Digital Archaeological Practice Workshop

Digital Archaeological Practice.

A Workshop on the use of Technology in the Field.

February 6 - 7, 2014.

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Archaeological practice is being revolutionized by the digital age. From new instruments and devices, to new software and apps, to web-based tools, platforms, and environments, the means by which archaeologists today approach the ancient world is radically different from only ten years ago. Nowhere is this change more starkly felt than in the experience of doing fieldwork. The cutting-edge technologies of 2004 – reflector-less laser theodolites, field-ready laptops, and GPS units - are already practically obsolete, replaced by photogrammetry, tablet computers, and even cell phones. This transformation of fieldwork is more than just an exchange of the object one is holding and new many questions arise:

• What is cutting edge in 2014? What will it be in 2020?
• How do digital practices affect archaeological practices in:
• who uses the technology and manages it?
• what we record and what kinds of records we produce?
• which analyses we run and what interpretations we prefer?
• what our results look like and how we share them?
• Where is digital practice advancing, altering, or subverting archaeological practice?

The Digital Archaeological Practice Workshop is a venue to grapple with these questions through the experiences of those currently using digital technologies in the field, focused on the classical world. Participants come from across the professional spectrum – from undergraduates to seasoned professors - and from an equally wide range of technical competencies. Their presentations will explore research on-going and recently completed to establish a baseline for current practice. The discussions will go farther. Beyond summary and criticism, participants and the audience will be encouraged to enter the valuable realm of speculation and prognostication, to warn against failings and false idols and to daydream the future of archaeological practice.

Confirmed Participants

Tess Brickley, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

William Caraher, University of North Dakota.

Benjamin Crowther, University of Texas at Austin

Bradley Duncan, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Steven Ellis, University of Cincinnati.

Sebastian Heath, New York University.

Miriam Kolar, Five Colleges Digital Humanities Post-Doctoral Fellow.

Nickolas Massar, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Brandon Olson, Boston University and Tufts Univeristy.

Jon Olson, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Eric E. Poehler, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Anthony Tuck, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Juliana Van Roggen, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The workshop is free and open to the public. Your attendance is welcome. 

For more information, please see the PQP webpage (http://www.umass.edu/classics/5CWorkshop.htm) or email Eric Poehler at epoehler [at] classics.umass.edu.

Articles in latest PBSR

From the Liverpool Classics List:

Throughout its history, Papers of the British School at Rome (PBSR) has published many significant articles covering all aspects of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The latest issue contains two articles by leading scholars which are free of charge to access until 31st January 2014.


Domenico Camardo’s article brings together new data that disputes the ‘re-discovery’ of Herculaneum in 1710, offering new perspectives on our understanding of the site. J.C. Fant et. al. offer a fascinating insight into the use of marble in the bars and shops of Pompeii and Herculaneum, revealing information about the use of architectural materials in the Vesuvian cities and the pan-Mediterranean marble trade.
You can also read a collection of related papers from across the PBSR archive that address various aspects of the study of Pompeii and Herculaneum. View the full selection here:
http://journals.cambridge.org/romph
In conjunction with the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary we're pleased to be hosting Fiona Hobden's Blog post History meets fiction in Doctor Who, ‘The Fires of Pompeii’, which talks about her Greece & Rome article on the same theme. Read the Blog post and access the Doctor Who and time travel article selection here:

http://blog.journals.cambridge.org/2013/11/history-meets-fiction-in-doctor-who-the-fires-of-pompeii/

Epigraphical database: The Ancient Graffiti Project

Strangely enough, wandering on in the Internet I casually found this promising project lead by Rebecca Benefiel: The Ancient Graffiti Project

"The website provides a search engine for locating and studying graffiti of the early Roman empire from the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Ancient graffiti, inscriptions that have been incised or scratched into wall-plaster, comprise a special branch of epigraphy. They differ from inscriptions on stone in several respects. An inscription on stone may be commemorative, dedicatory, sacred (to name just a few classes of inscription), but in almost all cases forethought has gone into the preparation of the text and the inscribed monument. Graffiti, by contrast, are more often the result of spontaneous composition and are the handwritten creation of the “man on the street.” Since graffiti are scratched into friable wall-plaster, they are more easily perishable, but when they do survive they are almost always found in-situ, unlike many stone inscriptions that have survived to the present day through re-use".

As for now, there is a case-sudy on Insula I 8. The project uses the Pompeii Bibliography and Mapping Project map and the graffiti texts are inserted in the EAGLE database.

