Gijs Tol
I currently work as an Associate Professor in Roman Archaeology at the University of Melbourne, specializing in the archaeology of the Roman countryside with a particular emphasis on rural settlement organization and the study of local and regional economic networks. After obtaining my PhD from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) in 2012, I worked as a post-doctoral researcher and principal Investigator of the Minor Centres project (2011-2016) at the same institution.
This project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, investigated the role of rural nucleated centres in the provision of goods and services to local communities. Together with Tymon de Haas (University of Leiden, The Netherlands) I co-direct landscape archaeological work in the Pontine Plain (within the framework of the Pontine Region Project) aimed at elucidating the long-term interactions between man and environment in this former wetland area. Also, since 2016, I co-director excavations at the early Imperial craft centre Podere Marzuolo, together with Astrid van Oyen (Cornell University) and Rhodora Vennarucci (University of Arkansas). I specialize in the study of Roman material culture and have published widely on both traditional (typological) and modern scientific approaches to the study of a wide diversity of artefact classes, including coarse- and cooking wares, amphorae (together with Barbara Borgers from the University of Vienna and Filmo Verhagen from the University of Uppsala) and fine table wares. I am a strong advocate for interdisciplinary research and in recent years have forged fruitful collaborations - within the framework of my field reseach - with geoarchaeologists, geomorphologists, archaeobotanists, archaeozoologists, ceramic petrographers and metallurgists. I consider engaging with the wider public an essential, and rewarding, part of being an academic and have done so consistently throughout my career through lectures for social clubs, school engagement, the organization of exhibitions (both temporary and permanent displays) and contributing articles to national and international newspapers and popular websites.
Phone: +61 3 8344 5924
Address: Office 671, Arts West North Wing (building 148)
Parkville
3010 VIC, Australia
This project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, investigated the role of rural nucleated centres in the provision of goods and services to local communities. Together with Tymon de Haas (University of Leiden, The Netherlands) I co-direct landscape archaeological work in the Pontine Plain (within the framework of the Pontine Region Project) aimed at elucidating the long-term interactions between man and environment in this former wetland area. Also, since 2016, I co-director excavations at the early Imperial craft centre Podere Marzuolo, together with Astrid van Oyen (Cornell University) and Rhodora Vennarucci (University of Arkansas). I specialize in the study of Roman material culture and have published widely on both traditional (typological) and modern scientific approaches to the study of a wide diversity of artefact classes, including coarse- and cooking wares, amphorae (together with Barbara Borgers from the University of Vienna and Filmo Verhagen from the University of Uppsala) and fine table wares. I am a strong advocate for interdisciplinary research and in recent years have forged fruitful collaborations - within the framework of my field reseach - with geoarchaeologists, geomorphologists, archaeobotanists, archaeozoologists, ceramic petrographers and metallurgists. I consider engaging with the wider public an essential, and rewarding, part of being an academic and have done so consistently throughout my career through lectures for social clubs, school engagement, the organization of exhibitions (both temporary and permanent displays) and contributing articles to national and international newspapers and popular websites.
Phone: +61 3 8344 5924
Address: Office 671, Arts West North Wing (building 148)
Parkville
3010 VIC, Australia
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expansion brought about in the countryside of the Italian peninsula. By drawing on a variety of source materials (e.g. pottery, settlement patterns, environmental data), they shed light on the complexity of rural settlement and economies on the local, regional and supraregional scales. As such, the volume contributes to a re-assessment of Roman economic history in light of concepts such as globalization, integration, economic performance and growth.
Systematic archaeological surveys, studies of existing site inventories and relevant artefact studies are all combined in this well-illustrated volume that provides a detailed account of the appearance of the first permanent dwellings during the Bronze and Iron Ages, of the rise of Archaic and Roman rural and maritime settlement and of the gradual process towards incastellamento during the Middle Ages.
