Natascia Pizzano
The archaeological landscape of the Dacian Wars: a remote sensing approach
Ioana Oltean (University of Exeter)
[email protected]
With its story unfolding in front of our eyes through the compelling words of Cassius Dio and through the dramatic images
of Trajan’s Column, the conquest of Dacia (AD 101-106) is one of the most famous such events in Roman history. These accounts – and others like them – seemed sufficiently detailed to many generations of interpreters. However, and in contrast to other provinces of the Empire like Britain, there has been in the past very little effort to improve our knowledge of the circumstances
in which Roman Dacia was created by applying a more landscape-focused approach to its archaeology. With a few exceptions, like
Sarmizegetusa Regia or possibly Tropaeum Traiani, the most relevant locations have not been securely identified yet, and even
in their cases the traditional approach to archaeological recovery employed so far has resulted in significant bias in data collection
and its interpretation. Focusing on these two key areas, the paper will outline the results of almost two decades of integrated aerial
and satellite remote sensing research, ranging from the application of traditional aerial reconnaissance to high resolution satellite
imagery and LiDAR datasets which have produced unprecedented reconstructions of the archaeological landscape in which the
events of this conflict unfolded. This brings new opportunities to re-examine the traditional sources and sheds new light on the
conquest strategies employed by Trajan and on the general circumstances of the creation of Roman Dacia.
55
Lived Ancient Religion and the case of Roman Dacia
Csaba Szabó (University of Pécs/ Erfurt Universität)
[email protected]
Even if Dacia was part of the Roman Empire only for 170 years, the materiality of the religious life of it’s inhabitants carry
numerous specificities, which need a more detailed analysis and focus on some specific patterns. Till now, the historiography
focused on collecting the material evidence of religious practices, recreating “pantheons” and temple deposits, enlisting and
labeling artifacts as „votive” and ”religious”, analyzing so called spiritual interferences or identifying the predominant syncretistic and visual patterns in the religious life of the province. Recently, the new studies are focusing on the specificities of group
religions, urban religion or the formation of local iconographic programs.
In this paper, the author will test the theoretical approach of the Lived Ancient Religion project developed by Jörg Rüpke
and his team, focusing on Roman Dacia. By analyzing the specificities and some case studies of entangled religious activity,
experience, agency, communication and competition, we can (re)locate Dacia on the so called religious market of the Roman
Empire. I intend to focus on three main notion: religious individuation in small group religions, the redefinition of the sacred
landscape and the role theory of the objects, exemplified with case studies from the province.
The case study of the dolichenum from Mehadia shows not only the presence of religious individuation, but also the impact
of the Publicum Portorium Illyrici and commercial routes in the formation and maintenance of small group religions. The introduction of a new typology within the sacred landscapes of the province can be exemplified with the Asclepeion from Apulum,
while the role theory of the objects can be exemplified with the case study of the small finds from domestic contexts of Apulum.
The Roman Gold Mining Settlement from Alburnus Maior
Carmen Ciongradi (National History Museum of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca)
[email protected]
Alburnus Maior (Roșia Montană) was part of the aurariae Dacicae an imperial monopol. Like the rest of the Dacian
mining region, Alburnus Maior consisted of smaller settlements of two types – kastella and vici – both of lower statute. These
settlements are attested on wax tablets and inscriptions. Such settlements were probably established following the model from
Dalmatia. The Dalmatian settlers brought here in the time of emperor Trajan built up their dwellings on high places. Each of
the settlements was founded around the extraction area of the ore and contained a sanctuary and a necropolis.
General and specific patterns of coin circulation in a roman province. The case of roman Dacia
Cristian Găzdac (Romanian Academy)
[email protected]
Following the publication of a series of numismatic monographs of sites from former Roman Dacia, this paper intends to
point out general and specific patterns of the coin circulation in Dacia and the provinces from the Lower Danube and within
the province of Dacia.
The chronological frame has been chosen according to historical background of the territory of Dacia and the interest of
scholars on coin circulation. Dacia was Roman province from the reign of Trajan the 2nd half of the 3rd century AD, and was
partially re-conquered by Constantine I. The changes of status mean that the pattern of coin circulation in the province is potentially of interest for frontier studies in general and the history of the Roman provinces on the Lower Danube region in particular.
An attempt has been made to analyse: possible differences between monetary circulation in Roman towns, forts and rural
settlements and also between different regions of the province of Dacia, especially the towns and forts of Dacia Superior and
Porolissensis; and the settlements near the Danube of Dacia Malvensis.
A new aspect of this subject is the comparison between monetary circulation in Dacia and the adjacent provinces on the
Lower Danube region: Pannonia Superior and Inferior; Moesia Superior and Inferior.
Current researches at Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa
Carmen Ciongradi, Paolo Mauriello, Emilian Bota, Enzo D’Annibale, Emanuel Demetrescu, Elisa Di Giovanni,
Cristian Dima, Daniele Ferdani and Natascia Pizzano (MNIT and CNR-ITABC)
[email protected]
Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa was the first and only colonia deducta of Roman Dacia, established immediately after the
conquest of Dacia by Trajan. By Hadrian it was the only city in Dacia and by Marcus Aurelius the only colonia of the province.
Systematic excavations in the area begun in the late 19th century and until now especially the public buildings were researched
56
(amphitheatre, city walls, the headquarter of the procurator, several temples). Initially the city had an area of approximately
22,5 hectares and after it’s extension towards west reached 32, 4 ha. Although, archaeological investigations were carried in the
extra muros area too, the extension outside the city walls was not defined exactly.
Between 2013-2015 the MNIT and CNR-ITABC have performed a series of survey campaigns in Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa. We have used the most advanced techniques of digital 3D photogrammetry from UAVs (drones), terrestrial photogrammetry and topographic techniques (DGPS and total station). The main purpose was to get high definition digital replicas of all
the monuments. The digital models produced are intended both for documentation and valorization of the side: on one side, the
models are used to obtain derived technical drawings lie sections, floor plans, photo plans and on the other side virtual museum
installations, movies based on computer graphic techniques, 3D collections, disseminations through mobile app or websites. Part
of the monuments were made available in 3D on the European site of the aggregation of cultural heritage “Europeana”.
We have also performed geophysical prospection on the site. Bibliographical studies, archaeological surveys, digital 3D
photogrammetry from UAVs have allowed us to choose both work areas and most appropriate acquisition methods. We have
used high resolution geoelectric tomography for small areas and electromagnetic method for the large areas. The purpose is
to provide information about the still buried archaeological structures and to indicate the overall development of the town
outside the walls in order to favor the protection and valorization of the Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa.
11. INNOVATION THROUGH IMITATION IN THE ROMAN WORLD: CREATIVE PROCESSES
AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON IN ROMAN CRAFTS
Organised by: Elizabeth M. Greene (University of Western Ontario) and Thomas Schierl (Römisch-Germanische Kommission, Frankfurt)
The peoples living within the Roman world borrowed, imitated and emulated the art and traditions of cultures that
crossed their paths. This characteristic has often been explored in the context of Roman art, particularly the practice of borrowing Greek motifs in sculpture. The tendency to merge imitation with innovation resulted in meaningful objects and images for
new audiences and consumer markets. The process of imitation created new hybrid forms of material culture that exemplified
the emerging multicultural and widely connected world in the Mediterranean. The creative implementation of foreign ideas
and forms as a widespread social phenomenon was an important element of Roman crafts. It provided the basis for creation of
new styles and supported the regional and individual variation of artifacts. These objects were desired as elements of self-representation and helped to visualize the multivalent character of individual identities. Therefore innovation understood as a
product of social practices and structures tells us much about self-understanding of different social groups.
The trend to apply theories of cultural hybridity to Roman art has grown in the last decade, but the role of imitation in
innovative processes has been explored less often in the sphere of everyday objects and experiences. This session, therefore, aims
to explore innovation in the manufacture of more personal objects such as brooches, gemstones, and pottery, and considers
the rationale for imitation by elite individuals in contexts such as domestic and funerary spaces. Papers in this session use a
variety of approaches in order to explore the expression of innovation, through the imitation of styles, forms and techniques.
The panel aims to discuss the use of innovative styles in daily existence in order to understand the role these products played
in the experience and expression of new cultural or corporate identities in the Roman world.
Wednesday 16 March, Auletta “Archeologia” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
14.00 – Imitation and the mass production of elite status markers: Intaglios in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Elizabeth
M. Greene
14.30 – At the limits of creativity: The creation of style in dress accessories between mass supply and individualism,
Thomas Schierl
15.00 – Craftsmen and consumers: Who was trend-setter for local ceramic products in the northern part of the Roman province Germania Superior?, Markus Helfert
15.30 – Archetype, copy and innovation: Grave monuments in the Rhine and Danube provinces as social media,
Markus Scholz
16.30 – Equal in death? Considerations about urns, sarcophagi, cinerary-funerary altars, tombstones and sepulchral architecture, Thomas Knosala
17.00 – Art and Artifice: The Gardens and Garden Paintings from the Villa Arianna, Stabiae, Maryl B. Gensheimer
57
Imitation and the mass production of elite status markers: Intaglios in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries
Elizabeth M. Greene (University of Western Ontario)
[email protected]
The use of finger rings with inset intaglios – that is gemstones incised with once unique images meant for marking out
ownership – shifted from a marker of elite status to a material item owned and worn by almost anyone in the empire. Through
the 2nd and 3rd centuries intaglios were imitated, copied, degraded and mass produced until they went completely out of
production sometime in the 3rd century. What was once a marker that a person had important documents to send or expensive goods to ship became an emblem worn by all classes in emulation of this status symbol. However, through this imitative
behavior something new was created, especially in provincial and frontier contexts, where intaglios became a part of the material package of non-citizen auxiliary soldiers with provincial origins. That something new was happening to this age-old device
that once marked ownership can be seen through the changes in the physical items themselves. The mass-produced intaglio
is neither unique nor expensive. Manufacturing techniques shift to produce stones faster, which resulted in the exact image
being found over and over again on several different sites across the empire. At the same time, the material is degraded and the
mould-made type called a ‘nicolo paste’ imitates the semi-precious nicolo stone, which can be made much quicker and to a
much lower standard. These changes, however, do not result just in the degradation of a once beautiful product. The outcome
was the creation of a product that was no longer a unique and individual item, but nonetheless marked out individuals in a
different way as provincial populations adapt this very ‘Roman’ material item to their own needs.
At the limits of creativity: The creation of style in dress accessories between mass supply
and individualism
Thomas Schierl (Römisch-Germanische Kommission, Frankfurt)
[email protected]
Das weit gestreute Erscheinen von sehr ähnlichen metallischen Bekleidungs- und Ausrüstungsbestandteilen wie bspw.
Fibeln wird vor allem mit einer organisierten Verteilung von in zentral gesteuerten fabricae gefertigten Objekten oder mit einer
Verbreitung von diesen im Zuge der Mobilität des Herstellers oder Besitzers erklärt. Abweichungen in der Gestaltung einzelner dieser Objekte deuten jedoch auch auf eine signifikante Fertigung solcher Produkte in kleineren, vor allem einen regionalen Markt bedienenden Werkstätten, die immer häufiger auch archäologisch nachgewiesen werden können. Wenn man von
einer weit verbreiteten Herstellung solcher Gegenstände und einer Nachahmung von Stilen bzw. Elementen, die ursprünglich
von Anderen kreiert worden sind, ausgeht, wie häufig wurde dann diese Praxis ausgeübt und welche Bedeutung hatte sie für
die Entwicklung und Verbreitung von Stilen und Objekten? Unter Verwendung aussagefähiger Beispiele solcher Formen wird
untersucht, wie und warum diese neuen Gegenstände und Stile geschaffen wurden bzw. wie sie in der nonverbalen Kommunikation von Gruppen eingesetzt wurden. Vergleicht man die erschlossenen Prozesse mit ähnlichen Erscheinungen außerhalb
des Römischen Reiches, dürfte kein Zweifel daran bestehen, dass auch dort entsprechende Techniken zur Entwicklung von
Innovationen genutzt wurden, doch ist nach den gegenseitigen Abhängigkeiten, den Ursachen für Innovationsschüben und
deren Auswirkungen auf den Herstellungsprozess zu fragen. In der Betrachtung von Metallgegenständen im Spannungsfeld
zwischen Wiedererkennungswert und innovativem Design zielt der Vortrag auf die Frage nach dem Charakter der kreativen
Prozesse und deren soziale Bindung.
*
The wide distribution pattern of very similar dress accessories, recognizable particularly in late Antiquity, is primarily
explained by an organized distribution of items which were manufactured centrally in fabricae or by the personal mobility of
producers or owners. Differences in style of some of those metal objects, however, might point towards significant regional
production which is now more frequently detectable by archaeological evidence. If we have to take into account a multi-local production of objects and an imitation of styles originally designed by others we must consider: how common was this
practice? And, what importance should we attach to that phenomenon for understanding the creation and distribution of
styles and objects? Using various examples of precise forms, this paper addresses how and why these new items and styles were
created, as well as their social implication and how they were used within nonverbal communication of groups. Comparing
the recognized processes with similar phenomena outside the Roman Empire, there seems to be no doubt that independent
cultures used such techniques to develop innovations. However, this raises questions about their mutual dependencies, the
causes of innovative impulses, and their impact on production processes. Focusing on metal items that had tension between
their ‘recognition value’ and ‘innovative design’ the paper aims to question the character of creative processes and their social
obligations.
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Craftsmen and consumers: Who was trend-setter for local ceramic products in the
northern part of the Roman province Germania Superior?
Markus Helfert (Goethe University Frankfurt)
[email protected]
Aufgrund ihrer guten Erhaltungsbedingungen und homogenen Verbreitung in den verschiedensten römischen Befundkontexten eignen sich gefäßkeramische Funde besonders zur Untersuchung von Modeerscheinungen hinsichtlich des Auftretens von Formen, Typen und Verzierungen. Eine zentrale Frage ist, wer Neuerungen im Formen- und Typenrepertoire einführte/verlangte, der Töpfer als Produzent oder der Kunde als Konsument. Oder existierten andere, übergeordnete Einflüsse,
wie zum Beispiel das sich wandelnde Typenspektrum von Metall- und Glasgeschirr, das dann wiederum eine Nachfrage im
Keramikgeschirr hervorrief? Um den Wandel von Modeerscheinungen untersuchen zu können, sind umfangreiche Fundaufnahmen durch Zeit und Raum notwendig, die nicht nur qualitative Aussagen zulassen (was wurde zu welcher Zeit produziert/
konsumiert), sondern auch quantitative (wieviel von einem Produkt wurde im Verhältnis zu anderen Keramiken produziert/
konsumiert). Im Rahmen des von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft finanzierten Frankfurter Projekts „Keramikproduktion und Absatzraum“ wurde die Produktion und der Konsum von Gefäßkeramik im nördlichen Teil der Provinz Germania
Superior vom 1. bis 4. Jh. n. Chr. untersucht. Das Waren- und Typenrepertoire von 26 Standorten mit über 200 Töpfereien
wurde einheitlich in einer Datenbank aufgenommen und mit denen von 16 militärischen und zivilen Fundplätzen des 1. bis
4. Jh. vergleichen. Anhand des vorliegenden, umfangreichen Datenbestandes sollen den für den Beitrag aufgeworfenen Fragen
nach den „Trend-settern“ von „Innovationen“ nachgegangen werden.
*
Due to their good preservation and homogeneous distribution in a variety of contexts ceramic vessels are particularly
suitable for studies of fads in the occurrence of forms, types and ornaments. A key question is, who introduced or demanded
innovations in forms and types, the potter as producer or the customer as user? Or, were there other, superordinated influences, such as a changing spectrum of types and forms of metal and glass vessels, which in turn provoked a demand for other
forms of pottery? To investigate the change of fads huge ensembles of recorded material from different times and places are
necessary, which permit not only qualitative statements (which was produced/consumed at what time), but also quantitative
ones (how much of a product was produced/consumed in relation to others). The production and consumption of pottery in
the northern part of the province Germania Superior from the 1st to 4th century AD was investigated as part of the project
“ceramic production and sales space” financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The repertoire of types and fabrics
of 26 locations with known ceramic production and more than 200 pottery workshops were recorded fully in a database and
compared with those of 16 military and civilian settlements of the 1st to the 4th century. Based on this large dataset the “trend
setters” of “innovations” in ceramic production will be discussed in this paper.
Archetype, copy and innovation: Grave monuments in the Rhine and Danube provinces
as social media
Markus Scholz (Romano-Germanic Central Museum Mainz)
[email protected]
Grabmonumente dienten nicht nur der dauerhaften pietätvollen Erinnerung einzelner Personen, sondern auch der Selbstdarstellung der Familien. Die Übernahme bzw. Transformation römischer Statussymbole durch Einheimische in den Provinzen ist daher ein Gradmesser der Romanisation. Die Adaption mediterraner Formen kann ein Bruch mit indigenen Traditionen bedeuten oder – im Gegenteil – in bestimmter Auswahl ein Medium sein, um traditionelle Werte und Muster in einem
zeitgemäßen Präsentationsrahmen zu kommunizieren.
Der Vortrag beleuchtet die unterschiedliche Entwicklung der Grabbaukultur in den nordwestlichen Grenzprovinzen vom
1. bis zum 3. Jahrhundert n. Chr. Er steht unter folgenden Leitfragen: welche mediterranen Archetypen wurden übernommen
und warum? Wer waren die Auftraggeber? Wurden die Archetypen nur kopiert oder in innovativer Weise weiterentwickelt?
Wenn ja, lassen sich dahinter steckende Werte und Ideen erkennen? Dazu werden die Medien Architektur (Form), Inschrift
und Skulptur miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt. Hierbei lassen sich aufschlussreiche Unterschiede zwischen den Rhein- und
Donauprovinzen nachvollziehen.
*
Grave monuments were not only meant to commemorate individuals but to represent the family. Adaption or transformation of Roman status symbols by indigenous people in the provinces can be considered as an indicator of Romanisation. Adapting
Mediterranean features may indicate a break with indigenous traditions or – quite on the contrary – designate their selection as
having been intended as a medium to communicate traditional values and patterns but in a contemporary way of presentation.
This paper reflects the different development of grave architecture in the northwestern provinces from the 1st - 3rd
centuries AD. Central questions will be: which Mediterranean archetypes were adapted and why? Who were the customers?
Did they simply copy the archetypes or did they advance them in an innovative way? If so, can values and ideas behind their
choices be identified? Hence, the related media of architecture (form), inscriptions and sculpture will be considered and the
remarkable differences between the Rhine and Danube provinces will be apparent.
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Equal in death? Considerations about urns, sarcophagi, cinerary-funerary altars,
tombstones and sepulchral architecture
Thomas Knosala (University of Cologne)
Römische Sepulkraldenkmäler unterschiedlicher Gattungen greifen nicht selten auf denselben Formenschatz sowie dasselbe Darstellungsrepertoire zurück, resp. imitieren sich gegenseitig, obwohl der räumliche Kontext unterschiedlicher Natur
gewesen ist, in welchem sie errichtet, aufgestellt oder angebracht waren. Uneinheitlich sind ferner die Funktionen der Denkmäler sowie der Kreis ihrer Inhaber und Auftraggeber bzw. Käufer. Der Beitrag versucht, das Phänomen der Imitation anhand
prägnanter Beispiele verschiedener Denkmälergattungen zu beleuchten. Dabei soll insbesondere den Fragen nachgegangen
werden, welche Gründe für die Nachahmung verantwortlich sind, welche geistigen Vorstellungen sich in diesem Aspekt ausdrücken, sowie ob und welche Aussageabsichten damit beabsichtigt worden sind.
Wie nicht anders zu erwarten ist, hängt der Vorgang der Imitation im sepulkralen Bereich zu einem wesentlichen Teil mit
den finanziellen Möglichkeiten zusammen. Ebenso bedeutend ist aber auch der räumliche Kontext, in welchem sich das betreffende Denkmal befand. In diesem Zusammenhang können, jedoch müssen nicht unbedingt finanzielle Verhältnisse eine Rolle
spielen. Verständlich wird dies in Hinblick auf den geistigen Hintergrund, welchem die sepulkralen Denkmäler verpflichtet
sind. So setzen die Sepulkraldenkmäler gewisse religiöse Vorstellungen oder repräsentative Botschaften um, die problemlos auf
andere Gattungen des funerären Bereichs transferiert werden können, ohne dabei ihre Aussagekraft zu verlieren. Different ist
somit lediglich die Inszenierung der religiösen Gedanken und Aussageabsichten.
*
Roman sepulchral monuments of different types often resort to or imitate similar relief features, as well as the same pictorial
repertoire, even though the spatial location in which they were erected, placed or attached was of quite a different nature. Furthermore, there are differences not only in the function of the monuments themselves, but also within the circle of their owners or
buyers. This contribution tries to shed light on the phenomenon of imitation within different monument types by investigating
particular questions and providing concise examples. Queries include: what reasons were responsible for the imitation? What was
the statement intended by imitating? Which mental images are expressed by the imitation aspect? As may be expected, the process
of imitation within the sepulchral domain depends to a large extent on financial means. Of equal importance is the spatial context
in which the monument was situated. In this context, the financial means could have, but not necessarily, played a role. This can
be more clearly understood when we realise that sepulchral monuments transfer certain religious beliefs or representative messages
that can be easily transferred to other types of funerary traditions, without losing their meaning. Therefore, the difference from
one monument type to another is only the staging of the religious statement intended in the monument.
Art and Artifice: The Gardens and Garden Paintings from the Villa Arianna, Stabiae
Maryl B. Gensheimer (University of Maryland)
[email protected]
When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, Roman cities along the Bay of Naples were completely destroyed by volcanic debris. Elite retreats for leisure, like the stunning seaside villas at Oplontis and Stabiae, were also devastated as they were buried
under a thick blanket of lapilli and ash. New excavations are underway, however, and their results help to better understand
the infrastructure and daily life of these ancient spaces.
This paper, which focuses on the Villas Arianna and San Marco at Stabiae, explores the social rationale for the luxurious
villas that once dotted the landscape around the Bay of Naples. Looking beyond the villa architecture itself, this paper analyzes
the art historical and archaeological evidence for elite self-aggrandizement as seen through domestic decoration in all art media.
The evidence addressed ranges from wall painting to silverware, and from mosaic to water features. Particular emphasis will be
paid to the villas’ gardens and the adjacent suites embellished with virtuoso garden paintings that emulated the natural world
outside, thereby collapsing the boundaries between art and artifice. The blurred lines between real and fictive space – that is,
between the gardens and the representations of them in painting – are argued to be particularly powerful tools with which to
contextualize these villas within their regional, cultural, and sociopolitical landscape.
12. URBAN STREETS AS COMMUNICATION SPACES IN THE ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD
Organised by: Annette Haug (Universität zu Kiel) and Philipp Kobusch (Universität zu Kiel)
At first sight, streets serve the purpose to make urban spaces accessible. This colloquium will focus on a secondary but no
less important aspect of urban streets: they constitute spaces where merchants sell their products, where religious and secular
rituals take place, where travellers as well as residents can rest and relax, and where children play. The very dense use of streets
turns them into vivid and intense spaces of communication.
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As there are hardly any restrictions on their accessibility, this communication space is open to a broad public – or to be
more precise: to very heterogeneous, socially differentiated publics. This is an aspect that distinguishes streets (at least to a
certain degree) from other public spaces as sanctuaries, theatres or baths. Against this background, urban streets become urban
focal points where social norms are negotiated, where social groups confirm or question their social identity, where social
communication and interaction takes places.
In the context of this session, we would like to address the following questions:
– Who are the actors involved in communication in the streets?
– Which contexts of action frame the communication?
– Which forms and levels of communication can be reconstructed?
– How does the need for specific types of communication influence urban planning and archi-tectural intervention, and vice
versa: which effect does the built environment have on social interaction?
– What role is played by images in street areas in respect to these communication processes?
The methodological difficulties of such an approach are obvious: the communication processes taken into consideration take
place on very different, overlapping levels. Often enough, ephemeral forms of communication (and the original actors) are hard to
trace. One central aspect of the colloquium will consist in a methodological reflection of possibilities and limits of such an approach.
Saturday 19 March, Aula “Partenone” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Visual Communication in the Streets of Pompeii, Annette Haug and Philipp Kobusch
9.30 – The Appia in town. A highway as urban public space, Patric-Alexander Kreuz
10.00 – Ruhe und Bewegung: städtischer Straßenverkehr im frühkaiserzeitlichen Pompeji, Jens-Arne Dickmann
11.00 – Children in the Streets – Interaction between Children and Adults in Pompeii, Ray Laurence
11.30 – Speaking in tongues, listening for meaning: modes of epigraphic discourse along the streets of Graeco-Roman antiquity, Peter Keegan
12.00 – Write Where the People Are – Contextualizing Wall Inscriptions in the Streetscapes of Pompeii, Eeva-Maria
Viitanen
Visual Communication in the Streets of Pompeii
Annette Haug (Universität zu Kiel) and Philipp Kobusch (Universität zu Kiel)
One main form of communication within the public space is the communication via images. In Pompeii, a wide range of media
attest the importance of visual street communication: wall-paintings and terracotta reliefs on house-facades, reliefs on fountains and
altars, honorific statues but also pictorial graffiti. Traditional research usually analyses these sources in respect to their genre.
This paper, instead, will distinguish the material according to different situations and occasions of communication. This
is possible by analysing the visual content on the one hand, by questioning the context of images on the other. This leads to
the following categories:
– Ritual images which gain a central importance within contexts of ritual interaction
– Commercial images that serve as advertisement of goods (painted or in terracotta)
– Images as forms of individual representation (honorific statues)
– Images which refer to a collective knowledge or identity (fountain reliefs; terracotta plaques)
– ‘Private’ communication within the public space via spontaneous image-graffiti
Through a contextual analysis of these categories, it will be possible to gain a picture of the complex and multifaceted
visual communication in the streets of Pompeii.
The Appia in town. A highway as urban public space
Patric-Alexander Kreuz (Universität Bochum)
[email protected]
The cityscape of the Roman colony of Minturnae is significantly influenced by the Via Appia passing through the city.
Public buildings alongside the road make the Appia a main overland connection as well as a neuralgic part of the local topography. Minturnae therefore offers the opportunity to study the a small city’s public space structured mainly by one road.
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It is in particular the multitude of small-scale installations and monuments in the shadow of monumental public buildings
that deserves interest. Embedded at different times into the monumental cityscape, their increasing density promises insights
into the complexity and dynamics of urban constellations and local negotiations of public space.
Honorary statues, railings, podiums and small architectures next to the dominant buildings prove the street itself being
an increasingly enriched ‘arena’, calling passers-by’s attention to single monuments, inviting them to pause and linger around,
but also reflecting strategies of exclusion and distancing.
In this sense Minturnae shows how the focus on built monumental topographies neglects or even hides an important
aspect of urban experience: The variety of small, diverse and interconnected installations and locations embedded in daily
interaction. They reveal the highway in town as a fragmented and multi-facetted public urban space.
Ruhe und Bewegung: städtischer Straßenverkehr im frühkaiserzeitlichen Pompeji
Jens-Arne Dickmann (Universität Freiburg)
[email protected]
Ziel des Beitrages ist die genauere Rekonstruktion des städtischen Verkehrs im frühkaiserzeitlichen Pompeji. Einer genaueren Differenzierung der Teilnehmer einerseits, von Fußgängern über Tiere bis hin zu Radfahrzeugen, stehen auf der anderen
Seite die Unterscheidung von Bewegungsformen und die Differenzierung von Verhaltensweisen gegenüber, die sich über
einzelne Befunde im Stadtraum annähernd rekonstruieren lassen. Neben die Untersuchung von Wagenspuren und Bordsteinen muss jene von Bürgersteigen, Trittsteinen, Laufbrunnen, Straßenaltären und Läden treten, um deren Bedeutung für die
vielfältigen Formen städtischen Austausches beschreiben zu können. Schließlich gilt es zu beachten, dass auch die Tageszeit
Auswirkungen auf die Art der Nutzung des öffentlichen Straßenraumes gehabt haben dürfte. Berücksichtigt man dies, dann
stellt sich die Frage, ob sich die zuletzt geäußerten Thesen zur Intensität des Wagenverkehrs oder seiner Richtungsführung mit
den Beobachtungen zu anderen Nutzergruppen sinnvoll verbinden lassen. Ich behaupte, dass sich Eigenarten des städtischen
Verkehrs gerade durch die vergleichende Analyse unterschiedlicher archäologischer Spuren viel genauer rekonstruieren lassen.
Wenn meine Beobachtungen zutreffen, dann verkehrten sehr viel weniger Radfahrzeuge in der Stadt, während die Zahl von
Lasttieren deutlich höher einzuschätzen ist.
Children in the Streets – Interaction between Children and Adults in Pompeii
Ray Laurence (University of Kent)
[email protected]
The role of the city in the production of adult ‘citizens’ male and female has been recognised. What is less clear is how
we place children into the city. My paper will draw on recent research on childhood to seek to incorporate the relationship
between the child and the urban environment with a focus on identifying: the locale of the child; the boundaries that might
contain the spatial world of the child; the mobility of children in the city.
Speaking in tongues, listening for meaning: modes of epigraphic discourse along the
streets of Graeco-Roman antiquity
Peter Keegan (Macquarie University)
[email protected]
Inscriptions engraved on durable surfaces in a variety of languages permeated the urban fabric of the ancient Mediterranean world during the Roman imperial period. Complete or fragmentary, legible or unreadable, transparent or ambiguous in
meaning, hundreds of thousands of these inscriptions survive today as a reminder of a phenomenon that pervaded Classical
Graeco-Roman society. How, though, should we approach understanding the process whereby people living under Roman
rule in urban contexts communicated using inscriptions? This paper proposes a critical survey of the range of epigraphic
discourses visible “on the street” as a useful entry-point into any investigation of what epigraphy “did” in Roman antiquity
and what it accomplished through text and image. Exploring modes of epigraphic discourse – formal, informal; intentional,
incidental; literate, sub-literate; and so on – across a spectrum of Graeco-Roman contexts – inscriptions drawn from the city
of Rome, the neighbouring suburbium of the imperial capital and other parts of Roman Italy – affords the modern observer
a refined perspective on ancient discursive practices along the streets of the Roman city. Examining the urban “intersections”
where these various discourses often manifested themselves opens a window into how extraordinarily vibrant Rome’s imperial
streetscapes must have been.
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Write Where the People Are – Contextualizing Wall Inscriptions in the Streetscapes of
Pompeii
Eeva-Maria Viitanen (University of Helsinki)
[email protected]
The façades of the houses in Pompeii were dotted with thousands of texts ranging from formal election notices to informal scratched greetings. Their contents have provided a valuable source for a variety of studies, but their spatial contexts have
mostly been ignored until recently. This paper discusses the results of the spatial analysis of the distribution of wall inscriptions
on the house façades. Finding an audience is important for communication and, consequently, the distribution of the texts
was compared to street activities. In addition, the types of houses behind the façades were analyzed in order to see what kind
of buildings attracted writers. The distribution of election notices is very closely associated with the main traffic routes. They
appear mostly on the façades of private properties – the houses are usually large residences rather than shops or workshops. The
notices for different offices were placed following different patterns. The graffiti hotspots are more isolated, but also related to
private houses rather than to shops or bars which could be regarded as good places for finding an audience. Detailed knowledge
of where the texts were written affords new insights into why, by whom and to whom the texts were written.
13. USING AND ABUSING PRECIOUS METAL IN THE LATE ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: Richard Hobbs (The British Museum) and Philippa Walton (The Ashmolean Museum)
In recent years, a vast amount of research has been completed or initiated on precious metals in the late Roman period,
particularly silver plate and coins. This includes re-assessments of older high profile discoveries, such as the treasures from
Berthouville, Traprain Law and Mildenhall, all resulting in major publications; and new research projects on the Vinkovci
treasure, discovered in Croatia in 2012 and the ‘Sevso’ Treasure, half of which was returned to Hungary in 2014 after many
years of legal wrangling over its ownership. There are also major studies of the significance of coin hoards in progress, namely
the ‘Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire’ and ‘Hoarding in Iron Age and Roman Britain’ projects. The time is right to re-assess
the many uses of precious metals in the late Roman period.
The proposed session will therefore explore the contribution precious metals can make to our understanding of social and
economic change in the Roman Empire during the late Roman period, broadly the third to fifth centuries AD. We will assess
how precious metal in all forms was used to forge or cement social relations and political alliances both within the Empire and
beyond its frontiers. We also aim to illuminate the role of currency in its broadest sense by assessing the relationship between
coinage, silver plate, bullion and Hacksilber, as well as the potential co-ordination of state and private production of coins and
precious metal artefacts. The session will also seek to emphasise new ways that numismatists, archaeologists and specialists in
material culture can work together to gain a better understanding of the role of precious metals in all its forms in late Roman
society.
Thursday 17 March, Aula II (FF)
9.00 – Bashing me gently: the Vinkovci treasure in context, Hrvoje Vulic and Damir Doracic
9.30 – Argentum balneare. Late Roman silver vessels used for bathing and washing, Zsolt Mráv
10.00 – The role of silver plate in late Roman society: some new approaches, Richard Hobbs and Janet Lang
11.00 – All that glitters: analysing precious metal hoards recorded by the Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire Project,
Philippa Walton
11.30 – Silver and the transition from late Roman Britain to Early Medieval Scotland, Alice Blackwell
Bashing me gently: The Vinkovci treasure in context
Hrvoje Vulic (Vinkovci Museum, Zagreb) and Damir Doracic (Archaeological Museum, Zagreb)
In 2012, a silver hoard of approximately 46 pieces of late Roman silver plate weighing in excess of 36 kg was found during
rescue excavations in the western part of Cibalae (Vinkovci, Croatia). This paper will present for the first time the results of
initial research on the discovery. It will include thoughts on production, as damaged pieces provide the opportunity to examine
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production techniques using scientific analysis. It will look at how the treasure compares with other finds of late Roman silver
plate, in particular the ‘Seuso’ treasure and other Rhine/Danube hoards such as Kaiseragust. It will also examine what it tells
us about the history of Cibalae, the birthplace of Valentinian I and Valens. Finally the paper will explore the significance of an
important inscription, a verse inscribed on one of the vessels, revealed during radiographic examination.
Argentum balneare. Late Roman silver vessels used for bathing and washing
Zsolt Mráv (Hungarian National Museum)
[email protected]
This presentation will take a fresh look at the different types of silver vessels used in the bathing process and during the
toilette. There are three main sources of evidence which can provide evidence for how the toilette was conducted: late antique
written sources, artistic representations in media such as silver toilette caskets, wall-paintings and mosaics, and the silver objects themselves. A large number of exquisite silver vessels have come to light in Italy and the provinces, many of them from
silver hoards (for instance Esquiline and the ‘Seuso’ treasure), but this evidence has received less attention than the dining
vessels which normally constitute a larger component of these hoards. The analysis of the surviving pieces, in combination with
the written and artistic evidence and archaeological contexts, shows that these objects were used in sets especially by women,
for whom bathing must have been a complex procedure.
The role of silver plate in late Roman society: some new approaches
Richard Hobbs (The British Museum) and Janet Lang (The British Museum)
A major new study of the Mildenhall treasure alongside the recent discovery of the treasure from Cibalae, Croatia and the
return of part of the ‘Seuso’ treasure to Hungary, provides the opportunity to look afresh at the role of silver plate in the late
Roman world. This paper will examine the role of silver plate in elite dining and the maintenance of political relationships both
within and beyond the frontiers of the Empire, the part that precious metals played in the cultural lives of its owners, and how
the geographical and chronological distribution of gold and silver provides insights into wealth imbalances and its consequences for late Roman society. It will also examine the relationship between the production of silver plate and Roman coinage,
particularly from the time of Constantine the Great. Finally the paper will outline the materials and techniques employed to
fabricate and decorate these artefacts and how new methods of analysis can augment and enrich typological and cultural observations: for example, scientific techniques allow ‘fingerprints’ of trace elements and isotopes to be established which alongside
other analytical approaches may help us better understand where this material was sourced and worked.
All that glitters: analysing precious metal hoards recorded by the Coin Hoards of the
Roman Empire Project
Philippa Walton (Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford)
[email protected]
The Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire Project is a new collaborative project which intends to improve the digital coverage of hoards from Antiquity by creating an online database of hoards of all coinages in use in the Roman Empire between c.
30 BC and AD 400. It is envisaged that the project will provide the foundations for a systematic Empire-wide study of hoarding and will promote the integration of numismatic data into broader studies of the Roman world. This paper will present
some preliminary results from the project, concentrating on the late Roman period. Building on Richard Hobbs’ 2006 study
of precious metal deposits, it will explore the composition and outline the distribution patterns of late Roman hoards of gold
and silver at an Empire-wide level, assessing how this data may affect our understanding of both the use and deposition of
precious metal. It will also attempt to compare and contrast the composition and distribution of early and late Roman hoard
data in order to explore how they might relate to social and economic changes.
Silver and the transition from late Roman Britain to Early Medieval Scotland
Alice Blackwell (Scottish History & Archaeology, National Museums Scotland)
[email protected]
Evidence suggests that Late Roman Hacksilber provided the only source of the raw material available in Scotland until
new supplies arrived with the Vikings. Unlike other parts of Britain and Europe, silver was the primary precious metal used to
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make prestige objects over the whole of the Early Medieval period in Scotland; objects such as solid silver chains (c 3kg each)
underline its importance. These and many other silver objects are, however, poorly dated, and this has hampered our understanding of the late Roman to Early Medieval transition. This paper will present a newly-identified type of Scottish Hacksilber
hoard, containing both late Roman and ‘native’ Early Medieval objects, that has the potential to shed new light on this issue.
Two such hoards have now been recognised, and work to catalogue and analyse the 270 surviving fragments is underway. This
paper will explore how this new material fits into our understanding of the use of silver in Scotland during the late fourth to
sixth centuries, and will compare this to strategies adopted elsewhere along the fringes of the Empire.
Organised by: Simon Keay (University of Southampton) and Pascal Arnaud (Université La Lumière Lyon 2)
Trade and commerce across the Roman Mediterranean is seen as being articulated through a network of many ports,
with major sites such as Portus, Alexandria, Carthage and Ephesus being seen as major protagonists. This session attempts
to nuance this picture by emphasizing the existence of hierarchies of ports of many different kinds and sizes, which often
include anchorages for fishing boats and for coastal villae and manufactories. Furthermore it explores the idea that within
these hierarchies, key roles are played by cognate groupings of ports that can be loosely defined as “port systems”. Such an
arrangement has been recently proposed for the ports of Rome, Portus, Ostia and Centumcellae. The papers in this session
will further analyze the relevance of the concept of port-system from both a theoretical perspective and also by focusing
upon a series of case studies from different parts of the west and eastern Mediterranean. In particular, it will explore the
extent to which sizes and kinds of port may have been involved in different scales of commerce, how these may be defined,
and implications that these might have for our understanding of the commercial organization of the Roman Mediterranean
in the first three centuries AD.
This session is an initiative arising from the ERC funded Portuslimen/Rome’s Mediterranean Ports (RoMP) project.
This is led by the University of Southampton/British School at Rome, Université La Lumière Lyon 2, and involving amongst
others, the DAI (Istanbul), the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, Museo Nazionale Romano e Area Archeologica di
Roma, the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Campania, the OAI, the University of Oxford, the Universidad de Cadiz and
the Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàsica.
Thursday 17 March, Odeion (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
14.00 – L’infrastruttura portuale urbana di Roma: emporium e Porticus Aemilia alla luce dei recenti scavi, Alessia
Contino, Lucilla D’Alessandro, Edvige Patella, Renato Sebastiani/A Comparative Approach to Roman port systems:
the ports of Rome and Narbo, Simon Keay, Nicholas Carayon, Ferreol Salomon and Mari-Carmen Moreno
14.30 – Narbonne and the ports of Narbonensis, Nicholas Carayon and Corinne Sanchez
15.00 – Roman Portolans, Pascal Arnaud
15.30 – The ports of southern Baetica and Mauretania Tingitana, Dario Bernal
16.30 – Utica, Carthage and the ports of eastern Tunisia, Andrew Wilson
17.00 – The Maritime Topography of the Pergamene coastal region: The Kane Regional Harbour Survey 20142015, Eric Laufer, Felix Pirson and Stefan Feuser
L’infrastruttura portuale urbana di Roma: emporium e Porticus Aemilia alla luce dei
recenti scavi
Alessia Contino, Lucilla D’Alessandro, Edvige Patella, Renato Sebastiani (Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, Museo Nazionale Romano e Area Archeologica di Roma)
[email protected]
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A Comparative Approach to Roman port systems: the ports of Rome and Narbo, Simon
Keay, Nicholas Carayon, Ferreol Salomon and Mari-Carmen Moreno (University of
Southampton)
[email protected]
Il porto fluviale, l’emporium, sull’ansa del Tevere nell’attuale area del Testaccio è stato, a partire dall’inizio del II sec. a.C.
e per tutta l’età imperiale, uno degli elementi principali del sistema di infrastrutture portuali di Roma, il terminale urbano
sul Tevere del sistema di scali marittimi Ostia-Portus-Centumcellae.Alle spalle del porto fluviale si è sviluppata una grande
area logistica interna alla città antica, indispensabile per garantire la funzionalità del terminal cittadino, movimentazione in
entrata e in uscita, stoccaggio e prima distribuzione delle merci, e in buona sostanza dell’intero sistema portuale al servizio di
Roma. La Porticus Aemilia appare come il primo grande edificio di questo sistema logistico. Descritto da Livio come realizzata
all’inizio del II sec. a.C. insieme al porto, quindi come parte di una grande opera unitaria di urbanizzazione pubblica, questo
enorme edificio è stato interpretato come un magazzino da G. Gatti fin dal 1934; questa funzione è stata recentemente messa
in discussione da un’ipotesi che le attribuisce la funzione iniziale di arsenale militare.Partendo dai risultati dei recenti scavi condotti dalla Soprintendenza archeologica di Roma (SSCOL) e dal KNIR e dall’analisi topografica e geomorfologica dello spazio
fiume-porto-Porticus Aemilia, l’intervento si propone di dare nuovi elementi di riflessione su questo snodo fondamentale del
sistema infrastrutturale e portuale di Roma antica
*
One of the objectives of the Portuslimen Project (RoMP) is to develop a more holistic understanding of ports and their
inter-relationships. This paper presents the initial results from one aspect of this research, with an attempt to move away from
thinking of ports as individual nodes of communication, towards an understanding focused more upon inter-related hierarchical “systems” of ports. It is focused around the comparative analysis of archaeological data within a GIS framework of two
clearly defined port systems. The contrasting size, character and development of Rome and Narbo are studied in terms of the
very different ranges and developmental histories of ports that served them, during the first three centuries AD. It is argued
that this approach makes it possible to gain a better understanding of the contrasting ways in which the Roman authorities and
their engineers were able to transform landscapes and seascapes in order to further their broader economic interests.
Narbonne and the ports of Narbonensis
Nicholas Carayon (University of Southampton) and Corinne Sanchez (CNRS)
[email protected]
According to Strabo (IV, 1, 12), the port of Narbonne may be “called the emporion of all Gaul”. The recent archaeological
research undertaken in the Narbonne area provides us with a clearer idea of this great hub, which is based on a huge harbour
system composed of two principal components: the river Aude and associated lagoons. Around this geographical layout, several
sites involved in the harbour activities allow us to apply the concept of port system to the colonia Narbo Martius. Furthermore,
as the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis since 22 BC, Narbonne could be seen as the administrative focus of
the Narbonensis port system including Arles and Marseille. This paper aims to develop the concept of ports system at different
scales, the local one and the provincial one.
Roman Portolans
Pascal Arnaud (Université La Lumière Lyon 2)
[email protected]
Little has survived of Roman periploï, whose structure is very similar to that of the later medieval ones. Most of this
material has survived only in the form of selected information used by ancient geographers. There are two notable exceptions
(in addition to the periploï of the Black Sea and Indian Ocean): the itinerarium Antonini Augusti and the Stadiasmus Maris
Magni. Like Medieval portolans, they provide us with lists of ports and mooring places together with related information,
such as the quality and size of the basins, the kind of ships that could enter them, and associated places. This paper will focus
on two or three case-studies in order to illustrate to what extent these sources may allow us to reconstruct “port systems”, and
the main patterns of such systems.
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The ports of southern Baetica and Mauretania Tingitana
Dario Bernal (Universidad de Cádiz)
[email protected]
All coastal cities in the waters of the ancient Fretum Gaditanum had harbour structures linked with daily life and with
commercial activities in the area. The archaeological evidence for this very important infrastructure is rare at the known Roman
ports of Onoba, Gades, Malaca, Sexi in the conventus Gaditanus; and Tingis in Mauretania, where pre-islamic structures have been
covered by more recent buildings, or indeed at Baelo Claudia or Lixus,which were abandoned in antiquity. This paper discusses
the archaeological evidence potentially linked with ancient harbour structures in the area, integrating unpublished evidence from
rescue excavations with new results of coastal research along the coast of ancient Andalucía and Northern Morocco.
Utica, Carthage and the ports of eastern Tunisia
Andrew Wilson (University of Oxford)
[email protected]
This paper examines the port systems of Africa Proconsularis between the gulf of Utica in the north and the Lesser Syrtes
in the south, looking at trading networks, the coastal topography of port sites, the various technologies used to overcome natural shortcomings in the protection of harbour basins, and the effects of coastal change. It considers reasons for the apparently
early decline of the once-important port of Utica; the strategic importance of Carthage; and the extraordinary success and
longevity of a group of ports on the eastern seaboard, in a region with shallow water and little natural protection from storms:
Leptiminus, Sullecthum, Thapsus and Gigthis.
The Maritime Topography of the Pergamene coastal region: The Kane Regional Harbour
Survey 2014-2015
Eric Laufer, Felix Pirson and Stefan Feuser (DAI Istanbul)
[email protected]
The coastal region of Pergamum in Asia minor was characterized by a number of major and minor harbour sites of varying economic and/or military function. They differ also in their urban development, including buildings of maritime infrastructure. Under the auspices of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pergamum some of these ports flourished, illustrated e.g. by the
intensified development of the city of Elaia as civil and military port. Various factors like the political change, the migration
of population, changes of and the traffic routes and the landscape (e.g. the silting in Elaia) caused a different situation in the
Roman and Late Roman period, when cities like Elaia and Kane (the latter studied for the first time in 2014) became less
important and might have been reduced to local trade and shipping. On the other hand, the ancient city of Pitane (modern
Çandarlı) played a more important role as a centre of production and distribution of Roman pottery (Eastern Sigillata C).
The paper will summarize the recent results of surveys (conducted by the Pergamum excavation of the German Archaeological
Institute DAI) and their impact for the reconstruction of the maritime network of this micro-region during the Roman period.
15. GEOLOGIA, IDROGRAFIA, MORFOLOGIA: ELEMENTI DETERMINANTI PER LA NASCITA
DEI CENTRI URBANI
Organised by: Luisa Migliorati (Sapienza – Università di Roma) e Pier Luigi Dall’Aglio (Università Alma Mater
Bologna)
All’origine della città, sia a sviluppo spontaneo sia di fondazione, si pone il condizionamento dei molteplici aspetti del
territorio. In particolare sono due gli elementi principali: la geografia fisica e le esigenze di carattere economico e “strategico”.
L’ubicazione di un centro in un sito anziché in un altro è la risposta a queste due esigenze, con talora il prevalere dell’una
sull’altra a seconda della situazione paleoambientale e storica. Ad esempio, Tivoli è nata in corrispondenza di una strettoia in
funzione del controllo della viabilità. Bologna si trova su di un conoide in posizione centrale rispetto alle valli di Reno e Savena.
La geografia fisica non condiziona però solo la scelta del sito, ma anche la forma e il disegno delle città. La localizzazione di
determinate strutture, ad esempio il foro, in una zona anziché in un’altra o in una posizione a prima vista anomala, pensiamo
ad esempio a Susa, è spesso il risultato di questo condizionamento. Nello stesso tempo, la necessità di trovare gli spazi indispensabili alla realizzazione delle strutture proprie della città portano ad interventi di sistemazione dell’originaria morfologia,
con la realizzazione, ad esempio, di terrazzamenti.
