The Roman legionary base at Novae in Lower Moesia is one of the most important sites in the Lower Danubian provinces. Towards late Antiquity, the military camp was transformed into a civil town with Episcopal residence and survived until the beginning of the 7th century. The Polish-Bulgarian excavations carried out for more than 55 years revealed remains dated from the mid-1st up to the early Byzantine periods and more than 300 inscriptions on stone. The rural hinterland of Novae is exceptional and fascinating for the historian and archaeologist, not only due to the importance of the site itself, but also due to its location. The legionary camp at Novae was located halfway between the outlets of two rivers - the Osam and Jantra, flowing nearly parallel to each other. This part of the Danubian Plain was inhabited by Geto-Thracians and tribes influenced by the Celts. The special position of the lands between the Osam and Jantra rivers is well-expressed by a series of boundary stones set up in AD 136 by Emperor Hadrian, who divided the tribal territories of Moesos and Thraces. This special geopolitical situation must have caused considerable difficulties in administering the area by the Romans. At present this poses a challenge for scholars, who search for answers to various questions concerning the universal solutions applied in borderlands in the past.

This book is an essay on architectural drawings of the Greek and Roman world. The first chapter is focused on the possibility that ancient treatises of architectures were endowed with drawings in order to make clear expositions which sometimes were not easily explainable only with words. Then the drawings which once clarified the treatise of Vitruvius are considered. The problem concerning the possible presence of drawings in post-Vitruvian architectural treatises is also discussed. The issue as to whether descriptive literary compositions sometimes contained illustrations as well is also examined. Then representations of architecture in Roman treatises on divisions of land (the so called gromatic treatises) are considered. The references to architectural drawings in literary and epigraphical testimonia are collected and a catalogue of the surviving Greek and Roman drawings of buildings or of parts of them is given. Thus this research offers all the basic data for the study of an important tool in the context of architecture in antiquity.

Archaeological excavations at the Eleuthernian burial ground of Orthi Petra continue to yield significant elements of the archaeo-anthropological record, the subject matter of continuous interdisciplinary research, outreach, national and international acclaim. Among a plethora of features discovered, unearthing components of a unique nexus to the Geometric-Archaic Periods, was an unspoiled time capsule in astonishing contextual preservation, a hand carved tomb with a dromos into the softer bedrock material of Orthi Petra. Designated in short as contextual association A1K1, the tomb as a funerary activity area yielded a remarkable collection of jar burials in complex internal tomb stratification, containing cremated human bones accompanied by a most noteworthy assembly of burial artifacts of exquisite wealth, along a multitude of traces of "fossilized" behavior left resolutely behind by the ancients in their transactions on the paths of their perceived realities and obligations of life norms, but also of the arcane matters of afterlife. Such evidentiary data of funerary behavior in conjunction with the rest of the archaeo-anthropological record afford the opportunity to document where possible and deduce where pertinent aspects of the transitional period, overlapping the end of life's journey and the unfolding of death in light of a number of the principles, the values, and the modes that guided the lives of the ancients as mortuary habits may have the transcending power to be revealing of certain codes of ante mortem conduct, of main beliefs, of ideologies and viewpoints, characteristic of their ideational world and hence of their attitudes toward, and expectations of, post mortem life. Such understandings, based on critical and deductive thinking combined with the data offered through the scope of anthropological archaeology and forensics by the decoding of traces permanently recorded on bone and dental surfaces, construct a persuasive dialectic, regarding important facets of the human condition in Eleutherna from Geometric through Archaic times.

In the 1960s a great new barrier dam was built across the Peneios Valley in Elis in the N.W. Peloponnese to create an artificial lake for irrigation purposes. In 1967 the Greek Archaeological Service organised a preliminary survey of the areas to be affected and also asked all the Foreign Archaeological Schools to assist and allocated specific sections to each. The British School at Athens sent a small team in late 1967 to survey part of the south-west fringes of the area to be flooded; this team identified many sites and opened test-trenches at six of them. In 1969 further work was undertaken in that area for the British School: a small team from Birmingham University and from Bangor undertook excavations at two of the identified sites, 'Kostoureika' and 'Keramidia'. This account describes the results in detail. 'Kostoureika', identified as a likely Hellenistic 'villa' proved structurally disappointing (the 1967 test-trench had located the only surviving wall), but revealed a deposit of Early Helladic pottery, which supplements very usefully evidence for early occupation in the north-west Peloponnese. 'Keramidia' proved to be a site occupied, at least at times, from the Hellenistic to the late Roman imperial period.