Papers by Gijs Tol
natural ports when trading became increasingly important within a context of growing social complexity. The dynamic nature of the wetlands, however, posed challenges to its exploitation in terms of permanent settlement and agricultural exploitation and we know of several historical attempts to improve drainage conditions dating as far back in time as the Roman Republican period. This contribution aims to delineate the nature of human and landscape interactions in the Pontine wetland environment over time and the scale and scope of human interventions in the natural landscape. It discusses changes in settlement organisation, in the wetland and in its periphery, over a period spanning the ancient Bronze Age to the Early Modern period. The authors draw upon data from various research projects coordinated by the Universities of Groningen and Amsterdam, which have focused on this area, and add new data provided by their current work. The mapping of anthropic dynamics is complemented, in a dialectical relationship, with that of the environment and physical landscape. Together, geology and archaeology reveal the dynamic nature
of human interactions with this wetland through time.
This article presents the background to and prospects for a new initiative in archaeological field survey and database integration. The Roman Hinterland Project combines data from the Tiber Valley Project, Roman Suburbium Project, and the Pontine Region Project into a single database, which the authors believe to be one of the most complete repositories of data for the hinterland of a major ancient metropolis, covering nearly 2000 years of history. The logic of combining these databases in the context of studying the Roman landscape is explained and illustrated with analyses that show their capacity to contribute to major debates in Roman economy, demography, and the longue durée of the human condition in a globalizing world.
what ways, the different parts of southern Latium were embedded in the long-distance economic networks of the period.
Nell’Italia romana – come in molte altre società agricole pre-industriali – i centri rurali sono stati dei punti focali per le popolazioni agricole circostanti, offrendo una vasta gamma di servizi giornalieri. Nonostante la loro presumibile impor-tanza, sono siti scarsamente documentati archeologicamente.
Il cosiddetto “Minor Centres-project”, realizzato tra il 2011 e il 2016, mirava nello specifico ad implementare la cono-scenza dei centri rurali e il loro ruolo nelle economie locali.
Il progetto prevede due diversi approcci: in primo luogo lo studio della geografia economica dell’Italia romana e le considerazioni che da questa si traggono sul ruolo dei centri rurali nei sistemi di insediamento e nelle infrastrutture regionali. In secondo luogo, un programma di nuove ricerche archeologiche, comprendente la mappatura geofisica, rico-gnizioni a tappeto sul campo e lo studio della ceramica, nei siti di Forum Appii e Ad Medias, due stazioni stradali lungo la Via Appia nella Pianura Pontina (Lazio, Italia centrale) e i loro immediati dintorni. I risultati ottenuti indicano, da una parte, che entrambi gli insediamenti erano importanti centri di produzione artigianale, attivi nella produzione della ce-ramica e del metallo, corroborando in modo convincente la presunta importanza dei centri rurali nella fornitura di beni di uso quotidiano. Dall’altra parte che entrambi i siti si differenziano significativamente nello sviluppo. Forum Appii fu occupato per almeno otto secoli e fiorì nel tardo periodo repubblicano e nella prima età imperiale, quando divenne un centro commerciale di importanza regionale dotato di un porto fluviale, mentre Ad Medias, era di dimensioni molto più modeste, iniziando il suo declino già nel periodo tardo repubblicano, rispecchiando il destino dei siti rurali circostanti.
Parole chiave: Regione Pontina; periodo romano; centri minori; reti economiche, geofisica, ricognizioni di superficie.
Abstract
In Roman Italy - as in many other pre-industrial agricultural societies - rural centres must have formed important focal points for surrounding rural populations, providing a wide range of day-to-day amenities and services. Despite their presumed importance, such sites are poorly documented archaeologically.
The so-called Minor Centres-project, carried out between 2011 and 2016 specifically aimed to advance knowledge on rural centres and their role in local economies. The project comprises two different approaches: first, a study of the eco-nomic geography of Roman Italy, leading to assumptions about the role of rural centres in regional settlement systems and infrastructure. Secondly, a programme of new archaeological research, comprising large-scale geophysical mapping, field surveys and pottery studies, at the sites of Forum Appii and Ad Medias, two road stations along the Via Appia in the Pontine plain (Lazio, Central Italy) and their immediate surroundings.