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La presenza di determinati elementi fisiografici, se da un lato rappresenta una fattore positivo, dall’altro può comportare
anche dei rischi. Saranno dunque necessari interventi di difesa, quali, nel caso della presenza di un corso d’acqua, arginature
e canalizzazioni. In zone collinari il pericolo potrà essere legato a smottamenti e crolli, senza contare la ricorrenza di eventi
naturali come terremoti, che hanno richiesto la messa in opera di particolari accorgimenti strutturali.
Scopo della sessione è appunto quello di indagare in diverse aree geografiche questo complesso rapporto tra geografia fisica
e struttura urbana, individuando le metodologie più opportune per ricostruire l’originaria situazione geografica e planoaltimetrica su cui si è andata a impiantare la città.
Thursday 17 March, Auletta “Archeologia” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Quae arx.. esset: il caso della “nascita” di Norba, tra condizionamenti naturali e strategie politiche, Stefania
Gigli
9.30 – Dialoghi antichi tra paesaggio e insediamenti. Morfologie urbane nelle terre del sorgere del sole (Anatolia),
Guido Rosada
10.00 – Ostra e i centri di mediavalle delle Marche settentrionali, Carlotta Franceschelli
11.00 – Minturnae e il Garigliano, Kevin Ferrari
11.30 – Cremona: una città lungo il fiume, Gianluca Mete
12.00 – La città e il suo fiume nella Campania antica: condizionamenti geomorfologici e adattamenti urbanistici
delle città romane lungo l’alta valle del Clanis, Vincenzo Amato, Raffaella Bonaudo and Amedeo Rossi
Quae arx.. esset: il caso della “nascita” di Norba, tra condizionamenti naturali e strategie
politiche
Stefania Gigli (Seconda Università di Napoli)
[email protected]
Un caso emblematico di scelta strategica per il luogo di fondazione della città è quello di Norba; con incisiva sinteticità Livio restituisce le motivazioni della fondazione: l’esigenza di realizzare una roccaforte “arx” nel territorio pontino, ai tempi della
minaccia Volsca. La scelta del luogo si appuntò pertanto su una montagna, alta e a picco sulla pianura pontina, con pendici
impervie, priva di acqua, esposta al rigore dei venti.
Forma e disegno della città sono significativa testimonianza di un disegno organico, realizzato nel tempo, volto a superare
o temperare i condizionamenti morfologici imposti dalle esigenze strategiche. Un impegno forte fu infatti rivolto a condurre
interventi di trasformazione, con opere anche poderose, che valsero ad assicurare la salubrità dei luoghi (terrazzamenti, bacini
idrici, fogne), un livello di urbanitas in linea con i tempi e a conferire un aspetto altamente scenografico a quella che avrebbe
potuto essere una severa roccaforte montana.
Dialoghi antichi tra paesaggio e insediamenti.Morfologie urbane nelle terre del sorgere
del sole (Anatolia)
Guido Rosada (Università di Padova)
[email protected]
Come è noto il termine paesaggio si presta a una serie molto variata di letture a seconda dell’aggettivazione che gli poniamo vicino (paesaggio antropico, rurale, industriale, letterario, economico etc.). Se tuttavia lo consideriamo privo di attributi,
paesaggio non può che significare la “forma” naturale di quanto ci circonda, in assenza di un intervento antropico.
Sappiamo anche quanto questo paesaggio fosse visto dagli occhi degli antichi in modo molto diverso da noi, che abbiamo
la possibilità di vederlo anche attraverso strumenti tecnologici (dalla cartografia al remote sensing), quindi senza conoscerlo per
presa diretta. Il paesaggio degli antichi era invece conosciuto solo attraverso la presenza in loco e la ricognizione territoriale. E
non è un caso che la voce territorium (che anche oggi utilizziamo talora correlandola a paesaggio) era intesa con un’implicazione giuridica e come areale soggetto a un ius (Gromatici veteres, passim Lach. e segnatamente Dig., L, 16, 239, 8: territorium
est universitas agrorum intra fines cuiusque civitatis).
Un altro dato generalissimo di riflessione è il concetto di utilitas nel rapporto tra paesaggio e intervento dell’uomo, una
utilitas che prevedeva anche una necessaria dialettica tra le due parti in considerazione di una minore capacità antica di incidere
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profondamente e di prevaricare sulla natura. E’ vero tuttavia che anche in passato avveniva comunque una prevaricazione a
tutto danno del paesaggio naturale. Sono molte in proposito le fonti che lo testimoniano; tra queste basta ricordare le parole
di Stazio (Silvae, IV, 3, 49-55) a proposito della stesura di una strada: Quantae pariter manus laborant!/Hi caedunt nemus
exuuntque montes/…hi siccant bibulas manu lacunas/et longe fluvios agunt minores ovvero quelle di Virgilio (Georg., II,
207-211) in relazione alle terre conquistate ai coltivi: iratus silvam devexit arator/ et nemora evertit multos ignava per annos,/
antiquasque domos avium cum stirpibus imis/ eruit; illae altum nidis petiere relictis;/ at rudis enituit impulso vomere campus.
Ora questo dialogo in ogni caso disuguale dell’uomo con la natura lo si può cogliere assai bene confrontandosi con una terra come l’Anatolia dai molti volti. A partire dalla tradizione fondativa della fatidica Bisanzio da parte dell’eroe eponimo Byzas,
che scelse, secondo l’oraculum di Apollo Pizio, sedem caecorum terris adversam (Tac., Ann., XII, 63, 1; cfr. anche Strabo, VII,
6, 2 C320) ovvero dirimpetto a Calcedonia (oggi Kadıköy) che i Megaresi avevano scelto in precedenza senza accorgersi (per
“cecità”) di un più favorevole sito per l’insediamento come la penisola protesa a meridione della profonda e riparata insenatura
del Chrysókeras (Corno d’Oro).
Ostra e i centri di mediavalle delle Marche settentrionali
Carlotta Franceschelli (Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont Ferrand)
[email protected]
Le scelte insediamentali sono sempre legate a due esigenze. La prima è indubbiamente la risposta a quelle che sono le
richieste connesse con la situazione politica ed economica; la seconda è il legame con la geografia fisica, che spesso condiziona
non solo l’ubicazione dell’insediamento, ma anche la sua forma. A questa regola non sfugge la città romana di Ostra.
Ostra nasce come sede di praefectura dopo le assegnazioni viritane del 232 a.C. legate alla lex Flaminia de agro Gallico et
Piceno viritim dividundo. Già il fatto che il centro di Ostra fosse il luogo dove periodicamente veniva amministrata la giustizia
comporta che esso fosse facilmente raggiungibile. Effettivamente Ostra si trova lungo la direttrice che raggiungeva la colonia di
Sena Gallica, dedotta alla foce del Misa dopo la definitiva sconfitta dei Galli Senoni nel 283 a.C., provenendo dalla conca di Sassoferrato. Essa dunque viene a trovarsi lungo la primitiva via di collegamento tra Roma e Sena Gallica, costituita dalla valle sinclinale
camerte e poi dalla valle del Misa, direttrice che si era aperta per i Romani con il patto di alleanza con Camerino alla fine del IV
sec. a.C. e poi con la battaglia di Sentinum. Ostra però non è solo sulla strada che univa la conca di Sassoferrato e Sena Gallica,
ma è all’incrocio tra questo asse e quello che, partendo dalla valle del Tronto, unisce tutte i settori mediani delle varie vallate.
Se dunque da un lato la sua collocazione nella media valle, in un punto di convergenza di più strade è funzionale alle
necessità dei coloni che erano stati qui inviati a seguito della lex Flaminia, la sua ubicazione su di un ampio terrazzo, il primo
che si incontra provenendo da Sentinum, favorisce la trasformazione da semplice centro di aggregazione a città che avviene nel
corso del I sec. a.C. Il terrazzo, infatti, con la sua notevole ampiezza, consente la realizzazione di tutte quelle infrastrutture che
erano necessarie alla vita civile di un municipium, in primo luogo il foro.
I terrazzi alluvionali di fondovalle, quale appunto quello su cui è ubicata la città romana, sono costruiti, come noto, da
un corso d’acqua attraverso il succedersi di una fase di deposizione e di erosione. Queste fasi possono succedersi nel corso del
tempo dando così origine a più terrazzi, separati tra loro da scarpate. I terrazzi più antichi vengono quindi ad essere più alti, più
lontani dal fiume e, di conseguenza, più protetti da quelle che sono le normali ondate di piena. Per quanto riguarda la piana
di fondovalle dove sorge Ostra, sono riconoscibili due ordini di terrazzi, che presentano un dislivello di 4 metri, andando dai
78 mslm ai 74, separati tra loro da una scarpata. La città si colloca appunto sul terrazzo più alto, mentre nessun ritrovamento
viene da quello inferiore, che doveva sovrastare di non molto il piano di scorrimento del Misa. Il forte dislivello tra questo più
recente ripiano e l’attuale alveo del fiume è infatti legato all’intensa attività erosiva che tutti i corsi d’acqua di questo settore
hanno avuto ad iniziare dalla metà del secolo scorso in seguito alla forte attività estrattiva legata all’intensa urbanizzazione e alla
realizzazione delle necessarie infrastrutture. Il quadro geografico attuale, pur corrispondendo nelle sue linee essenziali a quello
di età romana, non è quindi del tutto simile e questo altera la percezione di quello che è il rapporto tra la città e il fiume, un
rapporto che doveva essere molto più stretto di quanto non sia oggi.
Quanto detto per Ostra, vale per la quasi totalità dei centri di età romana posti nelle medie valli dei fiumi, dato che sono
anch’essi collocati nelle pianura di fondovalle su dei terrazzi. Un esempio è la vicina Suasa, nella parallela valle del Cesano.
Anch’essa è lungo la direttrice che dalla conca di Sassoferrato arriva sulla costa, anch’essa è all’incrocio tra questo asse e quello
che unisce i settori delle medie valli e anch’essa è collocata sul primo terrazzo di una certa ampiezza che si trova seguendo la
valle del Nevola, un affluente di destra del Cesano.
Minturnae e il Garigliano
Kevin Ferrari (Università Alma Mater di Bologna)
[email protected]
La Piana del Garigliano entra a pieno titolo sotto l’influenza romana a partire dal 314 a.C. La fondazione delle principali
città dell’area segue un disegno strategico ben preciso e si nota una attenta pianificazione geografica e geomorfologica. La colo69
nia latina di Sessa Aurunca viene dedotta nel 313 a.C. in corrispondenza del preesistente centro aurunco. L’abitato occupa la
sommità di un’altura (unità geomorfologica preferita in età preromana) che consente di dominare la sottostante piana e si pone
sulle direttrici di comunicazione interne tra la valle del Garigliano e quella del Volturno. Le due colonie di diritto Romano,
Minturnae e Sinuessa, vengono invece fondate ex novo lungo la costa, rispettivamente ai limiti settentrionale e meridionale
della piana, garantendo in questo modo un controllo di tutta la zona pianeggiante. La via Appia passa lungo la fascia costiera
occupando la sommità di un antico sistema di dune Peistoceniche. In corrispondenza del punto ove il Garigliano ha avuto
maggiore stabilità viene dedotta la colonia di Minturnae. La città, che controlla strategicamente il punto ottimale di attraversamento del corso d’acqua, si pone sulla sommità della duna pleistocenica al sicuro dai miasmi della vicina area palustre e
dalle esondazioni fluviali, pur mantenendo un diretto contatto col Garigliano. Nonostante occupi una posizione lievemente
arretrata rispetto alla costa, il fiume le consente, anche grazie alla presenza di un santuario emporico alla foce, di assumere le
caratteristiche di una colonia maritima e di sviluppare una fiorente attività portuale. Il sistema insediativo preromano, romano
e medievale nel settore costiero è altamente influenzato dalle condizioni geomorfologiche e ambientali, soprattutto dalla presenza del corso d’acqua, delle zone palustri e del doppio sistema di dune costiere.
Cremona: una città lungo il fiume
Gianluca Mete (Università Alma Mater di Bologna)
[email protected]
L’intervento intende analizzare il rapporto/correlazione tra geografia fisica e città. La scelta del luogo di fondazione della
città romana di Cremona infatti, se da un lato è dettata in primis da considerazioni di carattere storico e strategico, dall’altro e,
potremmo affermare, in egual misura, è condizionata dalla geografia fisica. La città, la cui fondazione risale al 218 a. C., nasce,
come la gemella Placentia, con l’obiettivo di porre ancora più a Nord il controllo romano, fungendo da testa di ponte per
l’espansione a settentrione del fiume Po, in un territorio già controllato dalle tribù celtiche di Insubri e Cenomani. Dal punto
di vista insediativo i caratteri dell’ampio territorio di pertinenza circostante, evidenziano un posizionamento strategico che sottintende una grande conoscenza, da parte romana, della geomorfologia. Infatti, la relativa vicinanza della colonia al fiume Po,
laddove pare più agevole l’attraversamento grazie ad una stretta morfologica, è bilanciata dall’esigenza di porre il sito al riparo
dal rischio di alluvioni e allagamenti. Per tali ragioni l’impianto della città insiste sull’orlo di una scarpata di terrazzo fluviale.
La geografia fisica ha, inoltre, condizionato non solo la posizione della città all’interno del territorio, ma anche la forma stessa
del perimetro urbano, come dimostra, nel nostro caso, il limes meridionale dell’insediamento intramuraneo che ha ricalcato
l’andamento della scarpata. Allo stesso modo la natura del suolo e i suoi caratteri hanno influito sulle tecniche costruttive relative agli stessi edifici, come dimostra la presenza di terrazzamenti, restituendo un’immagine della città caratterizzata da piani
altimetrici eterogenei.
La città e il suo fiume nella Campania antica: condizionamenti geomorfologici e
adattamenti urbanistici delle città romane lungo l’alta valle del Clanis
Vincenzo Amato (Università del Molise), Raffaella Bonaudo (Soprintendenza Archeologia della Campania)
and Amedeo Rossi (Indipendent Research)
All’interno di un programma di sistematizzazione e georeferenziazione dei dati di archivio relativi all’antica Abella promosso dalla Soprintendenza Archeologia della Campania, l’intervento si propone di valutare le scelte che hanno condizionato
la localizzazione dell’insediamento e la successiva definizione dello spazio urbano, in una prospettiva di studio interdisciplinare
fondato sulla convinzione che il paesaggio sia l’esito di una stretta interconnessione tra le scelte antropiche e le condizionanti
ambientali. Lo studio sarà fondato sull’individuazione dei caratteri geomorfologici dell’alta valle del fiume Clanis e dei suoi
principali tributari, supportato dai dati delle stratigrafie archeologiche recuperabili dai dati d’archivio, con l’obiettivo di valorizzare la relazione tra la città e il suo fiume e di interpretare gli eventi ambientali che hanno condizionato la trasformazione del
paesaggio e dell’ambiente. In questo senso il caso di Avella potrà costituire un termine di confronto con quanto già acquisito
relativamente alle altre città disposte lungo lo stesso corso fluviale (soprattutto con Suessula e Acerrae), che fin dal più antico
passato sembra riconoscersi come elemento strutturante del paesaggio di questa parte della Campania antica.
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16. SETTLEMENT TOPOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – METHODOLOGICAL
Organised by: Christiane Nowak (Freie Universität Berlin) and Ralf Bockmann (German Archaeological Institute Rom)
In the proposed session, the leading question concerns the formation of settlement topographies in relation to regionally
available resources and the role these played specifically for the provision of different settlement types and for the formation of
urban centers. “Resource” will be understood here not only as a naturally available good, but also in its form as refined product
created locally from these available goods. Furthermore, we will take artistic and cultural products into consideration that can
be related to local resource management in the broadest sense and influenced the way settlements were created and perceived.
“Resources” are therefore understood rather from a functional viewpoint.
The papers in this session will examine how regions evolved and their settlement density grew and shrunk during different periods. It is presumed that these transformations that are archaeologically clearly visible are often related to the access of
resources. The monumentalisation of settlements, the import of precious materials and the application of new architectural
models generally demands access to considerable resources. These phenomena will be examined from a historical point of view.
Looking at several regions in different chronological contexts, we seek to have a broad range of case studies available to
better understand how settlement topographies and resource management were interrelated in different regional and chronological settings. The area covered in this session spans from the Iberian Peninsula over Italy and North Africa to Asia Minor
between the Roman Republic period to the late Roman epoch. The micro regions studied in this session will be analyzed
regarding their specific strategies in resource management and the respective results of these strategies. The leading questions
of this session are approached in the studied micro regions with different methodologies, from archive studies over surveying
to remote sensing and GIS studies.
Thursday 17 March, Auletta “Archeologia” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
14.00 – Infrastructure, Agriculture, Production, and Consumption in the Pergamon Micro-Region: Continuities and
Changes in the Use of Landscape and Resources, Felix Pirson and Daniel Knitter
14.30 – Resource management and settlement topographies in late Roman Tripolitania - Preliminary results of a
remote sensing project, Ralf Bockmann
15.00 – Roman Resource Cultures: The Use of Resources and its Impact on socio-cultural Dynamics in Roman North
Africa, Frerich Schön
15.30 – Römische Städte und ihre Wirtschaftsgrundlagen in Hispanien am Beispiel Muniguas, Thomas Schattner
16.30 – Regional Solutions in the Building of Roman Farms and Productive Villas in Central Italy (2nd Century BC to
2nd Century AD), Michael Feige
17.00 – La cultura ellenistica come “risorsa”: il caso di Benevento, Alessandra Avagliano and Christiane Nowak
Infrastructure, Agriculture, Production, and Consumption in the Pergamon Micro-Region:
Continuities and Changes in the Use of Landscape and Resources
Felix Pirson (DAI Istanbul) and Daniel Knitter (Topoi, FU Berlin)
Multidisciplinary research on ancient cities during the last decade underlines the great potential of micro-regional and
ecological approaches in order to gain a better understanding of the specific signatures of individual cities. This is also the case
in Pergamon, where archaeological and geo-archaeological surveys in the western Kaikos-valley (Bakır Çay) have shown how
the development of various settlements was influenced by mutual dependencies as well as by environmental factors. Although
infrastructure, agriculture, production, and consumption have been identified as decisive factors in these relations, they are
still underexposed compared to political, military or symbolical levels of regional networks; not to speak of an integration of
both of these spheres. Hence, the aim of our paper is twofold: (1) to evaluate the current state of research on infrastructure and
economy in Pergamon´s micro-region in a comprehensive perspective and (2) to outline a research strategy for a future project
which aims to take the entire micro-region into account.
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Resource management and settlement topographies in late Roman Tripolitania Preliminary results of a remote sensing project
Ralf Bockmann (DAI Rome)
[email protected]
Project members: Anna Leone, Durham University, Marco Nebbia, Durham University, Hafed Abdouli, University of
Sfax, Mftah Alhddad, Ahmed Masoud, Hassan Hamoud, Nader Elkandi, all Department of Antiquities, Libya
Tripolitania, today western Libya and eastern Tunisia, was in antiquity formed basically by the three defining cities in the
region, Lepcis Magna, Sabratha and Oea (Tripolis). It has a dry hinterland and was as a semi-arid region not as fertile as Africa Proconsularis, nevertheless, it was agriculturally exploited, with cultivation of corn and olives above all. Infrastructurally,
the coast provided several good landing points and small harbours apart from the large cities. The main east-western Roman
road connection through the Maghreb, the road from Carthage to Alexandria, went through Tripolitania. Some trade routes
from the south through the Sahara arrived in Tripolitania, for example via the oasis of Ghadames. Tripolitania functioned as
a crossroads for trade and travel. However, Roman control of the territory seems to have been lost here considerably earlier
than in other regions of North Africa, which might be due to the relative openness of Tripolitania towards the south. Although
a number of fortifications were erected on the edge of the desert, the ways to control the south were limited. Because of the
apparent threat of raids, farmsteads were fortified in Tripolitania from the 4th c. onwards.
This development continued with the erection of a system of ksur, towers or fortified granaries. These were mainly positioned in locations where they could oversee parts of the territory with visual contacts to other towers. The landscape was
subdivided in a different way than in Roman times. This development continued after Antiquity, when also trade connections
considerably changed. The paper will present the preliminary results of a joint research project between the German Archaeological Institute Rome, Durham University and the Department of Antiquities, Libya that uses remote sensing and GIS as
main methods. Special attention will be given in changes in resource management in the region. The possibilities and limitations of the methodology will be discussed as well as side benefits resulting from this kind of research for cultural heritage
management.
Roman Resource Cultures: The Use of Resources and its Impact on socio-cultural
Dynamics in Roman North Africa
Frerich Schön (University Tübingen)
[email protected]
The Roman province of Africa (or since Augustan times Africa Proconsularis) is deemed to be a granary of the Imperium
Romanum. The archaeological map of this region is affected by a dense network of wealthy cities. While their monumental
remains mostly date into Roman imperial time, many of these cities have a much longer history dating back to Numidian or
Punic origins. The wealth of these cities was based on an export-oriented agrarian industry, among others the production of
olive oil and grain. But what does this mean? This presentation wants to point out the culture-specific practices in the use of
resources. Using the approach developed by the TuebingenSFB 1070 ResourceCulures that resources are tangible or intangible
media, used by individuals or groups to create, sustain or vary social relations, units and identities, it is possible to go beyond
the traditional separation between natural or cultural resources, because also resources taken from nature are affected and defined by cultural activity. This idea allows us to focus on the parameters, which make raw materials, products or commodities
to specific resources with a high social and cultural relevance, because they produce very specific dynamics. The talk will discuss
these ideas in a diachronic way by using Roman Africa as a case study to ask. Could one describe a distinct Roman “Resource
Culture” in contrast to other “Resource Cultures”?
Römische Städte und ihre Wirtschaftsgrundlagen in Hispanien am Beispiel Muniguas
Thomas Schattner (DAI Madrid)
[email protected]
Die Stadt Munigua zeichnet sich durch eine ganze Reihe von Besonderheiten aus, unter denen die miniaturhafte Größe von
3,8 ha sowie das fehlende orthogonale Planungskonzept augenfällig sind. So klein aber die Stadt nun ist, so erstaunlich komplett
und vielgestaltig sind ihre öffentlichen Bauten. Da gibt es an Sakralanlagen neben dem imposanten Terrassenheiligtum auf der
Spitze des Stadthügels, den Podiumstempel auf halber Höhe, den Forumstempel, den Merkurtempel, das Heiligtum für Dis Pater
im Forum sowie möglicherweise ein Nymphäum in der Therme. An profanen öffentlichen Bauten ist das Forum zu nennen, die
Doppelgeschossige Halle sowie die Therme. Die genannten Bauten des römischen Munigua entstammen einer Bauphase, die in
der zweiten Hälfte des 1. Jhs. n. Chr., das heißt um das Jahr 70 n. Chr., einsetzte und über eine Generation bis an den Beginn des
2. Jhs. n. Chr. fortdauerte. Zur Durchführung der Bauarbeiten wurde ältere Bausubstanz rigoros abgerissen und einplaniert, die
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Errichtung des römischen Munigua bedeutet also die völlige Neuanlage der Stadt. In der etwa 1000jährigen Geschichte der Stadt
Munigua bedeutet die römische Phase die Blütezeit der Stadt. Am Ende dieser Periode beginnt der Niedergang, der schließlich
zur Aufgabe der Siedlung führt. Diese relativ kurze Zeitspanne von etwa drei Jahrhunderten, die zu Beginn der Kaiserzeit schnell
einsetzt und in spätrömischer Zeit langsam endet ohne eine Fortsetzung zu finden, scheint in Munigua eng mit der Wirtschaft
verknüpft zu sein, welche die Grundlage des Lebens am Ort bildete. In diesem Fall handelt es sich um Bodenschätze, namentlich
um Kupfer und Eisen, deren Ausbeutung in großem Stile den Beginn der Ansiedlung markiert, deren Ausschöpfung aber auch
deren Ende. Die Metalle waren offenbar die bestimmenden Faktoren sowohl bei der Ansiedlung, wie auch für die Aufgabe des
Platzes. Wie es scheint, war das Wohlergehen der Stadt so eng mit dem Erzabbau im Umland verknüpft, dass seine Erschöpfung
unmittelbare Folgen für das Munizipium hatte. Die Wirtschaft gründet in erster Linie auf den Metallvorkommen im Umland.
Dort gibt es Halden von der Größe von Fußballfeldern. Das Erz wurde teils über Tag, teils unter Tage abgebaut, die Bergwerke
mit ihren Schächten und Stollen sind erhalten. Daneben dürften die Kalksteinbrüche wichtige Erwerbszweige gewesen sein sowie
natürlich die Landwirtschaft, namentlich die Ölproduktion.
Regional Solutions in the Building of Roman Farms and Productive Villas in Central Italy
(2nd Century BC to 2nd Century AD)
Michael Feige (University Leipzig)
Villas and Farms formed the fundamental concept of Roman agricultural economy, focused on the cultivation and processing of the three central food components of the Ancient World: cereals, grapes and olives. The high degree of specialization
and efficiency of these facilities was often presented and discussed on basis of the works of Cato, Varro and Columella. A
comprehensive archaeological study of the architectural context in which this production took place has been missing to date
for the heartland of the Roman villa system in Central Italy.
This contribution will present some results of my PhD thesis, which approaches the topic on basis of sites discovered on
the Apennine Peninsula and dated from the republican to the middle imperial period. Selected villas from Latium, Campania
and Etruria will be used to illustrate to what extent and in what form economic issues affected rural architecture. A central
issue is the diffusion of standardized building concepts for the construction of important production areas such as pressing
rooms or magazines. Finally the role of regional conditions and traditions in the planning and building of Roman farms and
villas will be investigated.
La cultura come risorsa e le risorse della cultura. La tradizione ellenistica nella scultura
della Campania
Alessandra Avagliano (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Christiane Nowak (Freie Universität Berlin)
Le aristocrazie locali della Campania preromana considerarono la cultura figurativa e architettonica ellenistica come una
“risorsa” che, al pari di qualunque altra, poteva essere sfruttata come mezzo di espressione e fonte di innovazione. All’interno
di questa cornice condivisa, le singole città mostrano un differenziato grado di permeabilità al fenomeno, sia nei modi che nei
tempi. Quali furono le dinamiche (politiche, ideologiche, sociali etc.) che condizionarono questa tendenza? A Pompei l’adozione di modelli ellenistici nell’architettura pubblica e nell’edilizia abitativa è stata valuta in un’ottica di “autoromanizzazione”.
Questo schema interpretativo è ancora valido e può essere esteso ad altri centri della Campania come Benevento? Nell’ambito
di una pluralità di manifestazioni, che incidono profondamente anche sulla fisionomia del paesaggio urbano, si intende focalizzare l’attenzione sulla produzione scultorea. L’area considerata è la Campania interna, dei centri del Sannio irpino; la soglia
cronologica giunge ai tempi della “romanizzazione”.
17. RELITTI E COMMERCIO ROMANO NEL MEDITERRANEO OCCIDENTALE IN EPOCA ROMANA
Organised by: Gloria Olcese (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Le ricerche in corso sul commercio marittimo mediterraneo dall’Italia tirrenica attraverso lo studio dei relitti costituiscono la
prosecuzione delle ricerche incentrate sui centri di produzione delle anfore e delle ceramiche italiche (www.immensaaequora.org).
L’obiettivo della sessione, composta da archeologi, storici e epigrafisti, è quello di proporre alla discussione dati nuovi e
riflessioni sui carichi dei relitti di imbarcazioni che nel periodo III secolo a.C. - II d.C. hanno solcato il Mediterraneo occidentale, per approfondire il dibattuto tema del commercio marittimo romano nel corso dei secoli.
Le ricerche archeologiche fino ad ora si sono concentrate sullo studio di singoli carichi ma manca ancora un approccio
globale e multidisciplinare che li consideri nella loro totalità, per epoca e per aree di origine. Uno studio di questo tipo e gli
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“sguardi incrociati” su categorie di dati finora trattate separatamente, confrontati tra loro tenendo conto della cronologia e
dell’area di origine, determinerebbero di certo un salto di qualità nell’ambito delle ricerche sul commercio e sull’economia
romana, con particolare riferimento a certe aree – come la Campania – che vecchie e nuove ricerche indicano come una delle
zone di origine di molti carichi dei relitti rinvenuti.
[email protected]
Thursday 17 March, Odeion (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
Chair: Simon Keay (University of Southampton)
9.00 – Relitti, volume del traffico commerciale e costi di transazione nel Mediterraneo romano, Elio Lo Cascio and
Marco Maiuro
9.30 – La quasi-disparition des épaves chargées de vin au II siècle de notre ère, André Tchernia
10.00 – Relitti, mercanti e punzoni (in età romana), Piero Alfredo Gianfrotta and Fausto Zevi
11.00 – Relitti e carichi di ceramiche dall’Italia tirrenica (fine IV – I secolo a.C.) nel Mediterraneo occidentale: nuovi
dati dalla ricerca archeologica e archeometrica, Gloria Olcese
11.30 – Tra epigrafia e archeologia marittima in Campania. Qualche nota prosopografica, Giuseppe Camodeca,
Stefano Iavarone, Gloria Olcese and Michele Stefanile
12.00 – Indices de commercialisation des récipient céramique italiques (amphores, vaisselle fine, commune et culinaire) à Alexandrie du IIème s.av. J.-C. au Ier ap. J.-C., Sandrine Élaigne and Séverine Lemaître
Relitti, volume del traffico commerciale e costi di transazione nel Mediterraneo romano
Elio Lo Cascio (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Marco Maiuro (Columbia University)
Nell’ultimo decennio una sostanziale revisione dei dati sui relitti raccolti da Parker (1992) ha provocato una vivace discussione tra gli storici dell’economia antica circa l’affidabilità del dato offerto dagli “shipwrecks” per determinare il volume
complessivo del traffico commerciale mediterraneo nelle sue varie fasi di crescita e declino.
Il contributo che qui si presenta vuole offrire da un lato una rassegna critica delle varie posizioni avanzate nella letteratura
recente, che ne espliciti gli assunti teorici, e dall’altro una lettura in chiave neo-istituzionalista degli aspetti dimensionali del
traffico mediterraneo in età romana quale sembra emergere dal dato dei relitti.
La quasi-disparition des épaves chargées de vin au II siècle de notre ère
André Tchernia (CNRS,MMSH Aix en Provence - E.H.E.S.S. Marseille)
A la fin de la République, plus de 80% des épaves connues transportaient du vin. Au IIe siècle de notre ère, on peine à trouver quelques épaves chargées d’amphores à vin. On examinera les causes possibles, sans doutes multiples, de cette discordance.
Le problème peut être inséré dans le cadre plus large d’une interrogation sur la validité des statistiques d’épaves. La belle
courbe fournie par A. J. Parker dans son livre de 1992 a souvent donné lieu à des interprétations en termes d’essor et de décadence. Si l’on observe que les cartes du même volume, indiquent des dizaines d’épaves sur la côte provençale, mais une seule
entre Antium et Ladispoli, apparaissent des motifs de défiance qui dépassent la question du vin.
Relitti, mercanti e punzoni (in età romana)
Piero Alfredo Gianfrotta (Università di Viterbo) and Fausto Zevi (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Da relitti navali, oltre che per le merci trasportate e per la loro distribuzione, sono derivati contributi determinanti per
l’individuazione di elementi implicati nelle transazioni commerciali e dei loro ruoli. L’abbinamento su uno stesso relitto di
iscrizioni col nome del medesimo personaggio, sulle ancore, su copritappi di anfore o su altre merci, ha documentato il contemporaneo svolgimento – episodico o no – delle funzioni di navicularius e di mercator ed ha contribuito a chiarire il significato stesso dei bolli sulle anfore (ancora di recente frainteso).
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I copritappi delle anfore tardo-repubblicane e della prima età imperiale si è visto che poterono essere fabbricati con
punzoni appositamente portati con sé dai mercanti; sugli opercula d’area adriatica il dibattito è in corso. Un punzone era nel
relitto tardorepubblicano di Cap Negret (Ibiza); altri sono senza contesto; Un altro, proveniente dal relitto Tiboulen de Maïre
(Marsiglia), si riferisce a differenti scenari nell’organizzazione dei traffici marittimi del commercio imperiale.
Si discutono questi temi e si segnalano documentazioni nella prospettiva di nuovi repertori.
Relitti e carichi di ceramiche dall’Italia tirrenica (fine IV – I secolo a.C.) nel Mediterraneo
occidentale: nuovi dati dalla ricerca archeologica e archeometrica
Gloria Olcese (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
La comunicazione ha lo scopo di presentare alcuni dati della ricerca archeologica e archeometrica condotta sui carichi di
imbarcazioni provenienti dall’Italia tirrenica nell’ambito del progetto Immensa Aequora (www.immensaaequora.org). Questo
progetto ha tra i suoi obiettivi quello di contribuire alla ricostruzione di alcuni aspetti della produzione e del commercio romano mediterraneo, anche attraverso lo studio comparato e multidisciplinare (archeologico, epigrafico e archeometrico) di alcuni
carichi dei relitti delle imbarcazioni provenienti dall’area tirrenica tra il IV sec. a.C. e il I sec. d.C.
È stata effettuata la revisione delle anfore e delle ceramiche facenti parte del carico di alcuni relitti di epoche diverse (Sicilia,
Toscana, Francia meridionale, Spagna), grazie alla collaborazione con gli enti e le istituzioni competenti. Le anfore e le ceramiche sono state studiate anche con metodi di laboratorio (mineralogici, principalmente), con lo scopo di determinarne l’origine,
in riferimento ai centri di produzione già indagati nel corso di precedenti ricerche (Atlante 2011/2012).
Una recente linea di studio, infine, riguarda l’analisi dei residui dei contenuti nelle anfore, per cercare di definire la vera
natura delle derrate alimentari commercializzate nel corso delle epoche, unita alla possibile area di origine dei contenitori in
tali derrate erano trasportate.
Le analisi effettuate (GC-MS) hanno permesso ad esempio di stabilire che in alcuni casi – le anfore greco italiche antiche
del relitto Filicudi F – si trattava di vino rosso (Garnier, Olcese, c.s.).
Tra epigrafia e archeologia marittima in Campania. Qualche nota proposografica
Giuseppe Camodeca (Università di Napoli Federico II), Stefano Iavarone (Università di Napoli Federico II),
Gloria Olcese (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Michele Stefanile (Università di Napoli Federico II)
Se i reperti archeologici costituiscono il nostro principale mezzo di analisi dei sistemi e delle rotte commerciali antiche
è pur vero che dietro questi oggetti si cela un’organizzazione e una filiera assai complessa e spesso sfuggente che comprende
produttori, esportatori, armatori e intermediari coinvolti nel processo. Una eco di questa articolata trama proviene dalla documentazione epigrafica, prevalentemente bolli apposti su anfore, dolia e altri prodotti ceramici, ma anche pani di rame, lingotti
di piombo e dotazioni delle navi (ancore ecc.). Si tratta di sistemi codificati che, soprattutto attraverso l’onomastica, veicolano
una serie di informazioni e di garanzie, rilevanti in antico quanto importanti oggi per le indagini storico-archeologiche. Nonostante le difficoltà evidenti nel cercare di mettere in relazione i nomi restituiti dall’archeologia con i personaggi noti dalla
documentazione letteraria, è però non di rado possibile risalire a gruppi familiari e aree di origine. In questa sede si presentano
alcuni esempi di lavori in corso su questi temi e legati all’area campana, da sempre regione estremamente dinamica: da una
parte, si presenta un sunto dello studio sistematico dei nomi attestati sui lingotti di piombo prodotti a Carthago Nova, rinvenuti in tutto il Mediterraneo, e la ricostruzione dei fitti rapporti intercorsi tra il porto d’Hispania e in particolare la Campania
in età tardo-repubblicana. Dall’altra si esamina la documentazione proveniente da anfore Dressel 1 e Dressel 2-4 di origine
campana, di grandissima e significativa diffusione nel Mediterraneo antico ma solo in alcuni casi inquadrabile dal punto di
vista prosopografico, segno anche dell’esistenza di strategie e necessità differenti nella commercializzazione di prodotti diversi.
Indices de commercialisation des récipient céramique italiques (amphores, vaisselle fine,
commune et culinaire) à Alexandrie du IIème s.av. J.-C au Ier ap. J.-C.
Sandrine Élaigne (UMR5189, CNRS, Lyon) and Séverine Lemaître (Université de Poitiers)
Depuis que de vastes investigations archéologiques sont menées dans le centre-ville d’Alexandrie, l’étude d’assemblages
céramiques a mis en évidence les relations économiques qu’entretenait la cité avec la péninsule italique durant la période hellénistique. Parmi les importations de longue distance, celles identifiées comme italiques seront présentées autant que possible
selon un critère qualitatif (l’origine géographique) et quantitatif (présence chiffrée). La vaisselle qui voyageait aux côtés des
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amphores vraisemblablement comme complément de charge des navires en partance pour le bassin oriental de la Méditerranée
et retrouvée en contexte domestique ou funéraire à Alexandrie témoigne aussi d’une évolution de l’apport italique selon ses
origines régionales. Des échanges, identifiés à partir de céramiques à vernis noir de type « Gnathia » et de certaines lampes
moulées, sont tout d’abord établis avec l’Apulie dès le début du IIIème s. av. J.-C.
À partir du IIème siècle, ce sont les productions campaniennes qui s’imposent en provenance d’Italie avec une importante
contribution de la vaisselle à vernis noir de Campanienne A, puis au début du Ier s. des gobelets à paroi fine ainsi que de la
vaisselle culinaire (plats à four et marmites) et des amphores à vin.
À l’avènement de l’Empire, l’introduction de la vaisselle sigillée originaire d’Etrurie est accompagnée, dans les contextes
alexandrins augustéens et tibériens, par une importante quantité de lampes à huile italiques ainsi que par des conteneurs à vin
et à huile. L›étude des amphores italiques à l›échelle de la ville a déjà été menée par K. Şenol.
Dans le cadre de ce colloque, nous proposons de revenir plus spécifiquement sur certains ensembles de mobiliers liés aux
quartiers d’habitation de la ville hellénistique et de montrer l’apport italique entre le IIIe siècle avant notre ère et le début de la période impériale en intégrant les données concernant la vaisselle de table, le matériel d’éclairage et de cuisine ainsi que les amphores.
18. GOLD FLOWS AND IMPERIAL POWER: A FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE END OF THE
WEST ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: N.G.A.M. Roymans and Stijn Heeren (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Following Gibbon’s seminal book Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776), the Late Roman period has been interpreted in very negative terms for more than two centuries. From the late 20th century onwards, the school of Late Antiquity painted
a more positive picture in which the Late Roman period featured as an intermediate stage between the Roman period and the
Early Middle Ages (Webster/Brown 1997; Halsall 2007). The less judgmental word transformation replaced the word decline
and continuities were stressed rather than the narrative of violence, chaos and depopulation. However, this position also received
criticism: several authors stress that the Roman empire did fall victim to the external threat of barbarian groups (Heather 2005;
Ward Perkins 2005). There are however more aspects to the barbarian part regarding the end of the Roman empire than military
threat and destruction alone: the payments of the Roman government to barbarian foederati exhausted state finances and were an
important factor in the fall of the western Roman empire. At the same time, it were these foederati that shaped the Early Medieval
successor states. Transformation and disintegration do not exclude each other but were two sides of the same medal.
This session aims to explore these issues by combining several perspectives: historical sources on taxation are combined
with archaeological studies of gold hoards; deposition of gold in various frontier regions (The Lower Rhine, the Middle Danube) will be compared. It is also interesting to compare gold flows connected to the Late Roman decline of imperial power
(5th century AD) with gold flows related to 1st century BC expansive phase of the Roman empire. Together the session will
shed a new light on an heavily underexplored aspect of romano-barbarian interaction at the end of the West Roman empire.
Thursday 17 March, Aula II (FF)
14.00 – Imperial finance and diplomatic payments (4th-5th century), Peter Heather
14.30 – Power and prestige: late roman gold outside the empire, Peter Guest
15.00 – Gold, Germanic foederati and the end of imperial power in the Late Roman North, Nico Roymans
15.30 – Late Roman silver in Germania: Constantine III and the Rhine Frontier,David Wigg-Wolf
16.30 – Federate settlements and gold finds in the province of Germania Secunda: barbarian identities?,Stijn
Heeren
Imperial finance and diplomatic payments (4th-5th century)
Peter Heather (Kings’ College London)
[email protected]
From the pages of Ammianus and a raft of supporting texts, it becomes clear that diplomatic payments and gifts formed
an integral element of co-ordinated structures of client management on the European frontiers of the later Roman Empire
between the 350s and the 370s. These structures were by no means perfect, but ensured a reasonable degree of peace on
frontiers which had seen major turbulence during the previous century. Although occasionally labelled ‘tribute’ by Roman
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commentators with particular agendas to press, these transfers are much better understood under the modern label of ‘foreign
aid’, being designed to sure up compliant neighbouring regimes committed to preserving (by and large) frontier security. They
were ubiquitous and even formed part of agreements that the Empire had imposed by military force. In addition, the Empire
would occasionally pay its neighbours to provide self-standing contingents for particular campaigns. None of this dented in
any substantial way the degree of domination which the Empire exercised over its near neighbours, nor did it in normal circumstances impose any major stress upon the Empire’s financial systems.
On the other side of the frontier, these flows – partly of cash, partly of high status items – played some role in sustaining
the new authority structures characteristic of the fourth century. It is not clear, however, either that the new confederative
structures were absolutely dependent on the wealth flows, or exactly how far beyond from the frontier line such networks of
circulation and political dependence extended.
The contrast with the mid-fifth-century Hunnic Empire of Attila could not be more marked. As texts and archaeological
finds combine to demonstrate, huge amounts of gold were being transferred across the frontier by this date. There are signs,
too, that raising such sums generated real strains within Roman financial systems. What happened after Attila’s death also
indicates that the Hunnic Empire was in fact structurally dependent on these Roman wealth flows, and could not exist without
them. How and why had the relative frontier equilibrium of the fourth-century balance of power become so distorted in the
intervening seventy years?
Power and prestige: late roman gold outside the empire
Peter Guest (Cardiff University)
[email protected]
Late Roman gold solidi of the 5th and 6th centuries are found as often outside the boundaries of the Empire as within,
both as hoards and as single finds. These finds reveal the existence of formal links between the Roman imperial court and
so-called ‘barbarian’ peoples beyond the frontiers, though the nature of these connections is not necessarily as clear as might
at first appear. Modern scholarship has tended to focus on the mechanisms by which Roman gold arrived in the hands of
barbarians – whether as war booty, tribute payments or subsidies. This line of reasoning tends to assume that all parties, Romans and ‘barbarians’, perceived gold coins in the same ways, yet the it is clear that solidi could perform a variety of roles and
functions depending on the specific social context in which they were being used. This paper will explore the archaeological
and historical evidence for Roman solidi as cultural as well as economic artefacts, proposing that a better appreciation of how
these coins were perceived by the people that owned and exchanged them is needed if we are to understand what they tell us
about the relationships between the later Roman Empire and its barbarian neighbours.
Gold, Germanic foederati and the end of imperial power in the Late Roman North
Nico Roymans (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
[email protected]
The subject of this paper is the remarkable concentration of Late Roman gold finds in the Germanic frontier zone on
both sides of the Lower Rhine. From a period of less than one century, we currently know of some 2400 solidi, amounting to
almost 11 kg in weight, and gold ornaments weighing about 1.5 kg, bringing the total gold weight to over 12 kg. How this
quantity relates to the real volume of Roman gold circulating there at that time remains speculative, but I would say it certainly
represents less than 1%. We therefore have to allow for an influx of several thousand kilograms of Roman gold in this period.
The considerable increase in hoard finds and isolated finds in the past decades (largely due to metal detection) enables us to
identify significant patterns in the data. This study presents a new comprehensive overview of the material evidence as well as
a social and historical interpretation. Specific objectives are:
1. Tracing fluctuations in the influx of Roman gold into the Lower Rhine frontier zone in the Late Roman period.
2. Identifying the spatial and temporal patterning in the practice of hoarding gold in this region.
3. Interpreting these patterns in social and historical terms, with special attention to the circulation and deposition of gold
among Germanic groups, as well as the impact of this ‘gold drain’ to the Germanic periphery on the Roman treasury.
4. Exploring the potential of an holistic approach to gold circulation that combines methods, concepts and theories from
archaeology, numismatics and history.
The study of gold circulation can in this way shed new light on Romano-Germanic interaction during the final phase of
Roman authority in this specific frontier area. It could also offer an original perspective on the way Roman authority came to
an end here. I will argue that the early 5th century, and in particular the short reign of the Gallic usurpers Constantine III and
Jovinus, played a decisive role in these processes.
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Late Roman silver in Germania: Constantine III and the Rhine Frontier
David Wigg-Wolf (RGK, Frankfurt)
[email protected]
Within the framework of the project “Corpus der Römischen Funde im Europäischen Barbaricum”, coordinated by the
Römisch-Germanische Kommission in Frankfurt, all published finds of Roman coins from Germany outside the Roman Empire north of the rivers Rhine and Main have been recorded in the database “Antike Fundmünzen in Europa (AFE)”.
First large-scale regional geographical and temporal analysis of the material has revealed a significant concentration of
silver coins of the late-fourth and early-fifth centuries (up to Constantine III) in South Hessen on the right bank of the Rhine
opposite Mainz. Even if the hoard form Wiesbaden-Mainz-Kastel is not taken into consideration, South Hessen has produced
significantly more Late Roman silver than the rest of the German Barbaricum combined.
It has been suggested that the coins are connected with the recruitment of Germanic troops by Constantine III. However,
this interpretation does not satisfactorily explain the comparative lack of similar silver coins outside of South Hessen. Given
new insights into the presence of Argonne sigillata in the forts along the Rhine, which suggests that they were still in use up
until the mid-fifth century, other interpretations for the silver “hotspot” must be taken into consideration. Are the coins perhaps evidence for the settlement of Germanic foederati organised by Constantine III to secure the route taken by the Germanic
tribes who breached the Rhine frontier so dramatically in 406/407?
It is perhaps significant in this context that Constantine III drew a significant proportion of his army from Britannia where
he had been proclaimed Augustus, a province in which silver played a particularly prominent role in the Late Roman period.
Federate settlements and gold finds in the province of Germania Secunda: barbarian
identities?
Stijn Heeren (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam)
[email protected]
In the late 3rd century, most of the rural settlements in the province of Germania Inferior came to an end; only south of the
road Bavay-Tongeren habitation remained in place largely. On the basis of a new archaeological chronology, it will be shown
that the countryside north of the road Bavay-Tongeren remained almost uninhabited until the late 4th century. Not before the
period AD 390/400 new settlers appeared in the area.
The rural settlements appearing around 400 show features that are normal for the area north of the Rhine. Theoretical
archaeology is very critical of drawing conclusions about migration on settlement evidence, but the house plans, pottery and
botanical remains all point to settlers of Germanic descent in this case. Scrap silver and gold finds in and around these settlements suggest a link to the hoards discussed by Roymans and the silver discussed by Wigg earlier in this session. It will be
argued that foederati and their families inhabited these settlements.
The Roman army most likely retreated from the Rhine in 402. The federate immigrants were probably admitted in the
area by Constantine III in the period 407-411. The role of these immigrants in shaping post-Roman society will be addressed.
The settlers may be of Germanic origin, but that does not mean they simply continued to cultivate a Germanic identity in
their new homeland. There are archaeological, historical and linguistic arguments that they were intensively occupied with
incorporating Roman elements in their identity construction.
19. PORTS OF THE PERIPLUS: RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK IN THE ERYTHRAEAN
SEA
Organised by: Roberta Tomber (The British Museum)
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea provides the most detailed written account of trade between the Roman Empire and
the Orient. A Greek text, attributed to an anonymous sailor or merchant of the mid-first century AD, this document traces
the routes, originating at Myos Hormos on the Egyptian Red Sea, extending along the coast of Arabia (but not entering the
Persian Gulf) and eventually to the west and east coasts of India. In addition the imports and exports from the ports and some
description of what the visitor might find there are included. A separate route down the coast of east Africa is also detailed.
For many years this document formed the main evidence for Rome’s trade with the East, but in the last two decades renewed
interest in the subject has seen intensive archaeological investigation in all of these regions.