The honorand of this volume, Matti Egon, has been a great benefactor to museums, schools, universities and hospitals in the UK and also in Greece: all areas that her background and life's interests have made dear to her. One of these is the Greek Archaeological Committee UK, that she helped found in 1992: an organization dedicated to informing academe and the public in Britain of archaeological work carried out in Greece, and of enabling the 'brightest minds' of Greece and Cyprus to pursue post-graduate research at British institutions, to the mutual enrichment of both. Some fifty-five graduates have so benefited. This volume offers essays by a good half of those so assisted: roughly split between the sexes, they range between post-graduates still completing their studies in the UK, up to those with doctorates, almost half the group, now successfully in employment at Universities and similar Institutions in the UK, Greece, Cyprus and the USA, with rather fewer working in Museums, within the Greek Ephorates and even at a Foreign School in Athens. The hugely varied topics they offer cover the entire range of prehistory and history down to the modern day on Greek and Cypriot soil. Neolithic animal butchery rubs shoulders with regional assessments of the end of the Mycenaean era, investigations into Hellenistic sculptors and lamps, life in Byzantine monasteries and the politics behind modern exhibitions; the Phoenicians and even an Islamic general make cameo appearances. This startling range of subjects accurately reflects the depth of scholarship Matti Egon has nurtured into being; the affection and gratitude expressed by the graduates equally mirrors the deep appreciation they acknowledge for the opportunities so given.

Ritual landscapes and borders are recurring themes running through Professor Kalle Sognnes' long research career. This anthology contains 13 articles written by colleagues from his broad network in appreciation of his many contributions to the field of rock art research. The contributions discuss many different kinds of borders: those between landscapes, cultures, traditions, settlements, power relations, symbolism, research traditions, theory and methods. We are grateful to the Department of Historical studies, NTNU; the Faculty of Humanities; NTNU, The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters and The Norwegian Archaeological Society (Norsk arkeologisk selskap) for funding this volume that will add new knowledge to the field and will be of importance to researchers and students of rock art in Scandinavia and abroad.

Destruction of Cultural Heritage in 19th Century France examines the fate of the building stock and prominent ruins of France (especially Roman survivals) in the 19th century, supported by contemporary documentation and archives, largely provided through the publications of scholarly societies. The book describes the enormous extent of the destruction of monuments, providing an antidote to the triumphalism and concomitant amnesia which in modern scholarship routinely present the 19th century as one of concern for the past. It charts the modernising impulse over several centuries, detailing the archaeological discoveries made (and usually destroyed) as walls were pulled down and town interiors re-planned, plus the brutal impact on landscape and antiquities as railways were laid out. Heritage was largely scorned, and identity found in modernity, not the past.

Transformationpresents a diachronic investigation providing a rich case study as well as an approach tracing the contours of a category of Roman material culture defined by the Roman period technique of openwork carving. As the first comprehensive assemblage of openwork vessels from Classical to late Antiquity, this work offers primary evidence documenting a key example of the fundamental shift from naturalism to abstraction in which inscriptions are transformed and word becomes image. A glass blower herself, Hallie Meredith poses questions about process, tactility and reception providing a clear picture of the original contexts of production and reception demonstrated by the Roman technique of openwork carving. In an in-depth analysis of the corpus as a whole, typologies (old and new), imagery, geometric patterning and inscriptions as the major divisions among openwork decorative elements, basic design principles are identified, non openwork carving and its relation to openwork decoration are discussed, as are the function, handling, display, movement and provenance of openwork vessels throughout the Roman Empire. Art historians and archaeologists working on the transition from Classical to late Antiquity, as well as scholars focusing on these and later periods of study, can fruitfully apply this approach to visual culture. This work shows how openwork vessels are a reflection of a wide-reaching Roman cultural aesthetic.

The bearded and mature figure of Christ stands majestically raising his right hand, open palm facing the viewer. In his left he holds an unfurled scroll. Saints Peter and Paul appear on either side, Peter approaching to catch or protect the dangling bookroll. This image, the so-called traditio legis, first appeared in late fourthcentury Rome in a variety of media, from the monumental to the miniature, including mosaic, catacomb painting, gold-glass and, the most numerous group, marble relief carving on sarcophagi. This monograph engages in a close reading of the traditio legis, highlighting its novelty and complexity to early Christian viewers. The image is analyzed as a conflation of two distinct forms of representation, each constructed of unusual and potentially multivalent elements. Iconographical details like the hirsute Christ, his gesture, Peter's covered hands and the unorthodox positioning of the two saints are examined in isolation and as elements of the whole. The synthetic composition invited alternative and over-determined meanings.