Sales: Vendita promozionale delle pubblicazioni dell'EFR (28, 29 & 30 novembre 2013)

L'École française de Rome è lieta di proporvi una grande vendita promozionale di libri di fine anno. A tariffa vantagiosa, questi titoli potranno continuare a vivere e a fare la felicità di nuovi lettori e studenti. Questa vendita è organizzara presso la sede di Piazza Navona, è sarà l'occasion di scoprirla complemente restaurata. La lista dei libri scontati al 25 o al 50 % si può scaricare.

Inoltre, potete prenotare i libri di vostra scelta con il buono d'ordine  scaricato da compilare e mandare per posta elettronica  a richard.figuier [at] efrome.it. In questo caso, i libri possono essere prenotati, ma il ritiro dovrà avvenire durante i giorni della vendita.

Tra i numerosi titoli, due su Pompei ed Ercolano: 

Van Andringa W., Quotidien des dieux et des hommes : la vie religieuse dans les cités du Vésuve à l’époque romaine, Rome, École française de Rome (coll. Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome, 337), 2009, 404 p. 26€ anzichè 87€ (-75%).

 

Monteix N., Les lieux de métier. Boutiques et ateliers d’Herculanum, Rome, École française de Rome (coll. BEFAR, 344), 2010, xiv - 478 p. 38€ anzichè 75€ (errore sull'elenco prezzi, -50%)

Articles: "Archéologie et religion : le sanctuaire dionysiaque de S. Abbondio à Pompéi"

Just out, 5 articles about the 2008 excavations in Sant'Abbondio temple, in MEFRA 125, 1, 2013

Archéologie et religion : le sanctuaire dionysiaque de S. Abbondio à Pompéi

William Van Andringa, Introduction

Thomas Creissen et William Van Andringa, De l’analyse stratigraphique au culte de Loufir/Liber

Jordi Principal, Reflexiones cronológicas sobre las fases constructivas del santuario de S. Abbondio

Stéphanie Wyler, Dionysos/Loufir/Liber et sa parèdre

Timo Sironen, Documentazione epigrafica osca del santuario suburbano delle divinità dionisiache a S. Abbondio [Texte intégral]

Véronique Zech-Matterne et Tarek Oueslati, Déchets erratiques et vestiges rituels

William Van Andringa, Bibliographie générale du dossier « Archéologie et religion : le sanctuaire dionysiaque de S. Abbondio à Pompéi »

Call for papers: Rethinking ancient jewellery

RETHINKING ANCIENT JEWELLERY
 

One-day international workshop
Call for Papers
held at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University
07 December 2013

Taking its point of departure from several recent “holistic” approaches towards the investigation of ancient jewellery, this workshop reassess current developments in the field. This workshop will treat ancient jewellery not just as precious ornaments or works of art but as artefacts that should be used as a source material in investigations of various aspects of ancient society. Unfortunately, ancient jewellery has traditionally been consigned to museum catalogues or site reports, with a concentration on form and material. The principal goal of these studies has been to establish dates for individual pieces and create workable typologies. This workshop is designed to seek new methodological approaches and will revise how ancient jewellery is described and classified from art historical, archaeological and technological perspectives.

The one-day workshop aims to bring together scholars studying ancient jewellery and personal adornment with the goal of not only discussing current perspectives and new methodologies but also to create a platform of interdisciplinary exchange for the study of such material. The workshop will consist out of two sessions. The first will focus on jewellery from the Roman period, while the second will bring together scholars working on other temporal and cultural areas of ancient adornment to bring out wider methodological approaches to the study of ancient jewellery (that might be applied to other periods). Possible topics could include aspects of technology, the sources and trade of precious material, the social meaning of jewellery and new methodologies for analyzing ancient jewellery; however, other topics related to ancient jewellery are also welcome.

___________________________________________________________

We invite paper abstracts on any topic of ancient jewellery and personal adornment with a focus on re-evaluation and methodological innovations. Papers should be 20 – 25 minutes in length and will be followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussion. Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words that describes the paper that you propose to present at the workshop on 7 December 2013. Abstracts should be accompanied by a short personal statement about yourself and your research interests.