This session will present the results of recent archaeological evidence from key port sites active in this trade. It will critically
assess the location, date and range of artefacts and environmental finds in reference to the Periplus and in doing so evaluate
the reliability of this text and whether it can be regarded representative of the period. The geographical range of sites presented
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offers the opportunity to pose broader questions as to the nature of trade beyond the Empire and how it compares to that
within the Empire.
[email protected]
Saturday 19 March, Aula I (FF)
9.00 – The lived experience at Berenike (Egypt) during the time of the Periplus, Iwona Zych
9.30 – Aynuna (Saudi Arabia): a Nabataean port on the Red Sea, Michał Gawlikowski
10.00 – Imports and exports with the Roman world during the reign of Zoskales and in Aksum at the time of the
Periplus Maris Erythraei, Chiara Zazzaro and Andrea Manzo
11.00 – A port in Arabia on the Indian Ocean between Rome and India, Alexia Pavan
11.30 – Indian Ocean as a trade lake: the critical role of Pattanam (Muziris?), P.J. Cherian
12.00 – Converging spotlights: Indian Ocean archaeology and the Periplus Maris Erythraei, Federico de Romanis
The lived experience at Berenike (Egypt) during the time of the Periplus
Iwona Zych (Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology)
[email protected]
To the sailor or merchant who wrote the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Berenike was a key Red Sea harbour, whose mention in the text was essential to the traders and ship captains that plied their trade along this major commercial route between
the Roman Empire and the Orient.
Recent archaeological excavations at the harbor of Berenike, especially in the southwestern bay considered to have been
the landing place, have yielded an array of artefacts and environmental data which contribute to a vivid picture of the trading
hub that Berenike was in the 1st century BC/1st century AD. The paper will seek to bring together the written and material
evidence from the excavations, including a rich collection of finds from 1st century AD rubbish dumps (published papyri and
ostraca, ceramic, faience, glass wares and ornaments) together with the archaeozoological and archaeobotanical evidence for
dietary practices. These objects reflecting everyday life, evidence for craftsmanship and workshop repairs will help to paint
a different kind of “guidebook” of daily life (and death given the recent discovery of graves from the 1st century AD) in the
Roman-age port.
Aynuna (Saudi Arabia): a Nabataean port on the Red Sea
Michał Gawlikowski (University of Warsaw)
[email protected]
A new Saudi-Polish project at Aynuna, a site on the Aynuna Bay at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, is aiming at exploring and dating a town and a neighbouring storage area 3 km inland from the shore. For the time being, the chronology is
vague, but there is a good chance that we have there a Nabataean site corresponding to the ancient Leuke Kome mentioned by
Strabo and in the Periplus Maris Erythraei. The bay serves today as a fishing port and would be a good anchorage for smaller
vessels plying the Red Sea to and from South Arabia. It is also a natural starting point for a caravan road to Petra and beyond.
More could be said after the coming season in winter 2015/2016.
Imports and exports with the Roman world during the reign of Zoskales and in Aksum at
the time of the Periplus Maris Erythraei
Chiara Zazzaro and Andrea Manzo (Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”)
Archaeological investigations conducted in Aksum and in Bieta Giyorgis in the 1990s attested the extent of such trade
in the heart of the political power of the northern Horn of Africa. Qualitative and quantitative analyses conducted on a large
quantity of finds allowed a hypothetical reconstruction of trade patterns with the outside world, particularly with Rome.
Recent archaeological investigations at the port town of Adulis, in the greater Adulis, and on the island of Dissei, have
provided new data on imports and exports connected to Indo-Roman trade. Not all the products attested in the Periplus and
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in other literary sources are preserved at the sites, but some others, not attested in the sources, were found during excavations.
These data complement the evidence from various Red Sea and Indian Ocean ports, where the presence of merchants from
Adulis is suggested, particularly between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.
A port in Arabia on the Indian Ocean between Rome and India
Alexia Pavan (Università di Pisa)
[email protected]
Since 1996 the Italian Mission to Oman has been excavating the site of Sumhuram (in the area of Khor Rori) in the Omani Dhofar. The work of IMTO has showed that the port had a much longer and more complex history than was previously
thought. Sumhuram was founded at the end of the 3rd century BC and definitively abandoned sometime during the 5th century
AD. The creation of the settlement coincided with the crucial, “formative” phase in the development of sea trade across the
Indian Ocean, occurring before the arrival of the Romans in Egypt. The cosmopolitan dimension of Sumhuram is testified to
by the extraordinary variety of imported pottery found there. Sumhuram’s closest trading ties, from its beginning, were undoubtedly with India; nevertheless, during its history, the port appears to have forged ties with nearly the entire known world
(Egypt, Gulf, Africa, the Mediterranean). With the arrival of the Romans in Egypt, trade by sea underwent radical changes,
increasing both in intensity and the range of cultural contacts. At the end of the first century BC, a general re-construction
phase in the city of Sumhuram seems to bear witness to the impact of Roman trade in this faraway country.
Indian Ocean as a trade lake: the critical role of Pattanam (Muziris?)
P.J. Cherian (Kerala Council for Historical Research)
[email protected]
Pattanam on the south western coast of the Indian subcontinent, being excavated since 2007 by the Kerala Council for
Historical Research (KCHR), has produced a plethora of archaeological evidence that vouches for the extensive transoceanic
exchanges of the Early Historic period (3rd c. BCE to 5th c. CE). The Pattanam site and her archaeological record has to be
studied as part of the larger cultural exchanges of the Indian Ocean and beyond; certainly not in isolation.
Pattanam seems to be the legendary port of Muziris which played a critical role in transforming the Indian Ocean into a
trade lake. Three maritime roads, namely silk, spice and aroma, converged on the Indian subcontinent littoral from Barygasa
(Bharuch) in Gujarat to Thamralipti (Tamluk) in Odisha. Pattanam, located in the peninsular region, provides the crucial
evidence for the maritime spice road extending to the Mediterranean with the emergence of the Roman Empire.
While engaging with the Pattanam finds, the propelling forces of early Indian Ocean exchanges – technology, trade – and
their fallouts – urbanism, economic integration, the rise of complex societies and heterogeneous cultures, will also be discussed.
Converging spotlights: Indian Ocean archaeology and the Periplus Maris Erythraei
Federico de Romanis (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata)
[email protected]
The Periplus Maris Erythraei is a literary work without parallel in the surviving ancient literature, providing a gold mine
of information for the study of ancient trade. At the same time, this document raises many fundamental issues about the text
itself and about its relationship with the archaeological regions discussed in the text. Questions that will be addressed with
particular reference to the ports presented earlier in the session include: Who was the author writing for, and for what purpose?
How was the data compiled by the author and what information did he exclude? How does the Periplus help in understanding
the archaeological evidence from the Indian Ocean ports of trade? How do the Periplus and the archaeological evidence differ
and what is the significance of these differences?
20. THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE – RECENT RESEARCH AND NEW INSIGHTS
Organised by: Tony Wilmott (Historic England) and Thomas Hufschmid (Musée Romain d’Avenches)
In the last thirty years or so, and especially since the publication of J-Cl Golvin’s seminal work on amphitheatre architecture in 1988, the study of all aspects of the amphitheatre phenomenon has advanced by leaps and bounds. New research
on architecture, engineering, function and amphitheatre spectacle has burgeoned internationally, and yet no session on the
subject has yet appeared in the RAC programme.
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This session will showcase the breadth and depth of new research in the subject across the Roman Empire, particularly in
aspects of planning, architecture and engineering. It will include information derived from both excavation and from architectural analysis and this will provide an interesting study in complementary approaches to the subject. The session includes
specific provincial case studies in Britain and Bulgaria, the planning of Imperial amphitheatres in Gaul, a reconsideration of
the amphitheatre of Pompeii, the function of the basement amphitheatres, and the engineering of lift systems in the great
amphitheatres of Italy.
Friday 18 March, Aula “Partenone” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
14.00 – The Pompeii amphitheatre: a new conjecture, David Bomgardner
14.30 – Tabulatia in … sublime crescentia - Überlegungen zu den Liftsystemen in den Amphitheatern von Puteoli
und Capua, Thomas Hufschmid
15.00 – Le tracé des amphithéâtres de narbonnaise: du cercle à l’ellipse, documents préparatoires et implantation
des courbes, Myriam Fincker
15.30 – The Viminacium amphitheatre: A contribution to the study of Roman amphitheatres on the Danube limes,
Ivan Bogdanović
16.30 – The Amphitheatre of Chester (Deva), Britain: The final analysis, Tony Wilmott
The Pompeii amphitheatre: a new conjecture
David Bomgardner (University of Winchester)
[email protected]
I have long been fascinated by the Pompeii amphitheatre and its rather quirky architectural style. For example, the openair ambulacrum behind the podium and ima cavea, which would tend to either flood or at least get very wet and muddy. You
would expect it to be vaulted; concrete vaults were used elsewhere in its construction.
J.-Cl. Golvin has written a paper (Nikephoros 20 (2007) 199-207) about the disparities between the lozenge-shaped
outer perimeter and the oval arena-wall of the Pompeii amphitheatre, proposing that perhaps the original arena-wall was
lozenge-shaped as well.
Furthermore, the dedicatory inscription itself (CIL 10.852) emphasises that the ‘spectacula’ has been paid for by the IIviri,
Porcius and Valgus, and that it is expressly for the Roman colonists (‘et coloneis locum in perpetuom deder(unt)’). Everyone,
to the best of my knowledge, has always equated the term spectacula with the entire amphitheatre, particularly R. Étienne
(REL 43 (1965), 213-220).
My conjecture is that the term spectacula was intended to signify the ‘best seats in the house’ that were reserved for the
Sullan Roman colonists, i.e., the oval-shaped podium and ima cavea sections within the open-air ambulacrum. And furthermore, that the open-air ambulacrum may have been purposefully designed to be a vivid architectural symbol of the divide between the Oscan inhabitants of Pompeii and the new Roman colonists, placing the Oscans ‘without the pale’ and the Romans
‘within’, in a very real physical sense.
By my reckoning this inner zone could accommodate about 2,100 spectators. P. Zanker (Pompeji 1987, 18) has published
a figure of about 2,000 for the size of the original Roman colony.
If this were the case, the original construction phase of the amphitheatre would pre-date the c. 70 BC date of the dedicatory inscriptions that still hang in the amphitheatre.
Tabulatia in … sublime crescentia - Überlegungen zu den Liftsystemen in den
Amphitheatern von Puteoli und Capua
Thomas Hufschmid (Projektleiter Auswertung römisches Theater von Augusta Raurica)
[email protected]
Seit den Bauuntersuchungen von Heinz-Jürgen Beste (DAI Rom) im Untergeschoss des Kolosseums in den späten 1990er
Jahren hat sich die Diskussion um den technischen Aufbau und die Funktionsweise der Liftsysteme in den Amphitheatern
intensiviert. Nur wenige Amphitheater besassen vollständig unterkellerte Arenen mit unterirdischen Gangsystemen von denen
aus Tiere und Bühnendekor über Lifte (pegmata) zum Kampfplatz gehoben wurden. In den grossen, bis jetzt erst schlecht
untersuchten Bauten von Capua und Pozzuoli in der Gegend von Kampanien/I haben sich im Untergrund diverse bauli81
che Spuren erhalten, die Hinweise zur Rekonstruktion der Aufzugsysteme liefern. Verschiedene Textquellen berichten, dass
Bühnendekor von Gräben im Zentrum des Amphitheaters aus in die Arena transportiert werden konnte und dass gewisse
Amphitheater mit raffinierten technischen Einrichtungen bestückt waren.
Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit verschiedenen Liftsystemen in römischen Amphitheatern, stellt einen neuen Rekonstruktionsvorschlag für einen Tierlift im Amphitheater von Pozzuoli vor und zeigt auf, wo noch Forschungsbedarf in dieser spannenden technischen Frage besteht. Anhand der chronologischen Einordnung gewisser Amphitheater wird zudem versucht,
eine Entwicklungsgeschichte der Liftsysteme und der Kellergeschosse aufzuzeigen.
Le tracé des amphithéâtres de narbonnaise: du cercle à l’ellipse, documents
préparatoires et implantation des courbes
Myriam Fincker (IRAA, CNRS)
[email protected]
Quand on met en regard les relevés des courbes des amphithéâtres d’Arles et de Nimes avec ceux de théâtres ruraux (Drevant et Sanxay) ou urbain (Orange), il apparaît une analogie proportionnelle entre leurs rayons qui peut nous faire supposer
l’utilisation d’un cahier des charges commun pour la réalisation de leurs projets. C’est le premier thème que j’aborderai.
Le second concerne la question de l’implantation de ces courbes sur des terrains souvent accidentés ou à forte pente, en
mettant en application les techniques et les connaissances géométriques de l’Antiquité.
The Viminacium amphitheatre: A contribution to the study of Roman amphitheatres on
the Danube limes
Ivan Bogdanović (Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade)
[email protected]
This paper deals with the Viminacium amphitheatre and its construction. Viminacium is located in Serbia, close to the
confluence of the rivers Mlava and Danube. Initially it was a legionary fortress. Next to the fortress a settlement has grown and
become the capital of the province of Moesia Superior, and later of Moesia Prima.
The amphitheatre is located in the north-eastern corner of the city, approximately 50 m away from the legionary fortress.
It was possible to distinguish the primary wooden structure that was built next to the fortress in the first quarter of the 2nd
century. During the 2nd century it was replaced by a stone-wooden amphitheatre. The construction of city ramparts in the
late 2nd century led to the integration of the amphitheatre into the area defended by the walls. The building was probably used
until the early 4th century.
The Viminacium amphitheatre points out to army construction activities, as well as its military use. Its discovery enhances
our knowledge about amphitheatres in the frontier provinces. Considering that, to our knowledge, along the Danube there
are few amphitheatres, the example from Viminacium is an important contribution to the study of Roman entertainment
buildings and gladiatorial games on the Danube Limes.
The Amphitheatre of Chester (Deva), Britain: The final analysis
Tony Wilmott (Historic England)
[email protected]
The amphitheatre at Chester was discovered in 1929, and excavations took place in the 1930s under the treat of a destructive road scheme. The building was saved, and the northern half was excavated by F H Thompson between 1959 and 1970
resulting in the publication of an influential report. Thompson’s conclusions were challenged and put to question by Keith
Matthews in exploratory excavations in 2000-2003, and a major research excavation took place from 2004-6 undertaken by
Chester City Council and English Heritage. The recent work has completely overturned the earlier ideas on the phasing, sequence and reconstruction of the two successive amphitheatres, and the final stages of the academic publication of the work
are now underway.
This paper will report on the final conclusions from this work, showing details of the construction in timber and stone of
the two amphitheatres and evidence for the activities that took place outside the buildings when they were in use. Finally it
will present a new and dramatic reconstruction of the second amphitheatre, demonstrating how much can be gleaned from a
scientific approach to a shattered and robbed monument.
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21. RECENT WORK ON ROMAN BRITAIN
Organised by: Pete Wilson (Historic England)
Britain is one of the most intensively studied provinces of the Roman Empire. In common with the rest of British archaeology many recent discoveries of new sites and advances in understanding derive from developer-funded archaeology, although
the university and voluntary sectors continue to make significant contributions. This session will seek, through three synthetic
papers, to set out recent advances in our subject, with a further three papers providing a sample of the range of work being
undertaken and presenting the results of that work.
[email protected]
Friday 18 March, Auletta “Archeologia” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
14.00 – The Roman Army in Britain: a Review of Recent Research, Ian Haynes
14.30 – The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain, Alex Smith
15.00 – The Towns of Roman Britain in an ImperialContext, Martin Millett
15.30 – From rags to ritual: Two key phases of activity in Londinium, as revealed by excavations at Bloomberg London, Sadie Watson and Jessica Bryan
16.30 – Inscribed altars from Roman Britain, Tony King
17.00 – A restoration of the Ptolemaic map of the British Isles, Philip Crummy
The Roman Army in Britain: a Review of Recent Research
Ian Haynes (Newcastle University)
[email protected]
Unsurprisingly given the scale of Roman military activity in Britain, archaeological research in England, Scotland and
Wales has played an important role in illuminating the role and character of the Rome’s armies under the Empire. This paper
seeks to introduce a broader specialist audience to some of the most important recent evidence to have emerged. It takes as its
starting point key research agenda published in the last two decades, including most notably James and Millett’s important
edited volume Britons and Romans: Advancing an Archaeologcial Agenda (2001) and asks to what extent the hopes and aspirations of contributors to those agenda have since been addressed. It will then offer a series of case studies based on recent
and ongoing research across Britain, ranging from the important new artefact studies made possible as a result of the Portable
Antiquities Scheme in England and Wales, through to major field survey and excavation projects.
In reviewing recent research, the opportunity will be taken to assess the overall contribution of new work to such themes as
soldier/civilian interaction, supply and logistics, cult practice in the army, forts and urbanism and impact of the ending of Roman Britain on military communities. At the same time it will seek to ask probing questions of the role played by the theoretical
perspectives promoted in recent years. Given the richness of the material available, it is important to ask to what extent the work
that has been undertaken has advanced archaeologies of identity, gender and ethnicity. It will be suggested that one of its most
important contributions to archaeology in general has been to expose many of the problems inherent in applying such approaches.
The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain
Alex Smith (University of Reading)
[email protected]
Since the introduction of Planning Policy Guidance 16 (PPG 16) in England and, subsequently, of similar policies in
Wales and Scotland, there has been a very substantial increase in the incidence of archaeological interventions funded by developers such that it dwarfs the number and scale of all previous archaeological excavations and the collective quality of their
publication. This increase in activity has coincided with profound developments in the research on, and recording of, both
material and environmental data such that it is possible to complement the study of the settlements themselves with quantitatively-informed research on the economy, the people, their ritual and religious behaviour of Roman Britain. Altogether this
has had a profound impact on the study of the province and, in particular, of our knowledge and understanding of its rural
settlement. Research by the University of Reading, Cotswold Archaeology and the Archaeology Data Service (University of
York), funded principally by the Leverhulme Trust and Historic England, to synthesise the results of work carried out on
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Roman rural settlement both before and after 1990 is now in its fourth year. The online resource, The Rural Settlement of
Roman Britain: an online resource was published in April 2015: www.archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/romangl
The first research monograph, The Rural Settlements of Roman Britain, is in press.
RAC 2016 presents an opportunity to report on completed research to characterise the regional diversity of rural settlement in Roman Britain and its development over time as well as on ongoing research on the rural economy, particularly the
agricultural economy.
The Towns of Roman Britain in an Imperial Context
Martin Millett (University of Cambridge)
[email protected]
The urban centres of Roman Britain have been studied for more than 100 years and explored in some major excavations
and surveys. However, all too often they have been fitted in to a narrative framework which is rather insular in its outlook.
This paper will seek to place them in the broader context of the western Roman Empire, drawing out new themes for our
understanding of the Empire as a whole.
From rags to ritual: Two key phases of activity in Londinium, as revealed by excavations
at Bloomberg London
Sadie Watson and Jessica Bryan (Museum of London Archaeology)
Excavations at Bloomberg London resulted in the largest assemblage of Roman material culture ever found within the
historic City. Waterlogged sediments within the Walbrook valley had preserved timber buildings, metalwork artefacts and an
internationally significant assemblage of organic materials, including writing tablets and textiles. This paper will focus on two
key phases of activity as revealed during the excavations. The earliest of these is a series of structural remains precisely dated to
the period AD 57-62, associated with the early development of London and the rebuilding of the town after the widespread
destruction wrought by the Boudican fire of AD 60/1. The second phase discussed within the paper will be that relating to the
construction of the Temple of Mithras on the site, between AD 240-250. Further observations during the recent fieldwork
have elucidated details of features associated with the Temple and in particular the narthex, an ancillary building to the east.
Inscribed altars from Roman Britain
Tony King (University of Winchester)
[email protected]
This paper is a study of complete inscribed altars from Roman Britain, which shows that just 18% come from good
provenances, and only 5% from temple sites, mainly military shrines in the vici of northern Britain. The presence of altars in
Romano-Celtic temples in Britain is very limited indeed. Another 5% come from wells or pits, including Coventina’s Well,
Carrawburgh, and represent the structured deposition of altars in carefully selected ritual locations.
A small number are found in situ in what are usually regarded as secondary positions, such as barrack rooms or houses.
Some of these are small, 40 cm or less in height, and may have been transported to these locations quite easily. When this
group is analysed further, certain deities such as Belatucadrus or the Veteres are strongly represented, and it leads to the inference that the so-called secondary positions may in fact have been primary locations for veneration of these deities, and that
portable altars were the norm.
A restoration of the Ptolemaic map of the British Isles
Philip Crummy (Colchester Archaeological Trust)
[email protected]
This paper is about an attempt to create a map of the British Isles from the coordinates in Ptolemy’s Geography. The
result is a representation of the British Isles which is more familiar than that provided by the gazetteer. The study starts with
the tricky task of ‘unrotating’ the northern part of Great Britain. The methodology and results are described and apparent
collateral damage caused by the original rotation is identified and rectified with varying degrees of confidence.
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The restoration of the map involves going back to basics. A spreadsheet is manipulated in a familiar way rather than using
sophisticated digital analytical techniques such as have been applied to the Geography in recent years. A clear focus on the nature and limits of the quality of the data in it plays an important role in the restoration process. The identification of the places
listed in the gazetteer is of course central to the restoration of the map so this forms a major part of the study. A conventional,
but somewhat more extreme, approach to this task is favoured which, as will be explained, provides identifications for some
of the more obscure places in the geography and alternative identifications for others which are either already widely accepted
or are in dispute. (By this means, a surprising solution to the much-debated Pinnata Castra problem emerges which hopefully
the audience will find interesting if not convincing.)
Other topics explored will include the purpose of the gazetteer/map, the nature of its content, the reliability of the places
and territories ascribed to the tribes listed in the Geography, and the genesis of the map including unexpected evidence for a
terminal date in the AD 130s for its final form.
22. ROMA: I PALAZZI DEL POTERE TRA LA METÀ DEL I E LA METÀ DEL II SECOLO D.C.
NUOVE RICERCHE
Organised by: Mirella Serlorenzi and Fulvio Coletti (Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma)
Sebbene l’area centrale di Roma sia uno tra i luoghi maggiormente indagati e studiati della città antica, dall’età monarchica
dimora elettiva dell’aristocrazia romana, ambito deputato al culto delle divinità primordiali, sorta di museo delle origini del
popolo romano contenente i luoghi mitici che ne hanno scandito il sorgere e dall’inizio del Principato residenza dei Cesari
Augusti, resta ancora in gran parte sconosciuta e a tutt’oggi resta ancora da definire puntualmente lo sviluppo di un eventuale
schema palaziale legato all’architettura del potere rappresentato dalle imponenti dimore imperiali che ne hanno occupato in
progresso di tempo quasi l’intera superficie.
Privilegiando i nuovi studi o le recenti indagini stratigrafiche ancora inedite, la sessione del convegno intende focalizzare i
dati inerenti l’organizzazione planimetrica e spaziale di tali grandiosi edifici, fin dalla fase della loro progettazione alle successive
ristrutturazioni; le soluzioni tecniche messe in campo dal punto di vista della pianificazione urbanistica che caratterizzarono
il centro di Roma, mettendo l’accento su un periodo specifico compreso tra la metà del I e la metà del II secolo d.C. epoca di
importante incremento edilizio per l’Urbe, quella tra i Flavi e Adriano, recepita ora attraverso le nuove ricerche che ne hanno
fissato il portato storico architettonico e ideologico.
Il convegno intende avviare un dibattito costruttivo e un confronto tra le varie equipe di studio al momento coinvolte su
quest’area, in modo da mettere a confronto i risultati reciproci e offrendo a questo scopo la possibilità di inserire i dati topografici all’interno della piattaforma webgis SITAR, della Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e
l’area Archeologica di Roma, anche prima dell’incontro, con il fine ultimo di meglio comprendere le linee di sviluppo ecrescita
dell’area centrale all’interno dell’arco cronologico determinato.
Wednesday 16 March, Aula I (FF)
14.00 – Palatino. Indagini archeologiche negli ambienti a sud-est del Triclinio Imperiale della Domus Flavia, Valentina Santoro
14.30 – Il Progetto Domus Tiberiana (Roma). Cantieri edili fra l’età neroniana e l’età adrianea lungo la Nova Via:
primi risultati, Mirella Serlorenzi, Fulvio Coletti, Lino Traini, Giulia Sterpa e Stefano Camporeale
15.00 – Il settore settentrionale del palazzo flavio: costruzione e prime trasformazioni, Françoise Villedieu
15.30 – Il cuore del Palazzo Flavio - Le diverse funzioni della domus Augustana, Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt
16.30 – C.D. Domus severiana sul Palatino: fasi architettoniche e organizzazione dei cantieri tra l’età di Domiziano e
Adriano, Fulvio Coletti, Anna Buccellato e Giulia Sterpa
Palatino. Indagini archeologiche negli ambienti a sud-est del Triclinio Imperiale della
Domus Flavia
Valentina Santoro (Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma)
[email protected]
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Fra il 2012 e il 2013 sono state effettuate due campagne di scavo dalla Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di
Roma per la messa in sicurezza della terrazza dietro al Museo Palatino verso il Circo Massimo, nell’area posta tra la scala che
scende alla Domus Augustana Inferiore, il Triclinio della Domus Flavia e le Biblioteche domizianee.
Le indagini, condotte in estensione su un totale di cinque ambienti, forniscono un contributo fondamentale allo studio e
alla comprensione delle fasi di vita antiche di questo settore del Palatino, portando alla luce:
- splendidi pavimenti in opus sectile del palazzo flavio, inediti;
- imponenti strutture relative alla Domus Transitoria e alla Domus Aurea, tra cui la monumentale vasca marmorea di 40
m di lato proposta da Alessandro Cassatella negli anni Novanta e ambienti a pianta anulare con sistema di riscaldamento
relativi a un progetto finora ignoto molto articolato ed esteso;
- strutture tardo repubblicane-augustee costituite da muri in opera quadrata che profilano ambienti con pavimenti in opus
sectile e mosaico ancora in situ.
Il Progetto Domus Tiberiana (Roma). Cantieri edili fra l’età neroniana e l’età adrianea
lungo la Nova Via: primi risultati
Mirella Serlorenzi, Fulvio Coletti, Lino Traini, Giulia Sterpa (Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo
Nazionale Romano e l’Archeologia di Roma) and Stefano Camporeale (Università di Trento)
The Domus Tiberiana was the first imperial palace to be built on the Palatine, occupying the western portion of the hill.
It was built by Claudius or Nero and it extended over a rectangular area of 132 x 147 metres with a basement reaching a preserved height of 5.50 metres to the south and 17 metres to the north-west. Subsequently the original building was transformed
and the northern façade was moved towards the north in different phases and periods.
A new study of the whole Domus Tiberiana was recently promoted by the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma, and a detailed analysis of the stratigraphy of walls, building techniques
and construction materials has being carried out since 2013.
The project has considered the buildings along the Nova Via, whose chronology has been reassessed as well as the arrangement of the street layout and of the different urban blocks. In this paper new hypotheses will be presented concerning the
reconstruction of the Neronian street façades and the organization of the blocks along the Nova Via, the development of the
buildings during the Flavian age and the last expansion of the Domus by Hadrian.
Il settore settentrionale del palazzo flavio: costruzione e prime trasformazioni
Françoise Villedieu (Centre Camille Jullian)
[email protected]
Le ricerche iniziate nel 1985 dalla Soprintendenza archeologica di Roma in collaborazione con l’Ecole française, hanno
dimostrato che la grande terrazza che forma l’angolo nord orientale del Palatino (la Vigna Barberini) è stata interamente occupata da una costruzione appartenente al palazzo dei Flavi. La realizzazione dei muri di sostegno di questa potente piattaforma
artificiale (160 x 140 m) inizia sotto regno di Vespasiano, mentre le costruzioni sovrastanti sono databili a quello di Domiziano. L’esatta natura dei vari apprestamenti è ancora poco chiara, in quanto si è potuto finora esplorare solo una parte del sito.
Al centro del complesso si apre un ampio giardino, delimitato da un portico. A nord è un’ampia sala e altre sono state viste
o intraviste a sud. Poco dopo la costruzione, il complesso è oggetto di varie trasformazioni, dettate in parte da un semplice
desiderio di cambiamento, ma spesso rese necessarie dai danni provocati alle costruzioni dai movimenti verificatesi all’interno
dei riempimenti. Particolarmente importanti sono gli interventi realizzati sotto il regno di Adriano.
Il cuore del Palazzo Flavio - Le diverse funzioni della domus Augustana
Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Berlin)
[email protected]
Dal 1998 ha avuto inizio una nuova serie di studi sistematici riguardanti la costruzione delle residenze imperiali nell’angolo sud-est del Palatino insieme al riesame dei rinvenimenti e delle tracce archeologiche presenti nella stessa zona. La ripresa
dello studio architettonico con l’analisi dei 460 bolli laterizi rinvenuti in situ e dei quasi 500 bolli laterizi menzionati nella
bibliografia hanno portato ad una notevole comprensione della storia dello sviluppo architettonico delle residenze imperiali. In
quest’area del Palatino che comprende la domus Flavia, la domus Augustana, lo Stadio e la domus Severiana, è possibile distinguere molto chiaramente la fase edilizia domizianea e i cambiamenti e trasformazione successivi dell’epoca traianea e adrianea.
Tali studi dimostrano in particolare che la domus Augustana non fu edificata di maniera del tutto unitaria sotto Domiziano
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e cercano di evidenziare il lungo processo di trasformazione che ha riguardato la zona. Con la ricostruzione dell’architettura
flavia e le sue trasformazioni posteriori è inoltre possibile definire le diverse funzioni della domus Augustana tra la metà del I
e la metà del II secolo d.C.
C.D. Domus severiana sul Palatino: fasi architettoniche e organizzazione dei cantieri tra
l’età di Domiziano e Adriano
Fulvio Coletti, Anna Buccellato e Giulia Sterpa (Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale
Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma)
Correlati all’importante restauro presso la c.d. Domus Severiana sul Palatino effettuato dalla Soprintendenza Speciale per
il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma, le indagini e i nuovi studi sulle strutture del quinto
livello dell’edificio hanno permesso di individuare una serie di importanti fasi architettoniche, risalenti al periodo che va dal
principato di Nerone al tardo Medioevo. Il complesso architettonico, comprendente il comparto monumentale tra le poderose
arcate che prospettano le pendici sud-est (Arcate Severiane) e il lato meridionale dell’esedra dello stadio di Domiziano, com’è
noto si articola su sei livelli di terrazze sostruttive, che monumentalizzavano le scoscese pendici orientali del colle prolungandone gli spazi fruibili; nell’ambito di queste poderose strutture trovano luogo un balneum con gli ambienti di servizio, le latrine
e tutte le infrastrutture idrico-sanitarie che permettevano il perfetto funzionamento di un articolato impianto palaziale alle
dipendenze della residenza privata del principe. Riguardo ai livelli quinto e sesto, quelli dove presumibilmente alloggiavano i
sontuosi vani di rappresentanza, le osservazioni effettuate sulle pareti in laterizio sulle loro apparecchiature e sull’utilizzo delle
variegate tipologie di materiali, metodologicamente condotte nei termini dell’archeologia dell’architettura, hanno permesso
di individuare una serie di importanti questioni correlate alla fase di pianificazione progettuale del periodo Domizianeo e alle
profonde ristrutturazioni avvenute nei periodi adrianeo e severiano.
23. FONTI E METODI PER LA RICOSTRUZIONE DELLA STORIA URBANA DI ROMA ANTICA
Organised by: Alessandra Ten e Domenico Palombi (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Il tradizionale approccio alla ricostruzione della topografia di Roma antica è venuto evolvendosi, negli anni recenti, nell’ottica di una più globale storia urbana, attenta ai contenuti di storia sociale ed economica di cui lo spazio urbano è espressione
e funzione.
In questa prospettiva, il contesto topografico antico di Roma è in continuo aggiornamento grazie ai risultati delle indagini
storiche ed archeologiche che vanno progressivamente implementando il quadro conoscitivo generale.
Il tema che intendiamo proporre affronta il delicato problema delle fonti e del loro utilizzo per la ricostruzione della storia
urbana di Roma antica: fonti letterarie, epigrafiche, archivistiche, archeologiche e iconografiche attraverso le quali la ricerca
può cercare di definire i contesti topografici e le evoluzioni impresse dalle modifiche socio economiche della città.
I singoli interventi proporranno una serie di casi particolarmente esemplificativi del complesso rapporto tra la fonte e la
realtà storico-archeologica, illustrando le difficoltà e le pluralità di approccio possibili per la ricerca nella complessa trama delle
componenti materiali ed immateriali della città e mostrando i risultati cui può pervenire un uso integrato e critico dei diversi
tipi di fonti.
Wednesday 16 March, Aula I (FF)
9.00 – Le fonti hanno sempre ragione? Agrippa, il Campo Marzio e la riorganizzazione delle factiones circenses,
Maria Letizia Caldelli
9.30 – L’Aventino: “the most aristocratic quarter of the city”, Alessandra Capodiferro and Paola Quaranta
10.00 – Percorso tra i documenti di archivio per la ricostruzione della storia urbana, Luigia Attilia and Paola Chini
11.00 – Il Tevere, i ponti e l’Annona, Paolo Liverani
11.30 - Fonti letterarie e storia urbana di Roma antica: i limiti dell’interpretazione, Domenico Palombi
12.00 – La pianta marmorea severiana e i dati archeologici: una messa a punto, Francesca de Caprariis and Alessandra Ten
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Le fonti hanno sempre ragione? Agrippa, il Campo Marzio e la riorganizzazione delle
factiones circenses
Maria Letizia Caldelli (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
Fino a scavi recenti nell’area tra via Giulia ed il palazzo della Cancelleria, la riorganizzazione delle factiones circensi e degli
stabula factionum nel Campo Marzio occidentale si è fondata sull’interpretazione di alcune iscrizioni latine urbane e di un
passo di Cassio Dione, che concordemente riconducono l’operazione ad Agrippa. Tuttavia, un attento esame di alcuni dei
documenti epigrafici e lo studio filologico della tradizione dei testi, nonché l’analisi incrociata degli usi linguistici del latino
delle iscrizioni di supposta epoca romana e dell’italiano del ’500, arriva a dimostrare come la notizia letteraria sia in realtà alla
base di una raffinata invenzione epigrafica che vede protagonista Pirro Ligorio.
Destituite le iscrizioni del loro valore di “fonti”, per avere un’idea dell’apporto di Agrippa si dovrà riconsiderare Cassio
Dione, si dovrà ripensare all’estensione delle proprietà del genero di Augusto nel Campo Marzio, si dovrà tenere conto dei
risultati dei nuovi scavi archeologici nell’area degli stabula factionum.
L’Aventino: “the most aristocratic quarter of the city”
Alessandra Capodiferro (MiBACT - SSCol) and Paola Quaranta (MiBACT - SarLaz)
Nel titolo del presente contributo è racchiusa, attraverso una definizione di Rodolfo Lanciani, la vocazione sociale genericamente
riconosciuta per l’età tardoantica al colle Aventino diversamente da quanto rappresentato dalle fonti letterarie per i periodi precedenti.
Le numerose scoperte archeologiche degli ultimi decenni, realizzate perlopiù nell’ambito dell’archeologia preventiva, contribuiscono a ridisegnare un inedito quadro dell’evoluzione urbanistica e sociale dell’Aventino.
Si presentano in questa sede i più recenti, inediti e maggiormente esplicativi esempi di origine, sviluppo e utilizzo di ampi
settori del quartiere, attraverso le trasformazioni edilizie e funzionali di complessi abitativi unifamiliari.
Le ricerche, condotte da un gruppo di lavoro formatosi negli anni, sono incentrate sullo studio dei differenti dati materiali
che attraverso una lettura specialistica e di settore contribuiscono ad ampliare il dato conoscitivo.
Percorso tra i documenti di archivio per la ricostruzione della storia urbana
Luigia Attilia (Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma) and Paola Chini (Sovrintendenza di
Roma Capitale)
L’esame dei documenti spesso inediti conservati negli Archivi degli Istituti deputati alla tutela delle Antichità della città di
Roma, costituisce, in alcuni casi, l’occasione per ricostruire la storia dei lavori di scavo e degli interventi edilizi che hanno avuto
luogo sul suolo della capitale. Attraverso la rilettura dei carteggi intercorsi tra le varie Istituzioni (Soprintendenze Statali e Comunali, Commissione Archeologica Comunale, Ispettorati Edilizi, Direzioni Generali dei Ministeri competenti), viene condotto un
percorso storico istituzionale che porta inevitabilmente alla riconsiderazione di alcuni aspetti della topografia antica della città. Si
propone in questa sede un approccio di tipo stratigrafico della documentazione, che viene “sfogliata” nelle sue parti, nel rispetto
dei livelli di deposizione delle carte stesse in seno agli Enti che le hanno prodotte. Tra le carte prodotte dai due principali attori
della storia dei lavori di scavo nella capitale, la Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’area
archeologica di Roma (già Soprintendenza alle Antichità di Roma) e l’odierna Sovrintendenza Capitolina (già X Ripartizione
Antichità e Belle Arti), possono emergere infatti nuovi dati che apportano ulteriore conoscenza delle aree indagate, o ampliano
ovvero ancora in alcuni casi vengono a modificare l’assetto dei monumenti antichi. Questo costituisce spesso il nodo centrale
attorno al quale si sviluppa la trama della ricerca archivistica. In questa sede, attraverso una ricerca condotta tra i principali fondi
dei due Archivi Storici (“Giornali degli scavi”, “Registri dei Trovamenti”, pratiche di tutela, collezioni dei disegni, Archivio Gatti,
Archivio Colini) verrà focalizzata l’attenzione su alcuni documenti relativi a zone specifiche della città, dove l’Amministrazione
statale e l’Amministrazione capitolina sono state impegnate in lavori di scavo e di sistemazione del territorio cittadino.
Il Tevere, i ponti e l’Annona
Paolo Liverani (università degli Studi di Firenze)
[email protected]
Lo studio del Tevere è uno dei luoghi classici della topografia romana, eppure la discussione sui singoli ponti non sempre
sfocia in una sintesi che integri l’evidenza particolare in un disegno più ampio della gestione amministrativa e logistica della
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città. Accanto alle fonti letterarie, epigrafiche e archeologiche, bisogna valorizzare maggiormente la fonte più caratteristica
della topografia: la forma della città e la sua geomorfologia che – attraverso l’esame dei vincoli peculiari – permette importanti
deduzioni sulla logica urbana complessiva. Partendo dalla nota iscrizione CIL VI 40793 sui tredici ponti del Tevere all’epoca di
Valentiniano e Valente, il contributo fa brevemente il punto sull’identificazione dei ponti romani fino a Teodosio e sulla loro
disposizione – con un paio di nuove proposte – collegandoli al vincolo delle Mura Aureliane, alle esigenze delle aree portuali
e del sistema logistico dell’Annona.
Fonti letterarie e storia urbana di Roma antica: i limiti dell’interpretazione
Domenico Palombi (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
Nella gerarchia delle fonti antiche che concorrono alla ricostruzione della storia urbana di Roma antica, le fonti letterarie
occupano, indubbiamente, una posizione del tutto privilegiata.
La quantità, la varietà tematica e l’estensione cronologica della documentazione letteraria relativa alle diverse componenti,
materiali e immateriali, della città antica (toponimia, topografia, urbanistica e architettura, storia economico-sociale e politico-amministrativa, religione, ideologia) consentono, in molti casi, la costruzione di sistemi interpretativi complessi alla luce dei
quali orientare la lettura e l’interpretazione delle altre fonti disponibili (epigrafiche, iconografiche, archeologiche).
Tuttavia, la considerazione delle fonti letterarie antiche come sistema chiuso ed autoreferenziato nasconde insidie particolarmente gravi. In tempi recentissimi, casi eccellenti di complessa ricostruzione storico-topografica di settori centrali di Roma
antica – pure esemplari per qualità di metodo e raffinatezza della interpretazione – si sono rivelati fallaci alla luce della scoperta
di nuove fonti scritte, imponendo una radicale revisione critica di soluzioni che si proponevano come definitive.
Tale condizione, che deve considerarsi strutturale nell’approccio alla fonte scritta, induce ad una riflessione sui “limiti della
interpretazione” anche di questa categoria privilegiata di documenti.
La pianta marmorea severiana e i dati archeologici: una messa a punto
Francesca de Caprariis and Alessandra Ten (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
A più di un decennio dalla conclusione del progetto in collaborazione tra la Stanford University e la Sovrintendenza Comunale di Roma, l’accessibilità virtuale dei frammenti della Forma Urbis severiana ha ampliato le prospettive di studio non
solo nel tradizionale approccio di ricostruzione e ricomposizione dei frammenti, ma anche nelle potenzialità di studio complessivo del documento. Diversi filoni di ricerca si sono affiancati agli studi più segnatamente topografici ed hanno conosciuto
un particolare sviluppo: una sorta di tassonomia dell’architettura rappresentata, attraverso gli studi tipologici (balnea, insulae);
ancora e soprattutto la pianta severiana come rappresentazione, dalle convenzioni grafiche alle implicazioni ideologiche e soprattutto l’analisi dell’organizzazione dello spazio e del paesaggio urbano, per la quale anche i frammenti con topografia non
identificata sono oggetto di interesse primario. Attraverso l’esposizione dei filoni di ricerca più recenti si presenterà una messa
a punto delle principali questioni: a partire dalla stessa definizione dell’oggetto (fonte iconografica o fonte cartografica), sulla
quale una certa divisione degli studi rende necessaria una riflessione. Con alcuni casi specifici si farà una messa a punto su
funzione, finalità e prospettive di studio del monumento.
La ricostruzione del contesto topografico antico in Campo Marzio è considerata, per molti dei cospicui e storicamente
significativi organismi segnalati dalle fonti, un fatto risolto, suscettibile al più di piccoli aggiustamenti o rettifiche puntuali
che le scoperte più recenti hanno consentito. In ogni caso lo schema topografico generale, concepito e ricostruito sulle fonti
letterarie ed epigrafiche, iconografiche e archeologiche, archivistiche e bibliografiche, è dato per scontato. Buona parte dei dati
archeologici che hanno concorso e concorrono a sostanziare le ricostruzioni tradizionalmente accettate è nota solo attraverso
la letteratura, quindi sotto forma di dato già vagliato e interpretato nel quadro di riferimento concepito all’epoca del rinvenimento. Variato questo, le emergenze incompatibili o semplicemente incidentali rispetto al nuovo quadro ricostruttivo hanno
perso significato e interesse per gli studi topografici e, pur continuando a esistere sotto forma di testimonianza tangibile o nota
attraverso le cronache del rinvenimento, sono di fatto scomparse dal panorama delle evidenze disponibili. Attraverso una serie
di casi puntuali, l’intervento intraprende un percorso che mira al recupero di questi dati per un tentativo di contestualizzazione
storica nel tessuto topografico antico.
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24. OGGETTI, AVVENIMENTI E STORIA
Organised by: Paolo Carafa (Sapienza Università di Roma)
The relation between archaeological features and literary tradition as well as the “correct use“ of both kind of evidence are key
issues of wide archaeological and historical significance. Most debated item, in particular, is how to compare artifacts and texts
avoiding the risk of over-interpreting or under-estimating literary tradition. In such a discussion, attention has been recently paid
to the methodology applied by scholars and/or research teams. There is in fact a tight relation between method and archeological-historical reconstruction. In many cases, it seems possible to stress that different and incompatible hypothesis are due to different approaches and research procedures rather than to possible alternative opinions. So, evidence and arguments but also method.
The scientific debate about these subjects extends beyond Greek and Roman Archaeology, involving problems connected
to integration and interpretation of archaeological data aiming at the reconstructions of sequences of facts or at a historical reconstruction tout-court. Not to mention correct procedures for the analyses and interpretation of different kind of documents/
evidence: artifacts, stratigraphy, texts, epigraphs, oral traditions, religious and ritual contexts and so forth.
Papers included in the proposed session will be devoted to case studies and general items aiming at a “global” consideration of artifacts, facts and History.
*
La relazione tra dati archeologici e tradizione letteraria e del “buon uso” di entrambi è un tema scottante. In particolare
per quanto riguarda i modi di comparazione corretta tra le due serie documentarie e il sempre possibile rischio di semplificare la complessità del corpus dei testi. In questo quadro, ha avuto di recente grande rilievo anche la valutazione del metodo
utilizzato dai diversi ricercatori. Esiste in effetti una relazione profonda tra metodo e alcune ricerche storico-archeologiche.
Spesso ricerche diverse producono ipotesi diverse e inconciliabili e, in alcuni casi, è dimostrabile che la diversità delle ipotesi
sia causata non da intuizioni personali alternative ma dall’applicazione di procedure diverse. Testimonianze e argomentazioni,
dunque, ma anche metodo.
Il dibattito scientifico sviluppato intorno a questi temi nell’ambito dell’Archeologia Classica, può indirizzarci verso questioni rilevanti anche al di fuori dell’Archeologia Greca e Romana. Questioni relative a problemi di integrazione e interpretazione dei dati archeologici per una ricostruzione di “storie limitate” o per una ricostruzione storica tout-court. Oppure alle
corrette filologie necessarie a leggere i diversi tipi di documenti: oggetti, stratigrafie, testi letterari, epigrafi, tradizioni orali,
contesti storico-religiosi, altro.
Nella sessione proposta si intende presentare e discutere specifici case studies e riflessioni di ordine più generale tesi a
considerare globalmente l’universo degli oggetti, azioni piccole e grandi e narrazioni storiche.
[email protected]
Thursday 17 March, Aula I (FF)
Chair: Christopher Smith (The British School at Rome)
9.00 – Saxa loquuntur: integrare e narrare monumenti e paesaggi antichi, Paolo Carafa
9.30 – Le Termopili da Leonida a Giustiniano: problemi storici, archeologici e topografici, Francesco Guizzi, Pietro
Vannicelli e Alessandro Iaia
10.00 – VRBS : de la linguistique à l’archéologie, Alexandre Grandazzi
11.00 – The social role of “things” in archaic Rome. Archaeology, history, and economic anthropology, Cristiano
Viglietti
11.30 – Riduzione dei corredi funerari a Veio; le XII Tavole a Roma. Evidenza archeologica e tradizione letteraria a
confronto, Marco Arizza
Saxa loquuntur: integrare e narrare monumenti e paesaggi antichi
Paolo Carafa (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
Edifici e paesaggi antichi sono stati destrutturati, dimenticati, in larghissima parte sepolti, spesso distrutto. Ma la percezione
di ampie parti degradate e mancanti non implica la fine della nostra ricerca. Ciò che è perduto non è sempre del tutto ignoto.
Informazioni su funzione, localizzazione, aspetto e arredo dei monumenti sono conservate in molteplici fonti di informazione,
prima fra tutte la tradizione letteraria. Si pone dunque l’esigenza di integrare gli elementi mancanti per ricostruire un’immagine
della totalità oggi solo parzialmente conservata. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, è opportuno analizzare contesti di dati (o classi
di documenti) diversi separatamente, per creare “testi” diversi e indipendenti uno dall’altro. Con un procedimento che definirei di
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tipo filologico, è possibile delineare il quadro che emerge dai dati mettendo in risalto lacune della documentazione e problemi che
ne possono derivare per la sua interpretazione. Successivamente si può procedere all’integrazione e alla definizione dei problemi/
domande che i dati stessi pongono, all’interpretazione dei singoli “testi” e infine alla comparazione tra i “testi” diversi per elaborare
un’ipotesi che tenga conto di tutta la documentazione. Ipotesi che non possono essere giudicate vere o false/giuste o sbagliate ma
che possono raggiungere gradi sempre maggiori di verosimiglianza attraverso tentativi successivi.
Le Termopili da Leonida a Giustiniano: problemi storici, archeologici e topografici
Francesco Guizzi, Pietro Vannicelli and Alessandro Iaia (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Thermopylae are, in many senses, a crucial place in the history of Greece from the archaic period down to the late
antiquity. This relevance is reflected also in the ancient historiographical tradition, from Herodotus to Procopius. The paper
aims at highlighting some of the main archaeological and topographical problems in history of this pass, paying special
attention to the development of its fortifications over a long span of time, as well as considering the difficulties posed by the
delicate interplay of literary sources and archaeological remains.