Large numbers of Greco-Italic and Dressel 1 amphorae were exported to many parts of Gaul during the late Iron Age and they provide a major source of information on the development and growth of the Roman economy during the late Republican period. This volume examines in detail this trade to the Auvergne region of central France and provides a typological and chronological study of the main assemblages of Republican amphorae found on the farms, agglomerations, oppida, and funerary sites, dating from the second century BC until the early first century AD. Other topics examined include the provenance of the amphorae, the stamps, painted inscriptions and graffiti, the distribution of Republican amphorae in the Auvergne, and the evidence for their modification and reuse. Finally, a gazetteer of Republican amphora findspots from France is also provided.

Egyptian Cultural Identity in the Architecture of Roman Egypt (30 BC-AD 325) considers the relationship between architectural form and different layers of identity assertion in Roman Egypt. The Roman province of Aegyptus was a peculiar province such that many scholars have generally assumed that it was given a special status in the Roman Empire. The text covers the period from the Roman conquest of Egypt under Octavian in 30 BC to the official recognition of Christianity in AD 325. It stresses the sophistication of the concept of identity, and the complex yet close association between architecture and identity. This monograph is the outcome of four years of research at the Department of Classics and Ancient History, the University of Durham. The book will be of interest and value for both Classicists and Egyptologists working on the archaeology of Egypt under Roman rule and the concept of identity.

Discussions and scientific exchange are crucial for the advancement of a young discipline such as the study of Roman pottery in the Near East. Therefore, in addition to large conferences such as the 'Late Roman Coarse Ware Conference' (LRCW) where the Near East plays only a marginal role, an international workshop with 20 participants dedicated solely to the study of Roman common ware pottery in the Near East was held in Berlin on 18th and 19th February 2010. The goal of this workshop was to provide researchers actively engaged in the study of Roman common wares the possibility to meet and discuss the current state of research as well as questions and problems they are facing with their material. Some of the participants were able to bring pottery samples, which provided the possibility to compare and discuss the identification and denomination of specific fabrics on a regional and supra-regional scale. This volume presents 17 papers from this stimulating event. The Archaeopress series, Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean Pottery (RLAMP) is devoted to research of the Roman and late Antique pottery in the Mediterranean. It is designed to serve as a reference point for all potential authors devoted to pottery studies on a pan-Mediterranean basis. The series seeks to gather innovative individual or collective research on the many dimensions of pottery studies ranging from pure typological and chronological essays, to diachronic approaches to particular classes, the complete publication of ceramic deposits, pottery deposit sequences, archaeometry of ancient ceramics, methodological proposals, studies of the economy based on pottery evidence or, among others, ethnoarchaeological ceramic research that may help to understand the production, distribution and consumption of pottery in the Mediterranean basin.

This volume is in honour of the Austrian scholar Prof. Dr Hannsjoerg Ubl. It contains a tabula gratulatoria, a bibliography and 24 contributions covering a wide range of topics. The focus being Greek and Roman, the volume includes papers about the Langobards, renaissance replicas of classical sculpture, and the archaeology of World War I. The 'classical' papers deal with Greek and Roman art and art looting; dogs in Greek and Roman warfare; Roman looking-glasses; erotic inscriptions of Gaulish spindle whorls; military equipment and dress accessories; Roman military history and the non-military archaeology of Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia.

The colonnaded axes define the visitor's experience of many of the great cities of the Roman East. How did this extraordinarily bold tool of urban planning evolve? The street, instead of remaining a mundane passage, a convenient means of passing from one place to another, was in the course of little more than a century transformed in the Eastern provinces into a monumental landscape which could in one sweeping vision encompass the entire city. The colonnaded axes became the touchstone by which cities competed for status in the Eastern Empire. Though adopted as a sign of cities' prosperity under the Pax Romana, they were not particularly 'Roman' in their origin. Rather, they reflected the inventiveness, fertility of ideas and the dynamic role of civic patronage in the Eastern provinces in the first two centuries under Rome. This study will concentrate on the convergence of ideas behind these great avenues, examining over fifty sites in an attempt to work out the sequence in which ideas developed across a variety of regions-from North Africa around to Asia Minor. It will look at the phenomenon in the context of the consolidation of Roman rule.