Please email abstracts and statements to Courtney Ward at courtney.ward@arch.ox.ac.uk by 17 November 2013 (feedback will be given on 20 November). The language for this workshop is English.
Organizers: Courtney Ward (University of Oxford) and Natascha Sojc (Leiden University)
For more information email: courtney.ward@arch.ox.ac.uk; n.sojc@arch.leidenuniv.nl

LA RELIGIÓN Y EL COTIDIANO ROMANO: EL EJEMPLO DE LAS PAREDES DE POMPEYA

In what concerns on Roman religion, scholars usually consider its political aspects. This approach was developed on a colonial context during the 19^th, based upon an idea of the Roman Empire as a political and cultural unit. As it is based on a Roman colonial image derived from literary sources, I believe it tends to obscure differences. The main idea of this paper is to rethink some aspects of Roman religion considering the material culture and Epigraphy. I will focus on the  common people religiosity during the beginning of the Principate to discuss two interrelated topics. First I will focus in some concepts and theory on Roman religion and then I will explore how Epigraphy - the graffiti from Pompeii – can contribute to discuss the common people religiosity. The Epigraphic evidence is used in this paper to help us to rethink social relationships and Roman identity in a less normative experience. 

           

Since Pompeii was a city with a very active commercial life in the beginning of the Principate, many people have walked down its streets and scratched their messages on its walls. The amount of recorded inscriptions sum nearly eleven thousand, and the urban environment with active daily life provide us with data to understand Roman everyday life from new perspectives, especially those regarding the common people. This reflection is not intended to provoke a split between popular and erudite culture; on the contrary, it seeks ways to explore the diversity of ways to understand Roman religiosity. To consider the contrast and the circularity of perceptions may be an alternative way for us to understand how the different types of worldviews are formed, to explore their meanings may be a way to understand the Roman past in a more plural way. In this sense, the current paper aims to deal with Roman inscriptions, in this case graffiti on walls depicting Venus, from a perspective that considers the material context in which they were found, seeking to create alternative means to interpret the everyday life of common people, as well as their religiosity.

Although most of these inscriptions are concise, through case studies of thoughtfully selected samples it is possible to recover voices otherwise seldom heard by scholars. In this context, the graffiti still direct our attention to a specific type of discourse, one encompassing socially constructed and reinterpreted memories. One may consider the graffiti to be fragmentary, but they still remind us of anonymous men and women who suffered, prayed, loved or argued. In a word, they lived. And as they lived they were not alone, but shared their values and experiences and can become important sources for scholars who seek to understand the Roman diversity.

I also believe that these epigraphic sources are important evidence for capturing religiosity in different spheres: Venus’ presence can be found not only on temples protecting the city, but in different parts of the city closer to any person. The goddess is commemorated or challenged by common people in their search for a better life. In this context, those graffiti challenge us to deconstruct analytical categories based on the idea of the political means of Roman religiosity, allowing us to envision them in a complex social context of interaction with men and women of different social backgrounds and ethnic origins. This perspective should remind us that the purpose of archaeology is to study the historical nature of specific social, cultural, and gender relationships, observing, in this case, the details and complexities of the Roman past, and avoiding universal assumptions. Instead of a uniform, or global, interpretation of what Roman religion should be this epigraphic evidence focuses on local variety, allowing us to avoid approaches based upon western notions of Christian superiority. 

Keywords: Roman common people, religion, graffiti, Epigraphy.

The full paper was originally publish in Spanish at Pablo Oscariz's (ed.) book, cf: GARRAFFONI, R. S. . La religión y el cotidiano romano: el exemplo de las paredes de Pompeya. In: Pablo Ozcáriz Gil. (Ed.). La memoria en la piedra. Estudios sobre grafitos históricos. Navarra: Editora del Gobierno de Navarra, 2012, p. 204-219.

More RAC 2014 info

Further to Hilary's post, let me share details of another Pompeii-related session planned for the next Roman Archaeology Conference (thank you for sending the info, Valentino Gasparini!):

An Archaeology of Gesture: Performing Rituals, Sharing Emotions
Session organiser: Valentino Gasparini

World is experienced both through worldly and bodily expressions. Emotions are embodied, deeply rooted in the corporeal and sensual experience, and directly communicated through gestures and vocalisations.
This session aims to reconstruct with a transdisciplinary approach the materiality of gestures in the Roman world. Thanks to the study of the archaeological record, it is possible to identify the "techniques of the body", through which emotions are perceived, enacted, shared and communicated. Objects are not merely neutral things, but a channel which allows us to detect the agency behind the gesture and (even through the repetition and intensification of an act, i.e. ritual) its use of media in order to interact with the socially structured environment and networks it belongs to.