VRBS : de la linguistique à l’archéologie
Alexandre Grandazzi (Université Paris-Sorbonne)
[email protected]
Longtemps considéré comme d’origine étrusque, le mot « urbs » est désormais analysé, par les spécialistes actuels de la linguistique comparée, comme relevant d’une ascendance directement indo-européenne. Proposée pour la première fois en 1988,
cette hypothèse a reçu le soutien, semble-t-il, unanime de la communauté scientifique des linguistes, quelles que soient leurs divergences sur les modalités sémantiques de cette évolution. Il convient donc de tirer les conséquences de cette nouvelle étymologie
du point de vue des primordia Romana. La liaison du mot latin avec les pratiques de l’auspication et du labour rituel, et, pour
tout dire, avec les traditions de la fondation de Rome, en reçoit, en effet, un nouvel éclairage. Cependant, des questions nouvelles
surgissent : comment comprendre l’origine étrusque attribuée par Varron (De lingua Latina, V, 143) au rite du sillon primordial
? Que faire, alors, de l’antériorité que les territoires étrusques semblent avoir, au regard des résultats de l’archéologie, en matière
d’établissements proto-urbains par rapport à ce qui s’observe en Latium ? Et si l’ascendance indo-européenne du mot « urbs » se
confirme, par quels voies ce dernier, avec éventuellement certains rituels, aurait-il pu arriver jusqu’aux rives du Tibre ?
The social role of “things” in archaic Rome. Archaeology, history, and economic
anthropology
Cristiano Viglietti (Università di Siena)
[email protected]
In this paper, it will be argued that the 6th century BC archaeological shifts are in fact the sign of an important economic and cultural revolution in Rome, entailing a dramatic re-orientation in the judgment and perception of things and in
the socially acceptable forms of accumulation, preservation, and desire of material goods. Drawing methodologically on the
“culturalistic” trend in economic anthropology, it will be emphasized that the changes in the economic organization of Rome,
not aimed per se at enhancing trade and the market, do not necessarily imply a negative assessment of the Roman economy in
this phase, but rather should be considered as the locally devised way of solving economic issues by adapting the local cultural
code to current circumstances. The proposed cultural and economic reconstruction will be carried out taking account of the
literary sources, which will be treated neither as truthful per se, nor as blatantly false, but as one possible interpretation of the
evidence, no less valuable than a modern one.
Riduzione dei corredi funerari a Veio; le XII Tavole a Roma. Evidenza archeologica e
tradizione letteraria a confronto
Marco Arizza (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
Allo sfarzo dei corredi funerari di età Orientalizzante fa seguito, in netta opposizione, una sensibile e repentina contrazione
nel lusso e nel numero delle suppellettili tombali laziali e veienti; tranne alcune rare eccezioni, tale contrazione si registra dal
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VI sec. a.C. fino alla tarda età Classica. Il fenomeno trova, per Roma, una evidente spiegazione nell’applicazione dei dispositivi
antisuntuari contenuti nelle leggi delle XII Tavole. Nel caso di Veio di cui, come noto, non si conservano fonti scritte dirette,
si riscontra simultaneamente lo stesso fenomeno. Nella città etrusca, inoltre, la riduzione dei corredi coincide con l’adozione di
una tipologia architettonica funeraria peculiare che, al momento, sembra attribuibile solo a questa fase ed essere propria quasi
esclusivamente del territorio veiente.
Recentemente il record archeologico relativo a questa tipologia di tombe, dette “a tramite” o “a vestibolo”, ha subito un
notevole incremento; è quindi ora possibile, su una base statistica ampia, avanzare alcune ipotesi. Oltre a confermare una
sorta di generale simbiosi, ormai riconosciuta, tra Roma e il confinante centro etrusco, è possibile immaginare un complesso
normativo similare per due città?
25. TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY CENTRAL SPACE
Organised by: Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (University of Cambridge) and Dunia Filippi (Sidney Sussex College,
Cambridge)
The cultural identity of a community is not a static entity, but fluctuating and situational. As such cultural identity can
be studied in an ‘évenemential’ continuum as also in the changing spatial frames within which it is conceived and where it
is manifested, in the central space of the city. Recent studies have brought into play the Roman Forum as a priority area for
the comprehension in historical terms of such a process. This is only the starting point, from which to proceed to analyse the
relationship between public and private in the meeting place of the community, in the ancient world.
The first step of this analysis is to broaden the study to the other central space at the origins of the meeting spaces in the
antiquity, the ‘agora’.
We have two main types of data to study the community in these ancient spaces, archaeological and literary, often used
in “competition”. We would like to put together the different approaches in order to understand if we have different results or
simply different aspects of a unique space.
From these “parents”, ‘agora’ and forum, we have to move to their “offspring”. In this context we want to analyse one of these,
in the Roman world, to understand if and how the space changes in a Roman community, exposed to other cultural influences.
There is a component of the community that is usually neglected, the children. Which is their place in the use of the
community space? Is it possible to investigate it?
Our aim is not to give answers but to set up a new agenda in order to put back to the ancient community central space its
role as a multi-ethnic and not static place, origin and product of different pulses.
Friday 18 March, Odeion (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
Chair: Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (University of Cambridge)
14.00 – Le agorai di Atene. Dinamiche insediative, processi sociali e spazi del potere ad Atene dall’alto arcaismo
all’età classica, Nikolaos Arvanitis
14.30 – Continuita’ e cambiamenti nel Foro Romano, Dunia Filippi
15.00 – The Roman Forum and the topography of autocracy in early imperial Rome, Hannah Price
15.30 – The ‘Populus of the Future’: Children in the Forum?, Ray Laurence
16.30 – Transformations of public space in the cities of Italy under the Principate: the case of the Forum, John Patterson
17.00 – Forum and female presence: The evidence of honorific statuary from Italian and North African Cities, Cristina Murer
Le agorai di Atene. Dinamiche insediative, processi sociali e spazi del potere ad Atene
dall’alto arcaismo all’età classica
Nikolaos Arvanitis (McDonald Institute For Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge)
[email protected]
Molto si è detto e scritto sulla localizzazione delle agorai di Atene (archaia agorà, agorà del Ceramico). In questo contributo si affronta la questione focalizzando sul contesto insediativo della città nella diacronia (da una serie di nuclei abitativi
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intorno all’acropoli alla città entro le mura di Temistocle) e sui soggiacenti processi sociali che lo connotano. In una città
difficile, caratterizzata da momenti di forti tendenze centrifughe ad opera di gruppi gentilizi aristocratici antagonisti, alternati
a periodi di minor grado di conflitto sociale, si possono circoscrivere in una ipotesi economica le modalità, localizzazione e
tempi degli spazi del potere che ne sono risultati. Con un riesame dei dati archeologici e delle fonti letterarie ed epigrafiche, e
sulla scia degli indirizzi interpretativi della storia sociale di Atene operata da Ian Morris trenta anni fa, si argomenterà per un
multidimensionale e polimerico paesaggio urbano che ha voluto conservare al suo interno la vibrante frammentarietà originaria
di questo districato processo di spazi e protagonisti per i poteri. La politica urbanistica di età romana ne ha pienamente colto
questa scansione proponendo monumenti e spazi che riecheggiano, trasformandolo di nuovo, tale paesaggio.
Continuità e cambiamenti nel Foro Romano
Dunia Filippi (Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge)
[email protected]
Sotto il regno di Decio (249-251) il luogo presso i rostra Augusti dove si elevavano le statue delle tre Parche (Tria fata), divenne tristemente famoso per i Cristiani, rappresentando un limite fisico tra la vita e la morte: il sacrificio agli dei era divenuto
una pratica obbligatoria e le Tria Fata connotavano il punto oltre il quale il cristiano o abiurava la propria fede accettando di
sacrificare agli dei, in primo luogo a Giove Ottimo Massimo, salendo al Campidoglio, o rifiutava e veniva condotto al carcere
o al martirio. Le statue delle Parche pero’ facevano parte del Foro Romano almeno da un’epoca anteriore a quella augustea,
quando furono restaurate, e per posizione si trovavano nel fulcro piu’ antico di Roma (tra Foro e Comizio) al quale venivano
legate se Plinio le attribuisce a Tarquinio Prisco. Questa memoria cosi’ illustra magistralmente la dinamicita’ di uno spazio
comunitario di lunga durata come il Foro Romano, dove un monumento percepito come di antica tradizione continua ad
essere vitale ma acquisendo un nuovo significato, almeno per una parte della comunita’ che lo viveva.
The Roman Forum and the topography of autocracy in early imperial Rome
Hannah Price (Newnham College, Cambridge)
[email protected]
The Roman Forum is often considered to have become more-or-less obsolete during the first century AD. Many of its
practical functions were transferred to magnificent new facilities, and the Republican politics that had shaped the space were
now defunct. Its ideological role, as a space which expressed Roman identity, history and power, was taken over by the imperial
fora. It has been argued, therefore, that the Roman Forum’s ancient monuments and legends lost all contemporary relevance
in a Rome dominated by the imperial household on the Palatine.
In this paper I offer a new approach to the Forum in the imperial period. I argue that, far from becoming ‘obsolete’, it
remained crucial to the articulation – and challenging – of political power during the early Principate. Basing my study on a
close reading of Tacitus and Suetonius’ deployment of the Forum’s monuments in their narratives of the lives and downfalls
of the first-century emperors, I describe how the Forum valley and its relationship with the Palatine Hill above was used to
express the instability at the heart of Rome’s new political system: the contradiction between libertas and principatus. This,
of course, is the conflict that Tacitus and his contemporaries praise Nerva and Trajan for reconciling – and, in fact, a greater
understanding of the Roman Forum’s importance in this era allows us to see that most imperial monument, the Forum of
Trajan, in a different light.
The ‘Populus of the Future’: Children in the Forum?
Ray Laurence (University of Kent)
[email protected]
Modern writing on children has most frequently made observations about their commemoration, their representation and
mostly seen them within the frame created by the Rediscovery of the Roman Family or the History of Private Life. Yet, the Roman world was full of images of children in public – often wearing a toga, taking part in a congiarium, or visibly participating
in religious rituals. We can even read of crowds of children attending public events (Plin.Paneg.26). This presents a challenge:
how do we move from images or representations of children in public space to re-populating the Forum, the Saepta and so on
with children as well as real-and-imagined adults guided by writers such as Martial or Juvenal. The paper will set out some case
studies to consider where children might be located within public space at Rome, when wearing their togas and being part of
a community, in which they would become the populus of the future. However, it shifts us back from this imagined future
to the fact that most representations of children come from case, in which they simply did not have an adult future and were
commemorated as deceased children in cemeteries outside of the city.
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Transformations of public space in the cities of Italy under the Principate: the case of the
Forum
John Patterson (Magdalene College, Cambridge)
[email protected]
One consequence of the construction of amphitheatres, market buildings, and public baths on a grand scale in the city of
Rome under the Principate was the widespread building of similar monuments in the cities of Italy, as local communities, and
their benefactors, sought to emulate the imperial capital; and, as P. Zanker showed in an important article some 20 years ago,
there was in turn a significant shift in the nature, and location, of sociability in those cities. This paper focuses on the changing
role of the Forum in the cities of Italy under the Principate, and explores how far the transformation of the Forum Romanum
as Republic gave way to Empire, and the construction of new Fora at Rome by Julius Caesar, and emperors from Augustus to
Trajan, may have had an impact on public space at the very heart of the cities of Italy. A particular focus of attention will be
those cities where there is evidence for the co-existence of more than one forum or equivalent open public space.
Forum and female presence: The evidence of honorific statuary from Italian and North
African Cities
Cristina Murer (Freie Universität Berlin)
[email protected]
Next to emperors only the most eminent citizens were honoured with a statue on forum spaces of Roman cities. By
exclusion and inclusion of certain social groups, the placement forums performs therefore a mirror of different social statues
and cultural dispositions of each town. This can be realised by looking especially at female presence on forum spaces. Literary
sources from the first century of the Principate reveal that women’s appearance on the forum was problematic. By looking at
archeological records from Italian and North African cities there are no statues dedicated to women on forum spaces until the
middle of the first century AD. Strikingly this seems to change from the middle of the second century onwards. With a special
emphasis on female honorific statuary (primarily through epigraphic sources) from Pompei, Leptis Magna and Bulla Regia,
this paper therefore show how far the sudden public representation of women on Forum spaces can be explained more with
urbanisation than social reasons.
26. L’ADRIATICO NELL’ANTICHITÀ QUALE LUOGO DI TRANSITO DI UOMINI, DI MERCI E
MODELLI CULTURALI
Organised by: Roberto Perna (Università di Macerata) and Francis Tassaux (Université Bordeaux Montaigne
– Ausonius)
Il mare Adriatico costituisce da sempre un polo fondamentale nella geografia commerciale dei paesi affacciati sul bacino
del Mediterraneo. Lungi dal costituire un elemento di separazione, infatti, esso quale luogo di transito ha rappresentato nel
corso dei secoli un trait d’union tra le due sponde opposte dell’Italia occidentale da un lato e della costa dalmata, illirica ed
epirota dall’altro, costituendo quindi un importante mezzo di trasmissione a livello economico, commerciale e culturale.
A partire in particolare dall’età arcaica e quindi in età classica l’Adriatico rappresenta il passaggio fondamentale tra il
mondo greco e l’Italia attraverso le due principali rotte di navigazione (di cabotaggio), quella orientale che costeggiava l’area
illirica e dalmata per poi attraversare l’Adriatico in corrispondenza del porto di Ancona e quella occidentale che, attraverso il
canale di Otranto, toccava le sponde della Magna Grecia per poi risalire verso Nord. Nell’ambito di queste dinamiche un ruolo
particolare ha rivestito, sia in ambito orientale sia in ambito occidentale la colonizzazione greca.
L’Adriatico snodo fondamentale per l’espansione romana verso Oriente ha svolto un ruolo prioritario nella trasmissione
di quei modelli culturali che hanno definito i processi di romanizzazione nei territori conquistati. Le merci, specchio dei rapporti economici e commerciali tra i diversi ambiti territoriali, costituiscono in particolare un fossile guida fondamentale alla
delineazione delle principali dinamiche di contatto, trasmissione, passaggio dei modelli culturali tra diversi ambiti territoriali.
Nel corso della Sessione si vogliono analizzare alcune delle specifiche modalità attraverso le quali nei territori e nelle
comunità delle due coste adriatiche, partecipi di milieu culturali diversi ma strettamente connessi tra loro, si attuino le varie
forme di trasmissione e assimilazione culturale, in un rapporto dialettico che vede implicati in vario grado il mondo greco in
età classica e ellenistica e l’Impero romano.
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Wednesday 16 March, Odeion (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Lo spazio adriatico tra golfo Ionio et Caput Adriae, Jean-Luc Lamboley
9.30 – Lo sviluppo del modello urbano tra le due sponde dell’Adriatico quale strumento di trasmissione e assimilazione culturale, Roberto Perna
10.00 – AdriAtlas et les routes de l’Adriatique, Maria Paola Castiglioni, Clément Coutelier, Marie-Claire Ferriès, Nathalie Prévôt, Yolande Marion, Sara Zanni and Francis Tassaux
11.00 – Proprietà imperiali e produzioni nel Delta Padano in età romana, Livio Zerbini, Laura Audino, Silvia Ripà and
Federica Maria Riso
11.30 – Produzioni ceramiche nella Apulia et Calabria. Spazi, forme, strutture, Custode Silvio Fioriello, Anna Mangiatordi and Paolo Perfido
12.00 – Sistemi di comunicazione tra Ravenna e Altino: nuove prospettive, Alberto Andreoli
12.30 – Studi di topografia urbana: aggiornamenti sulle città antiche dell’area sud adriatica, Maria Luisa Marchi
***
14.00 – Circolazione di merci e uomini a Bononia e Mutina alla luce della documentazione epigrafica, Daniela Rigato,
Manuela Mongardi and Mattia Vitelli Casella
14.30 – Insediamenti, territorio e materiali ceramici nella Puglia meridionale tra media e tarda età imperiale, Giovanni Mastronuzzi, Renato Caldarola, Carlo De Mitri, Nicola Laghezza and Valeria Melissano
15.00 – Circolazione di uomini, di merci, di modelli nell’area basso adriatica fra età romana e tardo antica, Sara
Santoro, Marco Moderato and Gloria Bolzoni
15.30 – Salapia: città rifondata dell’Apulia adriatica. Lo spazio urbano, il sale e i commerci tra età romana e tardoantica, Giuliano Volpe, Giovanni Devenuto, Roberto Goffredo, Darian M. Totten and Carlo De Mitri
16.30 – La via Egnatia e la via Lissus – Naissus: infrastrutture stradali al servizio dell’Adriatico, Luan Perzhita
Lo spazio adriatico tra golfo Ionio et Caput Adriae
Jean-Luc Lamboley (Université Lumière Lyon2)
[email protected]
Visto oggi dall’alto il Mare Adriatico appare uno spazio unitario e ben circoscritto dal golfo di Venezia fino al canale
di Otranto, lungo le due sponde opposte italiane e balcaniche. Ora, la rappresentazione di questo spazio è del tutto diversa
nell’antichità greca. Infatti, gli autori distinguono una area greca, il golfo ionio appendice del mare Ionio, e l’area di Caput
Adria, confinata nel mondo barbaro. L’intervento si propone quindi di esaminare l’articolazione e la dualità tra queste due aree
che sono tutte due caratterizzate dal mosaico di popoli che abitano lunghe le sponde, con un numero limitato di colonie greche rispetto ad altre zone del Mediterraneo, per altro tutte fondate sulla sponda balcanica. Da quel punto di vista, l’Adriatico
sembra un laboratorio privilegiato per la frontier history, ed i dati forniti dalle fonti scritte ed archeologiche, malgrado la loro
dispersione ed eterogeneità, permettono di incrociare approcci diversi, quali, superando la tradizionale visione “colonistica”
fondata su eventi politici, gli scambi commerciali e la mobilità delle persone legate alle rotte marittime, cosi come lo studio
degli santuari costieri e dei racconti mitologici.
Lo sviluppo del modello urbano tra le due sponde dell’Adriatico quale strumento di
trasmissione e assimilazione culturale
Roberto Perna (Università di Macerata)
[email protected]
Le modalità attraverso le quali si sviluppa e le caratteristiche stesse del modello urbano sono fondamentali categorie interpretative per analizzare i fenomeni di trasformazione culturale che hanno interessato in età antica anche i territori che si
affacciano sull’Adriatico.
Il contributo, proprio a partire dai più recenti risultati relativi alle indagini condotte in due centri urbani collocati sulle
due diverse sponde, Hadrianopolis in Caonia e Pollentia-Urbs Salvia, nel Piceno, integrati nel più ampio contesto territoriale,
95
vuole analizzare i processi di trasmissione ed assimilazione culturale che, tra l’età classica e l’età romana, portarono in queste
aree alla definizione di modelli culturali certamente originali, ma allo stesso tempo partecipi di un milieu adriatico comune.
AdriAtlas et les routes de l’Adriatique
Maria Paola Castiglioni (Université Pierre Mendès-France), Clément Coutelier (Institut Ausonius, Bordeaux
Montaigne), Marie-Claire Ferriès (Ecole française de Rome), Nathalie Prévôt (Institut Ausonius, Bordeaux
Montaigne), Yolande Marion (Institut Ausonius, Bordeaux), Sara Zanni (Institut Ausonius, Bordeaux Montaigne) and Francis Tassaux (Université Bordeaux Montaigne – Ausonius)
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], nathalie.
L’Adriatique a été une intense zone d’échange dans l’Antiquité et le haut Moyen Age. Dans le cadre d’AdriAtlas, – Atlas
informatisé de l’Adriatique antique –, on affronte un double défi : comment reconstituer et comment représenter les réseaux
routiers, fluviaux et maritimes, en tenant compte, d’une part, de l’évolution chronologique, et, d’autre part, du degré de
connaissance ou d’incertitude de nos données, alors que nous disposons désormais d’outils performants fournis par l’informatique, la géomatique et le webmapping tandis que de nouvelles pistes ont été ouvertes comme par exemple la recherche des
chemins optimaux. Ainsi, nous proposons deux études de cas (d’une part, la Vénétie orientale et l’Istrie, et d’autre part, l’Albanie), avec constitution d’une base de données spécifique liée à un géoatlas, intégrant une documentation ancienne et récente,
nécessairement hétérogène, partielle ou fragmentaire et de fiabilité variable.
Proprietà imperiali e produzioni nel Delta Padano in età romana
Livio Zerbini, Laura Audino, Silvia Ripà and Federica Maria Riso (Università degli Studi di Ferrara)
In epoca imperiale con il termine saltus si faceva riferimento ai terreni demaniali con funzioni produttive per l’imperatore,
nonostante la questione della definizione terminologica sia ancora controversa ed esistano numerose accezioni d’uso, come
testimoniato dalle fonti letterarie. Negli ultimi decenni è stata affermata con forza la necessità di sopperire all’incertezza della
documentazione scritta e di approfondire la conoscenza sul funzionamento dei saltus, in modo particolare facendo chiarezza
sulle modalità di sfruttamento del territorio, sul ruolo dei funzionari impiegati nelle diverse attività e sulle mansioni svolte.
In questo contributo verranno messe in luce le testimonianze provenienti dal territorio del Delta del Po, prestando particolare attenzione ai materiali rinvenuti dal vicus di Voghenza, da cui provengono numerosi reperti lapidei e tegole deformate
in cottura che recano il bollo “Pansiana”, confermando dunque l’ipotesi che l’officina fosse ubicata proprio in quest’area. Le
iscrizioni pervenute, esaminate in questa sede, aprono inoltre nuovi scenari sui lavoratori impegnati nelle proprietà imperiali,
molti dei quali erano veterani: ciò permette di giungere a considerazioni rilevanti sul rapporto tra saltus ed esercito, in ragione
della presenza della vicina Classis Ravennatis.
Produzioni ceramiche nella Apulia et Calabria. Spazi, forme, strutture
Custode Silvio Fioriello (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro), Anna Mangiatordi (Indipendent research)
and Paolo Perfido (Politecnico di Bari)
L’analisi sistematica delle forme di produzione e delle dinamiche di circolazione delle merci ceramiche del comparto apulo
nel periodo compreso fra l’avvio della ‘romanizzazione’ e il III sec. d.C. sta consentendo di delineare un quadro complesso e
articolato, nel quale pure le manifatture fittili evidenziano la vivacità economica della regione in età romana. Il censimento
sistematico e la schedatura delle installazioni fisse e degli indicatori di lavorazione, riferibili a contesti urbani e rurali, la georeferenziazione della documentazione in ambiente GIS, la contestualizzazione dei dati raccolti entro il quadro storico-insediativo
e socio-economico di riferimento, il confronto con altri contesti di area soprattutto adriatica consentono non solo di precisare
tecnologie e forme della produzione, diversificate in senso sia diacronico sia sincronico, ma anche di definire il quadro delle
dinamiche di utilizzo e di distribuzione delle manifatture fittili, orientate verso l’autoconsumo e, soprattutto a partire dal I sec.
a.C., anche alla commercializzazione su corto e medio raggio.
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Sistemi di comunicazione tra Ravenna e Altino: nuove prospettive
Alberto Andreoli (Università di Ferrara)
[email protected]
Nell’antichità la porzione valliva del bacino idrografico padano veneto compresa tra le città di Ravenna e Altinum ha
costituito una sorta di regione “mesopotamica” intersecata dai rami deltizi del Po, Tartaro, Adige, Brenta e altri corsi minori,
soggetti a ciclici sovralluvionamenti, rotte e diversioni di corso. In questa plaga anfibia e instabile, in cui il popolamento fin
dell’epoca più remota si era di necessità ripartito sulle emergenze (dossi, gronde fluviali, cordoni dunosi litoranei), si incontrarono tre fondamentali direttrici di traffico: la cosiddetta ‘via dell’ambra’, il corridoio marittimo dell’Adriatico, l’itinerario
interappenninico. Ricerche e studi pluridisciplinari (geomorfologici, archeologici, paleoambientali, aerofotogrammetrici, topografici, ecc.) svolti negli ultimi decenni hanno condotto all’individuazione, riconoscimento e parziale ricostruzione di lacerti
paesaggistici sepolti: tracce naturali (paleoidrografie, cordoni di dune) e antropiche (insediamenti, apprestamenti idraulici,
divisioni agrarie, strade). Ravenna, Atria e Altinum, centri litoranei o prossimi al mare (e lagunari), costituirono i nodi itinerari
fluvio-marittimi primari, integrati all’entroterra cisalpino, di un sistema di comunicazioni terrestri, fluviali, endolagunari e
marittime, scandite dal succedersi di attrezzati scali di terra e “passi” che garantirono i collegamenti tra il “centro del potere”,
le regiones settentrionali dell’Italia e le province renano-danubiane.
Studi di topografia urbana: aggiornamenti sulle città antiche dell’area sud adriatica
Maria Luisa Marchi (Università degli studi di Foggia)
[email protected]
La lettura dei sistemi insediativi consente di definire le relazioni fra diverse aree e spesso di comprendere la diffusione dei
modelli urbani e architettonici. Attraverso i cambiamenti o le continuità possiamo definire i passaggi dell’evoluzione degli
abitati e dei paesaggi antropizzati. Dagli insediamenti indigeni, alle colonie greche, alla città romana. Lungo la fascia adriatica
questo fenomeno appare particolarmente significativo anche in ragione del possibile confronto con l’altra sponda del mare,
dove da sempre questo rappresenta un elemento di transito e di unione.
La diffusione di “tipologie” insediative si lega da un lato alla presenza ellenica e successivamente a quella di Roma ma come
più volte sottolineato in un interscambio culturale in continua evoluzione.
Si presentano quindi una serie di insediamenti e città che tra l’età arcaica e il II secolo a.C. permettono di costruire una
storia dell’urbanistica e dell’architettura delle aree della fascia centro-meridionale dell’Adriatico. Passando dagli insediamenti
indigeni, alle colonie romane del Piceno fino alla più meridionale Brindisi. Ove spesso la diffusione delle tendenze urbanistiche
è affidata ad episodi di qualificazione monumentale di settori urbani, di adeguamento di aree funzionali e infrastrutturali, di
diffusione di nuove tipologie di complessi a volte importati direttamente dalla Grecia o da Roma, a volte frutto di una esperienza congiunta.
Circolazione di merci e uomini a Bononia e Mutina alla luce della documentazione
epigrafica
Daniela Rigato, Manuela Mongardi and Mattia Vitelli Casella (Università Alma Mater di Bologna)
Scopo di questo contributo è quello di analizzare l’esistenza di rapporti tra la parte centrale della regio VIII e le aree costiere del bacino Mediterraneo alla luce delle testimonianze epigrafiche sia su instrumentum che su supporto lapidario. Infatti
è risaputo che l’Emilia centrale fosse connessa all’Adriatico sia attraverso il fiume Po ed il sistema idro-viario ad esso afferente
sia tramite la rete delle vie consolari. Nell’ambito della documentazione raccolta, l’attenzione si focalizzerà in particolare: per
quanto concerne l’instrumentum sul materiale anforico bollato o corredato di tituli picti proveniente dalle regioni costiere
adriatiche e dal Mediterraneo occidentale; riguardo alle iscrizioni lapidarie sui documenti testimonianti personaggi di origine
aliena specie transmarina che si stabilirono in tale zona intessendovi proficui rapporti socio-economici.
Insediamenti, territorio e materiali ceramici nella Puglia meridionale tra media e tarda
età imperiale
Giovanni Mastronuzzi, Renato Caldarola, Carlo De Mitri, Nicola Laghezza and Valeria Melissano (Università
del Salento)
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], nlaghezza@libero.
it, [email protected]
97
Fin dagli anni ’80 l’Università del Salento conduce ricerche sistematiche negli insediamenti antichi della Puglia meridionale. A fronte di una preponderante mole di dati concernenti il sistema insediativo di epoca preromana, sono risultate a lungo
frammentarie le informazioni relative a natura ed organizzazione degli abitati di età romana, nonché quelle concernenti gli
aspetti della cultura materiale.
Attraverso il riesame di reperti e contesti è stato possibile avviare un processo di arricchimento delle conoscenze relative
a questo comparto geografico nel periodo compreso tra la conquista romana e l’epoca imperiale. D’altro canto le indagini in
alcuni siti costituiscono già da tempo un’importante fonte di informazioni su tematiche particolari: spiccano la necropoli e gli
scarichi relativi al porto di Otranto ed il complesso paleocristiano di Vaste.
Nell’ambito della 12th RAC, il gruppo dell’Università del Salento proporrà alcune considerazioni sull’organizzazione del
territorio della Puglia meridionale. In secondo luogo verranno presentati alcuni dati complessivi sulla identificazione e distribuzione di materiali di importazione con particolare riferimento al vasellame di area egeo-albanese. Da ultimo saranno illustrate le recenti acquisizioni relative alle ricerche nel complesso di Fondo Giuliano a Vaste, con particolare riguardo all’analisi
delle attestazioni di suppellettile in vetro e ceramica nella necropoli del V-VI secolo.
Circolazione di uomini, di merci, di modelli nell’area basso adriatica fra età romana e
tardo antica
Sara Santoro (Università “G.d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara), Marco Moderato (Università di Foggia) and Gloria
Bolzoni (Università di Salerno)
Per tutta la sua storia antica, la città di Durazzo non ebbe un’identità culturale facilmente definibile: nata dall’incontro
tra diversi gruppi etnici, essa fu un frequentatissimo punto di snodo, sia lungo le rotte Nord-Sud che collegavano il centro del
Mediterraneo con l’Adriatico interno e l’arco alpino, sia come testa di ponte per i percorsi Est – Ovest che tagliavano trasversalmente la regione balcanica, e in particolare per la via Egnatia durante l’età imperiale.
Tra l’età ellenistica e il periodo romano Durazzo sembra quindi definirsi di volta in volta attraverso il confronto con le realtà etniche/culturali/politiche con le quali viene in contatto, appropriandosi dei vari aspetti e rielaborandone le caratteristiche
in un processo di continua trasformazione.
In questa occasione si proporrà una riflessione sul tema delle trasformazioni culturali di Epidamnos/Dyrrachium attraverso
la lettura dei molteplici aspetti che la caratterizzarono tra l’età ellenistica e l’età romana, dall’urbanistica alla strutturazione del
territorio alla cultura materiale ed in particolare alla ceramica, e il loro inserimento all’interno del sistema culturale adriatico.
Salapia: città rifondata dell’Apulia adriatica. Lo spazio urbano, il sale e i commerci tra età
romana e tardoantica
Giuliano Volpe, Giovanni Devenuto, Roberto Goffredo (Università di Foggia), Darian M. Totten (Davidson
College – USA) and Carlo De Mitri (Università del Salento)
[email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected]
and [email protected]
La città romana di Salapia, sulla costa adriatica della Puglia settentrionale, dal 2013 è oggetto di un progetto internazionale di ricerche sistematiche condotto dall’Università di Foggia in collaborazione con il Davidson College – North Carolina
(USA). Le indagini stanno consentendo da un lato di riscrivere la storia insediativa di lunga durata di un abitato tanto noto
per i numerosi riferimenti presenti nelle fonti storiche, letterarie e documentarie, quanto pressoché ignoto dal punto di vista
archeologico; dall’altro di far emergere la vitalità del porto e il suo ruolo nel complesso.
27.RETHINKING THE CONCEPT OF “HEALING SETTLEMENTS”: CULTS, CONSTRUCTIONS
AND CONTEXTS IN THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: Maddalena Bassani (Università degli Studi di Padova), Marion Bolder-Boos (Technical University Darmstadt), Annalisa Calapà (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich), Ugo Fusco (Sapienza Università di
Roma) e Jens Koehler (John Cabot University, Rome (JCU) and American University of Rome (AUR)
The ancient settlements on thermo-mineral sites with emerging curative centers became a subject of professional in-depth
research during the last few years. Various national and international conferences demonstrate this interest, to mention only
those organized by the Università di Padova (Padua, Italy 2010 and 2012) and by the city council of Chaves (Chaves, Portugal
2014). At these meetings the results of excavations and other research projects centered on areas affected by geothermal phe98
nomena have been presented. This helped to open the way for a growing scholarly attention to numerous problematics concerning the exploitation of curative springs and the settlement patterns at spa sites (e.g. aspects of topography, infrastructure,
architecture, cult, society, economy etc.). Furthermore, such initiatives allowed to emphasize the particularities accompanying
the use of beneficial sources, compared to that of common sweet waters. Other studies are more focused on religious aspects
concerning health and healing including (in)fertility. Votive offerings and particularly inscriptions attesting to dedications as
thanksgiving or prayer forcure or conception offer a variety of research questions, including whether specific healing or fertility
cults existed at particular sites. In the proposed session we therefore bring together papers dealing with therapeutic aspects
connected to thermo-mineral sites as well as cultic aspects surrounding health and healing.
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected],
Thursday 17 March, Aula “Partenone” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
14.00 – Luoghi di culto alle aquae salutifere: osservazioni da alcuni casi in Italia, Germania e Gallia, Maddalena Bassani, Matteo Marcato and Cecilia Zanetti
14.30 – Healing by water: Therapy and Religion in the Roman Spas of the Iberian Peninsula, Silvia González Soutelo
and Sergio Carneiro
15.00 – Before the Hammam: The Ancient Spas of Roman North Africa, Jens Koehler
15.30 – The Concept of so-called ‘Healing Sanctuaries’ Revisited, Velia Boecker
16.30 – Sacred Caves and ‘Fertility Cults’. Some Considerations about Cave Sanctuaries in Etruria, Annalisa Calapà
17.00 – New Data and Interpretations: the Case of Veii-Campetti and Ostia, Ugo Fusco and Marion Bolder-Boos
Luoghi di culto alle aquae salutifere: osservazioni da alcuni casi in Italia, Germania e
Gallia
Maddalena Bassani, Matteo Marcato and Cecilia Zanetti (Università degli Studi di Padova)
[email protected]
The study of settlements situated close to thermomineral water springs in ancient Italy allowed the analysis of not only
establishments connected to healing functions and leisure activities, built in proximity of the springs, but also worship places
and offerings dedicated to the waters. This contribution aims to present some food for thought on structural and material typologies of the sacred areas documented in the Italian peninsula, widening then the horizon to worship attestations connected
to thermal springs in the Roman provinces of Germania, Raetia and Gallia.
Healing by water: Therapy and Religion in the Roman Spas of the Iberian Peninsula
Silvia González Soutelo (Silvia González Soutelo and Sergio Carneiro) and Sergio Carneiro (Gabinete de Arqueologia da Câmara Municipal de Chaves)
[email protected]
The intimate relation between healing and religion is ubiquitous in Roman Spas, either in the form of temple areas and
nymphaea, votive depositions or the epigraphical evidence of devotion and thankfulness for the cure. Through the architectonic
and artefactual analysis of Roman spas in the Iberian Peninsula compared with examples from elsewhere in the Empire, we
attempt at defining whether there was a separation between sacred and profane areas, the relationship between them and its
influence on the design of the Spa complexes.
Taking into consideration the most recent approaches on Roman religion and devotion, and the reflection of the interpretatio of pre-Roman religious traditions, we will consider the concepts of ritual and pilgrimage as well as the proposals of
classical medicine indicated in the Greco-Roman writers.
As a result, we propose a necessary critical reflection about the design and building of these establishments as well as about
their function and use, in order to go further on our knowledge and understanding of Roman spas in Hispania, and, consequently, in the provinces of the Roman Empire.
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Before the Hammam: The Ancient Spas of Roman North Africa
Jens Koehler (John Cabot University, Rome (JCU) and American University of Rome (AUR))
[email protected]
The Roman provinces in North Africa (Mauretania, Numidia, Africa, and Cyrenaica) experienced several centuries of
peace and wealth between the 1st and the 5th century AD. Densely inhabited areas with several urban centers, public buildings and private houses, an improved infrastructure best visible through roads, bridges, and aqueducts, show the rising living
standard. This development was accompanied by a systematic exploitation of thermal springs that were located close to the
settlements or that could be reached on new roads.
In this paper I will give a general overview on the great number of North African spas, with a special focus on those spas
keeping consistent archaeological remains, i.e. with buildings still preserved, and in some cases still in use today. Relatively
well known sites are e.g. Djebel
Oust/Zaghouan in Tunisia and Hammam Essalihine/Khenchela, the ancient Aquae Flavianae, in Algeria. Spas that have
disappeared, but which were reported in the 18th and 19th century by mostly French travelers and archaeologists, will be included as well. Finally, to the already much debated question about the influence of the urban Roman thermae on the Islamic
hammam, has to be added the role of the ancient spas in this process of transition.
The Concept of so-called ‘Healing Sanctuaries’ Revisited
Velia Boecker (Freie Universität Berlin)
[email protected]
The connection between beneficial sources and healing or fertility cults is frequently stated, but – due to a lack of particular literary and epigraphical evidence – hard to prove for individual cases.
Often anatomical votives which are often and numerously found in Central Italy are taken as further indication for a
healing deity or rather a healing sanctuary, especially if there are indeed any springs nearby (regardless of the water’s chemical
composition).
Based on several case studies this paper questions the general conclusion „water plus body parts equals therapeutic issues”
and favours a more holistic approach considering the relation of topographical elements, the tradition of cults and the use of
votive offerings.
Sacred Caves and ‘Fertility Cults’. Some Considerations about Cave Sanctuaries in Etruria
Annalisa Calapà (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich)
[email protected]
Cave sanctuaries were an interesting feature of the religious landscape of Etruria in the Republican and Imperial Age. Evidence of cult activity in caves has mostly been connected by researchers to the sacred power of water, which is in turn usually
associated with the sphere of ‘healing’ and ‘fertility cults’. This assumption has been reinforced by the fact that anatomicals,
images of female deities and figures of swaddled babies were often given as votive offerings in cave sanctuaries. A special focus
on fertility and maternity concerns has been postulated for some Etruscan caves, which used to be visited in modern times
by women having trouble with breastfeeding. Recent research on religion in ancient Italy, however, drew attention to some
problematic aspects which can also affect our interpretation of cave sanctuaries. These include the meaning and diffusion of
anatomicals and the relation between natural features (springs, caves) and cult. This paper aims to analyze the evidence from
cave sanctuaries in Etruria, placing it in the context of the current debate on these issues. This approach can help assess to
what extent Etruscan cave sanctuaries can actually contribute to the definition, and to our understanding, of ‘fertility cults’ in
Republican and Imperial central Italy.
New Data and Interpretations: the Case of Veii-Campetti and Ostia
Ugo Fusco (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Marion Bolder-Boos (Technical University Darmstadt)
This paper aims to present the latest discoveries in the topic of Healing Settlements. Two new cases are presented, which
are located in Veii and in Ostia. These sites have close connections but also differences with the archaeological complexes
previously examined.
The Campetti complex lies on a downward slope in the south-west area of the plateau of the city of Veii. During the
Imperial age (I–III century AD) the site, situated in the immediate suburbs of the Roman Municipium, had many buildings
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and infrastructures (cisterns, pools for bathing, Nymphaeum etc.) which suggest the unequivocal public function in which
water plays a major role.
Some votive inscriptions dedicated to different deities (Igea, Hercules, Fontes and Diana) define the area as a thermal,
therapeutic site where various different cults were practised. Finally recent geological research has led to the discovery of hot
springs at the site.
The so-called ‘area sacra dei templi repubblicani’ in Ostia comprises three temples, the largest of which was dedicated to
Hercules, as several finds document. Although Hercules appears here as an oracular deity and a god of military and mercantile
exploits, there is some evidence to indicate that he – as well as the sanctuary at large – was also connected to water and healing.
28. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF DALMATIA: NEW APPROACHES
AND CHALLENGES
Organised by: Nirvana Silnović and Dora Ivanišević (Central European University, Budapest)
This session brings together young scholars dealing with various aspects of religious life in the Roman Province of Dalmatia. Covering the great chronological expanse from Hellenistic times to Late Antiquity, each paper will explore a specific
facet of Dalmatian religious landscape. Today, the rich material evidence witnesses to the abundant and multifarious religious
practices that formed a part of everyday life of the province. Despite its richness and attractiveness, the material evidence of
the Dalmatian religious life has only recently started to get its proper treatment and (re)evaluation. Over the past few decades
there have been a major developments in the study of ancient religion, as well as a growing (re)examination of the notion of
“Romanisation,” and of “Roman art,” resulting in new approaches and changes in how we understand religious and material
culture of the provinces. The aim of this session is to explore various challenges these new approaches present, and to offer
insight into the recent study of Dalmatian religious life.
Saturday 19 March, Auletta “Archeologia” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Mithras and the Sacred Landscape: The Case of Gacka Valley, Nirvana Silnović
9.30 – The Cults of Isis, Inga Vilogorac Brčić
10.00 – Roman, Illyrian or Dalmatian? (Re)interpretations of Roman Religion in a Provincial Context, Josipa Lulić
11.00 – The Epigraphic Evidence for Early Christianity at Salona, Dora Ivanišević
Mithras and the Sacred Landscape: The Case of Gacka Valley
Nirvana Silnović (Central European University, Budapest)
[email protected]
A sacred landscape, in the words of Hubert Cancik (1985/1986: 251), can be understood as “a constellation of natural
phenomena constituted as a meaningful system by means of artificial and religious signs, by telling names or etiological stories
fixed to certain places, and by rituals which actualize the space.” It is a territory where a specific interplay between human and
divine, between geological and natural elements (like hills and rivers), and monuments (temples, shrines, altars, etc.) is established. Moreover, natural elements, such as rivers and mountains, might be considered as personified gods or as places standing
under the personal protection of divine beings.
The present paper will address the notion of sacred landscape on a specific territory – the valley of the river Gacka. Near
the very source of the river Gacka several Mithraic shrines are located: Kraljev stolac/Špilničko polje, Rajanov grič (Čovići),
and Godače (Sinac), while another relief is preserved in the Archaeological museum in Zagreb (originally from Sinac), and
several other fragments are still scattered around the nearby villages, testifying to the strong presence of the god Mithras. Besides a direct intervention into the natural features of the Gacka Valley (rock-cut tauroctony reliefs), other natural features will
be taken into the account (the vicinity of the streams, and the river Gacka itself), which, together with the usage of a specific
visual language observable on the reliefs, attests to the will of the local community(ies) to create a particular local identity.
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The Cults of Isis
Inga Vilogorac Brčić (University of Zagreb)
[email protected]
The cults of Isis in the Roman province of Dalmatia are attested by artefacts and epigraphic evidence, found mainly in the
crowded eastern Adriatic harbours of Senia, Iader, Aenona, Salona, Issa, Pharos and Narona. The earliest evidence dates to the
Flavian era (1st cent. AD) and the latest to the third century AD.
There are only five inscriptions testifying to the cults of Isis in the Roman province of Dalmatia. However, they provide
the most vital information on the appropriation of the cults of Isis in the province. For example, a quattuorvir of indigenous
background in the colony of Narona during the Flavian era worshipped Isis and in the capital of the province, Salona, there
was an association of worshippers of Sarapis in the first/second centuries AD. Based on the name formulas of persons who
dedicated to Isis and Sarapis – even though there are only five of them – it can be surmised that persons of different social rank
and origin were adherents of the cults of Isis in Dalmatia from the first to third centuries AD.
There is much more material evidence: statues, gems and lamps bearing images of Isis, Sarapis, Harpocrates, HermesThoth, Anubis and Bes, mainly testifying the private sphere of those cults. We’ll present the monuments, discuss their characteristics, distribution and chronological framework, and attempt to define the ways of the appropriation of cults of Isis in
Dalmatia.
Roman, Illyrian or Dalmatian? (Re)interpretations of Roman Religion in a Provincial
Context
Josipa Lulić (University of Zagreb)
[email protected]
Religion in provinces has for a long time been studied as the indicator of the level of Romanisation. This model presumed
two premises: that it was possible to carry the religion from the city of Rome into new areas, and that it was more or less successfully implemented in the provinces, through passive acceptance (mostly in the Western provinces) or active resistance (in
the Eastern ones) to the new deities, and the conscious choice to continue the worshiping of the old gods. This concept has
been in the meantime critically re-examined since the both premises received strong theoretical criticism, and the whole paradigm of the study of Roman Empire has shifted. On the one hand, the religion of the city of Rome is understood through the
concept of polis religion – the notion of religion as a separate field only came to life with the advent of the oriental religions.
Thus completely intertwined with the realities of the social surroundings, it was practically impossible to export it. The second
strong paradigm shift contributing to the critical re-examination of the religion in provinces is the deconstruction of the concept of Romanization in the light of post-colonial theory. Based on those theoretical assumptions, the religion in provinces
can be defined as an autonomous system (Rüpke, Ando). This theoretical model is extremely fertile for the inquiry of the phenomenon of Interpretatio Romana, or the ways in which local and Roman deities interacted. Unlike Roman Britain or Gaul,
for example, we only have sporadic epigraphic sources, but many visual representations enable us to posit some hypotheses.
Although we know very little about local deities before the Roman rule, some elements are deductible through the interference
with the classical Roman deities, thus creating specific Dalmatian amalgams. Especially important in that context is Silvanus,
but some other deities can also be interpreted in this fashion, namely Diana, Liber and Mercury.
The Epigraphic Evidence for Early Christianity at Salona
Dora Ivanišević (Central European University, Budapest)
[email protected]
Though the most resistant of all the epigraphic genre, the production of epitaphs decreased from the second half of the
third through the seventh century; the content and style of late antique epitaphs and naming patterns have moreover changed
rendering them less susceptible to the analysis of the social make-up of late antique urban ‘epitaphic population’. The great
majority of late antique or late Roman epitaphs commemorate Christians, and C. Galvão-Sobrinho (Athenaeum 83 [1995]
431-62) has argued that the early Christians’ wish to display their religious affiliation was the main impetus for the late antique
epigraphic revival. Regarding the social composition of early Christians as recorded in epitaphs B. D. Shaw (JRS 86 [1996]
108) and C. Galvão-Sobrinho (Athenaeum 83 [1995] 437, 451) seem to think that it went further down the social scale, while
M. A. Handley (Death, Society and Culture: Inscriptions and Epitaphs in Gaul and Spain, AD 300-750 [Oxford 2003] 3545) has challenged their view and concluded that to erect stone monument remained the preserve of elite in Gaul and Spain,
as well as in other places such as Carthage.
At Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, there was a continuity of epigraphic culture all through the
beginning of the seventh century, and with respect to the absolute numbers of late antique inscriptions, that is, ‘Christian
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inscriptions’ from the Latin West, Salona is surpassed by only Rome and Carthage (Handley [2003] 18). The majority of late
antique inscriptions from Salona has been recently collected and republished in N. Gauthier, E. Marin, F. Prévot et al., Salona IV: Inscriptions de Salone chrétienne IVe-VIIe siècles (Rome and Split 2010), to which few other published inscriptions
may be added. This presentation takes into consideration approximately 300 well-preserved epitaphs written in both Latin
and Greek and dated to the second half of the third through the first decades of the seventh century, and discusses their social
composition by analyzing prosopographical and onomastic features of the recorded individuals. The texts, that is, individuals
are examined within their monumental context, good part of which pertains to the locally produced limestone sarcophagi;
thereby, attention is also paid to the quality level of the letter and decoration execution.
The paper undertakes a close analysis of the patterns of social (self)-identification and social distribution of the Christian
funerary commemoration in a diachronic perspective at an epigraphically self-contained site in order to trace and account for
how it changed over the three and half centuries, and in order to see how Salona maps onto the late antique epigraphic culture
of the Latin West.
29. REPLICATION AND STANDARDIZATION IN THE ROMAN WORLD
Organised by: Greg Woolf (University of London)
One of the most obvious features of Roman material culture is the way in which so many artefact types conform to very
particular stylistic criteria. That phenomenon is not without parallel. One of the distinguishing features of the early Mesopotamian civilization is the emergence of the first ‘mass produced’ object, including ceramic types, writing tablets and seal
stones, and David Wengrow has drawn attention to how unusual this is in a world in which mechanical replication was rare.
