This volume contains a range of papers from a seminar held in Oxford in 2005. What did art in its widest sense mean to them, the Romans, and what might it (or even should it), mean to us? The approach adopted avoids fashionable theory, mainly culled second-hand from the social sciences, and tries to engage directly with material culture.

This is a wide-ranging study of the southern English county of Wiltshire in the Roman and early medieval periods (c. 100-1100 AD), focusing on the key themes of landscape, settlement and society and using a combination of archaeological, topographical and historical evidence. Particular emphasis is given to place-names, which, it is argued, can help us to locate Romano-British settlements and inform us about the British survival in the post-Roman period. Early chapters tackle the transition between the Roman and Early Saxon periods, challenging current theories on the decline of Roman Britain and the Anglo-Saxon adventus. Subsequent chapters examine the evidence for early medieval territorial and ecclesiastical structure in Wiltshire, in addition to the Anglo-Saxon farming landscape. There is also detailed consideration of the origins of the medieval settlement pattern and a discussion of the relationship between settlements and the ranks of Anglo-Saxon society.

The horror of the puticuli, the mass burial pits, and their traditional association with the poor, has often led to this socio-economic group being viewed as somehow different to the rest of the ancient urban community in the Italy of the Late Roman Republic. This is the theory questioned by the author of this volume. Why should this part of the community care so little about the disposal of the dead when other members of society were devoting huge amounts of time and money to ensuring that the deceased received not only burial, but also lasting commemoration?

The purpose of this work is to determine the most informative articles and the most effective methods and research approaches to the study of Roman brick stamps covering the former Roman Empire. The different research methods used in different areas are compared. This study attempts to give an overall view of research methods, approaches and categories of studies used in all schools of brick stamp research and poses the question whether brick stamps can contribute to our understanding of military history. Regional and local differences of both stamps and modern schools of research are highlighted and their importance in terms of Roman history is discussed. The author critically reviews a selection of articles, focusing primarily on the methodologies employed by certain scholars. The reviewed articles contain a selection of brick stamps. A catalogue of the works reviewed is included and the publications listed there form the background for this present analysis.

One of the most significant features in the suburbium of Roman cities throughout Italy were the villae suburbanae. Modern scholarship has undertaken a large amount of research into the residential properties and lifestyles of the Roman nobility, and the Roman villa has been a prime subject area in this regard. But villae suburbanae have only received limited detailed analysis from these scholars. To this end, this study examines both the literary and archaeological evidence relating to villae suburbanae in an effort to gain a better understanding of this type of residence. The first fundamental feature of this investigation is to understand these buildings within their social and geographical context. The second feature is the method employed to interpret the social aspects of villae suburbanae, which utilises statistical analysis to determine the percentage of space allocated for potential entertainment.

Ceramic building material, particularly roofing material, is one of the most common finds on Romano-British sites, yet despite its abundance, it has been relatively little studied. Whole books have been devoted to relatively minor pottery types, but it is extremely rare for a book to devote as much as a single chapter to ceramic roofing material. This book is devoted to the study of ceramic roofing material, primarily tegulae. It considers how they were made and develops and dates a typology. It looks at the role of stamps and signatures and how these can inform the study of when and by whom the tegulae were made. It analyses how the tiles were fitted onto pitched roofs, how these roofs were constructed and proposes four stages in their evolution. It suggests that tegulae might also have been used on some vaulted roofs. Finally the logistics, costs and economics of tile manufacture and distribution are addressed. The book follows a logical sequence considering first how tegulae were manufactured, next their typology and then their dating in order to prepare the ground for the subsequent chapters on stamps and roof construction. The final chapter brings all the evidence together to examine the economic and social data that can be derived from a study of tegulae, grouped together as a single site. In contrast, where a useful assemblage of tiles has come from an individual site within a town, this has been identified separately from other assemblages within the same town. If these separate assemblages within the same towns are aggregated together then the number of individual sites falls from 104 to 85.