This study (the second volume in the Archaeopress series devoted to the publication of ceramics in the Roman Mediterranean and outlying territories from the late Republic to late Antiquity) addresses the level of interregional trade of ceramic building material (CBM), traditionally seen as a high bulk low value commodity, within the ancient Mediterranean between the third century BC and the seventh century AD. It examines the impact of different modes of production, distribution and consumption of CBM and how archaeological assemblages differ from what is predicted by current models of the ancient economy. It also explores how CBM can be used to investigate cultural identity and urban form. CBM has great potential in investigating these topics. It survives in large quantities in the archaeological record; it is transported as a commodity in its own right, not as a container for other products like amphorae. The amount of CBM used in a building can be estimated, and this can be extrapolated to urban centres to model consumption in ways that are not possible for other goods. This allows the potential derivation of economic information to a higher level of precision than is the case for other materials. The material used in this study derives from stratified assemblages from two major ports of the ancient Mediterranean: Carthage and Beirut. CBM as a material is comparable to pottery, only it does not exhibit the same range of forms. This leaves fabric as a major means of analysing CBM samples. For this reason a programme of petrological thin sectioning has been carried out on these assemblages. These data have been combined with the taphonomic and dating evidence from the excavations. The results showed that the levels of imports of CBM into these two cities were much higher than would normally be expected from the orthodox model of the consumer city. They also suggest that CBM can be used as a tool to investigate cultural identity.

Les pratiques funeraires en Pannonie de l'epoque augusteenne a la fin du 3e siecle aims to give an overview of Roman burial practices in Pannonia during the Early Roman period. Among the different approaches proposed by R. Reece for the study of Roman cemeteries, this work focuses on the grave treatment and grave furnishing. The funerary practices are thus apprehended through the study of tomb structure, the selection and treatment of grave goods and human remains. The book proposes a synthesis of the published finds to serve as a base for future research. The analysis consists of a documentary review (presented in the catalogue and numerous tables) as complete as possible from the published data, accompanied by a detailed analysis of the information available today to highlight the trends regarding the entire province but also the peculiarities that can be distinguished at the regional level. The analysis is supported by many graphics and maps. Many general trends, common to the western provinces of the Roman Empire, were detected but also many particularities linked to the economic and social situation of the communities, the different components of the population of Pannonia and the political and military history of the province.

In the Imperial Age, many ports in Italy had been built in opus coementicium. The most important ones were in Latium (eg. Portus Romae, Antium and Centumcellae), in the Phlegrean Fields (portus Iulius, Misenum, Puteoli and Baiae) and along the northern-Adriatic coast (Classis-Ravenna, Aquileia and Altino). The military fleets of Augustus, in particular, were quartered in the ports of Classis and Misenum. Most Roman ports were located at river mouths and/or in lagoon areas and were connected with inland areas by rivers or artificial canals. For this reason, port structures (piers and warehouses) were set at some distance from the sea, as in Rome (Emporium of Testaccio along the Tiber), in Pisa-San Rossore and in the Po valley. In Late Antiquity many of the Roman ports gradually fell into disuse while others continued until the 7th century. In Ravenna, however, a new port settlement, known as Civitas Classis, came into being in the 5th century, after the creation of the suburb of Portus Romae. In the Early Middle Ages, the northern-Adriatic coast became very important in connection with trade with Constantinople. New settlements equipped with timber port structures were created at Comacchio, Cittanova and in the Venetian lagoon. If maritime trade in the Tyrrhenian Sea decreased (although to a lesser extent in Byzantine towns like Naples), river-borne traade was still dynamic and often managed by abbeys and other ecclesiastical institutions. According to historical sources, many river wharves were located along the Po while San Vincenzo abbey managed the Volturno river. The Carolingian river wharves of San Vincenzo were composed of timber, stone and, according to the Roman tradition, concrete structures. A slow recovery of maritime trades is already evident in the Carolingian Age. This book analyses the Roman and early medieval ports of Italy and the building techniques used in their structures; it displays the elements of continuity and discontinuity revealed during these centuries.