The successive dominances of particular ceramic and artistic styles comprise the central narrative for Classical Archaeology:
technical developments are much discussed, taste less often. Functional factors are occasionally invoked by more often recourse
is made to concepts such as Hellenization or Romanization, terms that describe but do not explain broad processes. For the
Roman period the phenomenon has generally been dealt with under the sign of ‘Romanization’ and vague connections made
between political conformity, cultural convergence and standardized production of material objects. Thirty years of critiques
of Romanization have made most of those connections implausible, but without offering a new global explanation. Symbolic
approaches fail when they attempt to make standardized objects simple ‘carriers’ of some cultural message about conformity:
what message? directed from whom to whom? Economic and technological factors also explain too little about the diversity
of standardized sizes, weights and shapes. Most are specific to one medium or another. Attention has shifted recently towards
‘hybridity’ with interesting results especially about cultural action on contact zones and in colonial situations, but as the most
recent conference (at Brown) concluded, the very notion of hybrid forms implies the existence of their opposite, pure (or
standard) repertoires. The aim of this panel is to confront these issues of standardization, imitation, replications and mimesis
across range of phenomena not normally considered in parallel.
[email protected]
Wednesday 16 March, Auletta “Archeologia” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Greg Woolf
9.30 – Astrid Van Oyen
10.00 – Jennifer Trimble
11.00 – Andrew Bevan
11.30 – Katherine McDonald
12.00 – Alicia Jiménez
30. ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: ARTEFACTS, GOODS, TRADE
Organised by: Clementina Panella (Sapienza Università di Roma)
The interdisciplinary approach applied to the analysis of manufacturing and trade in the ancient world is a red line that
unites the papers of this Session. The first section deals with the origin and development of ceramic production in republican
Italy, using diversified and sometimes innovative tools to reconstruct and understand the economic, social and cultural workings of a certain moment in the history of the peninsula. In the second section, with similar aims and methods, and with the
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assistance of new data, the focus is given to Northern Africa in imperial times, a period when production and diffusion of crops
and manufactured goods reached a scale and a continuity in time that has no equal in the history of antiquity.
[email protected]
30.1 New Approaches to Republican Ceramics
Organised by: Laura Banducci (Carleton University), Antonio F. Ferrandes (Sapienza Università di Roma) and
Marcello Mogetta (University of Missouri)
Scholars of recent decades have engaged in lively debates about the nature and effects of early Roman imperial expansion
in the Republican period. A critical component of this is to articulate what might be recognizable as Roman material culture,
analyzing this complex phenomenon particularly through the lens of urbanism and architecture. Domestic artefacts, ceramics
in particular, rarely take center stage in this broader debate. Yet, there is great potential for ceramics to uncover the social,
economic, and cultural dynamics that influenced (or were influenced by) the formation of a territorial “empire” in Italy and
the Mediterranean, especially given modern archaeometric techniques and computer applications.
The proposed session, therefore, aims to provide a forum for discussing how innovative and integrative approaches to
Republican pottery can address the problem and contribute to our broader understanding of Italian societies in this crucial
period. The introductory papers offer some preliminary reflections on the recent theoretical and methodological debate (Banducci and Mogetta), and on the ways in which modern principles of stratigraphic analysis in its broader meaning can shed light
on both society and economy (Ferrandes). The presentations make critical use of archaeometry and functional analysis with
both fine wares and coarse wares (Louwaard and Revello Lami). Innovative methods are applied to material from field survey
and recent excavations as well as to material that has been in storage for over a century (Hobratschk). Aspects of diffusion and
circulation in colonial and non-colonial contexts are analyzed from the perspective of the consumers (Termeer) and the traders
(Principal). The final paper brings the focus on the actual people that produced, distributed, bought and used these materials
(Nonnis).
Friday 18 March, Aula I (FF)
9.00 – Approaching ceramics in the Republic, Laura Banducci and Marcello Mogetta
9.30 – Economy and Society behind Stratigraphies, Contexts and Fragments: A Systemic Approach to the Roman
Republic, Antonio F. Ferrandes
10.00 – Roman, local or just global? A diachronic and integrated approach to Republican pottery from Satricum
(Latium, Central Italy), Muriel Louwaard and Martina Revello Lami
11.00 – The Hidden Treasures of Rome Project: Preliminary Results from the University of Missouri, Columbia, Johanna Hobratschk
11.30 – Becoming Roman in a colonial context: a consumption perspective, Marleen Termeer
12.00 – Uncofessable intentions: evolving commercial strategies of Rome in western Mediterranean (3rd c. BCE),
Jordi Principal
12.30 – I protagonisti tra produzione e consumo: un approccio di storia sociale, David Nonnis
30.2 North Africa: Territories, Centers of production and Trade in Ancient Mediterranean
Organised by: Clementina Panella (Sapienza Università di Roma), Michael Bonifay (Centre Camille Jullian,
Aix Marseille Université/CNRS/MCC/INRAP, France), Sami Ben Tahar (National Heritage Institute, Tunisia),
Youssef Aïbeche (Université de Setif, Algerie) and Mofhtah Ahmed
An imposing amount of studies and researches in the second half of the twentieth century has focused on the productivity
in Roman Africa of a variety of consumer products, along with the analysis of regions, cities and their economies. The success
of African goods during the Caesarian-Augustan age and up to the late antiquity, recorded in the written tradition and confirmed by the stratigraphy of many sites in the Mediterranean, has been the subject of a substantial amount of contributions
that have accompanied for more than sixty years the study of material culture of the Roman imperial age. This session, which
can not consider every product of the Maghreb, will focus mainly on the ceramic, not only on account of its large diffusion,
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the fossil marker for dating contexts all around the Mediterranean and well inside Europe for several centuries, but also because
the evidence is more consistent than that found for other types of sources, and reflects the ability of African regions to develop
a high yield agriculture, and manufacturing activities related to fisheries, as shown by transport amphorae (carrying oil, olives,
wine, fish sauces), as well as crafts tied to the production of more or less valuable objects, aimed – at various levels – at regional,
inter-regional and inter-provincial markets.
If during a more or less recent past most studies were mainly focused on data collected at the sites of consumption (and
thus on the indestructible ceramic), centered on the type and histories of each production (fine table ware, lamps, kitchenware
and coarse ware), recent studies have been, on one hand, directed towards a review of the known types and towards a more
thoughtful analysis of the contexts of discovery, perfecting the production framework and anchoring to a trustworthy time
frame certain types and classes in circulation; on the other hand they have focused on the production centers in order to get a
better geographic characterization of those same types and classes, applying a wealth of suitable methodologies, surveys of large
tracts of land, surveys and excavations of old and new workshops, laboratory analysis. The results draw a scenery in which a
great variety of productive facies and distribution models reflect the complexity of the cultural, social and economic contexts,
both micro- and macro-regional, both at the provincial and inter-provincial levels. This session aims to describe these lines
of research, focusing on the organization of production and commerce in the region, their similarities and differences, and
on a list of questions still unsolved, the solution of which will call for a further revision of published data, and for brand new
information.
Friday 18 March, Aula I (FF)
14.00 – Regions and production system: Mauretania/Numidia, Youssef Aïbeche (coord.):
- Touatia AMRAOUI, Productions littorales de Maurétanie Césarienne et de Numidie: bilan, nouvelles lectures et
perspectives
- Alejandro QUEVEDO, La circulation des produits entre le sud-est de l’Espagne et le nord-ouest de l’Algérie
14.30 – Regions and production system: Zeugitana and Byzacena, Sami Ben Taher and Jihen Nacef (coord.):
- Heike MÖLLER, Simitthus / Chimtou (Tunisia) - some insights into local/regional produced pottery in Roman times
and late antiquity
- Jihen NACEF, La production céramique dans le Sahel tunisien
15.00 – Regions and production system: Tripolitania, Mofhtah Ahmed and Sami Ben Tahar (coord.):
- Elyssa JERRAY, La production céramique en Tripolitaine occidentale
15.30 – Markets, economies: The North-Africa and Rome, Clementina Panella (coord.):
- Alessia CONTINO, Le prime produzioni di anfore africane di età tardorepubblicana e della prima età imperiale
- Antonio FERRANDES, Elena LORENZETTI, L’avvio delle importazioni tra tarda repubblica e primo impero
- Antonio MANNA, Un drenaggio con anfore fuori le mura
- Marco RICCI, La Crypta Balbi di nuovo in primo piano
- Pina FRANCO, Portus
- Marta CASALINI, Tra V e VI secolo: un bilancio problematico
- Viviana CARDARELLI, La decorazione a stampo sulla sigillata africana. Alcune osservazioni dai contesti di Roma
16.30 – Markets, economies: The Mediterranean Trade, Michael Bonifay (coord.):
- Maxine ANASTASI, African pottery and trade in Malta
- Giuseppe CACCIAGUERRA, Megara e Siracusa
- Adolfo FERNÁNDEZ, African trade and redistribution in the Northwest of the Iberian peninsula during the late antiquity
- George KOUTSOUFLAKIS, Converging to the east markets: Roman North African amphoras in the Aegean. The output of terrestrial and underwater sites
- Victoria LEITCH, Roman North African cookwares as indicators of economic growth and decline
- Tomoo MUKAI, La diffusion des céramiques africaines en Méditerranée occidentale au Ve s.
- Brikena SHKODRA, Albanie
Short closing papers: Francesca Del Vecchio, Claudio Capelli and Alessandra Pecci
Discussants: Elizabeth Fentress and Paul Reynolds
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31. SETTLEMENT SYSTEMS: STRUCTURES HIERARCHIES AND TERRITORIES
Organised by: Michel Tarpin (Université de Grenoble)
La session portera sur les hiérarchies d’établissements, sur leur insertion territoriale et sur le cadre juridique et social
dans lequel ils sont créés. Parmi les questions qui ont été développées récemment, nous avons retenu celles qui touchent à
la création, juridique et matérielle, des nouvelles communautés, colonies et préfectures, mais aussi conciliabula, ainsi qu’à la
colonisation viritim et à l’attribution de la citoyenneté (avec ou sans suffrage). Le processus de création, souvent négligé, ou vu
de manière simplifiée, peut être aujourd’hui abordé à travers deux approches récentes. La première porte sur l’archéologie des
premières phases d’occupation des territoires. La seconde, en interaction avec la première, est issue d’un renouvellement du
discours institutionnel, prenant en compte la complexité du processus de création d’une communauté et d’un établissement,
à travers l’interaction des autorités politiques, des élites et des groupes sociaux concernés.
[email protected]
Saturday 19 March, Odeion (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Lo sviluppo di una conquista. Dalla fondazione della colonia di sena Gallica all’organizzazione dell’ager, Giuseppe Lepore e Michele Silani
9.30 – L’impact de la colonisation romaine sur la structuration du paysage rural de la Macédoine orientale, Antonio
Gonzales and Georges Tirologos
10.00 – Rythmes censoriaux et temps de création des colonies: quelques pistes?, Michel Tarpin
11.00 – Tra autonomia e integrazione: diritti locali e giurisdizione prefettizia nelle comunità di cives sine suffragio,
Simone Sisani
11.30 – The impact of colonisation on landscape and settlement dynamics in central Adriatic Italy: contributions
from survey archaeology, Frank Vermeulen
32. DYNAMICS OF CULTS AND CULT PLACES IN THE EXPANDING ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: Tesse Stek (Leiden University)
The study of cultural change in the Roman world is increasingly benefitting from longer term and wider geographical perspectives, lifting artificial boundaries between Republican period Mediterranean and Imperial period provincial studies. Works
such as Keay/Terrenato 2001 have shown how different academic traditions shaped scholarly opinion in ways that cannot only
be accounted for by real regional differences in antiquity. Different academic backgrounds and traditions have also been key to
modern understandings of religious change. Although some similar divides between Italy and provinces, and Republican and
Imperial period are discernable, the debate on the ‘religious romanization’ of the conquered areas has also taken very different
paths. This session explores the interaction – or lack thereof – between the expanding Roman empire and existing or newly
emerging religious and cultic constellations by focusing on the archaeology of cults and cult places. Carefully collected and
analyzed archaeological data can offer information on the way that sacred spaces were established and used over time, and for
processes of transformation where traditionally we have seen static and continuous cultic activity. At the same time, in such
approaches the tension between large-scale overarching interpretations and the single constituent parts is particularly evident
and needs explicit consideration. Engaging with different research traditions and areas, the session seeks to explore common
trends as well as variabilities from a wide geographical and temporal perspective.
[email protected]
Thursday 17 March, Aula “Partenone” (GF, Museo dell’Arte Classica)
9.00 – Coloniae, civitates foederatae, ager: culti e santuari nel Piceno meridionale tra romanizzazione e municipalizzazione, Filippo Demma and Tommaso Casci Ceccacci
9.30 – Cult places during the Roman conquest of Eastern Iberia (3rdc. BC-1stc. AD). Transformations of ritual practices and sacred landscapes, Ignacio Grau Mira
10.00 – Romans at Greek sanctuaries: a view from the Aegean, Annelies Cazemier
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11.00 – De-Romanizing religious developments in the Roman West, Ralph Haussler
11.30 – The impact of empire on cult places and ritual practices in Roman Gaul and Germany, Ton Derks
12.00 – Mithraism and Religious Change: A View from Apulum Mithraeum III, Matt McCarty
Coloniae, civitates foederatae, ager: culti e santuari nel Piceno meridionale tra
romanizzazione e municipalizzazione
Filippo Demma and Tommaso Casci Ceccacci
L’area compresa tra la colonia Firmum Picenum e la città di Asculum – caput gentis e civitas foederata prima della deduzione coloniale tardo-repubblicana – fu in gran parte oggetto di assegnazioni viritane a partire dal III secolo a.C.; nel suo tratto
costiero è attestato il santuario “tirrenico” della dea Cupra, assai mal noto, mentre isolato nell’interno il santuario ellenistico
di Monterinaldo, non pare connesso con alcun nucleo urbano, ed è tuttora sostanzialmente inedito. Per la varietà delle forme
insediative e per il composito panorama di testimonianze connesse alla sfera del sacro, il Piceno meridionale rappresenta un eccellente campo di osservazione dei fenomeni culturali che ebbero luogo tra III e I secolo a.C. a seguito della conquista romana
dell’Italia medio-adriatica e della precoce “romanizzazione”. Questo contributo si propone di riassumere per la prima volta in
maniera unitaria lo stato della questione e di tracciare un quadro critico di tutte le testimonianze disponibili.
Cult places during the Roman conquest of Eastern Iberia (3rdc. BC-1stc. AD).
Transformations of ritual practices and sacred landscapes
Ignacio Grau Mira
Sanctuaries had an important role in shaping the landscape during the Late Iberian period (3rd c. BC) at the eve of the
Roman conquest. Most of them continued and experienced transformations after the Roman expansion in the area. The
archaeological record shows different phenomena related to these changes, which include monumentalization of buildings,
changes in votive offerings and the changes in the relationships with settlements. In this contribution, I present some examples
from Eastern Iberia: La Serreta (Alcoi, Alicante), La Malladeta (La Vila Joiosa, Alicante) and La Encarnación de Caravaca
(Murcia). These cult places display similarity in their creation of new sacred landscapes that are rooted in tradition. However, each cult place also had its own particularities, which can shed light on particular trajectories of ideological and religious
change in specific local conditions.
Mithraism and Religious Change: A View from Apulum Mithraeum III
Matt McCarty
Accounts of religion in the Roman world stand caught in the tension between civic and elective cult, between the particular localized (or localizing, or “glocalizing”) cults and the universalizing cults that grew rapidly under the empire. Understanding the religious life of the Roman world requires explaining these different registers, and how their intersections both
drove and can illuminate religious change in the Roman Empire. Cults of Mithras – localizing in their social structures and
visual idioms, but universalizing in their scope and spread – not only offer a unique case study of both registers, but have sat
at the heart of the grand narratives of religious change in the empire for over a century. Yet even if we reject the possibility (or
desirability) of such grand narratives, cults of Mithras still offer a field in which such changes can be measured and modeled,
and the mechanisms driving such change seen.
This paper will focus on contextualizing materials from the recent excavation of Apulum Mithraeum III (Dacia), and in
particular, its foundation deposit, within the changing religious landscapes of both Apulum and the empire more broadly. I
will argue that that the foundation deposit, like those often overlooked at other mithraea, points to a changed ritual practice
within late 2nd/early 3rd century Mithraism. Moreover, this set of deposits allows a glimpse of the networks and mechanisms
by which cult practices were transformed and became part of a “koine of practice” across the empire.
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ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE 12
POSTER SESSIONS
SESSION 3. EMPERORS AND FRONTIERS
Carla Cioffi (University of Freiburg, Università degli Studi Roma Tre)
[email protected]
A bilingual mensa ponderaria from the eastern Danube
Archaeology and Epigraphy intersect within the tables of measure (lat. mensae ponderariae, gr. sekomata), mobile objects of everyday life belonging to the diverse and heterogeneous group called instrumentum. Their corpus has an intriguing
epigraphic, metrological and historic-social example: A bilingual inscribed block, currently kept in Sofia (Bulgaria), that originates from a village close to the Roman-Thracian centre of Nicopolis ad Istrum. The archaeological context is unknown. This
mensa contains information about the commercial life along the eastern Danube in the 3rd, or possibly the beginning of the
4th century AD. It gives toponymical information about the Emporium Piretensium which, besides here, is only mentioned
in two other inscriptions. Moreover, the mensa provides metrological data in terms of inscribed measure names around the
foramina (carved standard-volumes), linguistic data as only the measures are written in a “Romanised” Greek, and social information since the Latin commemorating inscription mentions the administrative figure emporiarcha – an unicum among
this kind of finds.
The poster confronts the archaeological find with its inscriptions and compares it with other similar mensae. This approach allows a deeper typological comprehension and a new interpretation and chronology.
SESSION 4. QUALE MEMORIA? COMUNICAZIONE E FORME DEL RICORDO
NELL’ARCHEOLOGIA FUNERARIA ROMANA
Giancarlo Germanà Bozza (Accademia di Belle Arti di Catania)
[email protected]
Necropoli e riti funerari a Siracusa tra l’età repubblicana e la prima età imperiale
Con la conquista romana Siracusa subì una violenta distruzione, in particolare nei quartieri di Tyche e Neapolis, accompagnata da un notevole spargimento di sangue. Nel 210 a.C., però, i Siracusani beneficiati da Marcello con la restituzione
dei beni confiscati, istituirono in suo onore quale nuovo fondatore della città gli agoni detti Markellia disponendo “quando
Marcello o suo discendente mette piede in Sicilia, recare corone e sacrificare agli dei”. Da questo momento in poi il rapporto
di Siracusa con Roma si concretizzerà nell’integrazione ad un insieme politico e culturale pur mantenendo certe espressioni
di autonomia che in altri casi avrebbero portato allo scoppio di conflitti locali come le guerre servili. L’accettazione di culti e
onori pubblici da parte di personaggi romani conferma un comune interesse con i Sicelioti verso certe espressioni culturali. A
questo faceva riscontro un certo interesse da parte della borghesia siceliota per la cittadinanza romana.
Le indagini archeologiche condotte da Paolo Orsi presso la necropoli de Fusco, all’inizio del secolo scorso, portarono alla
scoperta dei primi gruppi di sepolture allora datato tra il III ed il I secolo a.C. Da allora gli scavi avvenuti a più riprese all’interno dell’impianto urbano moderno hanno permesso il recupero di tratti di necropoli, in particolare presso il quartiere della
Borgata e Via Necropoli Grotticelle. Lo studio dei tipi di sepoltura e dei corredi recuperati può costituire un valido punto di
partenza per potere analizzare un aspetto importante della società siracusana tra l’età repubblicana e la prima età imperiale.
Agnese Pergola (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
Memoria e autorappresentazione tra arte funeraria ed epigrafia in età tardo imperiale. Il
caso della catacomba dei Ss. Marco e Marcelliano.
Nell’ambito dell’archeologia funeraria romana tardo imperiale si collocano le catacombe dei Ss. Marco e Marcelliano che
nascono nel IV secolo e presentano un ricco apparato iconografico. Pittura e plastica funeraria si inseriscono all’interno di
ambienti ipogei che, in alcuni casi, trovano confronti nell’architettura subdiale monumentale di stampo imperiale. Il presente
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contributo, che rientra nella scia di un più ampio studio sulla committenza funeraria dell’élite romana di epoca tardocostantiniana, intende presentare le forme e gli espedienti utilizzati da alcuni membri della classe aristocratica dell’Urbe per la trasmissione della memoria e dei messaggi di autorappresentazione, che non sempre trovano adeguato riscontro anche nell’apparato
epigrafico. Tale scelta, che vede una predominanza dell’iconografia sull’epigrafia, lascia intendere quale fondamentale ruolo
giochino le immagini. Utilizzate per rispondere alle esigenze di una strategia comunicativa che richiama i modelli imperiali di
età costantiniana, rientrano in un giro di esperienze figurative che non trovano confronti solo nella Penisola ma si estendono
all’area mediterranea. Allo stesso tempo queste caratteristiche iconografiche e architettoniche diventano i tratti peculiari di una
catacomba che si pone come uno dei più tardi esempi di cimitero ipogeo comunitario.
Federica Maria Riso, Giovanna Bosi, Rossella Rinaldi (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia) and Donato Labate (Soprintendenza Archeologica dell’Emilia-Romagna)
[email protected]
Analisi archeobotaniche a confronto tra la necropoli suburbana di Mutina (scavo ex Parco
Novisad) e una necropoli prediale nell’agro centuriato mutinese (scavi cava Corpus Domini – Marzaglia)
I recenti scavi in necropoli romane dell’agro Mutinense e la crescente attenzione verso le tracce archeologiche più esigue,
ha permesso di individuare elementi relativi alla frequentazione delle necropoli. L’importanza di questi tipi di rinvenimenti è
decisiva, poiché essi riflettono direttamente le procedure di seppellimento e le azioni che accompagnavano la frequentazione
rituale delle aree sepolcrali: esaminandoli con attenzione si possono dunque ricavare informazioni fondamentali per comprendere i comportamenti legati alle pratiche funerarie.
Le tombe analizzate sono quelle delle necropoli in parte già indagate di Mutina e dell’agro Mutinense. In particolare, per
l’ambito suburbano, si prenderà in esame la necropoli dell’area “Novi Sad”, che fiancheggiava un ramo della Via Emilia e ha
restituito alcune centinaia di tombe, la cui cronologia va dal I secolo a.C. al IV d.C. Per quanto riguarda le necropolis prediali,
verrà presa in considerazione la necropoli rinvenuta in località Marzaglia, sito che può fornire importanti dati di confronto
tra le due realtà territoriali. La ricerca si prefigge di analizzare l’ideologia funeraria romana nelle sue numerose sfaccettature,
soprattutto attraverso lo studio dei resti archeobotanici ed archeologici rinvenuti nei contesti di necropoli, dove si possono
riconoscere consistenti tracce delle offerte legate al culto funerario.
Le osservazioni che sono state riportate sono una parte preliminare delle analisi archeologiche e archeobotaniche oggetto
di un progetto di dottorato in corso presso il Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica con la collaborazione della Soprintendenza ai Beni archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna.
Michela Stefani (Università degli Studi Roma Tre)
[email protected]
L’area archeologica del Sepolcro degli Scipioni: pratiche funerarie e rituali
L’area del sepolcro degli Scipioni, nel I miglio della via Appia, costituisce un campionario unico delle tipologie funerarie
romane. In questa piccola area archeologica, infatti, oltre al famoso sepolcro degli Scipioni, sono state realizzate, dall’età repubblicana a quella tardo antica, svariate tipologie di monumenti funerari, rappresentativi di diverse classi sociali e portatrici
quindi di molteplici messaggi, primo fra tutti la trasmissione del ricordo di sé.
Si tratta di un contesto funerario unico nel quale si passa in un attimo dal grandioso sepolcro rupestre della gens Cornelia,
la più antica presenza nel sito, a dei recinti in blocchi di tufo e opera reticolata, espressione di ceti sociali meno abbienti, per
arrivare poi a due colombari della primissima età imperiale, obliterati successivamente da altre due sepolture, un mausoleo a
tempietto di II-III secolo d.C. e una particolare tomba a camera con una catacomba annessa di IV secolo d.C.
L’esame architettonico e decorativo dei singoli monumenti funerari, in rapporto al contesto generale dell’area, permetterà
dunque di analizzare diacronicamente l’evoluzione delle forme architettoniche, delle pratiche rituali ad esse legate e quindi
dell’immagine di sé che i defunti intendevano trasmettere e della memoria che volevano perpetrare.
Sabina Veseli (Center of Albanian Studies)
[email protected]
A reassessment of the small necropolis of III-IV centuries AD of Zgerdhesh (Albania)
The ancient city of Zgerdhesh is situated in the central Albania. The city starting in the IV-III centuries BC, has known
the more prosperous period in the III-II centuries BC, representing one of the most developed sites of the Illyrians. The city
lost its importance during the Roman period, and only a small proto byzantine chapel was built in the peak of the hill.
This poster will reconsider a small necropolis of III-IV centuries AD discovered in Zgerdhesh. The material culture is
similar with other necropolis from Albania and it is dominated by plain pottery productions, arms, working tools and costume
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elements. The historical context comprises a period of crisis and upheavals with the invasion of the barbarians in the Roman
Empire, which contributed a lot in the refortification of many ancient cities in Illyria, which does not seem the case for Zgerdhesh as its geographical position did not offer very good conditions for protection.
The archaeological evidence and the inventory of the tombs which consists of elements of soldier’s costume and arms supports the theory that a small garrison of roman soldiers was set up in the site or for the presence of civilians servings as militaria
whom were responsible for the protection of the roads leading to the main cities as elsewhere in the empire.
SESSION 5. INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO ANCIENT ROMAN DIETS
Veronica Aniceti and Mauro Rizzetto (University of Sheffield)
[email protected], [email protected]
Animal food resources in Roman Britain: changing husbandry practices and dietary
preferences at Castleford (West Yorkshire, England)
The zooarchaeological analyses of a faunal assemblage from Castleford, a Roman military and civilian site in West Yorkshire, are presented and discussed. The fort was in use in the late 1st century AD; a small settlement developed next to the fort
and survived into the 4th century.
The assemblage here analysed was recovered from the vicus. The prevalence of cattle and the dearth of pig remains are
typical of Roman low-status military sites; similarities and differences between the vicus and the fort are explored in terms of
differential access to food resources.
Traits of specialisation become more apparent in the 2nd century, when cattle were consistently exploited for ploughing.
Highly standardised patterns of animal exploitation were affected by the needs and preferences of Roman settlers; this is observed elsewhere in Britain and led to widespread changes in the production and distribution of animal products.
The late Roman phase witnesses a return to more generalised husbandry practices. A shift of dietary preferences from beef to
mutton is attested by a major focus on sheep. This suggests that indigenous husbandry practices played a major role in this period.
The results are contextualised within the main trends of animal exploitation in Roman Britain.
Andrew James Donnelly (Loyola University Chicago)
[email protected]
Contextualizing the Flat-Bottomed Cooking Pan
The proliferation of the flat-bottomed cooking pan, a distinctly Italian form, coincides with the expansion of the Roman
state. It gradually disappeared from the Mediterranean as Rome’s influence waned, and by Late Antiquity is found only infrequently even in the Italian peninsula.
I examine the cultural context of use of these vessels, looking at textual references to the vessel (e.g. patina, patera) in conjunction with the verbs used to describe cooking (e.g. asso and torreo). I also examine references to where the vessels were cooked,
the ingredients used and meals prepared in this type of vessel, and compare this to residue analysis conducted on such vessels.
This investigation leads to a deeper understanding of certain aspects of the vessel’s use and demonstrates the impact and
significance of the vessel’s disappearance. As this ubiquitously Roman form disappeared, many of the words associated with
the flat-bottomed cooking pan decreased in frequency of appearance, changed meaning, or simply vanished from the textual
record. The language of cooking profoundly changed in Late Antiquity, indicative of a wide-spread cultural shift in the Italian
peninsula, one dependent on near-simultaneous demographic, economic, and technological upheaval and transformation
which altered even the most basic aspects of daily life.
Jack Dury and Oliver Craig (University of York)
[email protected]
Stable isotopes of processed fish products in Roman coastal environments
Garum and allec were edible products of fish ‘fermentation’ and used as condiments in the cuisines of Ancient Greece,
Rome, and Byzantium. Garum is the clear liquid which forms on the top the mass of ‘fermenting’ fish with the sediment
beneath known allec. The archaeological evidence for the processing of fish in the Roman world is widespread and the consumption of these fermented products is evident at all levels of Roman society. However, when reconstructing the Roman diets
using stable isotopes fermented fish is rarely considered as separate dietary source; archeological studies have generally considered fish muscle to be an appropriate isotopic substitute for all fish products consumed by ancient Romans. δ15N and δ13C
stable isotope measurements of modern garum and allec condiments, made to authentic Roman specifications, demonstrate
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that this presumption is false. For the purposes of dietary modeling and the interpretation of Roman bone collagen isotope signatures, these products may have to be considered separately and may have more dietary significance than previously thought.
Julia Hurley (Independent Scholar)
[email protected]
An Integrated Approach to Mapping Foodways in Iron Age and Roman-Period Britain
The study of ancient Roman foodways faces two major challenges: over-reliance on literary sources and exceptional archaeological sites, and a focus on overly narrow sub-categories of evidence in large-scale analyses. Studies in the first category
often give primacy to elite diets, whereas the latter frequently center on small groups of variables such as major stock animals or
exotic plants. While these yield valuable information, they fail to provide the integrated, more comprehensive views of ancient
diets that are essential to moving the field forward.
The project presented here is a proof-of-concept for a new approach to the subject that employs digital methods to integrate large, and often inconsistent, datasets to enable the detection of broad patterns as well as variations within them. Multiple
categories of samples, and associated information about sites and contexts, are stored in a standardized manner within a relational database that is in turn integrated with a Geographic Information System containing cultural and environmental spatial
information. The system is very scalable and designed to be easily expanded. The test dataset consisted of 970 archaeobotanical
and archaeozoological samples from 39 sites in Cambridgeshire. Preliminary results suggest that this method could provide the
basis for a more reliable and comprehensive approach to the study of ancient foodways.
Tzvetana Popova (Institute of archaeology – Sofia) and Hana Hristova (Sofia University “St.Kl. Ohridski”)
Use of Pinia (Pinus pinea) – for food or ritual?
The Pinus pinea or the so-called Umbrella-pine is a typical Mediterranean plant.
The collection of cones with fruits seems to have been quite often in the Near East as well as in Cyprus and in Greece.
Many Roma authors such as Plino, Columela, and Paladius have mentioned the consuming of these fruits with likable taste.
The purpose of this report is to summarize the findings of P. pinea depending on their context from the territory of Bulgaria. In Bulgaria fruits of this pine have been already found in several archaeological sites.
The Pinus pinea is connected with ritual treating. Evidence of it provides it’s repeatedly findings in graves. The fruits were
burned in tombs during ritual acts related to fertility. The recurrence of the finds in the tombs indicates their significance as
ritual fruits related to the life of the deceased. Judging by the context of the discovered remains, it is obvious that on the territory of the country it was used both for consumption and rituals.
SESSION 7. BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: INTERSECTED
PERSPECTIVES ON LUSITANIA
Giovanni Distefano and Angelica Ferraro (Università della Calabria)
Sardina pilchardus, tonno ed anfore lusitane Almagro 50-51 nel Mediterraneo. Relitti e
commerci nel IV sec. d.C. Il caso di Randello (Sicilia)
Dal relitto di Randello (Sicilia) è nato un carico di anfore commerciali tipo Almagro 50, che trasportavano 3.000 Kg. di
sardina pilchardus, come risulta dalle analisi compiute al British Museum. Le recenti analisi mineralogico-petrografiche hanno
evidenziato una pasta delle anfore scuramente attribuibile ad una fabbrica lusitana. Questo era un carico unitario, come quelli
di Maratea, Nora e Zirje. In altri relitti con carichi misti, le anfore Almagro 50 e 51, contenevano resti di sgombro (Ca-brera
A), di pesce (sardine) (Port Vendres, Lazzareto) e di tonno (Plannier).
I confronti statistici e le distribuzioni dei vettori, confermano una prevalenza dei carichi misti che coprono mercati regionali (foce del Rodano) rispetto ai relitti con carichi esclusivi (tutti con pesce salato?) che indiziano segmenti di distribuzione
esclusivi e forse rivolti al Mediterraneo centrale (Sardegna, Sicilia, Alto-Adriatico).
Da questi dati è possibile ipotizzare diversi sistemi di commercializzazione di prodotti della regione della Lusitania nel
Mediterraneo.
Gianluca Minetto (UMS) and Cristina Nervi (MIUR-CPIA)
[email protected]
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The Lusitaniana fish products in the port of Olbia (North-estern Sardinia)
Olbia is the main port on the Estern coast of Sardinia. It is settled in a Gulf which allowed the development of an important market since the Phoenician period.
In Late Roman period cargoes from the whole Mediterranean area (Hispania, Levant, Italic Peninsula, Calabria, Sicily,
Africa and Gaule) joined the port.
The Lusitanian products arrived at Olbia since the 1st AD.: are attested Dressel 14 – amphorae containig oil –.
Particularly interesting are the Late Roman importations; in 4th and 5th AD the Lusitanian amphoras arrived at Olbia,
carrying fish products – contained in Almagro 51C and Almagro 50 amphorae –.
Lusitania was at that time the major fish product exporter in the Western Mediterranean area; its direct competitor was
North Africa – mainly actual Tunisia –, but, among the amphorae attestations of Olbia, Africa seems not to be sufficiently
competitive in this sector.
In conclusion this poster will deal with the importation of Lusitanian fish products to Olbia in Late Antiquity, analyzing
this stuffs together with the whole mass of importation from the others Mediterranean area (Baetica, North Africa, and Levant).
Nobody till now has studied the commercial role of Olbia – he Sardinian port right in front of Rome in the Tyrrhenian
sea – on the basis of the amphorae data, in general and on the Lusitanian products in detail.
Joey Williams (Western Iberia Archaeology)
[email protected]
An Early Roman Watchtower in Central Lusitania: Colonial Negotiation, Cultural
Exchange, and Surveillance Archaeology
The reorganization of western Iberia into the province of Lusitania was presaged by the establishment of military, economic, and political control over the region during the first century B.C.E. As part of this, a number of watchtowers were
positioned around the Serra d’Ossa in the central Alentejo region of Portugal. The excavation of one of these towers, called
Caladinho, and its associated domestic space was undertaken from 2010 to 2013. The architectural and artifactual remains of
Caladinho speak to the swift, profound social and cultural changes wrought in the region by Roman colonialism. The artifact
assemblage suggests that the inhabitants maintained connections with Roman cultural practices, provincial administration,
and Mediterranean markets despite their isolated position in the Lusitanian hinterland. The position of Caladinho and other
towers around the Serra d’Ossa is likewise instructive since these towers appear to form a complementary surveillance network
which observed routes of transport through the region as well as many of the more inaccessible, remote areas in which dissent
to the new Roman hegemony might have developed. This surveillance, performed by the tower’s inhabitants, was part of a
program of colonial negotiation which would define the province in later centuries.
SESSION 11. INNOVATION THROUGH IMITATION IN THE ROMAN WORLD: CREATIVE
PROCESSES AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON IN ROMAN CRAFTS
Giulia Bison (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
Una variante di fibula tipo Aucissa dal Palatino
Tema dell’intervento è una particolare variante del ben conosciuto tipo Aucissa, fibula assai diffusa nei territori dell’impero fra l’età augustea e quella flavia. Proveniente da un contesto di età augustea, la fibula in questione presenta caratteristiche
peculiari nella conformazione e nella decorazione dell’arco che la rendono un unicum nel panorama delle attestazioni sin qui
conosciute, ma che al tempo stesso permettono di rintracciarne la genesi nelle produzioni del tipo La Tène, ponendola anche
come tramite tipologico fra l’articolazione “classica” dell’Aucissa e le più tarde fibule ad arco multiplo.
Un ulteriore tema affrontato riguarda la libertà di scelta nella conformazione e nella decorazione di questi oggetti da parte
di coloro che li fabbricavano, ma anche il ruolo degli acquirenti nella scelta di oggetti caratterizzanti l’abbigliamento e quindi
l’aspetto esteriore.
SESSION 12. URBAN STREETS AS COMMUNICATION SPACES IN THE ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD
Nùria Romanì Sala (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
[email protected]
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La calle y la escenificacion del estatus urbano y social. Embellecimiento y mejoras viarias
en la ciudades del conuentus tarraconensis en época altoimperial
El análisis arqueológico de las vías urbanas de diversas ciudades del conuentus Tarraconensis ha revelado nuevos e interesantes datos sobre el papel de la calle en los procesos de monumentalización y mejora urbanística que vivieron muchas ciudades
en época imperial.
Arqueológicamente, se han detectado obras de mejora viaria y la dotación de servicios y comodidades, que van desde la
construcción de mobiliario y equipamiento urbanos (fuentes, alcantarillado, pórticos o arcos) hasta el enlosado de calles, especialmente en los lugares más concurridos de la ciudad y que gozan de mayor visibilidad.
El carácter público y comunal de la calle en el mundo romano favoreció su uso como escenario para la exaltación de la
grandeza y el estatus de la propia ciudad, y también de sus ciudadanos.
Las intervenciones entorno al ornato urbano no solo fueron llevadas a cabo por el poder municipal, como símbolo de
romanidad y de refinamiento de la ciudad, sino también por parte de personajes de la élite urbana, que sufragaban particularmente obras en la red viaria, ya fuera mediante actos de munificencia pública a favor de la comunidad cívica, potenciando, así,
su prestigio social y político, o embelleciendo directamente los tramos viarios colindantes a su propiedad.
SESSION 16. SETTLEMENT TOPOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT –
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN SEVERAL MEDITERRANEAN REGIONS
Ulla Rajala (Stockholm University, Sweden / University of Cambridge) and Philip Mills (University of Leicester)
Pottery circulation, villas and Roman Nepet from the Republican period to late antiquity
This poster summarises the analysis of Roman pottery distributions around Nepi in their geographic contexts. Based on a
ceramiscene approach – i.e. characterising the economic landscape explicitly as ‘the landscape that is created, manipulated and
experienced by the manufacturing, usage and disposal of material of deliberately fired clay’ (Mills and Rajala 2011). This poster
explores these local landscapes of production, use and disposal through GIS and statistical analyses.
Pottery is used as a proxy for human activities. Not only is it a dating tool, but the study of proportions of ware types and
functional makeup can be a powerful and sensitive tool for predicting a site’s status and type. By mapping the sites defined
in this manner the relationship between the urban centre and the villas in its hinterland can be explored as well as the transformation from the Republican period to the sixth century AD, and how different strata of society would be affected by the
changing economic fortunes of the area.
SESSION 17. RELITTI E COMMERCIO ROMANO NEL MEDITERRANEO OCCIDENTALE IN
EPOCA ROMANA
Raffaele Laino and Fabrizio Mollo
Il relitto di Diamante (CS): un’esperienza di archeologia subacquea nel medio Tirreno
calabrese
Si propone una prima sintesi dell’indagine svolta nel costruendo bacino portuale della città di Diamante (CS), lungo le
coste tirreniche calabresi. Sebbene il lavoro sia stato interrotto in corso d’opera a causa di problemi della ditta appaltatrice, i
primi dati rivelano la peculiare importanza del relitto, attualmente unico nel contesto geografico di pertinenza.
Un attivo lavoro di équipe ha, infatti, consentito di individuare e scavare un carico di anfore da trasporto per il commercio
di vino, olio e pece, probabilmente proveniente dalla Campania, databile alla metà del III sec. a.C.
Inserito nel circuito economico già noto per il comparto territoriale limitrofo, costellato di fattorie legate alla produzione e
commercializzazione dei medesimi prodotti, il relitto articola il quadro delle dinamiche commerciali dell’area ponendo nuova
luce sulla vitalità del comprensorio.
Seppur periferico rispetto ai grandi centri del Tirreno, esso risulterebbe connesso alle principali rotte del traffico commerciale marittimo e forse in relazione con la fase lucana del centro di Cerillae (ancora da identificare sul terreno), di cui l’area,
nei pressi di un promontorio roccioso a sud della foce del fiume Corvino, potrebbe costituire uno degli approdi principali.
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L’indagine, non ancora conclusa, è aperta a nuovi sviluppi non mancando di interessanti spunti di discussione; essa offre, in particolare, un discreto campionario delle produzioni anforiche relative, con particolare attenzione alle MGS V e VI,
prodotte probabilmente in Campania ma anche sulla costa tirrenica calabrese, visto che, in qualche caso, erano destinate al
trasporto della celebre pix bruttia.
SESSION 20. THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE – RECENT RESEARCH AND NEW INSIGHTS
Sonja Vuković-Bogdanović (Laboratory for bioarchaeology, Faculty of Philosophy,Belgrade)
[email protected]
Beasts from the games or something else? Animal remains from roman amphitheatres
Knowledge on animal spectacles involving animals in amphitheatres is mainly based on literary data. Ancient writers,
who obviously tended to exaggerate in their narrations, mostly described shows that went on in the Colosseum, while data
on animal shows in other amphitheatres are scarce. Indeed, it is a question which animals were actually used in spectacles
throughout the Empire. Zooarchaeological data, which are the strongest evidence on animals that lived in the past, have rarely
been incorporated in studies. In the course of archaeological excavations of Roman amphitheatres animal bones are common
finds. Although these bones are mainly butchery or food waste, finds of animals (e.g. big cats, bears) that according to texts
could have been used in spectacles, raise the question – what they really mean and whether we can connect them to animals
that participated in shows. In this poster faunal composition and other features of animal bones from Roman amphitheatres
have been mutually compared and also paralleled with zooarchaeological data from other chosen Roman period sites. Faunal
data come from amphitheatres in Italy, Roman Britain, Austria and Switzerland, while detailed study of animal remains from
Viminacium amphitheatre (Serbia) have been used as a case study for finding answers to raised questions.
SESSION 24. OGGETTI, AVVENIMENTI E STORIA
Milena Raycheva (Sofia University)
[email protected]
Caracalla in Philippopolis. Another perspective on Cassius Dio
The poster focuses on a little known brass relief of Caracalla from Philippopolis, Thrace. The emperor is depicted wearing
elephant skin and facing Herakles. This peculiar image was found on a chariot decoration plate which was buried with the
vehicle itself and some horses in the grave of a local individual. The unusual iconography corresponds to a popular passage
in Cassius Dio (surviving through an epitome by Xiphillinus) that describes the behavior of Caracalla at the beginning of his
Eastern campaigns, or the supposed imitation of Alexander and/or Dionysus. That included strange acts, such as gathering of
elephants. Historians have been generally skeptical when analyzing this passage, as it finds no support in literary tradition, and
it has been considered an exaggeration or a demonstration of dislike by Dio. In any case, the iconographic data from Philippopolis raises several points of discussion that go beyond the usual reading of Dio. Was the narrative based at least partly on
real events? How did the relief appear in Thrace and what was the historical context behind it?
Nicola Luciani (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Paolo Rosati (Università degli studi dell’Aquila)
Soppiantare un dio: strutture e fonti per una narrazione storica del mitreo-chiesa di S.
Nicola a Guidonia
Attraverso lo studio delle fasi architettoniche e delle varie fonti si tenterà di ricostruire le fasi di vita di S. Nicola a Guidonia, oggetto di recenti indagini da parte di chi scrive per conto della cattedra di Archeologia Classica del prof. Eugenio la Rocca.
Tempio ipogeo di grande interesse scientifico, probabile testimone di un avvicendamento tra due culti iconici del tardo
impero: venerazione di Mitra e Cristianesimo.
•
•
•
Si illustreranno i vari metodi tramite i quali:
Il luogo di culto è stato collegato alla presenza di importanti gentes senatorie nel territorio ed in particolare ai Valeri
si è riusciti a comprendere come si è giunti alla trasformazione di V-VI secolo del mitreo in chiesa cristiana
sono stati ricostruiti i passaggi di proprietà in un periodo compreso dall’età tardoantica al basso medioevo
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•
viene mostrato il parallelismo speciale tra le successioni di proprietà del sito e gli avvicendamenti storici e quelle avvenute
sul Mons Coelius a Roma sede dei Valeri
Tramite metodi analitici archeologici e storici si proporrà una visone generale di alcune dinamiche del tardoantico romano
solcato profondamente da modalità cruciali di trasformazione sociale e religiosa.
SESSION 26. L’ADRIATICO NELL’ANTICHITA’ QUALE LUOGO DI TRANSITO DI UOMINI, DI
MERCI E MODELLI CULTURALI
Sofia Cingolani (Dipartimento di studi umanistici, Università di Macerata)
[email protected]
Produzione, commerci e scambi tra le due sponde dell’Adriatico nel corso dell’Ellenismo e
dell’età romana attraverso i casi di Urbs Salvia (Picenum) e Hadrianopolis (Epiro)
Il contributo si propone di fornire dati finalizzati ad ampliare le conoscenze in relazione all’economia e al commercio nel
bacino del medio e basso Adriatico a partire dall’analisi di alcune categorie merceologiche, sulla base cioè del sistema produttivo e degli scambi, con la finalità di chiarire i diversi modi in cui si attuano le varie forme di trasmissione, assimilazione e integrazione culturale nei territori in esame grazie al ruolo svolto dall’Adriatico. Le merci, le produzioni ceramiche in particolare,
analizzate principalmente sotto il profilo della loro diffusione e quindi come specchio dei rapporti economici e commerciali
tra i diversi ambiti territoriali, costituiscono infatti un fossile guida fondamentale alla delineazione delle principali dinamiche
di contatto, trasmissione, passaggio dei modelli culturali tra diversi ambiti territoriali. Si analizzeranno, quindi, una serie di
produzioni ceramiche e in vetro presenti ad Urbs Salvia (Picenum) e Hadrianopolis (antico Epiro, attuale Albania) mettendo
in luce come tali produzioni possano essere elementi determinanti per la ricostruzione delle attività economiche e dei traffici
commerciali di entrambi i centri e dei rapporti con i rispettivi entroterra e con i centri dell’area adriatica.
Dimitri Van Limbergen (Ghent University)
[email protected]
L’olio piceno: una merce trascurata dell’economia dell’Italia centrale Adriatica nell’età
romana?
Il ruolo dell’oleocoltura nell’area centrale Adriatica dell’Italia romana è sempre stata considerata ‘modesto’, cioè di basso
livello di produzione, destinata in primo luogo al consumo interno, e solo in secondo luogo sporadicamente anche commercializzata verso mercati esterni. Però, la documentazione archeologica nella campagna marchigiana e teramana dà sempre di più
indizi ed elementi di conferma dell’esistenza di una produzione significativa di olio durante sia il periodo tardo-repubblicano
che quello imperiale e tardo-antico. Infatti, studi recenti hanno mostrato che non meno di 53% dei siti che esibiscono prove
decisive per un torchio da olio o da vino nel tempo romano sono da identificare come frantoii. Questo è un dato di grande
interesse, visto che una tale importanza dell’oleocoltura picena era di tutto inaspettata a giudicare dalle fonti letterarie e dalla
difussione ‘limitata’ delle anfore olearie di probabile produzione picena (Dressel ante 6B, Dressel 6B “prima fase” e le cosidette
“anfore con collo ad imbuto” e “Schörgendorfer 558”). Attraverso l’analisi dei torchi finora registrati, la distribuzione anforica
e lo studio della demografia regionale, questo contributo vuole riflettere sull’ampiezza della richiesta locale per questo prodotto
e sulla posizione delle olive picene nell’economia nazionale e internazionale tra 100/50 a.C. e 150/200 d.C.
SESSION 27. RETHINKING THE CONCEPT OF “HEALING SETTLEMENTS”: CULTS,
CONSTRUCTIONS AND CONTEXTS IN THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE
Mariya Avramova (University of Warsaw)
[email protected]
Healing Settlements in Roman Thrace: Past Scholarship and Future Perspectives
Roman healing settlements have been an object of interest for many scientists for over the past century. However, not
all settlements have received the same amount of scholarly attention and as a result some regions are better studied than others. Roman Thrace falls amongst the latter. Though many healing settlements in the Roman province of Thrace are known
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from epigraphic and literary sources as well as from archaeological excavations, not all of the information is easily available to
scholars. On the other hand the data is published separately for each settlement or even for each aspect of a settlement, e.g.
architecture, cult activity, etc. Moreover, no general study of the topic has been conducted so far and few attempts were made
to look at the healing settlements as complex establishments and to examine their role in public life in the province.