The obtained results indicate that both settlements were craft production centres, active in the manufacturing of pottery and metal, convincingly corroborating the presumed importance of rural centres in the provision of everyday goods. On the other hand, both settlements differed significantly in their development. Forum Appii was occupied for at least eight centuries and flourished in the Late Republican and Early Imperial period, when it became a trade hub of regional importance equipped with a river harbour. In contrast, Ad Medias was of much more modest dimensions and already fell in decline in the Late Republican period, mirroring the fate of surrounding rural sites.
The petrographic study shows that the cooking pots were produced and distributed at regional and supra-regional scales. The production and distribution systems that are tentatively inferred show aspects of continuity and change during the time-span considered. Roman cooking vessels that circulated in the Pontine region between the 4th and the 3rd centuries BC had a supra-regional and regional provenance. During the 2nd and the 1st centuries BC, the region continued to have access to these products, as well as to other ones that were produced within and outside the region. Furthermore, the distribution of supra-regional products increased, whereas the importance of existing regional centres decreased in favour of others.
expansion brought about in the countryside of the Italian peninsula. By drawing on a variety of source materials (e.g. pottery, settlement patterns, environmental data), they shed light on the complexity of rural settlement and economies on the local, regional and supraregional scales. As such, the volume contributes to a re-assessment of Roman economic history in light of concepts such as globalization, integration, economic performance and growth.
Systematic archaeological surveys, studies of existing site inventories and relevant artefact studies are all combined in this well-illustrated volume that provides a detailed account of the appearance of the first permanent dwellings during the Bronze and Iron Ages, of the rise of Archaic and Roman rural and maritime settlement and of the gradual process towards incastellamento during the Middle Ages.
natural ports when trading became increasingly important within a context of growing social complexity. The dynamic nature of the wetlands, however, posed challenges to its exploitation in terms of permanent settlement and agricultural exploitation and we know of several historical attempts to improve drainage conditions dating as far back in time as the Roman Republican period. This contribution aims to delineate the nature of human and landscape interactions in the Pontine wetland environment over time and the scale and scope of human interventions in the natural landscape. It discusses changes in settlement organisation, in the wetland and in its periphery, over a period spanning the ancient Bronze Age to the Early Modern period. The authors draw upon data from various research projects coordinated by the Universities of Groningen and Amsterdam, which have focused on this area, and add new data provided by their current work. The mapping of anthropic dynamics is complemented, in a dialectical relationship, with that of the environment and physical landscape. Together, geology and archaeology reveal the dynamic nature
of human interactions with this wetland through time.
This article presents the background to and prospects for a new initiative in archaeological field survey and database integration. The Roman Hinterland Project combines data from the Tiber Valley Project, Roman Suburbium Project, and the Pontine Region Project into a single database, which the authors believe to be one of the most complete repositories of data for the hinterland of a major ancient metropolis, covering nearly 2000 years of history. The logic of combining these databases in the context of studying the Roman landscape is explained and illustrated with analyses that show their capacity to contribute to major debates in Roman economy, demography, and the longue durée of the human condition in a globalizing world.
what ways, the different parts of southern Latium were embedded in the long-distance economic networks of the period.
Nell’Italia romana – come in molte altre società agricole pre-industriali – i centri rurali sono stati dei punti focali per le popolazioni agricole circostanti, offrendo una vasta gamma di servizi giornalieri. Nonostante la loro presumibile impor-tanza, sono siti scarsamente documentati archeologicamente.
Il cosiddetto “Minor Centres-project”, realizzato tra il 2011 e il 2016, mirava nello specifico ad implementare la cono-scenza dei centri rurali e il loro ruolo nelle economie locali.