Christopher Wordsworth (1807-85), the "Great Christopher" of Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge, was a nephew of William the poet, and brother to the student who launched the University Boat Race. In 1832 he took a gap-year, after his brilliant studies in ancient Greek and Latin classics, to travel back in time over two thousand years to Pericles' Athens. The account of his tour, Athens and Attica (1836), is still the perfect scholarly companion to the history, topography, and myths of an area compact in dimension yet vast in terms of its contribution to Western civilization. "The Bazaar or Market at Athens is a long street. Looking up you command a view of the commodities. Barrels of black caviar, small pocket-looking-glasses in red pasteboard cases, onions, tobacco piled up in brown heaps, black olives, figs strung together upon a rush, pipes with amber mouthpieces and brown clay bowls, silver-chased pistols, dirks, belts, and embroidered waistcoats. Such is the present state of Athens...a few Turks still doze in the archways of the Acropolis, or recline while smoking their pipes, and leaning with their backs against the rusty cannon. A few days ago the cannon of the Acropolis fired the signal of the conclusion of the Turkish Ramazam - the last which will ever be celebrated in Athens." - Christopher Wordsworth, 1832

For the Greeks, the sharing of cooked meats was the fundamental communal act, so that to become vegetarian was a way of refusing society. It follows that the roasting or cooking of meat was a political act, as the division of portions asserted a social order. And the only proper manner of preparing meat for consumption, according to the Greeks, was blood sacrifice. The fundamental myth is that of Prometheus, who introduced sacrifice and, in the process, both joined us to and separated us from the gods--and ambiguous relation that recurs in marriage and in the growing of grain. Thus we can understand why the ascetic man refuses both women and meat, and why Greek women celebrated the festival of grain-giving Demeter with instruments of butchery. The ambiguity coded in the consumption of meat generated a mythology of the other--werewolves, Scythians, Ethiopians, and other monsters. The study of the sacrificial consumption of meat thus leads into exotic territory and to unexpected findings. In The Cuisine of Sacrifice, the contributors--all scholars affiliated with the Center for Comparative Studies of Ancient Societies in Paris--apply methods from structural anthropology, comparative religion, and philology to a diversity of topics: the relation of political power to sacrificial practice; the Promethean myth as the foundation story of sacrificial practice; representations of sacrifice found on Greek vases; the technique and anatomy of sacrifice; the interaction of image, language, and ritual; the position of women in sacrificial custom and the female ritual of the Thesmophoria; the mythical status of wolves in Greece and their relation to the sacrifice of domesticated animals; the role and significance of food-related ritual in Homer and Hesiod; ancient Greek perceptions of Scythian sacrificial rites; and remnants of sacrificial ritual in modern Greek practices.

The Archaeology of Death: Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of Italian Archaeology held at the National University of Ireland, Galway, April 16-18, 2016 includes more than 60 papers, with contributors from the British Isles, Italy and other parts of continental Europe, and North and South America, which consider recent developments in Italian archaeology from the Neolithic to the modern period. Each region of Italy is represented, with specific sections of the volume devoted to Etruria, South Italy, and Sicily. Other sections have a chronological focus, including Italian Prehistory, the Roman period, and Post Antiquity. Following the primary theme of the meeting, the majority of papers revolve around the archaeology of death; numerous contributions analyse the cultural significance of death through examinations of funerary rituals and mortuary practices, while others analyse burial data for evidence of wider social and political change. Various papers consider new and recent discoveries in Italian archaeology, while others ask fresh questions of older datasets. In addition, a number of contributions showcase their employment of new methodologies deriving from technological innovations. The volume opens with a dedicatory section to mark the achievements of the Accordia Research Institute, and to celebrate the careers of two of its founders, Ruth Whitehouse and John Wilkins. The following paper(s) are available to download in Open Access: Cremation structures and funerary dynamics in Roman Veneto. New perspectives from Padua/Patavium - Cecilia Rossi and Irene Marini: Download

The cult of relics, encouraged by, among others, the emperor Constantine, Pope Damasus and the bishops Ambrose of Milan and Paulinus of Nola, led to the transformation of the Late Antique Italian landscape, and of suburban areas in particular. The process of gradual enhancement of the martyrs' tombs led to the creation of extensive sanctuaries, generally composed of funerary and cultic buildings, as well as service structures, pilgrims' lodgings and monasteries. The most important sanctuaries, such as those of Saints Peter in the Vatican, Paul on the Ostiense, Erasmus in Formia, Alexander in Nomentum, Felix in Cimitile, Gennaro in Naples, Felix in Venosa, Marcianus in Syracuse, and the Apostles in Concordia Sagittaria, became so popular that they justified Jerome's phrase: movetur urbs sedibus suis et currit ad martyrum tumulos. Between the 5th and 6th century, sanctuaries spread also in rural areas, usually along important roads, as documented by the site of San Canzian d'Isonzo. Analysing hypogeal and subdial contexts, Santuari e spazi confessionali nell'Italia tardoantica outlines the evolution of loca sancta, in a process that led the venerated tombs to become first memoriae, then places of worship and finally articulated sanctuaries. For the first time, the contexts of Rome are organically compared with those of the rest of Italy.