The poster aims to present the state of the scholarship of healing settlements in the Roman province of Thrace. For this
purpose some of the sites will be presented, most notably Aquae Calidae, Diocletianopolis and Pautalia. On this basis an
attempt to outline the future perspectives for research of healing settlements in the province of Thrace will be undertaken.
SESSION GENERAL
Chiara Fornace (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
L’opera poligonale in Cilicia Tracheia
Il territorio compreso tra il fiume Lamos e Kalykadnos corrisponde al settore più orientale della regione storica denominata Cilicia Tracheia. La regione situata sulla costa sud-orientale dell’odierna Turchia è caratterizzata da un tessuto montuoso
contraddistinto da affioramenti di calcare e da una sottile linea di costa estesa a ridosso della catena montuosa del Tauro che
separa l’area dall’altopiano anatolico.
La Cilicia Tracheia presenta uno sviluppo urbano non particolarmente estensivo e a carattere disomogeneo, con programmi edilizi del tutto peculiari e fortemente influenzati dalla disponibilità del materiale impiegato nella realizzazione degli edifici:
il calcare. In merito alle tecniche edilizie impiegate nella regione è possibile constatare come si attesti, sin dall’età ellenistica,
una tradizione di opere definite “a secco”, tra le quali si impone l’opera poligonale prevalentemente per il periodo che intercorre tra la tarda età ellenistica e la definitiva annessione della regione al sistema provinciale romano.
L’opera poligonale prevede, come è noto, l’utilizzo di blocchi di grandi dimensioni disposti con un allettamento asimmetrico e discontinuo, data le cospicue proporzioni dei blocchi questa tecnica si rivela particolarmente idonea alla realizzazione
di monumenti massici e con scopo difensivo. Nella regione è possibile constatare la presenza di mura di cinta, di acropoli
fortificate e torri realizzate in opera poligonale. Le recenti indagini sul territorio hanno evidenziato, tuttavia, come tale tecnica
venne impiegata anche per la realizzazione di altri tipi di edifici, non a scopo difensivo, quali templi, recinti murari, abitazioni
e addirittura sepolture. È probabile che per la tarda età ellenistica si possa parlare di un trend costruttivo da identificarsi con
l’opera poligale, il cui impiego risulta esteso alle diverse tipologie monumentali di destinazione sia pubblica che privata.
L’analisi diretta delle strutture presenti nella regione in esame della Cilicia può condurre ad un chiarimento sulla maniera
edilizia, sul modo di realizzazione, sulla lavorazione dei singoli blocchi e sulle modalità di sbozzatura e di messa in opera al fine
di stabilire il processo di evoluzione tecnologica della tecnica stessa, così da poter meglio definire la cronologia dei monumenti.
Alice Landskron (University of Vienna)
[email protected]
Roman sculpture in domestic spaces in context: the evidence of the third and fourth
century AD in Roman Ostia
In the proposed poster the display of Roman sculpture in domestic spaces will be discussed regarding iconographic aspects
(ideal sculpture), reworked/reused statues and portraits, based on the sculptural evidence in the Domus della Fortuna Annonaria in Ostia. The sculptures in the Domus will be studied by the proposer within a project which starts in October 2015.
Moreover, comparative studies of other domestic spaces in Ostia will give a general view on the sculptural decoration in the
period of time under discussion, considering historical and social contexts.
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THEORETICAL ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE 26
SESSION ABSTRACTS
T1. BEYOND THE ROMANS: WHAT CAN POSTHUMANISM DO FOR CLASSICAL STUDIES?
Organised by: Linnea Åshede and Irene Selsvold (University of Gothenburg)
The term “posthumanism” is used to refer to a multitude of theoretical positions, with the common denominator of being
critical of traditional conceptions of the privileges and limitations of “the human.” Scholars within diverse fields have recently
embraced posthumanist theories to challenge the standard dichotomies of Renaissance humanism in their research, stressing
instead the mutual relationship between matter and discourse, and considering the agency of animals, artefacts, landscapes,
and ideas alongside humans.
The session demonstrates posthuman theory’s great potential to develop classical scholarship in general, and specifically
classical archaeology, in relation to how we approach both ancient cultures and our own positions as researchers. Posthuman
perspectives are particularly relevant for the topics of Roman mythology and religion, with their emphasis on metamorphoses,
hybrid creatures, and encounters between actors that are human, divine, monstrous, or all of it. Roman religion is rife with
animated landscapes and sacred groves, the oracular capacity of “inanimate” objects and liquid boundaries between images
of gods and the gods themselves. In such instances, the assumptions of traditional scholarship have sometimes resulted in the
construction of philosophical conundrums that may have been alien to Roman culture.
We explore how posthuman perspectives instead are capable of acknowledging the various ways in which Roman approaches to elements of myth, art and material culture, built and natural space and the sacred, displace and complicate modern
notions of human exceptionalism and individualist subjectivity. The session aims to critically engage with the human/individual-focused research practices that have dominated archaeology, to explore the possibilities posthuman perspectives can provide
for the development of Roman archaeology.
Wednesday 16 March, Aula III (FF)
Chair: Linnea Åshede and Irene Selsvold (University of Gothenburg)
9.00 – Posthumanism and the Romans – prospective, potential and the road ahead, Irene Selsvold
9.30 – Priapus can be Anything: Bodies Without Borders in Roman Art, Linnea Åshede
10.00 – Venusti (semi)viri vates: Posthuman visions of early Roman encounters with the Galli, Lewis Webb
11.00 – The agency of Roman funerary monuments: from human to incarnated (biographical) entity?, Vladimir Mihajlovic
Posthumanism and the Romans – prospective, potential and the road ahead
Irene Selsvold (University of Gothenburg)
[email protected]
Our session raises the question “What can Posthumanism do for Classical Studies?”. My paper aims not at answering
this question, but explore some of the possibilities posthumanist theory provide for our field. As the session title hints at,
posthumanist theory is still a very new theoretical direction within the humanities in general, and certainly within Classics.
Thus, this paper aims at shedding light on posthumanism as a theoretical direction and research tool, its impact on, and
reception in, humanities thus far, and at exploring the potential of posthumanism in our future research.
Firstly, I will give an overview of the central aims and themes of the posthumanist debate. The main focus of posthumanist
theory is to go beyond the Cartesian notion of “Man”, something that can be explored through considering non-human and
trans-human agency in our research (Barad 2003;Braidotti 2013). Central themes in the debate have been, amongst others,
the agency and power of artefacts (e.g Gell 1998, Olsen 2010), the agency of nature and the relationship between human/
culture and nature, including human/animal relations (Conneller 2004; Harraway 2008) and humans as geological force – the
so called “Anthropocene problem” (Solli 2011).
Lastly, I will raise the question that the title of the session asks. What can Posthumanism do for us? How can Posthumanist
theory contribute to Classics, to Roman archaeology, to us as researchers?
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Priapus can be Anything: Bodies Without Borders in Roman Art
Linnea Åshede (University of Gothenburg)
[email protected]
Scholars agree that Roman culture was highly androcentric, or, indeed, phallocentric – images of phallic aggression
rule supreme in literature, art, and ideology. Against this background, it seems surprising that the one figure which literally
embodies the phallus, the god Priapus, appears as such a malleable and almost shapeless character. Visual representations
display a bewildering iconographic inconsistency where the phallic god can be old and bearded or young and smooth, a crude
wooden stump or finely carved marble, occasionally with animal characteristics; in particular, this masculine hyperbole is often
dressed in women’s clothing, he sometimes has female breasts, and his representation in art and literature frequently casts him
as simultaneously threatening and comical, god and buffoon, victor and victim.
This paper approaches the unstable image of Priapus through the posthumanism of Karen Barad and Donna Haraway.
Rather than accepting the god’s shifting images as conflicted, their perspective calls for the examination of what happens when
seemingly “mismatched” elements – such as female dress on the hyper-masculine Priapus – meet. According to Barad and
Haraway, individual entities are only created in encounters, and encounters never leave individual entities unaffected. Thus,
the body of Priapus in all its liquid changeability must be understood as a unique kind of whole. Above all, focus must be
shifted from Priapus’ de facto appearance to its relative effects. This paper, thus, will ask what his seemingly inconsistent image
does to the concept of Priapus, firstly to Priapus himself as a god and personification, and, secondly and in a transferred sense,
to our understanding of Roman phallocentrism.
Venusti (semi)viri vates: Posthuman visions of early Roman encounters with the Galli
Lewis Webb (Umeå University)
[email protected]
Was there something inhuman about the Galli, those eunuch priests of Anatolian Cybele (Magna Mater) and Attis, who
entered Rome in 204 BCE (Livy 29.10-11, 14)? In this paper, drawing on textual and material evidence and posthuman
theories (Braidotti 2013; Nayar 2014), I illustrate how, in their early encounters with the Galli, the Romans envisioned them
as not-quite-male, not-quite-human, and possessed of vatic (prophetic) power. As I will demonstrate, for the Romans of the
2nd century BCE, the Galli were capable of prophesying victory and dominion for Rome, but not of being men, their gender
too liminal and ambiguous. Attis, their divine antecedent and exemplum, was worshipped along with the Magna Mater at
her eponymous temple on the Palatine in Rome from the 2nd century BCE onwards, as evidenced by the numerous votives
therein, while the Galli and their prophecies were reverenced by the proconsul C. Livius Salinator in 190 BCE at Sestius,
the consul C. Manlius Vulso in Galatia in 189 BCE, and by the Roman people in Rome itself in 102 BCE (Polyb. 21.6.7,
21.37.5-7; Livy 37.9.9, 38.18.9; Diod. 36.13; Plut. Mar. 17.5-6; Lancelotti 2002; Bowden 2012; Latham 2012). In these
encounters the materiality, movement and religiosity of the priests sets them apart; they are beautiful dancers, splendid in regal
attire, whilst being vatic and omens themselves (see also: Varro, Men. 135, 137, 140 (Cèbe 1977)). Informed by the critical
posthuman dialectics of Braidotti (2013) and Nayar (2014), and using early Imperial statues and reliefs of the Galli and Attis
as a visual guide (Vermaseren 1977a), I propose that the Romans saw the Galli as an assemblage of qualities (human, divine)
and identities (male, female), as dynamic hybrids, as posthuman.
The agency of Roman funerary monuments: From human to incarnated (biographical)
entity?
Vladimir Mihajlovic (University of Novi Sad)
[email protected]
It is relatively widely accepted that religious objects (statues, monuments, altars, relics, ‘fetishes’) were regarded as living
entities in the Roma world. In these cases, the notion that ‘objects do want’ something and posses capacity to act is not
fiercely disputed by the scholars, since cited kinds of artifacts are seen as cultic and understood as intimately associated with
the supernatural, magic or spiritual. Although essentially comprehended as inanimate things vested with special symbolism/
meaning, general awareness of their acting potential still exists. But does the same apply to funerary monuments?
The common academic view asserts that funerary monuments were used as status markers, communicating various
identifications of the deceased, simultaneously distinguishing them as singularized social personae, and placing them within
the various groups of social peers. Funerary monuments are seen as discursive devices and rhetoric statements about the dead,
produced and capitalized by the living. Nevertheless, drawing from ‘posthumanism’ perspectives, the question arises whether
the ‘objects’ of funerary monumental-epigraphic practice could be instead understood as ‘subjects’ of agency per se. The paper
discusses the possibility that funerary monuments were comprehended as ‘living things’ and interactive members of (local/
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residential/family) communities, mediating between this and ‘other’ worlds. Through their materiality, by appropriation of
identification data, visual representations of the deceased or allegoric references to their lives, along with the spatial association
to the resting place of a body, and the part played in mortuary ritualized behaviors, funerary monuments could have assumed
the role of the reified biographical entities. Their capacity to integrate various concepts, mobilize different meanings and
practices, articulate ‘the presence of the absent’ and the state of ‘in-betweenness’ could have made them powerful incarnated
agents in their own right.
T2. METHOD MATTERS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE IN ROMAN COLONIZATION STUDIES
Organised by: Jesús García-Sánchez and Anita Casarotto (Leiden University)
Roman archaeology is not only a battleground for theoretical confrontation but a frame where numerous research
methodologies emerge and develop constantly, shaping the construction of narratives of the past to a considerable extent.
As all archaeological methods are theory-laden, it is essential to assess the role of methodology in the construction of the evidence which later informs the narratives. This session aims to make the theory-ladenness of archaeological methods explicit,
in order to integrate this important concern in the discussion agenda. As a case study, the session will focus on the study
of Roman colonization, where historical narratives and archaeological research have been closely intertwined. The study
of Roman colonialism has benefited from the theoretical on-going debate deconstructing or amending long-established
academic views on colonization. Those new theoretical insights go hand in hand with strong requirements of new data or
a need to re-study legacy data in order to address questions that despite general agreement turn out to have fragile empirical bases. By bringing together ongoing methodologically innovative research on Roman colonial landscapes, the session
aims to stimulate debate about the relations between methodological choices, theoretical backgrounds, and the creation of
a historical narrative. The focus will be on new data acquisition and re-assessment of legacy data in the fields of landscape
archaeology (e.g. remote sensing, settlement pattern analysis, predictive modeling, geoarchaeology, bio-archaeology) and
field survey methodology (e.g. off-site and intra-site survey, sampling strategies). While each of these methods has their
own theoretical background, insights from each of these fields could be fruitfully used to gain knowledge of the process of
colonization in the Roman world.
Thursday 17 March, Aula III
Chairs: Jesús García-Sánchez and Anita Casarotto
9.00 – Making use of secondary data: the feedback of ceramic surveys, Damjan Donev
9.30 – Testing settlement models in early Roman colonial landscapes, Anita Casarotto, Jeremia Pelgrom, Tesse D.
Stek
10.00 – Looking at Sites in a Colonial landscape. The importance of data visualization, Jesús García Sánchez
11.00 – Geomorphology as a research tool to assess Roman colonial studies, Kevin Ferrari
11.30 – Modelling Roman agriculture as evidence of a colonial landscape. Riparian vegetation and viticulture in
Hasta Regia, Daniel J. Martín-Arroyo Sánchez
12.00 – A changing game: Investigating native economic responses to Roman conquest in the Dutch limes zone via
agent-based modelling, Jamie Joyce and Philip Verhagen
Making use of secondary data: the feedback of ceramic surveys
Damjan Donev (Leiden University)
[email protected]
The countryside of the Balkan interior during the time of the High Empire remains a foreign country, even to scholars
who specialize in this part of the Roman Empire. Despite the lack of a dedicated research program the past several decades of
intensive urbanization and large construction projects have accumulated a considerable corpus of legacy data which cannot
be justly ignored. Studying the hinterlands of the Roman towns in the Balkan interior within the frames of the project “An
Empire of 2000 cities”, it proved possible to get a closer look at the nature of the problem.
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Two major categories of settlements have been commonly reconstructed from the archaeological remains discovered in
the countryside of the Balkan Peninsula. One is the isolated villa-estate, almost by definition related to the social elite and the
large land property; the other is the nucleated settlement, usually associated with the native pre-Roman communities, small
or even communal ownership. The careful sieving through the available publications in combination with the knowledge obtained from intensive ceramic surveys has rather lead us to the conclusion that neither of these settlement forms is particularly
prominent in the region’s countryside. In fact they may rather prove to be the product of the prevalent theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of rural settlements. A few case studies from the Balkan interior, alongside the results of a
ceramic survey on the territory of the Colonia Flavia Scupi will point to a settlement type that conforms to neither of the two
models. Often interpreted as large nucleated settlements these clusters of humble farmsteads appear to be quite conspicuous,
especially in the hinterlands of the Roman colonies. The peculiar size and layout of these settlements pose a number of interesting questions related to their socio-economic role and status.
Testing settlement models in early Roman colonial landscapes
Anita Casarotto (Leiden University), Jeremia Pelgrom(Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome) and Tesse D.
Stek (Leiden University)
[email protected]
In this paper we present a deductive method for testing settlement theories of early Roman colonization (3rd century BC).
We perform comparative density and settlement pattern analysis on legacy survey data collected by three regional, site-oriented field surveys. These surveys were conducted in the territories of the Latin colonies of Venusia (founded by the Romans
in 291 BC), Cosa (273 BC) and Aesernia (263 BC), respectively located in three different landscapes of modern Basilicata,
Tuscany and Molise. We use GIS spatial tools on the distribution of Hellenistic sites (c. 350-50 BC) to test the viability of two
competing rural settlement models of early Roman colonization. The first model is historically accepted: it depicts a colonial
countryside consisting of a dense network of farms evenly distributed across the territory, on regular, grid-based plots of land
(centuriation). The second model is based on a recently proposed theory supporting, instead, the presence of colonial polynuclear system where villages were the main settlement foci in the rural context. After assessing the extent to which these datasets
conform to the conventional regular or the alternative nucleated settlement model we conclude that only small parts of them
conform to conventional expectations on colonial settlement organization and demography. Moreover, settlement patterns
in these colonized territories reveal that early Roman colonial landscapes were more diverse than previously thought and very
sensitive to social and environmental conditions of the local context. Based on the available archaeological record, indeed, the
top-down conception of Roman colonization does not seem applicable to these early colonial landscapes which “non-regular”
settlement rationale, with variable mixture of dispersion and nucleation, may testify the crucial role played by local physical
constrains and specific cultural situations.
Looking at sites in a colonial landscape. The importance of data visualization
Jesús García Sánchez (Leiden University)
[email protected]
Visualization is an important (first) step to understand the structure of archaeological spatial distributions of diverse nature. Therefore those are a key element to formulate models about regional dynamics, for instance in terms of population and
landscape use around colonies. As pinpointed in many other discussions in Mediterranean Survey archaeology, dots and maps
are inescapable tools of representation for any landscape oriented method and this cartographic transmission of information
could also wear or transmit important theoretical laden components as the Western Cartesian worldview denounced from
post-processualist trenches. Since we organize surveys with a strong spatial component like regular grids or samples spaced
regularly over an area of defined size, we therefore have to study the collected datasets attending also its inner spatial location.
Cartography despite accusation of Eurocentrism and ideologically biased is still the most useful (and easy for a layman’s terms)
way to communicate spatial grounded problems.
Without repeating valuable comments offered by different authors, the scope of this paper is to explore new methods of
studying the role of sites in colonial landscapes in both inter-site and intra-site level exploring new analytical possibilities based
on spatial visualization of datasets, using both conventional and newly developed statistical and visualization tools. Always
bearing in mind the importance of explanation on how they contribute to our knowledge of the colonial phenomenon. The selected study case is the Roman colony of Aesernia (263 BC) where several years of extensive, intensive and site oriented survey
provided nuance datasets to explore. The sites to be analysed were choose among the site gazetteer according to its belonging to
the Republican period (from 3rd century BC onwards) and re-surveyed in the summer of 2014 and 2015 yielding important
discoveries in terms of landscape use, household assemblages and site formation processes.
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Geomorphology as a research tool to assess Roman colonial studies
Kevin Ferrari (Bologna University)
[email protected]
If local historical background and strategic evaluations influenced the deduction of new colonies as key elements, we can
see how environmental conditions and geomorphology also conditioned the Romans in the choice of the location and in the
early urban planning organization. The current landscape is different from the past, and we need the cooperation of several
disciplines (archaeological and geological survey, geological and geomorphological studies, pollen analysis) to identify its characteristics in Roman times and to place the foundation of new cities in the correct context.
Our studies focused on dynamic environments like costs and river plains. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, we
highlighted how the original landscape was, how the physical geography influenced the urban planning and the settlement distribution, what kind of transformation took place during the Roman times and in the Late Antiquity, summing up all this, we
evaluate how the impact of human activities on the environment was. Our approach analyses also the way the environmental
transformations (like erosion or alluvial deposits) could influence the preservation state of archaeological site and, consequently, our interpretations. Fluvial activities could cover ancient settlements under several meters of alluvial deposits (as we verified
near Sybaris or in the zone near Lugo).
The analysis of settlements distribution shows the occurrence of preferred geomorphologic units. New colonies (like Cremona and Placentia in the Pianura Padana, or Mintunrae near river mouths) were usually placed in open areas near streams
on fluvial terraces or beach dunes and their orthogonal urban planning was adapted to the physical geography (for instance
with walls overlapping fluvial scarps). The deduction of colonies was accompanied by land distribution and measures taken
to reclaim and created a new landscape with cultivated fields, roads, channels and farms, (but wetlands and woods were not
totally eliminated).
Modelling Roman agriculture as evidence of a colonial landscape. Riparian vegetation
and viticulture in Hasta Regia
Daniel J. Martín-Arroyo Sánchez (CEIPAC, Universidad de Barcelona)
[email protected]
New reflections and methodological improvements are presented within an ongoing research carried out by the author. In
a theoretical framework, vine training systems are considered as an ancient cultural heritage. Historiography has assumed the
difference between Punic sine pedamento and Italic cum pedamento viticulture. Exploration of this assumption is conducted
in GIS by modelling the riparia/uinea agronomical ratio in the frontier of the colonia Hasta Regia and the municipium Gades.
This ratio is based on Columella’s standard of the proportion between vineyards and riparian spaces required to provide raw
material for a vine training system. In this paper, a new approach on the self-sufficiency of plots is tested. Every plot has been
defined by a Thiessen polygon surrounding a Roman site which was operative in a chronological frame between 45 B.C. and
74 A.D. Two types of plots are defined by the ability or inability for the ratio enforcement: those where cum pedamento viticulture could have been possible and others where it could not have happened. A higher ability is expected from plots where
an Italic agronomic tradition shaped the units of land exploitation. Differences in agricultural systems will be discussed as
evidence of Punic heritage in the territory of Gades in contrast with Italic influence in the pertica of Hasta Regia. In that way,
Roman political statuses of both cities would have been a consequence of historical backgrounds with persistent repercussions
on their ethnographical compositions and traditions as well as on their rural patterns of settlement. Finally, usefulness of model
is considerate not for demonstration but for weighting the plausibility of this hypothesis.
A changing game: Investigating native economic responses to Roman conquest in the
Dutch limes zone via agent-based modelling
Jamie Joyce and Philip Verhagen (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
[email protected]@vu.nl and [email protected]
In this paper, we present the initial results of using agent-based modelling to investigate native economic responses to
Roman conquest in the Dutch limes zone. The Roman conquest and subsequent occupation of the Rhine-Meuse delta brought
new game-changing parameters within farming. Not only were Roman macro-economic policies introduced, the highly militarized nature of the Roman presence in the region resulted in pressure on the rural native population to provide surpluses for
a non-producing population. What is more, the local population had to also contend with living and farming in a dynamic
fluvial landscape. Until now, the responses of the local population to these exogenous factors have only been considered in
generalist terms.
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To investigate these responses, we have constructed an agent-based model (ROMFARMS) which simulates in combination the three main activities of the mixed rural economy in the Dutch limes zone: fuel/wood acquisition, arable farming and
animal husbandry. Agent-based modelling enables us to investigate how small-scale decisions can lead to macro-scale phenomena. Thus, by testing various scenarios and economic strategies within the aforementioned activities, this method can be used
to observe how different behaviours and external factors affected the rural settlements’ ability to both sustain themselves and
produce surpluses in a changing landscape. Furthermore, we can use this tool to investigate the principle limiting factors such
as the availability of land and labour on the economic potential of the local agrarian population diachronically and inter-regionally. In addition, we explain how we have used large bodies of pre-existing data to inform the construction of the model,
the scenarios we simulate and ultimately to test the plausibility of our results.
T3. MARXIST TRADITIONS IN ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Organised by: Andrew Gardner and Mauro Puddu (University College London, University of Cambridge)
One of the most important theoretical traditions in archaeology is the suite of approaches derived from the writings of
Marx and Engels, and their followers. In Anglophone archaeology, various forms of Marxist thought were influential throughout the mid-late 20th century, from the pioneering work of Gordon Childe, through a more covert alignment with some of
the aims of processual archaeology, to the more openly neo-Marxist aspects of post-processualism. While the application of
ideas about economic structure, ideology, and social change derived from Marxism has been limited in Anglophone Roman
archaeology, there is massive potential for such approaches to be explored, particularly as Marxist thought is enjoying a renaissance of relevance in the early 21st century. Moreover, such approaches provide a promising avenue for theoretical engagement
between the Anglophone and Italian traditions in Roman studies, because a Marxist perspective has of course been a significant
feature of later 20th century Roman archaeology in Italy. This session is therefore intended both to promote such an engagement between national traditions, and also to explore at the theoretical and applied levels the relevance of Marxist approaches
to understanding either the economic and social dynamics of the Roman world or the historiography of Roman archaeology.
Wednesday 16 March, Aula III (FF)
Chairs: Andrew Gardner and Mauro Puddu
14.00 – Finding the marginalised? Being the marginalized, Steve Roskams
14.30 – Divorcing theory from politics: Marxist thought in Eastern European Roman archaeology, Emily Hanscam
15.00 – Crisis, Marxism and Reconstructions of Time, Paul Pasieka
15.30 – Worshipping the Roman emperor: uneven and combined developments?, Dies van der Linde
16.30 – Marxist dialectic vs. the predominant notion of local identities: the study of cult centres in the Hauran (southern Syria) (100BC–AD300), Francesca Mazzilli
17.00 – Dynamics of power: an architectural reading of concentration of power (Ullastret, northern Iberia, IV-III
century BC), David Cebrian
17.30 – Welcome-back Marx! The rise, the fall and the rebirth of a thought. Marxist perspective for Roman Archaeology at the end of the Post-Modern Era, Edoardo Vanni
Finding the marginalised? Being the marginalised?
Steve Roskams (University of York)
[email protected]
My response to this session, initially, was to ask ‘What Marxist approaches to Roman archaeology?’ Any review would thus
be quite brief! I do, however, welcome this chance to discuss the Anglophone application of Historical Materialism, especially
for the opportunity it presents to engage with our Italian colleagues. I also appreciate the recent broadening of debate on Marxist perspectives, now that talk of a living in a post-socialist world; of having reached, with Fukuyama, “The End of History”;
and of post-processualist perspectives in archaeology as being intellectually fulfilling have all been exposed as questionable or
vacuous.
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My plan is to focus selectively on the historiography of Roman studies. This must take place both within and beyond
archaeology, as some of the more important perspectives come from outside our discipline. What I see as the relative lack of
advance in this sphere may seem surprising, given that Marx himself was deeply interested in Antiquity, finding a direct link
between his early research into Democritus and Epicurus, via Leibnitz, to Hegel’ s dialectics, which he utilised then transformed. Part of the explanation is that Marxism still has to rid itself entirely of stagist notions derived from the machinations
of Stalinism. Yet I believe that progress has also stalled due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the notion of a mode of
production, and thus of what we mean by the slave mode of production. I will try to show that this has important implications
for how we might interpret a range of archaeological evidence.
Some time ago, Randall McGuire, in A Marxist Archaeology, proposed that “Marxism (is) a philosophy, a tradition of
thought, a mode of theoretical production”. Compare this with Trotsky: “Marxism is, above all, a method of analysis – not
analysis of texts, but analysis of social relations”. It will become clear that I am very much with Trotsky on this one.
Divorcing theory from politics: Marxist thought in Eastern European Roman archaeology
Emily Hanscam (Durham University)
[email protected]
How does Roman scholarship in countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Serbia currently differ? What role, if
any, does Marxist theory play in this divergence? Is there a noticeably different attitude towards Marxist thought in formerly
communist countries? Given the history of communism in this area, is it possible to separate the connotation of Marxism (with
all its political baggage) from the key points of theoretical Marxism? For Romania especially the Roman past is vital to their
national identity and heritage, more intimately tied to the contemporary perceptions of the state than in the West. This relationship determined the historiographical development of Roman archaeology, to the extent that the success of the discipline
depended on the current political climate. It appears, however, that if there is a Marxist tradition in Romania it is in spite of
the communist era. Dragoman describes the use of Marxism in this period as “assertions mechanically added at the beginning
or end of some absolutely traditional (positivist-empiricist) archaeological works” (2009: 2). To understand the history of
Marxism in Romania and the rest of Eastern Europe, we must consider the employment of the theory (or lip-service to the theory) in restricted academic climates as well as the use of tenets central to the theory as genuine methodological developments.
This paper will attempt to separate one from the other, in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of the means by which
Roman scholarship developed in 20th century Eastern Europe. It will also consider the circumstances in which a discipline can
be seen as progressing theoretically despite the change being politically motivated.
Crisis, Marxism and Reconstructions of Time
Paul Pasieka (German Archaeological Institute, Rome)
[email protected]
In my paper I will explore the relationship between Marxist conceptions of crisis and their impact on archaeological
research of the Roman Empire after World War II. The term of crisis and its conceptualization occupies a central position in
Marxism. Two different uses of crisis can be differentiated in broad terms: on the one hand, cyclical, short-term crises form an
essential part of the economy in a capitalistic and industrialized society; on the other hand, crisis is used to describe the transitional process between different historical formations of society. The first type of crisis is a phenomenon firmly rooted in modern day industrial societies and therefore cannot be found in other historical periods. This model gained far-reaching influence
on the conception of the constitution of the modern economy and diffused broadly into every day knowledge. The latter type
of crisis, in contrast, form part of Marx’ s philosophy of history. They are used to construct the conversion between different
historical formations of society as a process of ever increasing socio-economic tensions. These tensions are solved either through
evolution or through revolution. This paper poses the question whether one or both of these Marxist conceptions of crisis
were incorporated in archaeological research and methodology, how they were incorporated and which influence they exerted
on our thinking and perception of time and its inherent dynamics. This last point highlights the conscious and unconscious
implications of a normatively loaded term like crisis and its relationship to historical and archaeological sources and their own
temporal and chronological qualities. I want to compare individual, selected examples of Marxist traditions in archaeological
research in England, Italy and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to emphasize similarities and differences in their approaches to Marxist interpretations. Moreover, the paper aims to show the international connections between Marxist actors,
potential interdependences in the works of the major scholars in light of their different social and political backgrounds, and
the dynamics of different European ‘Marxisms’ in archaeology.
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Worshipping the Roman emperor: uneven and combined developments?
Dies van der Linde (Koç University, İstanbul)
[email protected]
The main attraction of currently dominant theoretical approaches in Roman Archaeology such as globalisation and ‘identity’ studies lies – in contrast to the master narrative of “Romanisation”– in their ability to account for heterogeneity, diversity
and localities. However, the fundamental problem with these approaches is their tendency to describe diversity rather than to
explain it. Leon Trotsky’ s law of ‘uneven and combined development’, first outlined in his treatise The History of the Russian
Revolution (1930), does have this explanatory power and has experienced a resurgence in recent social theory-debates. This
paper aims to explore the possibilities and shortcomings of the law of ‘uneven and combined development’ in studying social
change during the Roman Imperial Period, with particular reference to the development of emperor worship in Roman Asia
Minor. Referring to emperor worship and local religious traditions in Roman Asia Minor, the late Simon Price in his influential
account Rituals and power: the Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor (1984: 234) already recognised that “the accommodation
of external authority within local traditions is a widespread phenomenon.” Moving beyond the recognition of heterogeneity
in the spread of emperor worship, we should ask: how can we account for the fact that these processes of accommodation, of
incorporation, differed from city to city? And why did these developments occur in particular and distinct ways? By means of
a selection of case studies in Asia Minor – e.g. Ephesos and Adada – this paper discusses the incorporation of emperor worship
in different cities and the various strategies of incorporation. By adopting the law of ‘uneven and combined development’ the
paper provides an attempt to explain this variety with reference to ‘the advantage of backwardness’.
Marxist dialectic vs. the predominant notion of local identities: the study of cult centres
in the Hauran (southern Syria) (100BC–AD300)
Francesca Mazzilli (University of Cambridge)
[email protected]
Sanctuaries in the Hauran have been subject of scholarly interest for almost over two centuries. Inscriptions were at first
documented in the second half of the nineteenth century. Temples’ ruins were recorded from the late nineteenth century. A
categorisation of deities worshipped in the region goes back to the 1950s. More recently, in the last forty years scholars have
argued the predominance of a local identity in the Hauran. Steinsapair has attempted a one-off phenomenological interpretation of the ritual landscape in 2005. In view that these scholarly findings on the subject partially reflect how archaeological
approaches have developed and changed over time, this paper points out to the necessity to seek a more contemporary perspective on this topic. It investigates to what extent and how a Marxist dialectic can help move away from the scholarly monolithic
idea on the predominance of the local identity in the Hauran. Through the study of rural cult centres and historical sources
we can trace complex political, social and economic dynamics in this area. The Hauran was inhabited by a local rural population connected with and influenced by other cultures and it was a territory of conflicts between local monarchies before its
integration into the Roman Empire. These conflictual historical events, including the annexation of the region to the Roman
Empire, and different political and cultural entities embedded in the local political structure determined social dynamics and
change. A Marxist dialectic offers us the tools to re-evaluate the society of the Hauran not as an inexistent isolated oasis but as
a complex interconnected web, of an entity defined by its relationship to other entities. This paper aims to consider the society
of the Hauran as an ‘onion’, using Patterson’s image, with different layers that scholars can and ought to peel and unravel.
Dynamics of power: an architectural reading of concentration of power (Ullastret,
northern Iberia, IV-III century BC)
David Cebrian (Independent researcher)
[email protected]
This paper will discuss the role of domestic architecture in the construction of narratives of power and its importance as
a key feature to determine and analyse both the economic system, the social change and the prevailing model of family in the
4th-3rd century BC. On the one hand, scrutiny of domestic architecture is a fruitful way by which to draw out a deeper insight
with respect to social organisation, as well as being an indicator of ideology. On the other hand, social change is frequently
reflected in the household in the same way as it is in settlement structure. Ullastret is located in north-east Catalonia. The size
of the settlement and the urban layout, along with its impressive defensive system, make this site one of the most relevant settlements of both Catalonia and the western Mediterranean. A domestic architecture has recently been excavated: the so-called
zone 14 which has shed light on Iberian urbanism and relationships of power. After taking into account the empirical analysis,
this paper contributes by determining that power can be concentrated for a number of reasons. These relational reasons are
addressed within this presentation through the architectural inquiry of some of the most relevant features of this household,
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such as its intimate linkage to the rampart and the gateway, and its interrelation with the landscape and the management of
the natural resources. The core idea of this paper draws on my interpretation of Marx’s concept of structure and superstructure,
wherein social organization determines the economic model, and therefore, by applying the dialectical method, the control of
production determines social organization. It is within this theoretical framework that my interpretation of the Iberic site of
Ullastret articulates.
Welcome-back Marx! The rise, the fall and the rebirth of a thought. Marxist perspective
for Roman Archaeology at the end of the Post-Modern Era
Edoardo Vanni (University of Siena)
[email protected]
In this paper I will try to draw briefly the theoretical agenda concerning the role of Marxist tradition as a real place for
synthesis of several typologies of oppositions (theoretical, material, ideological and so on) by taking into account its different
penetration in Anglo-American and Italian Archaeology from a philosophical point of view (historicism vs empiricism? Hegel vs Kant?). The theoretical debate in archaeology has been dominated by the well-known diatribe between processual and
post-processual archaeology, particularly fervid in the Anglo-American academia. These challenges to the hegemony of New
archaeological theory manifest the appearance of oppositional theory groups in other parts of the world, engaged in a dialogue
with the processual archaeologists. In this process the Marxist thought has played a key role.
The three postprocessual archaeologies discernible are conceptually distinct but related, with areas of overlap and divergence. One claims the English philosopher Robin Collingwood as an intellectual ancestor. A second strand resonates more
consciously with phenomenology and poststructuralism and employs the insights of French thinkers, Gadamer, Giddens, as
well as critical theorists like Benjamin or Habermas. The third postprocessual archaeology acknowledges the importance of
Althusser’ s insights on ideology as well as those of Lukacs, Ricoeur and the Frankfurt School.
The three postprocessual archaeologies take different elements from Marxist social thought and from the European Archeological tradition, without resolving the tension among structural Marxism, humanist Marxism, and Marxist phenomenology.
After the failure of great narratives, we are now seeing a rise (or a need?) of strong theoretical back-grounds, that recall
(new)-materialism. We have to rethink the role of Marxist thought in the wider context of different academic traditions, especially for the Theoretical Roman Archaeological Agenda, at the end of Post-Modern Era.
T4. Theatricalising Memory. An Archaeological Approach to Religious Performance in the
Roman World
Organised by: Valentino Gasparini (University of Erfurt)
Recent research has highlighted ways in which semantic memories are constantly recreated, allowing for the shaping of
both collective and individual identities, and has raised questions about the role of rituals in the process of perpetuating cultural and individual memories. The performance of religious rituals offers a means for social groups to reaffirm their cohesion
through a « dramatic » experience which energizes shared emotional states and reinforces the individually lived participation
through a symbolically-articulated communication. The bodily arousal of emotions represents an efficient strategy which allows communities to recover an experience of direct continuity with foundational (either real or imagined) events even situated
in a remote past.
The panel aims to investigate, through the magnifying glass of archaeology, how this memorialisation was constructed in
the Roman world through kinesthetic forms of dance, gesture, and/or theatrical performances, potentially combined with the
spoken or written word. A very selective group of scholars from different methodological backgrounds and with a wide range
of expertise in archaeology as well as in history of religions have been invited to explore this challenging issue.
[email protected]
Thursday 17 March, Aula IV (FF)
Chair: Valentino Gasparini (University of Erfurt)
9.00 – The Theatre-Temple Pattern in the Italic Sanctuaries: Origins and Functions, Alessandro D’Alessio
9.30 – Inside Out: Spectacularisation of Grief and Joy in Isiac Hilaria, Valentino Gasparini
10.00 – Activating the Circus: Sacred Space, Collective Performance and Spectactor Memories, Sinclair Bell
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11.00 – Stirring Scenes: Performing Religion in the Roman East, Frederick G. Naerebout
11.30 – Choreographing Religious Spectacle: Processional Movement at Ostia, Katherine Crawford
12.00 – Performing the Rituals of Imperial Cult in Late Antique Rome: Temples, Topography, and Inscriptions, Douglas Boin
The Theatre-Temple Pattern in the Italic Sanctuaries: Origins and Functions
Alessandro D’Alessio (Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area Archeologica di Roma)
[email protected]
The distinction and concomitance of spaces of the gods, of men and the sharing of the sacred have been highlighted by John
Scheid, precisely in relation to the case of the terraced Romano-Italic sanctuaries, where the different architectural levels contributed at the same time to the appropriate separation and correlation of these “hierarchical” domains (although still forming
part of a common characterisation of the sacred landscape, in compliance with the Plinian “precept” that human space must
be part of the same ensemble as the divine, without, however, merging with it). In this perspective, the axial combination of
a cavea and a temple in some Romano-Italic sanctuaries (e.g. Arezzo, Cagliari, Gabii, Hispellum, Munigua, Pietrabbondante,
Pietravairano, Praeneste, Rome, Teanum and Tibur) configured, between the late-Republican and Imperial times, an architectural pattern representing a “new” response to older religious and ritual needs. This system allowed a possible dual use of space,
physical and symbolic, constantly looking for a symbiotic tension between experience of inner (properly architectural) spaces
and outer (environmental) ones. This pattern allowed the practitioners to discover (gradually or suddenly) the ritual spaces
through a complex balance between standing and movement, form and function, structure and meaning. The atmospheres
created by these architectures and their surroundings were clearly intended to raise emotional states during rituals and to perpetuate individual or collective memories.
Inside Out: Spectacularisation of Grief and Joy in Isiac Hilaria
Valentino Gasparini (University of Erfurt)
[email protected]
The Egyptian funerary rites of Osiris caught very early the attention of the Graeco-Roman sources, and Xenophanes
among them, who in the 6th cent. BCE was already inviting the Egyptians not to worship Osiris as immortal if then they cried
his death. Almost a millenium later, Christian apologetical literature (Arnobius, Firmicus Maternus, Lactantius, Minucius
Felix and many others) was still complaining about the Isiaci beating their chest and imitating both the grief of Isis, looking
for her lost brother and husband, and her joy at the moment of finding him (the so-called Inventio Osiridis or Hilaria). The
excessive emotional involvement of the devotees participating to these ceremonies, the peculiar “dramatic” imitation of Isis’
feelings (pain as well as joy), and its annual repetition represented an instrument of memorialisation of Isis’ mythical deeds
which, by recreating the presumably related emotional states, reinforced the feedback between performers and audience and
perpetuated their cultural memories. This paper aims to explore chronology, contents and meaning of the Roman festival of
the Isia (culminating with the Hilaria of November the 3rd), and, in particular, focusses on the archaeological evidence that
may allow to understand which spaces, objects and agents were involved in these Isiac rituals.
Activating the Circus: Sacred Space, Collective Performance and Spectactor Memories
Sinclair Bell (Northern Illinois University)
[email protected]
Roman culture was a performance culture and the Circus Maximus was its grandest stage. The earliest chariot races were
said to have been held in the Vallis Murcia at Rome’s founding in the context of religious ritual, and the Circus Maximus
remained a hallowed venue for the renewal of Rome’s religious identity though the performance of public ceremonial events,
such as the pompa circensis. As spectators, Romans not only bore witness to such choreographed set-pieces with their numenous
casts, but also became engaged participants – indeed, actors – in performances that encouraged the communal reenactment
of the city’s deep past. At the same time, the official theology embedded in such processions might also provoke individual,
unscripted responses from audience members, as we know from Ovid (Amores 3.2.44-54), among others. Processions such as
the pompa circensis can thus be thought of as “performed theology,” one “embedded and embodied in sacred places and ritual
practice – theology was material and especially performed”. For these reasons, the circus is a rich site for undertaking an archaeological approach to religious performance in the Roman world. This paper looks at the structure of the circus itself and select
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material culture related to the games, including devotional objects and souvenirs, in order to consider how they embody official
protocols of seeing as well as highly personalized responses. For while it is clear that the ceremonial events at the circus, such
as the pompae, were intended to act as signposts to a shared history and in this way to promote social cohesion and collective
“identity,” these same events also had the potential to trigger associations and catalyze memories for individual Romans, like
Ovid. Such experiences could be embodied in their gestural responses in the stands or enshrined through the material artifacts
they purchased, commissioned and dedicated.
Stirring Scenes: Performing Religion in the Roman East
Frederick G. Naerebout (University of Leiden)
[email protected]
When looking at commemoration, memorialization and other ways of identity production, the importance of performances, in the wide sense of public events, can hardly be underestimated. There we have the occasions where people tell
themselves about themselves (rephrasing Clifford Geertz). Performances are a central component of ‘lived religion’ – which
has recently come to the fore as a focal point of research. An important part of performances consists of kinetic behaviours,
and these even gain in importance when the setting is rather less verbalized than the world in which most people live now.
In ancient societies too the non-verbal modes of communication loomed larger than we can readily imagine, especially in the
form of dance. Dance was usually conceived as the movement component of mousikē, which included music and poetry, that is
to say: dance was performed to instrumental accompaniment and to song. The dance that I will discuss is dance performed in
a cultic context. This follows from the fact that most performances that have been documented for Antiquity are of a religious
nature (indeed, it would be wrong to try to find explicitly non-religious performances). In the context of TRAC the challenge
is to approach performative religion, especially dance, from a primarily archaeological point of view. In the Roman East, relevant imagery seems rather sparse compared to Hellenistic and earlier periods. First we have to establish whether this is indeed
the case, and if it is, why we see this falling off of imagery while written evidence does not, or not obviously, point towards any
decline in the popularity of dancing. Certainly, there is more evidence then is usually supposed or suggested: when one takes,
for instance, the ThesCRA, there is an unbalance to be addressed. Where imagery fails us, we have to think of architecture:
temple theatres immediately spring to mind, but a fresh look at some sanctuaries might suggest other ways to link specific
architectural features to performance.
Choreographing Religious Spectacle: Processional Movement at Ostia
Katherine Crawford (University of Southampton)
[email protected]
Religious processions were carefully choreographed events intended to relay a variety of messages. Despite their acknowledged regularity within the Roman world, our understanding of processional movement, and in particular urban processions,
remains extremely limited. Studies concerning triumphal, funerary, and circus processions dominate current scholarship due
to their greater documentation by the ancient literary sources. These processions, however, formed only a fraction of Roman
processional activity. Consideration of urban processions at Ostia, Rome’s ancient port, provides the focus for an innovative
analysis of how processions functioned within the cityscape, contributing to the broader experience of religion by the population. As the record of the performance of processions was primarily held in the memories of those who took part or heard about
them, the ways in which they can be studied are challenging. Possible patterns of movement and the visibility of processions
within Ostia will be considered by applying a methodology that builds upon previous urban, spatial, and movement studies.
It is argued that this kind of approach makes it possible for us to gain a clearer understanding of the engagement of both
participants and spectators. This can bring us closer to understanding shared religious experiences that ultimately illustrate the
dynamic relationship that existed between religious spaces and the negotiation of ritual activities.
Performing the Rituals of Imperial Cult in Late Antique Rome: Temples, Topography, and
Inscriptions
Douglas Boin (Saint Louis University)
[email protected]
This presentation describes the performance of emperor worship in Late Antiquity by looking at the archaeological record
of fourth and fifth century CE Rome. It does so while also articulating the need for greater methodological rigor in the study
of Late Antique political ritual, material culture, memory, and religion. Notwithstanding important new work in the field of
Roman religion, which has challenged the monolithic idea of “the imperial cult” (J. Brodd, and J. Reed, eds., [Atlanta, 2011]),
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the study of emperor worship in Late Antiquity remains stunted by a reliance on anachronistic social-historical frameworks
and under-theorized approaches. After reviewing this literature and discussing particularly relevant insights from the study of
political ritual and performance (such as D. Kertzer, Ritual, Politics, and Power [Yale, 1989]), the balance of my presentation
examines archaeological evidence from Rome to argue for continuities in emperor worship into the later Roman period. Contrary to claims that emperor worship was inherently in tension with Christianity and was eliminated with the rise of “Christian
Rome,” I suggest here that it remained an essential political ritual because it could be “performed” in a multitude of ways.
These performances, both in text and in architecture, engaged with a preexisting topography of temples and sites pregnant with
memories of the Roman past. Monuments and sites to be discussed include the inscription erected in 431 CE in the Forum
of Trajan (CIL 6.1783) which names Theodosius I as “divus”; the Temple of the Gens Flavia on the Quirinal Hill; and the
anonymous Christian basilica-mausoleum complex on the via Praenestina.
T5. Beyond hybridity and code-switching: New approaches to the archaeology of Late
Hellenistic Rome, Italy, and the wider Mediterranean
Organised by: Francesca Diosono, Dominik Maschek
In the late 1970ies, an archaeological paradigm of ‘Hellenization’ was firmly established to explain cultural change in the
regions of Italy from about 200 BC to the early Imperial period. In this model, the diffusion of various forms and styles of material culture throughout the peninsula was understood as a process of acculturation, driven mainly by Rome and its senatorial
élite and thus intrinsically linked to the contemporary wave of ‘Romanization’. At the same time, the ‘romanizers’ themselves
were seen as the weaker part in a second process of acculturation, in which they were ‘hellenized’ by the cultural superiority of
the Greek East (as implied e.g. by Horace epist. 2, 1, 156f.).
However, over the last two decades this framework has been thoroughly challenged by a variety of new approaches, drawing
largely from post-colonial thought and cultural theory. Stressing the importance of multiple identities, local innovation and resistance – all well-known from anthropology, globalization theory, and linguistics – the big narrative of acculturation was gradually
deconstructed, introducing a much more dynamic but also heterogeneous image of Late Hellenistic Italy. In the foreground
stood the much debated concepts of hybridization and hybridity, in which players from different cultures are actively negotiating
in a cultural middle-ground. A slightly different approach was recently taken by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, who conceptualized
the cultural formation of Late Hellenistic Rome and Italy as an example of bilingualism, stressing the importance of “deliberate
code-switching”. In his own words “the cultures do not fuse […], but enter into a vigorous and continuous process of dialogue
with one another” (A. Wallace-Hadrill, Rome’s Cultural Revolution, Cambridge 2008, p. 23). However, the socio-political
framework for this kind of “dialogue” remains rather vague, causing a certain uneasiness with the undoubtedly attractive image
of a stimulating multicultural society of code-switchers. Already Mikhail Bachtin, one of the founding fathers of “hybridity” in
literary studies, made a distinction between at least two different kinds of hybridization: First, as an intentional and politically
motivated strategy; second, as an unconscious, much more organic process, whose results are much less obvious or clear-cut.