This work investigates the use of Old Red Sandstone from South Wales, Gloucestershire, Avon and Somerset during the Roman period, for rotary querns. It is based on detailed petrographic studies of these rocks at both microscopic and macroscopic levels to define practical keys which allow types of Old Red Sandstone, and hence artefacts made from it, to be identified and provenanced to their geological formations. 1200 rotary querns of Old Red sandstone from 180 sites were analysed (stretching from southeast Wales in the west, to Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire in the east. It extends as far south as Dorchester (Dorset) and as far north as Coleshill (Warwickshire)). The petrological study also identifies the three major source areas in the Roman period as the Forest of Dean, the Bristol area and the Mendips and investigates the differences in the distribution of finds from each of these sources. A typological study is included, with a detailed description and analysis of the types of ORS querns manufactured, their dating and their distribution. The routes and mechanisms through which the querns were moved are also investigated and the production of ORS querns is also assessed.

This collection of essays promises to make an important contribution to the field of Roman studies, particularly, by its concentration on monuments, to that of Roman art history. The current high level of interest in problems of identity, including studies of colonialism, Romanization, ethnicity, social class, gender and a host of related topics creates a vital intellectual context for the study of the art of provincials and the lower classes. The monuments themselves contribute a critical dimension to this discourse, the more so because the textual evidence for the non-elites of Roman society, apart from inscriptions, is relatively scarce.

This monograph examines the deposition of precious metal artefacts in the late Roman and early Byzantine periods (from c. AD 200 to AD 700) within and beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire and its successor states. The primary foci of the study are the size, date range and spatial distribution of these finds, with less emphasis on specific aspects of artefacts themselves and the specific contexts in which individual deposits were found. The immense chronological and regional scope allows broad changes in deposition patterns to be presented and examined. And a variety of possible interpretations of these patterns are offered in the final chapter.

Combines a personal, historical and archaeological approach to the study of the legion (roughly the first four centuries after Christ) as a whole. Epigraphic and historical evidence is presented for all those individuals known to have served with the Twentieth Legion in their various capacities. Sources are quoted, with translation, for each of these and significant details of the careers discussed.

This book is a definitive architectural study of Roman theatre architecture. In nine chapters it brings together a massive amount of archaeological, literary, and epigraphic information under one cover. It also contains a full catalogue of all known Roman theatres, including a number of odea (concert halls) and bouleuteria (council chambers) which are relevant to the architectural discussion, about 1,000 entries in all. Inscriptional or literary evidence relating to each theatre is listed and there is an up-to-date bibliography for each building. Most importantly the book contains plans of over 500 theatres or buildings of theatrical type, as well as numerous text figures and nearly 200 figures and plates.

This investigation is concerned with the accuracy of Hadrian's reputation as a prolific builder in the western provincial cities. The pursuit of this not only reveals more of Hadrian's personal building, but also that all construction work during this period is shown to have contributed to a general perception of intense and continuous building during Hadrian's reign.

This work presents systematic and objective examination of the large corpus of Hellenistic gold Eros jewellery. By focusing on the question of the interconnections between the major centres of production - Egypt, South Italy and South Russia, Western Asia Minor, Greece and Syria a number of regional schools and new jewellery groups are identified. The keys to the discussion are the well documented find contexts from Northern Greece, South Italy and Tel Atrib (Egypt) that make it possible to arrive at a relative chronology for a particular type of Eros, found throughout the Hellenistic world. The morphological, stylistic, iconographic and technical continuities between Hellenistic jewellery and in particular the Eros motif ensure the successful use of this methodology. Evidence from Koroni in Attica and from several South Italian tomb groups has been examined in detail and dated, according to the methodology described above to ca. 240 BC.

9 papers presented at a colloquium held in honour of J.J. Coulton at Lincoln College, Oxford on 17 April 2004, to mark his retirement from the Readership in Classical Archaeology at Merton College, Oxford. Jim Coulton devoted much of his early career to the study of Cycladic architecture. He saw earlier than most how important this area would be in advancing our knowledge not only of ancient architecture but also of many aspects of ancient Greek civilisation in general.