Speakers - chosen among the international specialists - are challenged to test this paradigm on the field of Pompeii, focusing on the material culture concerning sanctuaries, domestic religious practices and funerary rituals.

Friday, Room G15, Henley Business School
2.00 Enacting rituals in sanctuaries, houses and burials. Prolegomena for an archaeology of gesture, Valentino Gasparini
2.30 Cultic objects from an extra-moenia sanctuary in Pompeii, Mario Grimaldi
3.00 Changes of ownership in the Pompeian houses: archaeological evidence, Marco Giglio
3.30 Tea
4.00 A Mould Lamp with Lampadodromia from Pompeii, Luigi Pedroni
4.30 The Tomb of Obellius Firmus and the Necropolis of Porta Nola at Pompeii, Llorenç Alapont Martin
5.00 Acting the life in the death. The Necropolis of Porta di Nocera as theatre of Pompeian society, Marianna Castiglione
 
Enacting Rituals in Sanctuaries, Houses and Burials: Prolegomena for an Archaeology of Gesture
Valentino Gasparini (Universität Erfurt, Germany)
The paper aims to introduce the panel from a methodological perspective, analysing - through the archaeological record - the materiality of gestures and their power in communicating emotions, during religious practices both in primary and secondary spaces (sanctuaries, houses and burials). A specific attention will be devoted to the ‘biography’ of artefacts in rituals. Objects carry multiple and transferable meanings, embedded within very specific contexts and consequently varying according to different times and different cultures. Because of their social interaction, artefacts exhibit agency (as actants or inter-agents) and influence primary actors (the intentional beings), who encode physical things with significance which allows them to express complex ideas. Through objects, actors enact and make effective agency in their social milieu: ‘agents are and do not merely use the artefacts which connect them to social others’.

Cultic Objects from an Extra-Moenia Sanctuary in Pompeii
Mario Grimaldi (Università di Napoli Suor Orsola Benincasa, Italy)
The complex of the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus is one of the most remarkable examples in the architectural landscape of Pompeii. Before the occupation of the private, were built impressive works of levelling through waste that led to recovery of large quantities of pre-Roman ceramic material. From the garden of the House of the Golden Bracelet, bordered to the north, comes the cycle of metopes pottery dating from the third- to second-century BC originally belonged to a sacred building and then reused as building material. These findings can be put into connection with each other through the finds from the drain in the garden of the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus. The whole band was so affected by the probable presence of a sacred area, devastated and destroyed at the end of the scond- first half of the first-century BC.

Changes of Ownership in the Pompeian Houses: The Archaeological Evidence
Marco Giglio (Università di Napoli L’Orientale, Italy)
The text aims to analyze, through the study of the archaeological data, the problem of ownership and change of ownerships in the houses of Pompeii. The study of private buildings has often highlighted changes in the spatial organization of the domus, which may have modified their plan, expanded or reduced in size through acquisitions or disposals of rooms from other buildings, showing a very high mobility. These changes have always been interpreted as the result of a change in ownership or a change in the social status of the owner. These phenomena are apparently only conceivable on the basis of the archaeological data in our possession. The paper, through some cases emerging from recent excavations in some Pompeian domus, intends to focus on a few elements that can be considered archaeological markers of domestic rituals to be connected with changes in ownership.

A Mould Lamp with Lampadodromia from Pompeii
Luigi Pedroni (Independent Scholar, Italy)
During the excavations conducted by the University of Innsbruck in the House of Popidius Priscus in Pompeii (VII 2, 20) a pottery lamp mould has been recovered in a late Augustan context with potter’s signature: Q. Cupidcenius. Its discovery allows us to clarify some doubts about its reading and the interpretation of the scene, which the few known positive specimens were not able to solve. The scene shows an uncertain female figure on horseback, with torch, and in the act of adoratio, accompanied by a smaller male one. The identification of the characters and the eventual ritual performed are very doubtful. Since a lampadodromia is represented, it is possible to suggest the identification of the female protagonist with Bendis (Selene). More difficult is to understand the reasons behind such a particular iconographical composition and its choice in Julio-Claudian Pompeii.

The Tomb of Obellius Firmus and the Necropolis of Porta Nola at PompeiiLlorenç Alapont Martin (Universitat de València, Spain), Luigi Pedroni (Independent Scholar, Italy)
The research project focused its attention on the small necropolis outside Porta Nola in Pompeii. We will discuss the results, still preliminary, of the study of Obellius Firmus’ tomb, consisting in a rectangular enclosure around the burial place, and, in particular, of the decorated bone fragments found within attributed to his funeral bed. We will present also the anthropologic investigation conducted also with modern technologies on the casts of fugitives discovered in 1975 near the necropolis outside Porta Nola, and still totally unknown. In particular, in the last campaign, besides the direct examination of the bones visible through the plaster, a survey with laser scanner and X-Ray examination were conducted.