Against the backdrop of this caveat, the session tries to shed new light on the ways of modelling the process of cultural
formation in the archaeology of Late Hellenistic Rome and Italy in a wider Mediterranean context. The key question is: To
what extent did objects, buildings or texts carry and communicate values across time and space, transforming societies? Drawing from diverse fields of material evidence, such as art, architecture, inscriptions and objects of consumption, the positive
qualities and effects of cultural exchange shall be set against factors like dominance, physical displacement and subjugation. By
bringing together a variety of evidence the central role of the material world in the negotiation of different types of value and
ideas will be highlighted. From this exploration, the session seeks to uncover the complex mechanisms of cultural construction
and transformation. To what extent were political and cultural values embodied and communicated by objects, and to what
extent did these objects themselves have agency, perpetuating and reinforcing these ideas? How were differing types of value
transported or exchanged in the Late Hellenistic Mediterranean, and what impact did Roman hegemony have on existing
patterns of exchange? Did ‘foreign’ objects and habits imported into 2nd and 1st century Italy transform Italic and Roman values? How were social and cultural systems reinforced or shattered through the acquisition and display of new prestige goods,
languages and styles?
Thursday 17 March, Aula III (FF)
Chair: Francesca Diosono, Dominik Maschek
14.00 – Social networks in Late Hellenistic Northern Etruria: From a multicultural society to a society of partial identities, Raffaella Da Vela
14.30 – From magistri to Ermaistai. The self-representation of Italian mercatores in the eastern Mediterranean between professional and religious associations, Francesca Diosono
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15.00 – ‘Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit…’? Violence and cultural change in the Late Roman Republic, Dominik
Maschek
15.30 – Beyond idealism and realism. On how to evaluate nude portrait statues in Late Republican Central Italy,
Barbara Sielhorst
16.30 – Samnites just in Samnium?! Archaeological and epigraphical sources for the integration of Samnites in Italian and Mediterranean (religious) trade, Claudia Widow
17.00 – Switching to Roman? Translating late Iron Age mortuary contexts from the Lomellina (IT), Sarah Scheffler
Social networks in Late Hellenistic Northern Etruria: From a multicultural society to a
society of partial identities
Raffaella Da Vela (Universität Bonn)
[email protected]
This contribution deals with the analysis of the perception of cultural identities in late Hellenistic Northern Etruria. In
particular, the aim is to answer the following question: how did the evolution of the economic and politic relationships between settlements condition the perception and the expression of the local identities (150-80 BCE)?
In the Late Hellenistic period, the region of my case study presents a complexity of patterns, as a result of the interaction
of local needs and backgrounds in the global process of institutional and economic unification of the Mediterranean following
to the Punic Wars. The increase in personal mobility enhanced the possibilities of cultural contacts. New multicultural local
communities adopted new customs and lifestyles without giving up their Etruscan cultural background. These multicultural
societies switched slowly, at the end of the 2nd C. BCE, to societies of partial identities, were Etruscan language and traditions
became to be confined to the private sphere, while Latin and Roman institutions ruled the public life.
Social Network Analysis (SNA) is applied to analyse the evolution of these identities under the pressure of global events
and phenomena. This methodology allows for the analysis of complex systems, without loosing the details concerning their
individual components. I will present first some applications of the SNA on archaeological datasets of late Hellenistic Northern Etruria, then the trends of the evolution of the social networks of the settlements, and finally I will discuss potentials and
limits of the methodology in the investigation of local cultural identities.
From magistri to Ermaistai. The self-representation of Italian mercatores in the eastern
Mediterranean between professional and religious associations
Francesca Diosono (Università di Perugia Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München)
[email protected]
The late Hellenistic period noticed the expansion of commercial activities of Italian mercatores into the wide Mediterranean; in the East they had to face earlier economic models expressing a different culture. The Roman-Italian world knew professional associations for a long time as a form of community, in which the religious element had aggregative and identificative
function, but being also only one aspect of the activities of the group as a whole. In the East, the professional nature in both
personal and collective identity was instead kept in the background compared to the religious one. One of the expressions of
the Italian attempt to adapt their public communication to local customs are the numerous bilingual inscriptions on the island
of Delos, where the Latin words appear in the Greek text in the form of both a linguistic and cultural translation.
‘Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit…’? Violence and cultural change in the Late Roman
Republic
Dominik Maschek (University of Birmingham)
[email protected]
In recent archaeological accounts of Late Republican Italy the notion of thriving ‘hybrid’ or ‘code-switching’ societies has obviously become something of a new orthodoxy. Titles like ‘Rome’s Cultural Revolution’ (Wallace-Hadrill 2008) or ‘Ancient Italy:
Regions without Boundaries’ (Bradley, Isayev and Riva 2007) clearly promote the positive effects of multiculturalism, establishing
a direct link between increasing material complexity, affluent lifestyles and the deliberate choice of identities. It cannot be denied
that this perspective has granted us invaluable new insights into the formation of Late Republican culture by shifting the debate
from the old towering concepts of ‘Hellenization’ and ‘Romanization’ to both the local level and human agency.
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However, I would like to argue that this new orthodoxy has also played a vital role in the promulgation of a narrative
that widely ignores the darker sides of life in Late Republican Italy and therefore can justly be criticized as being essentially
ahistorical and disinterested in questions of social and political conflict. Therefore, this paper will try to reassess the role of
these aspects as driving forces behind cultural change in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, looking at the evidence for war and
destruction in Italy against the backdrop of the wider Mediterranen context. My main interest is to set the often underrated
aspect of physical violence against the activities of building, construction and consumption, mainly sponsored by Roman and
local elites all over central Italy.
Based on modern theories of crisis as well as on the abundant written and epigraphical sources and on the archaeological
evidence for Late Republican material culture in Italy and the wider Mediterranean (from Spain to Asia Minor), I will discuss
the concept of ‘crisis’ in detail, stressing the active participation of human agents in shaping their own immediate future. This
will lead to a new theoretical framework for a coherent narrative of Late Republican history and archaeology, integrating the
evidence for both brutal annihilation and enormous material prosperity in the last two centuries BC.
Beyond idealism and realism. On how to evaluate nude portrait statues in Late
Republican Central Italy
Barbara Sielhorst (DAI Berlin)
[email protected]
In the Late Republic honorific portrait statues were fashionable amongst the Roman and Italian elites and existed in a
variety of forms: Most common were toga statues, less common were armored or equestrian statues. The rarest form of self-representation consists of statues in complete nudity. In modern scholarship their combination of an athletic body with a veristic
portrait is still frequently evaluated as “irritating” or “piece[s] of pure kitsch”.
The case study of a group of eight nude honorific statues from Central Italy tries to modify this judgement and to interpret
them as parts of a cultural system in a new theoretical framework. Based on a classification of the group in three sub-groups
with slightly different connotations, the interpretation goes on with a detailed analysis of one statue from Formia and its context. Firstly, the meaning of the statue should be pointed out by describing and interpreting the elements which are part of
its visual appearance (the so called “Bildevidenz”, e.g. material, style, composition, context, etc.). Secondly, the statue and its
qualities will be analyzed within its social context as part of a family group. Finally, the example of Formia will be embedded
into the historical context of the Late Republic: What was the meaning of the statue in this specific situation? To what extend
did the statuary representation in full nudity refer to models in the Hellenistic East? And how could and did a Late Republican
viewer understand the values which were communicated by the statue?
The analysis of the visual qualities of statues in complete nudity should help to answer these questions and to understand
these statues in an historically adequate way which helps to overcome the spontaneous ‘irritation’ in the eyes of a modern viewer.
Samnites just in Samnium?! Archaeological and epigraphical sources for the integration
of Samnites in Italian and Mediterranean (religious) trade
Claudia Widow (Universität Bonn)
[email protected]
The Samnites settled in middle Italy and had their cultural peak between the late 5th and the end of the 2nd century BC.
During the Social War and the following civil conflicts (90-80 BC) they lost against the Romans but were later on still granted
with the Roman civil rights. In the course of the Late Republic they were integrated into Roman society and an individual cultural
behaviour is not longer verifiable. In Roman historiographical sources the Samnites are known by the accounts of Livy, Strabo,
Festus, Varrus and Appianus. In these sources they are specified as strong and mighty warriors as well as rural peasants. However,
the archaeological evidence found in the Samnite sanctuaries reveal the structure of a society deeply rooted in the Italian and Mediterranean trade system. In this paper the sources where the Samnites can be detected in this global trade shall be presented: This
will include an interpretation of brick stamps of the local Samnite elite and coin hoards in the sanctuaries of Campochiaro and San
Giovanni in Galdo as an inner representation in comparison to an outer representation in inscriptions found in Delos and Gaul.
Switching to Roman? Translating late Iron Age mortuary contexts from the Lomellina (IT)
Sarah Scheffler (University of Leicester)
[email protected]
The integration of Transpadane northern Italy into the Roman empire is a well-studied field. However, studies such as the
recently published Becoming Roman? Diverging Identities and Experiences in Ancient Northwest Italy (Haeussler 2013) still
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focus primarily on the urbanized areas, the elite classes and architectural/epigraphic evidence. Rural areas such as the Lomellina
appear to fall through the grids of investigation.
Notwithstanding the Lomellina, bordered by two major trade routes, the rivers Po and Ticino, represents an extraordinary case for the study of multiple and discrepant identities, the impact of the Roman conquest on indigenous communities
and the applicability for theoretical concepts such as code-switching and social habitus. Having stayed at the edges of cultural
developments since the rise of the Golasecca culture, the Lomellina remains in this position during the late Iron Age and the
period of Roman conquest. Its marshy, but hilly landscape, shaped by five rivers and the dossi (elevations of 6-8m), might be
the cause for the decision to skirt the Lomellina in the scheme of centuriation.
Although the local communities increasingly integrate objects of ‘Roman’ provenance into their material culture and thus
follow well-known provincial Roman patterns, it remains to ask whether the selection of grave goods reflects an intentional
choice of adopting what might have been perceived as Roman or whether it merely represents a persisting embedment into the
growing exchange network of northern Italy.
T6. FILLING THE GAP: INVESTIGATING ABANDONMENT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Organised by: Rocco Palermo (Università di Napoli Federico II), Maria Amodio (Università di Catania), Raffaella Pappalardo (Università di Napoli Federico II), Paolo Cimadomo (Università di Napoli Federico II) and
Raffaella Pierobon (Università di Napoli Federico II)
From the frontier areas to the rural zones the impact of Rome sensibly modified the cultural, geographical and human
landscape, causing abandonment, re-population and demographic decrease in several zones of the Empire also creating turning
points accordingly. Political and social crisis, environmental causes, and natural disasters led to abandonment in several cases.
Both large centres and rural areas were involved in these processes. Urban centres usually show traces of re-occupation
after a short/long abandonment period (architectural and functional reconfiguration and spaces adaptation), whereas the same
impact on the rural zones is less evident. This includes a reduction in number of settlements, the abandonment of natural
resource exploitation areas and, occasionally, a different type of re-occupation (squatter installations, nomadic evidence, local
impulses). Such processes possibly influenced material culture, whose reliability might be also used for the understanding of
social dynamics related to the lack of power in specific areas. The aim of the session is to define a model for the understanding
of abandonment through the analysis of the archaeological record. This includes the response of specific areas to imperial abandonment, the change in the human landscape and the role of material culture for the investigation of the topic. Particularly
welcome will be those papers focusing on the transitional periods between a firm occupation and abandonment, the processes
of abandonment causes and the post-abandonment formations and the human and social perception of a specific power hiatus.
Different geographical areas might also help to have a wider perspective on the topic. To sum up the proposed trajectories of
the session will be:
• How local territories/communities responded to the different causes of abandonment and what kind of archaeological
traces can be used to determine its impact/level
• Investigating the post-abandonment evidence through the archaeological record
• Perception of continuity and adaptation in the power-lacked areas (re-occupation, transformation)
• Material culture reliability for the analysis of the topic
[email protected]
Friday 18 March, Aula IV (FF)
Chair: Rocco Palermo (Università di Napoli Federico II) and Maria Amodio (Università di Catania)
14.00 – Abandoned Traditions? The Case of Courtyard Houses and Peristyle Mansions in Late Hellenistic and Early
Roman Judaea, Shulamit Miller
14.30 – Abandonment, Transformation and Adaptation along the Rhine in the Roman period, Tyler Franconi
15.00 – On the decline of Myos Hormos, Dario Nappo
15.30 – Abandonment and Revival between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Facts and Fiction, Athanosios Vionis
16.30 – Contesting Sacred Landscapes:Continuity and Abandonment in Roman Cyprus, Giorgios Papantoniou
17.00 – Investigating the transformation through the archaeological record in the heart of Tuscany: the case of the
late roman villa at Aiano (4th-7th cent. AD), Marco Cavalieri
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Abandoned Traditions? The Case of Courtyard Houses and Peristyle Mansions in Late
Hellenistic and Early Roman Judaea
Shulamit Miller (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
[email protected]
Elite domestic architecture is not difficult to recognize in the archaeological record. It may be identified by its location at
a site, its size, layout, construction techniques, architectural ornamentation and more. Prior to the late second century BCE,
the prominent domestic architectural type in the Southern Levant was the courtyard house. At this time the peristyle courtyard, deriving from Hellenistic architectural traditions, emerges in the region. At first it appears in what might be categorized
as singular instances within the palaces of the ruling Hasmonean dynasty. Later, at the turn of the first century BCE/CE, the
occurrence of the peristyle is amplified primarily in, but not limited to, the palatial architecture of Herod the Great and his
successors. This architectural reconfiguration takes place at a time in which the region shifts between monarchic rule, a client
kingdom, and direct Roman rule of the province of Judaea.
This paper examines causes and expressions of abandonment of local architectural traditions. The mansions of Judaea are
explored as a case study for the transition from a well based local architectural model, to the foreign peristyle variant. Novelties
accepted into the local repertoire are not limited merely to the courtyards, but include other perceived features of opulence,
such as stucco decorations, wall paintings, water installations and architectural ornamentation. The paper attempts to reconstruct the extent to which one tradition supplanted the other, while questioning through an analysis of the material culture,
whether true abandonment occurred, or whether the evidence points solely to personal preference and shifting trends. Similarly explored are possible economic, social and political transformations affecting choices of continuity or change in the domestic
setting of the Judaean elites. A better understanding of such behavior on a local basis, may illuminate wider phenomena with
similar characteristics elsewhere in the Roman world.
Abandonment, Transformation and Adaptation along the Rhine in the Roman period
Tyler Franconi (University of Oxford)
[email protected]
Settlement along the Rhine frontier underwent dramatic changes in the later-Roman period. Large areas of the region were depopulated, with many urban, rural, and military sites greatly reduced or abandoned entirely. Political and military instability certainly
contributed to these changes in settlement, but other explanations such as environmental factors have not been considered.
It is clear from multiple palaeo-environmental proxies that the later-Roman period along the Rhine frontier saw substantial climatic and environmental changes. Geo-archaeological work on many sites along the Rhine River has shown that these
changes had important effects on the river system, beginning a process of hydrological change that saw increased flooding,
sedimentation, and channel movement in the third and fourth centuries AD.
This paper argues that these environmental and hydrological changes had a direct impact upon settlement patterns and
led to the abandonment of some parts of the river basin, specifically the floodplains of the Upper Rhine and the Rhine delta.
Moreover, this paper demonstrates that while political and military factors did influence life on the late-Roman frontier, the
landscape in which people lived had significant agency in shaping human experience.
On the decline of Myos Hormos
Dario Nappo (University of Turin)
[email protected]
The port of Myos Hormos was one of the main hubs on the Red Sea for a long period of time, spanning from the Hellenistic age into the early Roman Imperial one. A number of literary texts assess the importance of such harbour in the context of
the international trade in the Red Sea region. The most famous one is undoubtedly Strabo who, writing at the end of the first
century BCE, refers to the prominent role on the city and makes it clear that the amount of commerce passing through it had
greatly increased under the new rulers, the Romans. Subsequently, the flourishing of the city is well attested for the following
two centuries, by both archaeological and material evidence.
Still, despite the abundance of evidence for Myos Hormos to be still in use during the first and second centuries CE, the
city seems to come to an abrupt death by the end of the third century CE. This swift decline has been often related to the so
called ‘third century crisis’ that stroke the Roman Empire after the extinction of the Severian dynasty, which would have triggered a sharp decadence in the Roman economy and also in the amount of trade passing through the Red Sea.
Nevertheless, the very nature of such crisis has been questioned by many scholars over the past decades, and it now appears
to have been not so deep as previously thought. On the other side, the ports in the Red Sea region seem to have been interested
by a general reorganization promoted by the new infrastructures built in the area, starting from the second century CE.
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This paper will therefore question the old interpretation linking the abandonment of Myos Hormos to the third century
crisis, on the ground of an analysis of both the archaeological evidence available from the city and of the whole context of the
Red Sea infrastructures between the second and the fourth century CE, trying to find a more sound explanation for the decline
of Myos Hormos.
Abandonment and revival between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Facts and
Fiction
Athanosios Vionis (University of Cyprus)
[email protected]
War, earthquakes and plagues are usually listed amongst the most popular phenomena for explaining the ‘shrinkage’, ‘decline’, ‘abandonment’, ‘transition’ and ‘transformation’ of urbanisation and/or rural life in the Eastern Roman Empire from
the late sixth to the seventh and eighth centuries. Several scholars have seen variations in the scale and effects of external threat
and natural disasters but these changes have been poorly understood by Byzantinists. The overstressed historical validity of
textual sources has shaped our perception of this period in a negative manner for too long, perceiving Slav land invasions and
Arab sea raids as the sole explanation for almost every misfortune in the early medieval Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.
A re-evaluation of the archaeological evidence at hand is of emergency before we move on to interpretations and concrete
conclusions about early medieval ‘abandonment’ in the Byzantine provinces. I would argue that major transformations did
happen throughout the period in question, although the criteria for determining changes, accommodations and transformations in the Early Middle Ages should be viewed in a different, rather more optimistic, angle. As it will become clear through
the employment of a different model for reading the impact of ‘abandonment’ in the material record (e.g. settlement shrinkage
vs. evolution, industrial decline vs. local production, hybrid forms in art vs. new cultural identities) from the Aegean islands
and mainlands, it is suggested that marginal areas became active arenas of constant negotiation and adaptation between the
local element and emerging powers of political and economic control.
Contesting Sacred Landscapes:Continuity and Abandonment in Roman Cyprus
Giorgios Papantoniou (University of Bonn)
[email protected]
By the Roman period many Cypriot extra-urban sanctuaries were deserted and only a few of them remodelled and enlarged; some of these sanctuaries, such as that of Apollo at Kourion and Aphrodite at Amathous, also received monumental
podium temples. While excavation and survey activities confirm that ex novo foundation of sanctuaries is rare in the Roman
period, the use of pre-existing extra-urban sanctuary sites is visibly reduced. Only a limited number of sanctuaries (including
urban and extra-urban sites) preserve evidence of cult in the Roman period, and these sites include important ‘time-honoured’
sanctuaries in the environs of urban centres.
Taking on a long-term holistic approach, and drawing on sacred landscapes and its associated material and textual record
(mainly epigraphic evidence, architecture, terracotta figurines and limestone sculpture), this paper suggests that during the
Roman period, official neglect of the extra-urban sacred space relates to fundamental transformations in the social perception of the lands. After the abolition of the Cypriot city-kingdoms, extra-urban sanctuaries seem to have lost their territorial
significance, and they were greatly depended upon the local extra-urban population. The great majority of these extra-urban
sanctuaries were ‘dead’ by the Roman period. When the social memory, elite or non-elite, that kept them alive ‘dies,’ they ‘die’
with it. The Cypriot evidence reconfirms that what usually distinguishes the surviving sites is what the defunct sites lacked:
political scale and significance. The annexation and ‘provincialisation’ of Cyprus, with all the consequent developments, were
accompanied by transformations in patterns of memory, with less focus on regional structures, and more intense emphasis on
stressing an ideology which created a more widely recognisable ‘pan-Cypriot’ myth-history and cultural identity, eventually
related to the Roman imperial cult and ideology.
Investigating the transformation through the archaeological record in the heart of
Tuscany: the case of the late roman villa at Aiano (4th-7th cent. AD)
Marco Cavalieri, (Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve)
[email protected]
Since 2005 a Belgian-Italian expedition, supported by the Université catholique de Louvain, has been managing the archaeological excavation of a roman villa at Aiano-Torraccia di Chiusi (near Siena). The building witnesses various phases of
occupation. This monumental villa longinqua in agro Volaterrae was built in the heart of Tuscany between the end of 3th and
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the beginning of 4th century A.D. At the end of the 5th century A.D. it was abandoned, and during the 6th c. A.D. the complex was deprived of a great part of its decoration (marbles and glass), whose elements were recycled in the productive process
implanted inside the villa. This site appears to be not only a real “mine” of reusable material, but also a centre manufacturing
metal objects, glass and gold, and probably also pottery.
The aim of this lecture is to present the transformation (after abandonment and re-occupation) of the villa, according to
the results of nine excavation campaigns.
T7. APPROPRIATING TRADITIONS – NEGOTIATING FORMS: MATERIAL CULTURE AND
ROMAN RELIGION BETWEEN CATEGORIES AND VARIABLES
Organised by: Anna-Katharina Rieger (University of Erfurt)
Religions – even text-based ones – are shaped by material objects and spatial structures. These objects and structures are
standardised to fulfill a certain purpose – to enable, frame and be part of religious practices. This holds true also for Roman
religion: Whether paraphernalia, divine images, architectural forms or figurines for individual dedications, many objects and
structures followed certain schemes and made them recognisable and applicable. As a consequence of recognisability, archaeology sets up material categories, in which objects are treated, and that again form the basis for any analysis of religious affairs.
The session aims at a discussion on how this categorised perspective blocks an assessment of Roman religion as a fluid, malleable set of cultural expressions in Roman society as pursued by the approach of “Lived Ancient Religion”. Forms and shapes,
objects and arrangements changed over time, since religious practices, spaces and objects are permanently negotiated in societal
groups and appropriated by agents due to situational contexts. How – on the methodological side – can we bridge the divergences between standardised categories (for study purposes) and the permanent variability of forms and the use of objects, their
assemblages and interrelatedness to spaces and actions? How – on a conceptual level – can we make use of standardisation,
appropriation and transformation when dealing with the varieties from the world of things? What anchors objects (including
architecture) in tradition to still be utilisable to trigger religious experience/memory? What are “family resemblances“ and what
criteria define a deviance or development? And on a practical level the question is, what datasets and tools of interpretation
does archaeology need to investigate objects and practices as pertaining to religious activities.
The contributors are encouraged a) to delve into critical reflections on the sufficiency of archaeological categories, b) to search
for a clearer concept of religious activity as to be inferred from ancient sources, c) to employ theoretical approaches from relational
archaeology (Fowler) to object-biography (Hahn) and agency-based concepts (Latour, Gell) emphasising the interdependencies of
objects, humans and spaces (Hodder) in order to grasp Roman religion as a set of interactions and appropriations.
In doing so, we hope to enrich perspectives on Roman religion from an archaeological angle and to integrate the currents
of material culture studies ranging from prehistoric to cultural anthropological and art historic fields into studies of Roman
religion.
[email protected]
Thursday 17 March, Aula IV (FF)
Chair: Anna Katharina Rieger (University of Erfurt)
14.00 – Resonance of objects and a new theory of religion, Jörg Rüpke
14.30 – The votive offering: a category in need of a challenge?, Jessica Hughes
15.00 – The Gods don’t live here anymore, do they? Conceptualizing the materiality of religious change, Norman Wetzig
15.30 – Religious landscape “in between”: the Almo valley at the borders of Rome, Rachele Dubbini
16.30 – Cursing the neighbours? Beyond motive categories in the study of Roman defixiones, Stuart McKie
17.00 – Mimetic Practice in Provincial Religious Iconography: A Case Study of Roman Britain, Stephanie Moat
Resonance of objects and a new theory of religion
Jörg Rüpke (University Erfurt)
[email protected]
The paper proposes to replace a perspective on religion, which construes religion as an organised set of symbols of
standardised (even if usually not fully controlled) meanings, encoded in objects and practices. Instead, religion is seen as
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a communicative practice that tries to gain the attention of trans-situational agents like gods or demons (in the ancient
Roman context) and to ascribe agency to them. Thus, additional agency is also arrogated (or explicitly rejected) by the
instigator in the view of the other human participants in the situation. Within such a theoretical framework, the role of
objects can be elucidated from several perspectives: as means to draw attention to the communicative efforts (relevance),
as means to focus and limit the situation (sacralisation), as a means to prolong this strategy (sacredness), and finally, in a
dialectical way, as part of the relevant situation and a means to enable religious experiences. As the objects are entangled in
other areas of the natural environment or material culture (and frequently classified as belonging to both), they are central
in processes of institutionalisation and the building of traditions. Full of associations or even explicit meaning they seem
to resonate with the ritual agents’ using or even addressing them, thus inviting further engagement and forming as well as
the attribution of an agency of its own. In methodological terms the paper is mobilizing sociological theories (relevance
theory,Sperber/Wilson; agency theory, Emirbayer/Mische, Rüpke; object theory, Latour, Hodder; resonance theory,
Rosa) to formulate new perspectives on Roman material culture.
The votive offering: a category in need of a challenge?
Jessica Hughes (Open University)
[email protected]
What is a votive? This apparently simple question becomes complicated very quickly when we start thinking about the different terminology used for dedicated objects, and about the functional and iconographic overlaps between votives and other
‘categories’ of material culture (e.g. grave goods, curse tablets and the wonderful ‘confession stelai’from Roman Asia Minor).
This paper aims to continue the debate about our definitions and understandings of the terms ‘votive offering’, and to provide
some working answers to the following questions: Can we reach a simple and uncontroversial definition of what a votive is? If
not, why not? Did ancient Greeks and Romans perceive their dedications as belonging to a clear-cut sub-category of religious
material culture? What about people in later periods? My paper will also examine some of the internal categorisations that have
been developed in relation to votive offerings, and will consider whether these categories are a help or hindrance to archaeologists trying to recreate the meanings these objects held for their original users.
The Gods don’t live here anymore, do they? Conceptualizing the materiality of religious
change
Norman Wetzig (University Bonn)
[email protected]
In recent years the field of archaeology has experienced a vast expansion regarding its methodological approaches to
questions old and new. Next to the natural sciences, that especially enhanced the analytical apparatus, the social sciences have
become a veritable asset to archaeological studies. Theories and Methods provided by anthropology, ethnology, economics or
sociology increasingly broaden our view of past societies. New questions that arise from the application of social studies’
theories and models include especially those regarding past identities and materiality. The identity-discourse was, and is still,
led with various difficulties due to the multifaceted nature of human identities, be it social, group, ethnic, religious or any
other given identity. In his recent study “Dynamics of Identity in the World of the Early Christians” Philip A. Harland
addressed these difficulties giving special attention to the archaeological record that might help us to discern the different
and intermingling identities of Early Christians in the Roman Empire. While his approach is from more of a socio-historical side on a distinct group of people, I would like to propose a theoretical framework to also account for other groups that
might undergo religious change or are affected by religious changes in their social environment. In order to do so, markers
of religious change have to be determined and categorized. Drawing on conversion theories from Arthur Darby Nock to
Anna-Konstanze Schöder and the question of the materiality of religion and religious practice so profoundly present in the
recent works of Birgit Meyer and the late Martin Riesebrodt I will try to articulate a broader conceptional frame to approach
religious change in past societies, be that a change within a given religious system or the change from one religion to
another. The challenge (as usual) especially lies within the archaeological record and its legibility.
Religious landscape “in between”: the Almo valley at the borders of Rome
Rachele Dubbini (University Roma Tre)
[email protected]
According to the latest studies, the boundary of the ager romanus antiquus coincides with the first-mile ring beyond the
Servian walls, as demonstrated by the presence of a series of cult sites and sanctuaries, that served to safeguard these borders
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against the risk of alteration, rendering them indisputable. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the scientific debate on
Rome’s borders as regards the analysis of the spaces at the margins of the Urbs in order to highlight their characteristics as living
spaces as well as the multitude of activities carried out in this unique zone, which are distinct albeit complementary to those of
the city, so as to identify the interpretations of the social strategies used to mark out the urban area. The identification of the
city’s border spaces depends on the ability to recognize not only the signs characterizing this conventional strip of land, but to
understand the different ways in which cultural memory is linked to the layout of the area, implying its use as a transition zone.
Taking into account the latest interpretive paradigms, this paper tests the interpretation of the first-mile ring as a border space
based on a systematic archeological study providing a complete portrait of the Almone valley. In fact, this valley lies between
the first and second mile of Via Appia and must have constituted the administrative boundary of the Augustan prima regio and,
therefore, of the urban area of Rome. Moreover, a series of cult sites dating back to the Archaic period allow us to identify the
Almone Valley as a place perceived by Roman culture as an ancestral sacred landscape “in between” the civilized zones of the
city, i.e., the more ancient ager romanus, and the wild areas.
Cursing the neighbours? Beyond motive categories in the study of Roman defixiones
Stuart McKie (Open University)
[email protected]
Since Audollent’s collection of curse tablets, published in 1904, scholars have divided these objects into categories based
on the motives expressed in the texts. Roughly the same divisions have been used for over a century (legal, erotic, commercial,
competition and revenge/justice), with minor adjustments and clarifications by people such as Faraone (1991) and Versnel
(1991, 2010). Although the classifications have enabled a greaterunderstanding of the tablets, the focus has very much been on
a wider, Graeco-Roman scale. As a result, the categories have less usefulness when applied to smaller, local scales or to specific
time periods, as the popularity of cursing for certain motives varied greatly over time and space. In the north-western Roman
provinces, cursing was dominated by one or two of the standard motive categories, meaning that analysis is hampered by the
inflexibility of the current model. Alongside this, the current model suggests a simplistic model of curse tablet production,
which starts with the particular circumstance that triggers the writing of the curse and which ends with the successful deposition of the tablet.
This paper will go beyond the simple motive categories suggested by modern scholars, and will explore the deeper social
contexts in which the curses were made. This will be done with reference to anthropological case studies from traditional cultures in the modern world, to provoke different ways of thinking about the ancient evidence. This paper will argue that curse
tablets suit their social contexts by fitting into widely held concepts of justice and punishment, as well as by providing enough
scope for individual creativity and variability. The importance of social factors such as envy,jealousy, rumour and gossip will
be assessed, to provide more insights into why people used curse tablets in the Roman north-west.
Mimetic Practice in Provincial Religious Iconography: A Case Study of Roman Britain
Stephanie Moat (Newcastle University)
[email protected]
The religious statuary of the provinces is diverse, ranging from artefacts which, at one end of the spectrum wholly conform
to Classical ideals of representation to those which, at the other, radically diverge from it. Few Romanists now regard statuary
that diverged from classical norms of representation as bad art: a failed attempt to emulate a Roman avatar. Following the
post-colonial turn in Roman archaeology, it has been widely accepted that these divergences were deliberate and intentional,
and that some of these so called low quality sculptures looked exactly as they were intended; that is, they are not entirely
bound to Roman ideals of representation. Whilst a large body of work has subsequently been undertaken on the reception
and transformation of classical art and religion in the Roman provinces, little of this work has considered the role of mimesis,
and specifically the body of work on mimesis in colonial contexts undertaken by anthropologists such as Taussig, Stoller and
Howey. In this body of work mimesis denotes the faculty to copy, to imitatewhereby the making and existence of the artefact
that portrays something gives one power over that which is portrayed (Taussig 1993: 13). Although some work on provincial
mimesis is now appearing in the research of scholars such as Alicia Jiminez, sustained case studies remain very few. This paper
will suggest that an analysis of how mimesis operated in the production of provincial statuary can provide a unique insight into
the ways in which the divine world was drawn into the complex processes of adoption and adaptation that typified colonial
interactions. Drawing upon the body of anthropological work on mimesis, this paper will develop a new framework through
which to approach and analyse provincial religious sculpture, using Roman Britain as a case study.
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T 8. ANIMALS AND LANDSCAPE IN THE ROMAN WORLD
Organised by: Clare Rainsford and David Roberts
Animals are increasingly recognised as active non-human agents which inhabit landscape, and their needs and requirements fundamentally shape human interactions with and perceptions of landscape. Through everyday social practices such
as farming, hunting, industry and travel, animals influence social and individual identities and behaviours. The influence of
animals in Roman society is evidenced directly in a wide range of primary sources, including literature, art, architecture, and
artefacts. Zooarchaeological evidence provides a wealth of evidence for how animals lived, died, were consumed, fed, traded
and transformed by interaction with human society. In turn, Roman society was transformed by interactions with animals in
spheres of society including agriculture, religion, trade, war and domestic life.
This session seeks to focus on how interaction with animals shaped practice in the rural landscape in the Roman period.
The Roman world incorporated a multiplicity of landscapes and ecosystems, from Britain to Africa, as well as a diversity of
cosmologies and social practices. A range of case studies will draw out the importance and variety of human interaction with
animals in shaping the landscapes of the Roman Empire.
Saturday 19 March, Aula III (FF)
Chair: Clare Rainsford and David Roberts
9.00 – The Everyday Ritual: Social Practice and the Animalscape, Clare Rainsford and David Roberts
9.30 – How animals co-created the Romano-British countryside – towards archaeologies of animality, Adrian Chadwick
10.00 – The Consumption and Ritual Treatment of Animals in Northern Gallic Sanctuaries, David Rose
11.00 – Hunting scenes on mosaics from Roman Africa, Anna Mech
11.30 – This land is your land, this land is my land’. Ownership, attitudes, and animal management systems in
northern Britannia, Sue Stallibrass
How animals co-created the Romano-British countryside – towards archaeologies of
animality
Adrian Chadwick (University of Leicester)
The later Iron Age and Romano-British rural landscape was often divided up into extensive field systems and trackways,
with areas of open, unenclosed land on slopes and higher ground, but also in lowland river floodplains; areas which may have
seen seasonal movements of people and livestock. Recent theories of relational agency, meshworks and assemblages emphasise significance of non-human actants in the lived-in world, and how the movements and practices of people and animals
are intimately interlinked. People and animals were co-creators of these agricultural landscapes, and in turn assemblages of
materials and agencies affected them, and their shared movements and memories. Animals would have remembered the same
fields, pastures and trackways, and animals too partly shaped trackways, fields, funnels, enclosures and pens through their
behaviour. Agency co-emerged through continuous, subtle shifts in relationships with companion animals such as dogs and
horses, and with older, trusted herd leaders that decided which paths to take. People would have been alert to the movements, moods and motivations of their beastly charges, matching their pace and bodily dispositions to those of livestock.
Such close shared experiences with humans are all part of an active, agential culture of the herd, where older sheep may have
‘hefted’ younger animals, cattle and goats brought themselves in from fields or pastures for milking, and pigs followed people
attentively around settlements. This paper is a first step towards such embodied, agential archaeologies of animality.
The Consumption and Ritual Treatment of Animals in Northern Gallic Sanctuaries
David Rose
Animal bones have been found at the heart of many sanctuaries in northern Gaul in large quantities, and reflect the central
role that animals played in the ritual practices of the Gauls. The bones display evidence of various interactions with animals:
consumption in communal banquets, chthonic offerings, and the display of sacrificial practice, among other rituals. This paper
proposes to trace the differentcourses animals followed from their slaughter to their final deposition in order to understand the
nature and purpose of therituals practiced by the Gauls on sacred sites in the late Iron Age and Roman period.
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Discussion will address the swine, cattle, sheep, and horse bones from a number of sites, examining the multi-stage treatments of carcasses, the processing and division of remains, and the nature of their final deposition. It will illustrate what the
percentages of each species and their variable treatment can tell us about the practices at each site, and the status and uses of
the various species. It will also place animal sacrifice within the context of other ritual practices, such as human sacrifice and
weapon dedication, where they inform the significance of rituals involving animals.
This paper will address the considerable variance of practices across sites in northern Gaul, and argue thata number of
parallels and patterns may be observed, which reveal shared ritual practices among the Gauls. It will also demonstrate that
examination of animal remains can reveal the multifaceted nature of sacrificial practice and ritual treatment, and the ways in
which interactions with animals in religious practice changed over time.
Hunting scenes on mosaics from Roman Africa
Anna Mech (MA University of Warsaw)
[email protected]
In 2nd century AD in Roman Africa appeared figural mosaic-a special form of Roman provincial art. They depicted mythological or everyday life scenes and were displayed either in the context of public buildings, such as amphitheatres, or private
estates (villae) of influential landlords. Among all the mosaics, those with hunting scenes draw particular attention. The mosaics
with hunting scenes contain somewhat general scenes, but with inclusion of original elements of local landscapes and portraits of
particular persons. Landlords and their companions hunt for several species of animals which are quite easy to distinguish. They
were for example rabbits, boars or lions.The hunters and their horses were also often surrounded by different types of dogs. We can
suppose that the hunts took place in further parts of the estates of landlords or in the woods which were in the neighbourhood.
The aim of this paper is a comparisonbetween the representations of animals on mosaics from Roman Africa and reality which
is known from ancient literary sources or zooarchaeological and biological researches. Moreover, I would like to show how the
images of animals influenced the representations of landlords and decided about the hierarchy in ancient African society.
This land is your land, this land is my land’. Ownership, attitudes, and animal
management systems in northern Britannia
Sue Stallibrass
Studies of Romano-British sites in northern England have noted different types of landuse, land division, animal management systems and cultural practices. The differences tend to be geographically distributed. The eastern lowlands show a greater
emphasis on mixed farming, where arable production played an important role alongside livestock management. Some nucleated
settlements and some high status sites (villas) are known alongside individual farmsteads; field systems and enclosures are common; and the presence of coinage and ceramics is routine. In the upland areas of central and western areas, livestock management
played a much greater role (although still within a mixed farming regime); known settlements are small and dispersed; field
systems and enclosures are less well represented; and the use of coinage and ceramics was minimal except around military sites.
These different patterns of landuse and agriculture are still visible in the 21st Century, partly influenced by local differences
in agricultural potential that relate to variables of climate, soils and topography. Cultural factors such as technology, transport
and economics are also important.
The Lake District National Park in northwest England is a rugged area of upland moors, deep lakes and rocky outcrops.
Its bid for World Heritage Site status highlights the fact that it contains the largest concentration of Common Land in Britain,
with a continuing tradition of collective management. Nationally, Common Land (where many people hold rights of access to
specified resources, such as livestock grazing) is declining in Britain, with the largest surviving areas concentrated in the north and
west. Historically, the Common Lands can be traced back easily to the 17th Century, but documents earlier than that are scarce.
This paper explores the possibility that livestock management in Romano-British northern Britain can contribute to studies of land ownership, access to resources, and social organisation.
T9. Theorising “Place” in (Roman) Archaeology
Organised by: Darrell J. Rohl (Canterbury Christ Church University) and Nicky Garland (University College
London)
“Place” is a concept that has been heavily theorised in Geography, Anthropology, and Philosophy, especially since the
1970s. In much of this literature “places” are viewed as more than mere locations or dots on a map, and sterile “space” is only
transformed into “place” when meaning is attributed through memories and/or experiences. More recent developments across
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Archaeology have included engagement with these ideas, forming a diverse range of “Archaeology of Place” approaches, particularly the historical archaeology of sites and landscapes that are revered by present-day indigenous communities. Prehistoric
studies have, controversially, focused in part on phenomenological or experiential understandings of ”place” in relation to
the wider landscape, with particular success in the understanding of the interrelationship of “natural” and “cultural” locales.
Related discussions have focused on the Early Modern reformulation of classical Chorography, and on the life-histories or
biographies of sites and monuments. Roman archaeologists have contributed comparatively little to this discourse, with our
landscape archaeologies primarily emphasising quantitative measures of economy and settlement pattern in the classical past
and little attention given to the significance of stories and heritage values that reflect more qualitative aspects frequently derived
from non-Roman periods. This session brings together archaeologists from Roman and Iron Age specialisations across the
Roman provinces (Britain, Spain, and the Near East) to critically examine the concept of “place” and its various theorisations,
to provide case studies of place theories in action, and to stimulate wider discussion of how Roman archaeology can more
fully embrace “place,” collaborate across period and regional specialisations, and leverage the diverse range of meanings and
significances ascribed to “Roman” places in order to have a greater impact across the wider discipline.
Wednesday 16 March, Aula IV (FF)
Chair: Darrell J. Rohl (Canterbury Christ Church University) and Nicky Garland (University College London)
9.00 – An Archaeology of Place: The development of ‘place’ theory in archaeological studies and its application to
the Roman world, Darrell J. Rohl, Nicky Garland
9.30 – Moving money: Coin hoards, place, movement and memory in Roman Britain, Adrian M. Chadwick
10.00 – Waterworks: Temporal engineering and the creation of place in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain, Jay Ingate
11.00 – Layers of place and space in Iron Age and Roman Britain, Caroline Pudney
11.30 – Co-producing “Place” and “Identity” in the Upper Durius Valley, Henry Clarke
12.00 – The Creation of Ritual ‘Place’ in the Rural Environment of the Roman Near East, Paul Newson
An Archaeology of Place: The development of ‘place’ theory in archaeological studies and
its application to the Roman world.
Darrell J. Rohl (Canterbury Christ Church University) and Nicky Garland (University College London)
The development of “Place” theory has evolved from the understanding that “places” in past and present landscapes are more
than passive ‘dots on a map’ but are culturally and socially significant locales. Heavily theorised within the fields of Geography, Anthropology, and Philosophy, “Place” theory has, since the 1980s also developed into a diverse range of theoretical techniques within
Archaeological studies. This research has formulated into a number of approaches that have come to be understood as representing
“an Archaeology of Place”. Initially this included a detailed examination, within landscape archaeology in general and prehistoric
studies of Britain in particular, of the understanding and significance of monumental structures in the past. Furthermore related
discussions have focused on the Early Modern reformulation of classical Chorography and the biography or life-histories of site and
monuments. While some research has been undertaken in Roman studies that focuses on an understanding of ‘place’, this has been
comparatively limited and, in general, research on Roman landscapes have emphasised quantitative rather than qualitative aspects.
This paper provides an introduction to this session on ‘An Archaeology of Place’, discussing the theoretical development
of “Place” theory from its origins, to its application to archaeological discourse and the current, albeit limited, use in Roman
studies. Furthermore this paper will discuss the potential applications and avenues of research for understanding Roman ‘places’ in relation to past and current understandings.
Moving money: Coin hoards, place, movement and memory in Roman Britain
Adrian M. Chadwick (University of Leicester)
[email protected]
Coin hoards appear to be static entities, usually (but not always) very singular, discrete acts in space-time. Coin hoards
have also traditionally been interpreted by numismatists and most archaeologists in very normative terms, buried in times of
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social or economic uncertainty, or prior to the debasement of coinage. Whilst some ‘ritual’ deposits of Roman coin hoards
have been identified in Britain, at some temple and shrine sites for example; until recently the majority of hoards continue to
be interpreted as the responses of people wishing to hide their money.
The AHRC-funded Hoarding in Iron Age and Roman Britain has been examining the landscape settings, depositional
contexts and associated artefacts of all recorded Iron Age and Roman hoards in England, Wales and Scotland – c. 3250 hoards
to date. Through more nuanced, theoretically-informed approaches to landscape, many hoards can now be seen in the context
of movement around Romano-British landscapes, deposited in locales where aspects of place and social memory intersected.
People, places, and coins were all mobile parts of wider meshworks of materiality and agency.
Waterworks: Temporal engineering and the creation of place in Late Iron Age and Roman
Britain
Jay Ingate (Canterbury Christ Church University)
[email protected]
Time is essential in the creation of place. For archaeologists and historians it is often seen as the consistent backbone upon
which they can order their evidence. Places are snapshots on this fixed and linear journey, with chronological standardisation
allowing one to neatly identify, separate or link them at will. However, this clarity is a convenient illusion. Time has been
proven to be relative and malleable; an atomic clock on the International Space Station, for example, will run at a different rate
to one located on Earth. Moreover, our individual perception of time can vary hugely depending on particular circumstances.
Roman archaeologists often fail to acknowledge this variability, and as a result have emphasised a generalised notion of place
to which we can easily relate.
Academic and popular contributions on the waterworks of the Roman period (aqueducts, sewers, baths etc.) have helped
establish a familiar sense of place that is a reflection of our own time. They have been interpreted as the monumental beginning
of a teleological journey to modernity. Yet these approaches underestimate the power of water in antiquity, and the nuanced
role it played in the variable perception of time and place in local communities. This paper will look to outline how structural
interactions with water in Roman Britain can be seen as a part of on-going developments in the way people clarified their deep
past, their relations in the present, and portents of the future. Accordingly, it will be proposed that these structures helped
create an enduring local sense of place that moves their interpretation beyond generalised primary functions and meanings.
Layers of place and space in Iron Age and Roman Britain
Caroline Pudney (University of Chester)
[email protected]
In order to understand place within Iron Age and Romano-British worlds a holistic approach needs considering. This
paper takes a primarily material culture-based approach to investigate the possible ways in which people interacted with the
physical and abstract spaces across their environment (Ingold 2000; 2007). As an animistic society, Iron Age peoples may
have viewed the world as layered, consisting of at least an upper, middle and lower world, connected by a central, connecting
axis mundi (Williams and Creighton 2006). Through a study of Iron Age coins and depositional practices this tiered environment will be explored and more specifically, the location of the axis mundi and sacred space within it. By focusing on areas
of western Britain and the coinage of the Dobunni at the end of the Iron Age and into the conquest period, the material and
intangible worlds will be explored. As with much known prehistoric metalwork deposition in Britain, the evidence suggests an
affinity with watercourses (Bradley 1990; 2000). While functional reasons for this proximity cannot be ignored, they cannot
be assumed. Instead, we must turn to the wider evidence for cosmologies and performance in order to understand the organisation of space and the embodiment of place across the environment. The result is a demonstration of how relationships may
have been mediated between humans, animals and the material and abstract worlds and vice versa, as well as the repercussions
this may have had upon the concept of sacred space after the conquest.
Bradley, R. (2000) An Archaeology of Natural Places. Oxford: Oxbow.
Bradley, R. (1999) The Passage of Arms. An archaeological analysis of prehistoric hoards and votive deposits. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Ingold, T. (2000) The Perception of the Environment: essays on livelihood, perception and the environment. London: Routledge.
Ingold, T. (2007) Materials against materiality. Archaeological Dialogues, 14, 1-16.
Williams, M. and Creighton, J. (2006) Shamanic practices and trance imagery in the Iron Age. In P. de Jersey (ed.) Celtic
Coinage: New Discoveries, New Discussion. BAR International Series S1532. Oxford: Archaeopress, 49-59.
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Co-producing “Place” and “Identity” in the Upper Durius Valley
Henry Clarke (University of Leeds)
[email protected]
How far were the identities of ancient communities rooted in their landscape and specific geographical places? “Place-Identity” theories explore the ways in which various complex physical settings, or “spaces”, define daily human activities and affect
the construction and consolidation of local identities. These “spaces” are transformed through the day-to-day experiences of
humankind into “places” which materialise the very social forms and practices that have imbued them with meaning. Today,
individuals regularly define who and what they are in terms of their home, locality and community. As such, “Identity” and
“Place” are often thought of as being co-produced by the interrelationships between individuals, social groups and communities. Yet, when we endeavour to reconstruct the identities of fundamentally voiceless historical groups, how far do conceptions
of “Place-Identity” take us?
My paper will interrogate “Place-Identity” theories within the Upper Durius/Duero Valley (Spain) during the region’s
incorporation into the Roman Empire. I will explore how useful such concepts are for furthering our understanding of the
negotiation and expression of local identities. I will also consider the relationship between communities as social entities,
toponyms and geographical places within this clearly defined region. In the Upper Durius we see examples of settlement relocations and evolving toponyms, both in the context of the obvious major cultural shift represented by the establishment of
Roman power in the region. Segontia Lanca was relocated and yet elements of the community’s identity persisted at the new
site, including the toponym. Clunia underwent a similar process, whilst its indigenous toponym was Latinised. I will examine
data from settlements such as these from a “Place-Identity” perspective with the aim of establishing how far expressions of
community identity and the meaning behind place were bounded by a sense of belonging to a precise geographical space, if
indeed identity and place are truly co-produced.