Neopalatial Crete - the 'Golden Age' of the Minoan Civilization - possessed palaces, exquisite artefacts, and iconography with pre-eminent females. While lacking in fortifications, ritual symbolism cloaked the island, an elaborate bureaucracy logged transactions, and massive storage areas enabled the redistribution of goods. We cannot read the Linear A script, but the libation formulae suggest an island-wide koine. Within this cultural identity, there is considerable variation in how the Minoan elites organized themselves and others on an intra-site and regional basis. This book explores and celebrates this rich, diverse and dynamic culture through analyses of important sites, as well as Minoan administration, writing, economy and ritual. Key themes include the role of Knossos in wider Minoan culture and politics, the variable modes of centralization and power relations detectable across the island, and the role of ritual and cult in defining and articulating elite control.

This publication considers the visual, linguistic and religious culture of the Roman province of Lusitania. Roman influence was especially notable in religion and artistic manifestations. It was in the cities where the Lusitanians acquired Roman civilization: they learned Latin, the Frankish language of the peninsula; they were introduced to the Roman administration and religion; and in the third century, when Rome converted to Christianity, so did the Lusitanians. The Latin language was imposed as the official language, functioning as a binding factor and communication between different peoples. Being a fairly large area and lacking a unified state that promoted a particular language in administration or education, different languages coexisted simultaneously in Hispania. The subjects continued to use their native languages, although official business was conducted in Latin or Greek. Indigenous religions persisted, although sacrifices were offered everywhere for the emperor and the gods of the Roman pantheon. Visual culture also reflected the hybrid character of provincial civilization. Images of a Roman style and subject matter circulated widely, and yet the craftsmen and consumers of the provinces maintained their own traditions, adopting Roman techniques and tastes as they pleased. The papers in this volume establish a broad and generous view of the relationship between images, languages and religious culture within Lusitanian society.

This volume is the first in a series of works detailing the archaeological investigations of the ager Rusellanus, in coastal southern Etruria, undertaken by the Alberese Archaeological Project. It focuses on the Roman temple and sanctuary dedicated to Diana Umbronensis, located at Scoglietto (Alberese - GR) on the ancient Tyrrhenian coast. In so doing it adds to the study of trade and settlement networks in ancient Italy, and provides new data on the character of Roman and late antique Etruria. The book discusses the changing aspect and character of the sanctuary over approximately eight centuries - from its foundation in the mid-2nd century BC and substantial refurbishment in the Antonine period, to its destruction in the 4th century AD and the varied use and reuse of the site through the following two centuries. It includes archaeological, historical and landscape studies, as well as detailed architectural and material culture studies for a composite interpretation of the site and its history.

Da Roma a Gades/De Roma a Gades is dedicated to the illustrious and beloved archaeologist Simon Keay. It collects the scientific results of the International Workshop held in Rome in September 2019, which discussed the management, elimination and reuse of artisanal and commercial waste in maritime and river ports. Two relevant archaeological finds in recent years (the 'Nuovo Mercato Testaccio' in Rome, focused on the recycling of rudera; and the 'Halieutic Testaccio' in Gades, dedicated to waste from the fish processing industry), both currently being opened as museums, have constituted the spur to revive the discussion on the fundamental importance of 'dumps' for historical reconstruction in Antiquity. A dozen contributions from Italian, Spanish and French colleagues analyze the role of urban waste in the city from multiple perspectives, although most prominently from an archaeological point of view. From the few public examples still known in the Roman world (Monte Testaccio and the new find in Cadiz, possibly managed by that municipium in Baetica) to the problem of selected and unselected waste. Through paradigmatic examples from the Western Mediterranean (from the Palatine or Trastevere in Rome to the unique cases of Augusta Emerita or Arles) the contributors reflect on the 'typology' of dumps and their importance for understanding the ways of life of past societies.