Acting the Life in the Death: The Necropolis of Porta di Nocera as Theatre of Pompeian SocietyMarianna Castiglione (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy)
Tombs, like houses, are strictly related to people, both to the deceased and the alive, and inform on their characters, some of them not always easily perceivable.
The paper, through the exam of different data collected in the Necropolis of Porta di Nocera - one of the most important at Pompeii - , aims to evaluate verbal, gestural and material aspects of this context, which testify ritual and religious practices associated with burials, but also features of life, intimacy and emotions of each person, even deeply connected to the social mobility in the ancient city.
Inscriptions, objects, clothing and posture are all “media”, that give us information not only about the owners of the funerary monuments and their socially normative patterns of behaviour, but also about the social and economic dynamics of the whole population.

Vendita promozionale delle pubblicazioni del Centre Jean Bérard

Dal 6 al 20 novembre 2013

Il Centre Jean Bérard propone una vendita promozionale delle sue pubblicazioni.

Libri che riguardano Pompei: 

Les "bourgeoisies"’ municipales italiennes aux IIe et Ier siècles av. J.-C. Actes du Coll. Internat. du CNRS n. 609 (Naples 1981). 1983, 468 p., 41 pl. 26,80€ anziché 67,00 €  (-60%)

ALBORE LIVADIE Cl. (éd.), Tremblements de terre, éruptions volcaniques et vie des hommes dans la Campanie antique. 1986, 233 p., 99 pl. 12,40€ anziché 31,00 € (-60%)

Le ravitaillement en blé de Rome et des centres urbains des débuts de la République jusqu’au Haut Empire. Actes du Coll. Internat. (Naples 1991) Naples-Rome, 1994, 336 p., 78 fig., 1 dépl. (Co-éd. avec EFR).16,40€ anziché 41,00 € (-60%)

Les élites municipales de l’Italie péninsulaire des Gracques à Néron. Actes du Coll. Internat. (Clermont-Ferrand 1991) (M. Cébeillac-Gervasoni éd.). Naples-Rome, 1996, 295 p., 51 fig., 3 dépl. (co-éd. avec EFR) 14,40€ anziché 36,00 € (-60%)

Les céramiques communes de Campanie et de Narbonnaise (Ier s. av. J.-C.-IIe s. ap. J.-C.): la vaisselle de cuisine et de table. Actes des Journées d’étude (Naples 1994). 1996, 486 p., 284 fig., 1 dépl. Actes des Journées d’étude (Naples 1994). 1996, 486 p., 284 fig., 1 dépl. 19,60€ anziché 49,00 € (-60%)

La Villa San Marco a Stabia (éd. A. Barbet, P. Miniero). Napoli-Roma-Pompei, 2000; 1 vol. Testo + 2 vol. ill., 412 p., 24 pl. coul., 758 fig. (co-éd. avec EFR et Soprint. Archeol. Pompei)
41,20€ anziché 103,00 € (-60%)

L'alun de Méditerranée. Actes du colloque international (Naples 2003). (éd. Ph. Borgard, J.-P. Brun et M. Picon), 2005, 356 p. 135. fig. (co-ed. avec le Centre Camille Jullian)
16,00€ anziché 40,00 € (-60%)

Les céramiques communes antiques d'Italie et de Narbonnaise: structures de production, typologies et contextes inédits, IIe s. av. J.-C. IIIe s. apr. J.-C.. Actes de la table ronde de Naples, organisée les 2 et 3 novembre 2006 par l'ARC et le Centre Jean Bérard (dir. M. Pasqualini). 2009, 724 p., fig.   24,00€ anziché 60,00 € (-60%)

BOTTE E., Salaisons et sauces de poissons en Italie du Sud et en Sicile durant l'Antiquité. 2009, 229 p., 4 pl., fig. (Archéologie de l'artisanat antique, 1) 15,00€ anziché 30,00 € (-50%)

Artisanats antiques d'Italie et de Gaule : mélanges offerts à Maria Francesca Buonaiuto. (éd. J.-P. Brun) 2009, 316 p., ill. (Archéologie de l'artisanat antique, 2)  20,00€ anziché 40,00 € (-50%)