This volume presents an analysis of the human remains found in the Middle Bronze Age cemetery of Sant' Abbdondio, Pompeii. More specifically, Mary Anne Tafuri applies ICP-MS trace element analysis to the human bone and teeth from the cemetery in an attempt to reconstruct the social dynamics of the group. Reconstructing dietary habits, assuming that people ate local resources, opens a window, not only on the Middle Bronze Age economy, but also on residence and mobiity. The methods of Tafuri's analysis are outlined in detail and the results are interpreted in terms of the relationships between people, resources and the environment at Sant' Abbdondio.

At the heart of this study of Roman pottery in Macedonian Greece is a catalogue of over 1,900 vessels from five sites in the area of: Amphipolis, Philppi, Kepia, Abdera and Thasos. Vaitsa Malamidou's aim is that the material should throw light on the internal and external cultural influences in north-eastern Greece', arguing that the evidence indicates that, during the Roman period, the influence on pottery was always from the east, with most of the important vessels imported from Asia Minor. The large amounts of local wares is also an indicator of regional prosperity. The catalogue is preceded by a discussion of Roman pottery studies in general and the historical evidence for Roman Macedonia and Thrace. There is also a discussion of methodology, the excavations and the archaeological provenance of the fine and coarse wares.

This work examines the post-palatial phase of Late Helladic IIIC middle. During this phase in Greek prehistory, Greece undergoes important changes that will transfer the palace administrative system of the Mycenaean era to that of the city-states of the early Greek period. At the time of its publication much of the material evidence known today was still unpublished and although the material examined provided a most thorough account of what was known at the time it was still limited as a result of the lack of publications or as often was the case the lack of LH IIIC, or so defined, deposits. This phase of the BronzeAge has been periodically examined either through the investigation of specific sites or in certain cases with the study of a particular type of material find such as pottery. What this publication aims to provide is a more synthetic study of the middle phase in its entirety within the regions of the central and southern Aegean. By examining the archaeological material from settlements and burials of the middle phase, together with their associated finds of pottery, terracotta figurines, jewellery and weapons, it is hoped that they will provide valuable insight into this phase and provide information concerning the new social and economic structures that arose in response to the loss of the Mycenaean administrative centres.

Vindonissa (Canton of Aargau, Switzerland) was an important Roman camp during the 1st century AD. The tiles are among the most common archaeological findings in the Vindonissa legionary camp, but commonly occur in different Roman sites of Switzerland. The principal aim of this study was the petrographic and chemical characterisation of the Vindonissa tiles to determine the production site (or sites) for these ceramics and to obtain information concerning the technological aspects of the tile production and the distribution of these stamped tiles in Switzerland in Roman times. Abstracts in French and German.

Aegean-type pottery has been found in the West Mediterranean for more than a century and several publications have tried to explain the phenomenon from an Aegeancentric point of view. The search for metals, the arrival of Mycenaean people after the LH III B destructions in Mainland Greece and the hypothesis that Mycenaeans had to sail westwards because of the dominance of the Minoan thalassocracy on the eastern routes are only some of the proposals. Yet, what do we know about the Italics, the people who consumed, and eventually produced, Aegean-type pottery? This question is at the centre of this study. The state of research on this topic, in spite of almost a century and a half of studies is disappointing. The phenomenon is still seen in terms of economic exchange, where the Aegeans are the primary players. There has been no attempt to research methodically the reasons why the Italics accepted and used Aegean-type pottery. In the last few decades, many anthropologists have concentrated their efforts on ethnographic studies of patterns of consumption and several theoretical models have been published as a result. In particular, globalisation has provided the stimulus for research focussed on cross-cultural consumption of standardised products. Using these studies, this research has tried to provide the Italic perspective, one of consumption as well as production. The results of this research demonstrate the independence of the Italics in their choices as consumers and provide insights on the social and cultural processes of these Bronze Age populations. As a result, while the role of the Aegeans in the phenomenon appears less important, the complexity of the regional Italic processes associated with the presence of Aegean-type pottery in the West Mediterranean becomes more apparent.