The Creation of Ritual ‘Place’ in the Rural Environment of the Roman Near East
Paul Newson (American University of Beirut)
[email protected]
The creation of ‘place’ has received considerable critical attention in archaeology in recent years, with a focus on power
relations, social cohesion and social memory. As yet, such notions have not been fully explored within Roman contexts, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean. In this region, the well-preserved Graeco-Roman temples of Lebanon have long been
interpreted as powerful symbols of the Roman period. However, because of this status study of these impressive structures has
centred primarily on certain aspects, for example, the ‘Romaness’ of their architecture and the practical construction of their
sacred landscapes. Utilizing notions of place and performance, memory and power, this paper seeks to move beyond such
empirical analyses. It will explore elements of the development of place within the rural environment and note some of the
challenges that emerge through this theoretical framework.
Building on recent fieldwork in the Niha valley of the Biqa’ region in Lebanon a place theory-based holistic study of the
context of the large monumental temple at Hosn Niha on the slopes of Mount Lebanon forms the springboard for such an
investigation. Using this approach, this paper will consider several fundamental questions that impact not only on this site,
but on numerous sites across the wider region. These questions include: Why were these monumental temples constructed?
In what ways did the construction of these temples transform and generate new meanings of place? How have those meanings
been continually altered and reinterpreted over time, whilst the core essence of place has been retained? Whilst definitive answers to these questions might not always be clear this paper will suggest that such an approach offers new avenues for research
and new perspectives on monuments and the notion of place.
T.10 MEDIA, MEMORY AND THE ARCHAEOLOGIST
Organised by: Clare Rowan (The University of Warwick)
In 2014 the archaeologist Sarah Perry observed that ‘archaeology is simultaneously recognised as both highly and hardly
theorised in terms of its mediation.’ Although we commonly describe objects from the Roman world as media (of communication, exchange, etc), our approach to these objects rarely draws upon media studies as a discipline. And yet with the development of New Media Theory (a response to the development of digital technologies) and a ‘Media Archaeology’ within media
studies, an extended dialogue between the two disciplines is a desideratum.
This session draws upon works and ideas within media studies to begin developing an approach to the interpretation
of objects as media. How did media (objects for doing/saying/sharing/conveying things) determine the social in the Roman
world, and how does it shape us as scholars today? How do objects mediate? Is media the message (McLuhan)? How do media
determine historical situations (Kittler)?
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The session will also explore what new directions in media studies offer the Roman archaeologist. The application of
New Media theory to literature has demonstrated that existent media that within a given society provide schemata for new
experience and representations (Erill, Mediation, remediation, and the dynamics of cultural memory). How then did Roman
media (objects carrying myths, topoi, legends, cultic ideologies, etc) similarly ‘pre-mediate’ or shape human experience (e.g.
the representation of historical events, or life courses)? Does pre-mediation influence our practice as scholars today? What role
did re-mediation (the representation of one media in another) have in shaping the material culture and social relations of the
Roman world? How did the interaction between media and the mind contribute to the formation of (trans)cultural memory?
How do media of memory shape what they contain?
By inviting a broad spectrum of papers engaging with different aspects of media theory, this session will explore what a
sophisticated understanding of media theory can contribute to Roman archaeology. By seriously considering the role of objects
as ‘media’ in the fullest sense, and the active role played by these media in shaping (the representation of) human experience,
the panel will contribute to the broader movement within archaeology to re-member things.
[email protected]
Friday 18 March, Aula III (FF)
Chair: Clare Rowan (The University of Warwick)
14.00 – Premediation, Remediation, and Cultural Memory in the Roman World, Clare Rowan
14.30 – Premediation and Perception: Colour in Roman Archaeology, Vicky Jewell
15.00 – The Missing Piece. Reduction as a Medial Strategy in Roman Portraiture? Annabel Bokern
15.30 – Portrait as a medium. Reading Palmyra Reliefs with the ‘Empire and Communication’ by Harald Innis, Łukasz
Sokołowski
Premediation, Remediation and Cultural Memory in the Roman World
Clare Rowan (The University of Warwick)
[email protected]
This paper uses the concepts of premediation and remediation to provide new perspectives on cultural memory in the Roman
world. Both premediation (the idea that circulating media in a given society provide schemata for new experience and its representation) and remediation (the representation of one medium in another) have emerged in recent decades within New Media
Studies and offer fruitful ways of thinking about the (changing) representation of events in antiquity. The application of ideas
from New Media studies (focused on digital media) is particularly pertinent to coinage as it is acknowledged that both money and
New Media possess a set of common characteristics (for example they both travel, enter our homes, save, carry and transfer data,
and are connective mass media; Hörsch (2004) Gott, Geld, und Medien). In the Roman world coinage was not only a media of
exchange but also a media of collective memory (Hart (2005) ‘Notes towards an anthropology of money’). This is not surprising:
media have a central role in the formation and maintenance of cultural memory, shaping how key historical events are recorded
and remembered. The first part of this paper will explore how the concept of premediation might be applied to representations
of Roman expansion on coinage of the Republican period. To what extent did circulating media (iconic images, stories, topoi)
premediate Roman expansion during the Republic? The second part of the paper will look at the remediation of cultural memory
under Augustus, in particular the way that existing familial histories of Rome were (re)placed within Augustan coinage. Both
premediation and remediation offer nuance to memory studies via their emphasis on the active role of media objects in shaping
individual and cultural memories, and offer both the archaeologist and historian a fresh way of viewing their material.
Premediation and Perception: Colour in Roman Archaeology
Vicky Jewell (The University of Warwick)
[email protected]
It is a cyclical phenomenon that colour is discovered and rediscovered as a feature of ancient Roman art. At each polychromatic revival, instigated perhaps by the unearthing of a new artefact with signs of colour or by the development of technology
that unveils previously hidden paints or dyes, new arguments begin about the use and prevalence of such colour.
Discussions of our consumption of media and the concept of premediation, as seen in Halbwachs (1950), Grusin (2004), Erll
(2009) & Erll & Rigney (2009) have all argued that media is built upon over time by the conflation of both the original medium
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and the subsequent discussions through the various media appropriate at that time of mediation. As a result, the very process
of experience is affected and prescribed by the way in which we have been presented with information about that experience,
whatever it may be.
As such, colour in Roman archaeology is a premediated topic; each revival of interest in the discussion of colour remediates
material from the last chromatic renaissance. Due to this premediated response to colour, at every rediscovery there is surprise
and abhorrence at the idea that the pure clean lines of Roman art should be adulterated by bright colours, and that a society
whom we respect for their complexity of civilisation, should have such poor ‘taste’ in that which is seen as gaudy and garish.
In this paper, I will explore how polychrome Roman artefacts have been received in media across contemporary history. How
did the media originally report upon archaeological findings we know to have included remains of colour? How has our perception of Roman colour in subsequent discussions been affected by the way in which media discusses and portrays ancient
polychromy, and how can this inform our own premediation of the subject?
The Missing Piece. Reduction as a Medial Strategy in Roman Portraiture?
Annabel Bokern (Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main)
[email protected]
It is a topos that portraits belong to the most important media in the Roman era, and it is an area with a long research
tradition. Many have sought to identify, date and decipher the messages that are hidden to the modern eye. As a result, we
have obtained substantial information about the means by which information like social status, origin and profession where
communicated. Analysis of form and artistic concept show that replication, abbreviation and reduction were common tools in
Roman sculptural practice. Despite these observations, or precisely because of them, it is necessary to scrutinize what the most
relevant elements of a Roman portrait were – the ‘must haves’. In this pursuit the obvious starting point is a thorough examination of the portrait bust, where the body is reduced to a part of itself. Why could this ‘intentional fragment’ be a legitimate
form to represent a person? Are busts chosen simply for economic reasons, connected to questions of resources and practicality?
Is the lower part of the human body negligible because the head, as the carrier of individuality, is the core, or should we rather
consider the bust as a pars pro toto?
I will argue that we have too easily accepted the bust as a Roman invention because abbreviation and fragmentation have
become an integral part of our visual and communicative practices since early Modernity. Is it possible that this was already a
kind of ‘medial strategy’ in Roman times?
Portrait as a medium. Reading Palmyra Reliefs with the ‘Empire and Communication’ by
Harald Innis
Łukasz Sokołowski
The goal of presentation is to offer a re-interpretation of Roman funerary portraits as mediums-archaeological objects carrying certain messages. In the contemporary research the Roman province of Syria is often described a field to very successful
fusion of Roman and ‘Easten Greek’ culture. The pivotal example of that fusion is illustrated on Palmyra Portraits – extraordinary set of reliefs combining together Roman, Hellenistic and local stylistic, iconographic and epigraphic traditions. Undeniably the funerary portrait reliefs from Palmyra are the visual and epigraphic mediums – they communicate certain values and
ideas across time and space. The messages transmitted by this group of monuments were product of complex mechanisms of
cultural transformation in the region. In his ‘Empire and Communication’ Innis observes that invention of alphabet subversed
the relationship between the centre of civilizations and those on their fringes. As a result a new ideas or techniques could
emerge in the marginal zones. That observation certainly applies to Palmyra where the correlation between three-lingualism
and extraordinary rich artistic culture can be attested. The Palmyrene funerary reliefs are often depicted by several attributes
including writing tools. The several messages concerning male identity can be read simultaneously: schoolboys, Greek and
Roman citizens, entrepreneurs, mourners and cult observers. Further, the female portraits decorated by household insignia,
rich jewelry, other attributes as well as Greek and/or Aramaic inscriptions communicate the statuses of modest wife, rich
bourgeoise, mother and relation to the man-of-letters. The perfect examples of cultural dialogue and deliberate, spontaneous
code-switching in the private, funerary space of Roman Near East the Palmyra Portraits give also a unique example of balance
between visual and written media. The image plays here as crucial role as text – sanctioning the position of the one that was
depicted as would Innis write.
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T11. BEYOND PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN THE ROMAN HOUSE
Organised by: Kaius Tuori (University of Helsinki)
Studies on domestic space in Roman contexts have shown that the private house (domus) was the economic and social
centre of its owner. Houses were designed to suit both the private life of its occupants and the demands of public life. Movement inside houses and the use of space was guided with the help of decoration and structures. The purpose of this session is
to go beyond the dichotomy of public and private spheres of the Roman house through a re-evaluation of the material remains
and literary evidence. The time-frame would be from the first century BCE to the third century CE. As an interdisciplinary
enterprise, the session seeks to combine historical, archaeological, philological and architectural analyses to further the understanding of the function of the domusas a place for social, cultural, political and administrative action. Often overshadowed
by modern presuppositions regarding the functions of spaces within a home, the tradition of assigning a single purpose to each
space has only recently been subjected to serious criticism due to the contradictions of material finds with the assumptions
regarding the use of that space. The orthodoxy in the older scholarship supported a very rigid view of the domus as divided
between a public and private sections, with the same division acting as a gender marker for the male political activities within
the political sphere and the female activities of nurturing and housekeeping within the domestic sphere. Thus the house would
have followed the pattern of the familia with the paterfamilias with his sons taking care of the outside relations and the women
taking care of the home. This division now outdated within the household, the aim of this session is to take a fresh look at
conceptions of public and private within the house. Drawing from the suggestions of new theoretical and archaeological developments, we seek to explore how functions of spaces within the house were created by the actions of its inhabitants instead
of being predetermined.
[email protected]
Wednesday 16 March, Aula IV (FF)
Chair: Kaius Tuori (University of Helsinki)
14.00 – Venus in Pompeian Domestic Space, Carla Brain
14.30 – Questioning the functions of the cubiculum in the archaeological and literary sources, Laura Nissin
15.00 – The domus of Apuleio at Ostia Antica, Antonella Pansini
15.30 – Were peristyles conspicuous consumption or a functional addition to the atrium house? Samuli Simelius
16.30 – Private Inscriptions in Public Spaces? Polly Lohmann
12.00 – Structuring Olfactory Space in the Roman House, Thomas J. Derrick
Venus in Pompeian Domestic Space
Carla Brain (University of Leicester)
[email protected]
Rooms within Pompeian households cannot be considered in terms of ‘public’ and ‘private’ due to the multifunctional
nature of rooms which could also depend on the season (with separate summer and winter dining rooms). The changing use of
space in Pompeian houses meant that the function of rooms could vary and was not predetermined by the decoration of space
or any structures within the room. Portable or permanent screens may have cordoned off certain areas of the home, allowing
rooms to become more public or private depending on what the inhabitants wanted.
This paper re-evaluates the decoration of Pompeian households, especially wall-paintings, to go beyond arguments of public/private and instead consider the depictions in relation to room type. Using the criteria for identifying room types developed
by Allison (2004), we can identify room types without attributing a function to them and without using ancient nomenclature
which often describes the ideal Roman house rather than reality.
This paper approaches depictions of Venus in Pompeian domestic space by putting them in context, considering whether
the type of Venus depicted varied in relation to the location of the artwork. Venus Pompeiana was depicted both inside and
outside the house, and within domestic contexts always in areas where guests would have been welcome or in relation to lararia.Venus Pescatrice, on the other hand, was mostly found in small, closed rooms, though could be depicted throughout the
house.
Although decoration cannot determine the function of a room, it is clear that ideas of ‘appropriateness’ were considered
when rooms were decorated. This is highlighted by different Venus types being more common in different areas. Through this
approach we can reach new understandings of Roman domestic space.
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Questioning the functions of the cubiculum in the archaeological and literary sources
Laura Nissin (University of Helsinki)
[email protected]
One third of the human life is spent sleeping. Sleeping is fundamentally important to the well-being of humans; in order
to solve the sleep related problems it is crucial to understand how sleeping is arranged in different societies past and present.
The major theme within sociohistorical research of sleeping is “that how we sleep, when we sleep, where we sleep, and with
whom we sleep, are all influenced by social, cultural and historical factors”. Despite the importance of the subject, in the earlier
scholarship on Roman cultural history, sleeping is mentioned only occasionally. This paper addresses the settings for sleeping
in the Roman households using archaeological material from the houses of Herculaneum combining it with the historical
evidence drawn from Latin literature.
In the recent scholarship a certain consensus of the use of space and multi-functionality of Roman houses seems to prevail.
Maintained by this view the spaces in Roman houses were multi-purpose and no clear function-based division can be seen.
According to the underlying theoretical approach on sleeping, setting aside private and individual and permanent spaces for
sleeping was not a phenomenon pertaining to ancient Roman culture, sleeping could take place wherever one felt like it and
beds and bedding were moved around the house.
However, based on a thorough re-evaluation on archaeological material, literary evidence on sleeping and theories of
space, there is room for a dissenting view as well, as I will argue in this paper.
The domus of Apuleio at Ostia Antica
Antonella Pansini (Sapienza Università di Roma)
[email protected]
The domus of Apuleio is placed in the II Regio of Ostia Antica (II VIII,5), in a central point of the colony’s public life. It
is an important example of transformation from a sacred space into a private one and of a constant relationship between public
and private use. The domus was build indeed during the II a.D. on the north-east side of the Quattro Tempietti Repubblicani,
a sacred area delimited on the south by the urban decumano massimo, easterly by the theatre and the Piazzale delle Corporazioni, northerly by the Mitreo delle Sette Sfere and westerly by the Grandi Horrea. The domus occupied a particular section
of the original temenos of the Quattro Tempietti which was this way covered and defunctionalized. The little space and the
architectural preexistences influenced the planimetrical development of the domus, which was build with a unusual L’s form.
The literary, stratigraphical and archaeological studies, helped by the 3D reconstruction of the monument, allowed to
make light on the continuous interaction, both in structural and urbanistic terms, between the domus and the private life
inside and the sector of the Quattro Tempietti and the Theatre outside. These interactions are mainly expressed by the presence of restructuring phases, proved by the presence of various kinds of masonry, different elevations of the ground level and
changed routes, which affected the entire area. Clear examples for this state are the various openings linking the domus, the
sacred area and the Mitreo delle Sette Sfere and the inclusion of the domus in the system of distance of the theater, being
aligned with the aditus maximus scene. These and other factors have made it possible to relate the private life that took place
within the domus with the public life on the outside.
Were peristyles conspicuous consumption or a functional addition to the atrium house?
Samuli Simelius (University of Helsinki)
[email protected]
The emphasis of this paper is on the Pompeian peristyle gardens significance for displaying the social and economic status of the
owner of the house. The peristyle gardens as archaeological and architectural units are the main objects of paper. The Roman house
and its decorations are known to have been important means of showing wealth and status. Although the Roman house has been
studied extensively, a systematic study of the peristyle is still missing as well as a study of its role as in the social display in the Roman
house. The peristyle, a central space in the Roman house, was particularly suitable for displaying the wealth and social status.
Some studies of the field have adopted Thorstein Veblen’s concept of conspicuous consumption and connected it to the
domestic world of Rome and Pompeii. The peristyle garden is often seen as a luxurious pleasure garden, making it a form of
conspicuous consumption. This perception, however, is created on basis of the few well-known houses of Pompeii, neglecting
the major part of the peristyle gardens. Studying Pompeii as whole presents a different approach to the peristyle than merely
a pleasure garden. I will define the means of socioeconomic display and conspicuous consumption utilized in the peristyle
gardens. Then I will analyze all of the more than 200 peristyle gardens of Pompeii – including pseudoperistyles and gardens
with one portico. After that I shall define the peristyle gardens which were used for socioeconomic display and which bare no
evidence of this type of function.
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Private Inscriptions in Public Spaces?
Polly Lohmann (University of Munich)
[email protected]
In scholarship on Roman housing, interest has shifted from analysing mere architectural structures and decoration to investigating different kinds of material capable of giving more concrete insights into the use and perception of domestic space. To this
end, not only artefacts, but also domestic graffiti have received increased attention during the past years, and the proposed paper
deals with the distribution and content of such wall-inscriptions in order to understand what graffiti-writing meant in domestic
contexts. Whereas a fixed architectural structure provided the spatial framework of the Roman household, graffiti resulted from
people frequenting and moving within the house, and therefore constitute a quite unique source of ancient (domestic) life.
Graffiti were informal inscriptions within the formal environment of the domus; they communicated private issues – such
as wishes, thoughts, and messages – in the most public spaces of the house. This seemingly paradoxical nature of graffiti can
perhaps be better understood if we look at the locations and visibility of these inscriptions. The paper aims to show that, while
the total number of graffiti known from Pompeian domestic spaces might seem overwhelming at first sight, the number of
graffiti found in each house in fact tends to be relatively low. And while graffiti in general must have been a usual and tolerated
form of writing, they were placed very deliberately with respect to their surroundings.
Following the works of R.R. Benefiel and H. Mouritsen on specific Pompeian houses and their inscriptions, the paper
presents some aspects of my PhD thesis on the interactive character of Pompeian graffiti. My research combines an analysis of
the macro-scale (i.e. the city-area of Pompeii) and the micro-scale (i.e. case-studies of Pompeian houses), and ultimately seeks
to better understand the ancient ‘graffiti habit’.
Structuring Olfactory Space in the Roman House
Thomas J. Derrick (University of Leicester)
[email protected]
This paper offers an engagement with an emerging scholarly trend in Roman archaeology: sensory approaches to spaces.
By considering the Roman domus as a sensory space which could be controlled by the householders, we can begin to understand more intimately the social dynamics of the home. Sensory approaches to the domus have often been largely limited to
the visual. Sight-lines and the division of the domus between public/private, male/female, and servile/free predominate. This
paper, however, aims to consider how the house was structured as an olfactory space. Additionally, I will explore the sensory
agency which the householders had within this environment. This approach is not necessarily more important than the visual,
but it is intended to complement existing work.
There were several processes by which Roman domestic space could have been olfactorily structured, either by design or
inadvertently. Houses could, of course, be scented through the use and application of flowers, incense, and perfumes. Furthermore, by-products of household activities could be masked or channelled through the use of shutters and room dividers.
Cooking is an activity common to all but the smallest of Roman dwellings (for example the one-room abodes from Pompeii),
and the food which one was able to cook said a lot about social standing. The exposing of outsiders to the smells of your productive and/or luxurious household, by design or otherwise, would have arguably had an impact on structuring relationships.
This paper offers a preliminary engagement with many of these themes.
T12. SUSTAINING THE EMPIRE: BALANCING BETWEEN POPULATION GROWTH AND FOOD
RESOURCES
Organised by: Wim De Clercq (Ghent University), Dimitri Van Limbergen (Ghent University), Frank Vermeulen
(Ghent University), Rinse Willet (Leiden University)
At a certain point in their existence, all successful pre-industrial societies became faced with a fundamental challenge
inherent to peasant-based economies: feeding a growing population while coping with the limits imposed by the natural environment and the available farming techniques. Still, as medieval and later European history has repeatedly shown us, such
problems did not automatically – or at least not immediately – had to lead to catastrophic Malthusian scenarios. Instead, it
has rather reminded us how the hazard of population pressure stimulated agrarian communities to adopt a wide variety of
strategies that enabled them to maintain the balance between population and resources. Some of these solutions might be
defined as “Boserupian” responses and include the reduction of the natural fallow and changes in the type of cultivated crops.
In other cases this term alone does not quite say it and societies often resorted to using a combination of demographic and
agrarian adjustments, as there are birth control, migration, changes in labour organization, or the expansion of the cultivated
area into marginal territory.
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The link between demography and agriculture in economies preceding the industrialization era is a widely acknowledged
feature of historical studies focusing on 13th-19th century Europe. But despite Bruce W. Frier’s almost desperate call for the
deeper integration of population issues in Roman scholarship, a recent paper by Neville Morley could do nothing more but
to address the general lack thereof in socio-economic studies on classical antiquity. However, the work of Walter Scheidel is
a strong reminder that such constraints necessarily must have cast their shadow on the economic developments in many parts
of the Empire. This session wishes to address this hiatus and invite speakers to reflect on the issue, either through specific case
studies from within the Roman Empire, or on a more theoretical level by debating the validity of concepts such as Malthus and
Boserup. We are hereby particularly interested in contributions that discuss territorial dossiers in relation to wider regional and
pan-imperial developments, or in papers that offer new analytical frameworks for the understanding of Roman agro-economic
history; at the same time acknowledging the individuality of local transformations.
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and r.willet@hum.
leidenuniv.nl
Friday 18 March, Aula IV
Chair: Wim De Clercq and Dimitri Van Limbergen (Ghent University)
9.00 – Land and population in the Roman Empire. East and West compared, Paul Edkamp
9.30 – Growing vines in a populous landscape. Viticultural practices in EarlyImperial central Adriatic Italy (1st - 2nd
century AD), Dimitri Van Limbergen
10.00 – Necessity is the mother of invention.’ On population growth and agricultural resilience on the poorest soils
of Gaul, Wim De Clercq
11.00 – The Economy & the Archaeology of Roman wine. A proposal for analyse an intensive wine production system
and trade. Case study: Regio Laeetana (Hispania Citerior Tarraconensis), Antoni Martín i Oliveras
11.30 – Urbanism and demography in Roman Asia Minor, Rinse Willet
Land and population in the Roman Empire. East and West compared
Paul Edkamp (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
[email protected]
Against Scheidel, Frier and Temin, it is argued that the Roman world does not quite fit the Malthusian model. The most
densely populated parts of the Roman Empire have to be sought in the Mediterranean heartlands and in the Near East, and it
is precisely in those regions with a long history of dense habitation and urbanization, such as Egypt, Palestine and Syria, that
the population continued to increase until the 5th and 6th centuries AD. In contrast, we see falling population and urbanization levels already from the 3rd century AD onwards in parts of West- and Central Europe. The land/people ratio does not
seem to have been the constraint that it is hypothesized to have been. The demographic downswing in the West is difficult to
reconcile with a purely Malthusian model. The scope for land clearance and the intensification of land use was far greater in the
West than in the East, so why would the West have been hit by a Malthusian crisis when the East was not? In pre-industrial
economies land is a constraining factor because food production, animal and human energy and many raw materials largely
depend on the production factor land. However, manufacture is generally less dependent on land than agriculture. Demographic growth put less stress on the land, if it went hand in hand with a shift to non-agricultural sectors. Economic conditions
prohibited the West to respond to demographic growth in a similar way as in the East. The crucial factor was not land, but the
inability of the economy in the West to continue to respond positively to the stimulus of population growth.
Growing vines in a populous landscape. Viticultural practices in EarlyImperial central
Adriatic Italy (1st - 2nd century AD)
Dimitri Van Limbergen (Ghent University)
[email protected]
The Early Imperial period was a time of significant urban expansion in central Adriatic Italy (Picenum et Ager Gallicus), sustained by the proliferation on an elite class that took control over both town and country from the Augustan era
onwards. With the presence of some 40 Roman towns, the region was not only one of the more urbanised areas of Roman
Italy – surpassed only by Latium et Campania – but also the most urbanised tout court along the entire Adriatic coast (3.5147
4.9 towns/1000 km²). Also, during the last fifteen years, systematic field surveys have indicated that the territories of these
towns were among the most densely populated areas of the peninsula in Imperial times (63-89 persons/km²). In the course
of this 200-year period, feeding such a growing population against the background of territorial constraints was likely to be
an increasing challenge. Given the ubiquity of cereals in the Roman diet, a rising demand for this food product in particular
must have given way to important changes in land availability and organisation. With this paper, I would like to discuss the
potential consequences of such a process with regard to how local viticultural practices may have evolved in the area, bound by
environmental restrictions and socially dominant tenurial arrangements. The focus is hereby on the use of the ‘arbustum’ – an
extensive agrarian technique in which vines were trained upon rows of fruit trees in combination with the intercultivation of
cereals and other crops – and the spread of tenancy as an alternative to the so-called ‘slave mode of production’. It is argued
that, through the transformation of many classical vineyards into arbustum fields, the Romans found an albeit temporary solution for successfully combining a huge demand for cereals with an equally substantially demand for wine, in this way holding
off – at least for a while – a Malthusian doom scenario.
‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’ On population growth and agricultural resilience
on the poorest soils of Gaul
Wim De Clercq (Ghent University)
[email protected]
In her seminal work The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure (1965), Esther Boserup argued against (neo-)Malthusian theories on population growth being determined or refrained,
amongst others, by archaic agrarian technology. Boserup claimed the opposite by stating that population growth initiated the
expansion of agriculture and eventually the creation of new agricultural technologies: “necessity is the mother of invention.”
Seen from modern resilience theory point of view, Boserup’s ideas offer an interesting platform to assess and discuss
North-Gaulish population growth and transformations in agrarian technology. The enormous increase in excavation data
retrieved by rescue and preventive excavations allows now for such analyses in a broader framework of thought. In the paper
we will focus upon the case of the poor, sandy soils of Northern Gaul (Belgium, The Netherlands) in which a fast rise in the
number of new farms being established and new land being reclaimed is attested from the first century onwards until the second century AD. It will be examined if and how new and for that time revolutionary systems of accumulation and production
of manure, mighty have evolved from such a growth of population.
The Economy & the Archaeology of Roman wine. A proposal for analyse an intensive
wine production system and trade. Case study: Regio Laeetana (Hispania Citerior
Tarraconensis)
Antoni Martín i Oliveras (University of Barcelona - EPNet Project)
[email protected]
Previous considerations The study of the economy and the archaeology of ancient viticulture in Roman times generally
have multiple fields of knowledge and expertise with enormous possibilities for research. Most studies dedicated to the development of viticulture in antiquity, have in common use archaeological information and use the written sources as a complementary support to confirm the absolute chronology of a settlement, a socio‐economic phenomenon or an exact location
of a wine production centre or a pottery activity in a specific territory. Intensive viticulture during the Roman period in the
northeast of Iberian peninsula and specifically in the Laeetana Regio that grouped the coastal territory between the Tordera
and Llobregat rivers as far as the beginning of the Garraf massif and inland to the Catalan pre‐coastal mountains, was a powerful phenomenon with huge economic implications which represented a cultural revolution for this region in all areas and at
all levels. 2. Working hypotheses - The regional variability is one of the key points in understanding the changing patterns of
rural settlement of any ancient historical period. - Regarding the origin development and expansion of the phenomenon in the
Laeetana regio between 1th century BC and 3th century AD, seems to have been an important catalyst of specific interaction
between intra‐regional and extra‐regional economic networks. - The level of dependence of the rural population of a given area
in the regional market, respect the local urban centres and their subsequent screening in foreign markets, in our case study
Western Europe and the Italian peninsula and Rome itself, are matters that respond to a series of socio‐ economic patterns and
behaviours which are likely to be studied and modelled economical & econometrically. 3. Issues for discussion - The changes
in urban and rural settlement patterns reflect a change in farming systems? - It is possible to “reconstruct” “types” of wine production units and production yields in absolute terms? 2 - It is possible to “reconstruct” the interests, strategies and behavior of
landowners (defining certain categories) in relation to the organization of economic activity or in relation to the operation of
a specific property? - How could influence other interest and underlying factors in economic activity as derivatives of production costs, leasing contracts, taxes, fees, trade margins, etc.? - We can determine the weight that the wine economy represents
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from other economic activities known in the region in Roman times? - We can set up a direct relationship between the wealth
generated by the winemaking activity, promotion and positioning of some social agents: vilici, conductores mercatores, negotiatores, argentari, naviculari, institores and so on? - The balance between production /consumption and intra‐regional extra
regional trade of wine in a certain area is a way to explore this issue? - It is possible to establish a general model of study that
allows subsequent investigation of all these economic production and trade issues and their application in any countryside or
territory? This paper try to analyse the answers to this questions and the evolution of this complex economic system related
with the production processes, trade and consumption of Laeetanian wine in Roman period between the 1th century BC and
3th century AD.
Urbanism and demography in Roman Asia Minor
Rinse Willet (Leiden University)
[email protected]
According to Philostratus and Josephus, Asia Minor was once dotted with some 500 cities in the Roman period and indeed both older works, such as the Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, and newer projects, such as the Barrington Atlas or
Pleiades database, show a vast number of towns and cities to have existed during the Roman Empire. Particularly the western
part of Asia Minor was probably one of the most urbanized regions of the ancient world and the ruins of many (large) cities
attest to this, such as Pergamon, Ephesos, Miletos, Alexandreia Troas or Kyzikos. Furthermore, there seems to have been an
increase in the number of cities from the Hellenistic period to the Roman imperial period, while at the same time archaeological research shows a multitude of cities expanding in size in this period and this seems to happen not to be exclusive to large
cities on the west coast, but also has been observed for smaller cities to the east as well, such as Sagalassos, Heraclea Pontica,
Laodicea ad Lycum, Sardis, Aspendus, Selinus, Perge and possibly Smyrna and Tarsus. Although some cities disappear in this
period as well and there is still much archaeological work to be done, a pattern of growth seems to emerge from this data.
The object of this paper is to critically review this pattern and consider the demographic implications of this pattern. Is this
increase in number of dots on the map indeed indicative of an expansion of the population and if so, what were the effects on
agricultural exploitation of this area. To answer this, the cities of Sagalassos, Kyaneai, Ephesos and Pergamon will be taken into
closer consideration, since all of these have a longer (ongoing) history of archaeological research, which will serve to explain
the changes observed in other, sometimes only superficially researched cities. In the end, the question is raised whether the
developments in this part of the Roman Empire should be understood from either a Malthusian or a Boserupian perspective.
Friday 18 March, Aula III (FF)
9.00 – Roman Grid Planning in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Simeon D. Ehrlich
9.30 – Negative and positive multicultural interaction as a precondition to Roman expansion: changing group identities in central Italy from the Archaic to the Late Republican period, Ulla Rajala
10.00 – Spinning your own yarn: Spindle whorls and spinners in the forts of the Romano British Frontier, Marta Alberti
11.00 – Corporeal Connections: Grave Disturbance, Reuse and Violation in Roman Italy, Liana Brent
11.30 – Escaping heat and ‘killing time’ in the desert – Revisiting the archaeology of Roman garrison at Bu Njem,
Anna Walas
Roman Grid Planning in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Simeon D. Ehrlich
[email protected]
This paper presents a qualitative analysis of the Roman grid-planned city and identifies what is distinctive about how
the Roman grid organizes urban space. Though the orthogonal grid plan is often taken as a defining feature of Roman urban
planning, orthogonal grids are by no means unique to Roman cities. What seems significant when viewed in isolation becomes
commonplace when viewed in a wider frame of reference, yet by all accounts the grid is a defining feature of the Roman city.
How then to reconcile this? How can the grid be both so important and so mundane?
149
This paper posits that it is not the grid itself that it significant, but rather the way in which morphological elements of the
urban plan (i.e., blocks and streets) combine to form the grid. By comparing the relationships between blocks and streets in
various pre-industrial traditions of urban planning (e.g., Egypt, China, Mesoamerica), traits particular to individual traditions
are more readily discernible. Surprisingly, grid plans in various cultures control access to and movement between public and
private spaces in markedly different ways. It is through analysis of these restrictions that the distinctive features of a tradition
of grid planning can be identified.
Ultimately, this paper shows (1) that Roman grid-planned cities place far fewer restrictions on movement than cities in
other traditions of planning, (2) that an individual’s ability to access any point within a city was much greater than in the
Roman tradition than in others, and (3) that quarters within the city were not a significant organizing principle of Roman
cities, as they were in most other traditions. It is only through cross-cultural comparanda that we can appreciate what is most
distinctively Roman about the Roman city.
Negative and positive multicultural interaction as a precondition to Roman expansion:
changing group identities in central Italy from the Archaic to the Late Republican period
Ulla Rajala
[email protected]
In this paper I will present my project Changing group identities in the multicultural pre- and postcolonial central Italy
that will develop a general model for characterising multicultural group identities. This will be achieved by applying Social
Identity Theory (SIT; Tajfel & Turner 1986) and the concepts of 1) social categorisation, 2) social identification and 3) social
comparison to describe the attachment of individuals to different identities. I will juxtapose this multilayered comparative
model and the characterisation of different identities and their temporal change at local, regional and interregional levels with
the potential and observed outcomes (through acculturation, hybridisation, integration and/or rejection).
As a case study, I will present the materiality as evidenced by inscriptions and funerary customs on one hand and settlement patterns on the other at Nepi on the boundary between the Etruscan and Faliscan areas in precolonial and colonial
situations before and after the collapse of Veii in 396 BC when this ancient town became a Latin colony. The discourse will
be interdisciplinary between Etruscology and Roman archaeology combining theoretical elements from different social and
humanistic disciplines. The resulting model will be ultimately used in assessing how the underlying cultural distances between
different communities (Rajala in press) may have affected the incorporation of new areas within Rome’s boundaries.
Spinning your own yarn: Spindle whorls and spinners in the forts of the Romano British
Frontier
Marta Alberti
[email protected]
The study of textile production, a relatively recent research field pioneered for the Northern Roman Provinces by J.P.
Wilde in the 70’s, still retains many of its mysteries. One of the most debated questions surrounds the identity, social stance
and skills portfolio of the people performing the tasks leading from raw fibres to complete textiles. Whether examining a rag or
a clothing item, the researcher is confronted with the final product of a complex chaine-operatoire, organised in tiers requiring
different competences and skills. In this process, spinning seems to be the “bottle neck” step, the most wide-spread activity that
can be traced through the material culture left behind.
With spindle whorls being interpreted as gender and status marker in burial contexts through the centuries, and the
wealth of iconography and myth surrounding the activity of spinning in the classical culture, the frequency of such finds on
the Northern frontier of Roman Britain comes as no surprise, together with the increasing awareness of the existence of a
non-combatant society, living, working and experiencing the limes along with the troops. In the following paper the material,
make and, where appropriate, space distribution of spindle whorls from selected forts along the northern frontier of Roman
Britain will be considered, in the attempt to add an element so far neglected to our knowledge of the communities living on it.
With the aid of an empirical approach, this paper will aim to answer questions such as: were spindle whorls in forts mostly
purposefully bought or were they mostly self-made? Is there a predominant material, and if so does the object object-material
relationship appear to carry social implications? Where, within the walls of the forts, were spindle whorls used or even merely
discarded?
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Corporeal Connections: Grave Disturbance, Reuse and Violation in Roman Italy
Liana Brent
[email protected]
Roman tomb violation has been explored through a wealth of Latin anecdotal, epigraphic and juridical evidence, although
the archaeological aspects have rarely been addressed. What is conspicuously lacking from studies of Roman tomb violation
is the human body – the corporeal remains that constitute the tomb as a locus religiosus, and whose presence makes the act
of tomb violation both possible and contradictory (Dig. 11.7.2.5). Too often reopened and reused graves are glossed over in
archaeological site reports, without further attention to the post-depositional and continuing commemorative rituals that dealt
with the social death of the individual and the creation of a corpse (Nilsson Stutz 2003). Focusing on the common thread of
the body in archaeological evidence, funerary epitaphs and legal thought, I am interested in exploring how post-depositional
activities affected the body in ancient grave disturbance, reuse, damage or violation.
Since 1978, scholars working in German and Scandinavian traditions have been attempting to articulate various terms
and ways of recognizing disturbed, reopened and robbed graves, yet this type of work has had less impact on Roman archaeologists than in prehistoric and medieval archaeology (Aspöck 2011, Gleize 2007, Klevnäs 2013, Kümmel 2009, and van
Haperen 2010). Drawing on archaeothanatological methods and various theoretical approaches to the deceased body, this
paper investigates encounters with disarticulated human skeletal remains in reopened Roman mortuary deposits and the types
of corporeal connections that grave reuse created. Case studies derive from a variety of published examples from the first to
fourth centuries CE, as well as the ongoing bioarchaeological investigation of the Vagnari cemetery in southeast Italy. I argue
that the addition of individuals and the manipulation of human skeletal elements was often the product of creating corporeal
connections between the deceased and the living, rather than tomb violations, as we might be tempted to understand these
phenomena from epigraphic and legal sources.
Escaping heat and ‘killing time’ in the desert – Revisiting the archaeology of Roman
garrison at Bu Njem
Anna Walas
[email protected]
At Bu Njem, a 3rd century Roman military base in the Libyan desert, the ostraca, graffiti and inscriptions help to present
some of the minutiae of the social landscape of a garrison. With the archaeology still standing at least a metre high, Bu Njem
presents an outstanding archive and an exceptional case study for an archaeology of social space in action.
This paper examines the evidence from the point of view of areas of social presence in the context of leisure, ritual and
work routine within and around the Roman fort. While some spaces drew the community together, other, more exclusive
spaces marked out smaller groups apart from the general community of the garrison. I will explore the archaeological evidence
for social interaction in selected areas of the base and set these interactions in the context of Bu Njem as a far-flung desert
garrison. I will particularly pay attention to the activities of guards, the special significance of gatherings in the bath house in
a desert garrison and trace how the religious spaces within and around the garrison, also reaffirmed social organisation of the
community.
Saturday 19 March, Aula IV (FF)
9.00 – Contextualizing Small Finds at Pompeii: A New Take on Old Things, Catherine Baker, Leigh Anne Lieberman,
Christopher Motz
9.30 – Your place or mine? Eating and drinking practices across Roman London in the 1st century AD, Michael Marshall, Karen Stewart, Amy Thorp
10.00 – Cooking pots, table ware and storage ceramics. Culinary practice and savoir-faire in Roman nora (CA-South
Sardinia), Cristina Nervi
11.00 – Reassessing Roman building materials: economics, logistics and social factors in the supply of tile and stone
to Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, Edward Peveler
11.30 – The translation of the context: a case study from Portugal, Vincenzo Soria
151
Contextualizing Small Finds at Pompeii: A New Take on Old Things
Catherine Baker, Leigh Anne Lieberman and Christopher Motz
[email protected],[email protected] and [email protected]
During eight years of excavation and three years of postexcavation processing, the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia (PARP:PS) has uncovered and processed over 9,000 nonceramic small finds. The quantification and thorough qualification of these artifacts has allowed us to produce an extensively detailed dataset. As we move towards publication,
our goal has been to produce a catalogue that, while compatible with traditional models that organize artifacts by material and
type, allows us to understand our data in ways that stretch beyond this established paradigm.
Our goals in this paper are twofold. First, we outline our efforts to organize our artifacts by traditional typologies while
also analyzing groups of artifacts within the chronological, spatial, and formational characteristics of their find contexts. Second, we present two case studies to demonstrate how these efforts have aided our understanding of how assemblages came to
be created and how we have applied that understanding toward broader historical questions. It is our hope that this model
will encourage others to approach small finds contextually, in concert with the many other classes of evidence recovered by
modern excavation projects.
Your place or mine? Eating and drinking practices across Roman London in the 1st
century AD
Michael Marshall, Karen Stewart and Amy Thorp (Museum of London Archaeology)
[email protected]
Roman London was founded c AD 47 – 51 after the Claudian invasion of southern Britain and in assessing its place in
the new province of Britannia archaeological narratives have often focussed on continental styles of architecture and material
culture within the city; assumed to reflect the cultural preferences of a largely immigrant population and its role as a major
port of trade. However, London was not simply ‘Rome-on-the-Thames’ and the wealth of data from developer funded archaeology has revealed considerable variation across the city leading some to argue for a remarkably fragmented community, or
communities, with diverse tastes. Recent inter-site analysis of quantified ceramic assemblages from across the City of London
has indicated major distinctions between different areas of the city in the form of strong associations between certain sites and
specific selections of vessels (potentially indicating the use of different suites of ceramic forms). Here we present these results
and widen the study remit by drawing in other artefact types and environmental evidence to test whether these distinctions
withstand further scrutiny. By exploring the strength and character of connections between different types of data the aim is
to gain a more complete understanding of the relationship between different eating and drinking practices in Roman London
and how they combined to form more or less distinct foodways within the city.
Cooking pots, table ware and storage ceramics. Culinary practice and savoir-faire in
Roman nora (CA-South Sardinia)
Cristina Nervi (MIUR-Ministero dell’Università dell’Istruzione e della Ricerca)
[email protected]
Nora – a Southern Sardinia port – presents a various common ware typology: forms, that are linked, sometimes, with their
morphological prototypes. Is there a relationship between the form and its content? It is possible to reconstruct the functions
of the vessels basing on their features?
Methodology. Ancient authors report the connection between vessels and cooking practice, as well as the animal bones
remains and the paleobotanical data allow us to partially reconstruct the eating habits of Nora. The morphological characteristics of the forms may be connected with the ancient eating trends and their function maybe sometimes explicit, but at the
same time hide obscure aspects.
Conclusions:
Common ware study is linked with the use of the vessels (casseroles, pots, frying pans, lids, dish, jugs) and reveals us the
everyday uses of the inhabitants of Nora, strictly connected – in some cases – with their precursors: the Punics.
Reassessing Roman building materials: economics, logistics and social factors in the
supply of tile and stone to Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
Edward Peveler (University of Oxford)
[email protected]
152
This research proposes a new methodology for studying Roman ceramic and stone building materials. These two materials
have generally been poorly researched; a new synthesised approach is presented, analysing in parallel the two materials, and
utilising thin-section microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and digital image analysis for precisely characterising fabrics.
Using primary material from the Roman ‘small town’ of Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, this research shows that
these bulk goods were transported over significant distances, by both road and river, to the town. Materials identified include
certain ceramic fabrics such as the ‘pink grog-tempered ware’ from Buckinghamshire, which is seen in tegulae and imbrices used
at Dorchester, and stone types such as Forest Marble from the Cotswold Hills, which made stone roof tiles used at the site.
The organisation of the production of these materials, the mechanisms, logistics, and routeways involved in their transport,
and their materiality and the social and economic factors driving their distribution, are discussed.
The major outcomes of this research include a strong case arguing for the better and more regular analysis of building
materials as a synthesised material assemblage: such an analysis has the power to inform us about a range of themes, including
Roman production, trade, economics, and society, across a relatively wide ‘class’ spectrum. In addition this work adds useful
evidence to assist our understanding of Roman “small towns.” The role of these sites in the Roman settlement hierarchy and
their social and economic function are generally poorly understood; through examining the Dorchester building material new
insight will be gained into the purchasing power of individuals within the town, social identities and aspirations of the community, and the participation of the settlement in regional markets and networks.
The translation of the context: a case study from Portugal
Vincenzo Soria (University of Lisbon)
[email protected]
Archaeology is a discipline mainly framed by the necessity to interpret data. This aspect leads to overlook other possible
approaches to data that would not be limited into established frameworks. In this respect, scholars pointed out the inadequacy
of the grand theories (Van Ojen 2015) and the tendency of shaping artefactual evidences on historic accounts as explanatory
tools (Cadiou 2008). In fact, several archaeological sites show a different reality not restricted to the representation of the community as composed by monolithic ethnic groups (Garcia Fernández 2007). For this reason, it is needed a refined approach
for the analysis of archaeological finds. Recognizing the role of the agency as symmetrically distributed (Knappett-Malafouris
2008), it will be possible to switch the attention from causality to contingency (Van der Leew 2008), allowing the descriptive
treatment of all the entities regardless their ontologies. The case study of Monte das Covas 3 (central Portugal) has been chosen
in order to explore the process of “translation” (Callon 1986): deploying the principal actors, it will be possible a circumstantial
description of the relations between them and to show how different entities are defined in a specific practice.
Bibliography
Cadiou, F. 2008 Hibera in terra miles. Les armées romaines et la conquête de l’Hispanie sous la République (218-45 av. J.-C.),
Casa de Velazquez, Madrid. Callon, M. 1986 Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops
and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay, in Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge, Law, J. (ed.). London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, p. 196-233. Foucault, M. 2013 [1969] L’archeologia del sapere. Rizzoli BUR, Milano. Garcia
Fernández, F. J. 2007 Etnología y etnias de la Turdetania en época prerromana, in CuPAUAM 33, p. 117-143. Knappett, C.;
Malafouris, L. (eds.) 2008 Material agency. Towards a non-anthropocentric approach. New York: Springer. Latour, B. 2005
Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press. Van Ojen, A. 2015 Deconstructing and reassembling the Romanization debate through the lens of postcolonial theory: from global to local and back?,
in Terra Incognita 5, p. 205-226.
153
THEORETICAL ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE 26
POSTER SESSIONS
Author
Serena Mola
Lucia Michielin
Zoltán Pallag
Graeme Erskine
Elizabeth Robinson
Sabina Veseli
Tomasz Dziurdzik
Nicoletta De Troia
Dario Canino
Oskar Kubrak
Sarah Gilboa-Karni
Erika Cappelletto
Mariya Avramova
Francesca Lezzi and
Francesca Santini
Poster
Session
Date
La villa romana della regione Consolata
in Aosta. Una residenza con funzioni
pubbliche alle origini di Augusta PraetoBeyond Public and Private
ria
in the Roman House
A foot in the door: A new approach to
the analysis of doors and windows in Roman houses
Classical Archaeology in the Time of
Wednesday, 16 March
Communism: Exhibitions on
Marxist Traditions in RoClassical, Celtic and Roman Archaeology
man Archaeology
in a Hungarian County Museum
(Székesfehérvár, 1949-1989)
Controlling movement, constructing places: the Roman roads of northern Britain Theorising “Place” in (Roman) Archaeology
The Site Biography as an Important Tool
for Understanding the Archaeology of
Beyond Hybridity and CoHellenistic Italy
de-Switching
Drinking wine in Southern Illyria in the
II-I centuries BC.
Active Agents or Static Spectators: Rankand-File Soldiers in Religious Ceremonies
Theatricalising Memory
of Roman Army
The abandonment of the Western Oasis
sites at the end of Late-Roman Period.
The Great Oasis as case of study
La rifunzionalizzazione dello spazio
pubblico dei fora dopo la fine della città
romana
Filling the Gap
Legio IIII Scythica in Pokr Vedi (Armenia). Theoretical Analyze of Archaeological
Remains as the Base of Future Non-invasive Research Near Artashat
Venus Pompeiana or Venus Genetrix?
Who was really Claudius and what he
did?
General session 1
Choosing a Place for Healing Settlements
in Roman Thrace
Interazione tra uomo e animali attraverso
l’analisi comparata tra resti faunistici, dati
archeologici e fonti storiche: il caso della
Animals and landscape
villa romana dei Brutti Praesentes (Scandriglia – RI)
154
Thursday, 17 March
Friday, 18 March
Saturday, 19 March
155
Roma, marzo 2016
ISBN 978-88-7140-701-2
Realizzato da:

Roman Archaeology Conference 12 Theoretical Roman

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