CULLIN-MINGAUD M., La vannerie dans l'Antiquité romaine. 2010, 298 p., ill. (Archéologie de l'artisanat antique, 3)  25,00€ anziché 50,00 € (-50%)

Purpureae vestes III. Textiles y tintes en la ciudad antigua. (éd. C. Alfaro, J.-P. Brun, Ph. Borgard, R. Pierobon Benoit ) 2011, 286 p., ill. (co-éd. avec Universitat de València) (Archéologie de l'artisanat antique, 4) 15,00€ anziché 30,00 € (-50%)

Les savoirs professionnels des gens de métier: études sur le monde du travail dans les sociétés urbaines de l’empire romain. (dir. N. Monteix et N. Tran) 2011, 172 p., ill. (Archéologie de l'artisanat antique, 5) 15,00€ anziché 30,00 € (-50%)

LAFORGE M.-O., La religion privée à Pompéi. 2009, 245 p., ill. 
15,00€ anziché 30,00 € (-50%)

GRELL CH., Herculanum et Pompéi dans les récits des voyageurs français du XVIIIe siècle. 1982, 230 p. 
7,50€ anziché 15,00 € (-50%)

BROSSES CH. de, Lettres familières. Ed. crit. et notes (sur les mss. revus et corrigés par l’auteur) par L. Cagiano de Azevedo et G. Cafasso. 1991, 3 vol. XII-1447 p., 11 fig. 23,10€ anziché 77,00 € (-70%)

BURLOT D., Fabriquer l'antique : les contrefaçons de peinture murale antique au XVIIIe siècle. 2012, 347 p, ill. en noir et en coul. 25,50€ anziché 30,00 € (-15%)

 Catalogo completo
I libri precedentemente ordinati via mail [berard at unina.it], tramite invio del buono d’ordine, possono essere ritirati presso il Centre Jean Bérard,

via F. Crispi, 86 Napoli, dal 6 al 20 novembre 2013 (dalle 10 alle 13 e dalle 15 alle 16 :30).

Il pagamento sarà effettuato in loco in contanti.

· I libri ordinati possono essere inviati per posta.
In questo caso, si precisa che:
Si accetteranno solo gli ordini che ci saranno pervenuti tramite mail dal 6 al 20 novembre 2013.
Vi invieremo una fattura pro forma, che dovrà essere regolata durante il periodo promozionale.
I libri saranno spediti in seguito all’avvenuto pagamento. Spedizione e spese bancarie saranno a vostro carico.

Steven Ellis' review of Andrew Wallace-Hadrill's Herculaneum book

Steven Ellis' thoughtful, thorough and above all genuinely engaging and enthusiastic review of Andrew Wallace-Hadrill's book Herculaneum: Past and Future.

Published in AJA.
Free PDF available to download here
http://www.ajaonline.org/online-review-book/1684

In the Shadow of Vesuvius - RAC/TRAC March 2014

At the next RAC/TRAC conference there will be an all day session on (Saturday 29th March) on recent research on what was happening in the region in the centuries before the eruption.  The speakers will be Robyn Veal, Ferdinando de Simone, Michael Anderson, Steven Ellis, Antonella Coralini, Nicolas Monteix, Gary Foster, Richard Hobbs, David Griffiths, Ria Berg, Katie Huntley and Anna Anguissola.

The session abstract is as follows. 

This one day session will bring together people working on a range of international projects in the cities of Pompeii and Ercolano and the surrounding countryside. The focus will be on the new information emerging from excavation of the pre-eruption layers, and explore what lead up to the cities and sites that everyone thinks they know. It will start with two papers exploring the hinterland resources.  These will serve too as an introduction to the area under discussion.  It will then move on to four papers exploring the changing townscapes of the two cities, and will show how the well-known landscape of houses, bars and bakeries was a relatively recent phenomenon.  A century before visitors would have encountered industrial installations bordering even main roads into the centre.  The afternoon will be start with three papers exploring changing consumption patterns and contacts.  These will set the sites within the wider Mediterranean world, and show the development of the consumer society that is so familiar to us from exhibitions such as that in the British Museum during the summer of 2013.  The day will conclude with three papers exploring aspects of life in AD 79 as demonstrated by the eruption level.  These will both sum up the day and look forward to the workshop.

I have posted the full abstracts of all the papers at http://independent.academia.edu/HilaryCool/Talks
and no doubt they will soon be on the conference web site itself. That is http://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/Conferences/RAC2014/