This book investigates the lives of servile dependants and their role in the large households of the elite Romans. An uneasy proximity created by the cohabitation of the two opposite status groups (aristocratic masters and slaves) brought conflicts and contradiction. In attempting a new inquiry into such historically anonymous individuals and their res publica, the domus, this present work confines itself to analysis of a particular group of inscriptions from Rome (1st/2nd centuries AD), commonly referred to as the columbaria inscriptions. The 'columbarium', a dovecote-like burial structure, was designed to accommodate a number of epitaphs and urns of ashes and became particularly popular during the Julio-Claudian period. Such a communal burial structure appears to have been shared by people with a common background, in many cases the slaves and freedmen staff of a noble family. In other words, the set of epitaphs from a given columbarium is arguably representative of the familia urbana of a certain noble family. Once the group of individuals is thus given an identity, it opens the way to systematic examination of their lives and status from multiple angles. These inscriptions, relatively unexplored until recent decades, offer researchers unique insights into otherwise anonymous people.

The positioning of the legions of the Imperial Roman army provides a window into both the thinking and the course of events during the period from 30 B.C. to 300 A.D. When one can identify the locations and date the redeployments of the legions, it is possible to recreate the planning that caused the army to be so placed. Redeployments, of necessity, shows a major shift of events or a significant refocussing of the strategic thinking of the then ruling emperor at that particular moment. This book starts from the assumption that a legion's headquarters remained at a base until that legion was permanently posted to another base. A legion might temporarily serve in another province, even for more than a year, perhaps with its eagle present, but know that it would return to its permanent base. At any moment in time, a legion might have detachments serving in a variety of locations.

This book attempts to bring an anthropological perspective to the historical archaeology of a complex period in the Greek past. Traditionally, discussion of the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Byzantine period in the Aegean region has focused on the fate of Classical urban culture. Scholarly opinion is divided as to whether the Classical polis and its constituent institutions emerged intact from the disruptive events of the third to sixth centuries A.D. Over the past two decades a consensus has emerged that argues that the break between Classical and Byzantine occurred in the seventh, not the fourth or fifth centuries A.D., and that it was a more gradual process than previously believed. The present study examines the Byzantine Fortress at Isthmia in the Peloponnese with an eye to understanding social change in this critical period, at the level of the site and then the region, in terms of an evolutionary perspective . This study focuses on three problems at different levels of abstraction: (1) A descriptive problem; (2) A methodological problem; (3) A broader historical problem. The methodological element becomes the link between the gathering of site-specific data and the wider historical implications for that information.

Permanent settlements were founded by Greek marine traders as early as the mid 7th century in and around the Black Sea region. This revised thesis seeks to describe and examine the nature of these permanent emporia from this period until 590/580BC, as well as well as determine the conditions under which they appeared and how they compared to other settlements traditionally labelled as colonies.

This collection of papers from an international colloquium held in Gijon in 2002 discusses the question of unity and diversity among people living along the Atlantic littoral during the Roman period. The papers are divided into sections that look specifically at issues of territories, frontiers and military strategy, at production, circulation and consumption, with particular attention paid to ceramic evidence, and at the structure of settlements before and after the Romans arrived. Whilst some contributions examine a particular site or area such as the provinces of Galicia and Asturias, others look more widely to the Atlantic littoral as a whole and its interaction with the rest of the Empire. Papers in Spanish and English.

Based on the author's PhD thesis, this volume examines the possibility of a cult of the dead among the Mycenaean civilisations. Focusing on the period 1425/1390-1190/1180 BC, and drawing largely on archaeological evidence from tholos and chamber tombs from the regions of the Argolid and Corinthia, Attica and Samalis, Boeotia and Euboea, Gallou puts her theoretical ideas about the recognition of acts of ancestor veneration into action. Highlighting certain diagnostic traits among the evidence, she assesses the presence of notions of an afterlife, respect shown for the deceased, changes to tomb design and the funerary landscape as a whole, and differentiation among the burial facilities, offerings and acts associated with the dead.