Il progetto prevede due diversi approcci: in primo luogo lo studio della geografia economica dell’Italia romana e le considerazioni che da questa si traggono sul ruolo dei centri rurali nei sistemi di insediamento e nelle infrastrutture regionali. In secondo luogo, un programma di nuove ricerche archeologiche, comprendente la mappatura geofisica, rico-gnizioni a tappeto sul campo e lo studio della ceramica, nei siti di Forum Appii e Ad Medias, due stazioni stradali lungo la Via Appia nella Pianura Pontina (Lazio, Italia centrale) e i loro immediati dintorni. I risultati ottenuti indicano, da una parte, che entrambi gli insediamenti erano importanti centri di produzione artigianale, attivi nella produzione della ce-ramica e del metallo, corroborando in modo convincente la presunta importanza dei centri rurali nella fornitura di beni di uso quotidiano. Dall’altra parte che entrambi i siti si differenziano significativamente nello sviluppo. Forum Appii fu occupato per almeno otto secoli e fiorì nel tardo periodo repubblicano e nella prima età imperiale, quando divenne un centro commerciale di importanza regionale dotato di un porto fluviale, mentre Ad Medias, era di dimensioni molto più modeste, iniziando il suo declino già nel periodo tardo repubblicano, rispecchiando il destino dei siti rurali circostanti.
Parole chiave: Regione Pontina; periodo romano; centri minori; reti economiche, geofisica, ricognizioni di superficie.
Abstract
In Roman Italy - as in many other pre-industrial agricultural societies - rural centres must have formed important focal points for surrounding rural populations, providing a wide range of day-to-day amenities and services. Despite their presumed importance, such sites are poorly documented archaeologically.
The so-called Minor Centres-project, carried out between 2011 and 2016 specifically aimed to advance knowledge on rural centres and their role in local economies. The project comprises two different approaches: first, a study of the eco-nomic geography of Roman Italy, leading to assumptions about the role of rural centres in regional settlement systems and infrastructure. Secondly, a programme of new archaeological research, comprising large-scale geophysical mapping, field surveys and pottery studies, at the sites of Forum Appii and Ad Medias, two road stations along the Via Appia in the Pontine plain (Lazio, Central Italy) and their immediate surroundings.
The obtained results indicate that both settlements were craft production centres, active in the manufacturing of pottery and metal, convincingly corroborating the presumed importance of rural centres in the provision of everyday goods. On the other hand, both settlements differed significantly in their development. Forum Appii was occupied for at least eight centuries and flourished in the Late Republican and Early Imperial period, when it became a trade hub of regional importance equipped with a river harbour. In contrast, Ad Medias was of much more modest dimensions and already fell in decline in the Late Republican period, mirroring the fate of surrounding rural sites.
The petrographic study shows that the cooking pots were produced and distributed at regional and supra-regional scales. The production and distribution systems that are tentatively inferred show aspects of continuity and change during the time-span considered. Roman cooking vessels that circulated in the Pontine region between the 4th and the 3rd centuries BC had a supra-regional and regional provenance. During the 2nd and the 1st centuries BC, the region continued to have access to these products, as well as to other ones that were produced within and outside the region. Furthermore, the distribution of supra-regional products increased, whereas the importance of existing regional centres decreased in favour of others.
SESSION 1 - NEW SITES FROM OLD
Session Organizers: David Frankel, La Trobe University and Jenny Webb, La Trobe University and the University of Cyprus
SESSION 2 - PLACE AND BEYOND: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD OF LOCALITY AND EXTERNAL CONTACTS
Session Organizer: Stavros A. Paspalas, Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens
SESSION 3 - MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE AND THE RISE AND CONTINUING DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX SOCIETY
Session Organizer: Holly Winter, University of Sydney
SESSION 4 - WOMEN FROM AUSTRALASIA IN MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE (PANEL SPONSORED BY AWAWS)
Session organisers: Candace Richards, The University of Sydney and Amelia Brown, University of Queensland
SESSION 5 - MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS IN AUSTRALIA IN 2021 – RESEARCH, ACCESS AND LEGACY
Session Organizers: Candace Richards, The University of Sydney/The Nicholson Museum, Josh Emmitt, University of Auckland and Rebecca Phillips, University of Auckland
SESSION 6 - FROM FIELD TO TABLE: FOOD AND BEVERAGE PRODUCTION, PROCESSING, AND CONSUMPTION
Session Conveners: Sophia Aharonovich, Macquarie University and Emlyn Dodd, Macquarie University
SESSION 7 - PAPHOS THEATRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT 25: A QUARTER CENTURY OF AUSTRALIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF HELLENISTIC-ROMAN CYPRUS
Session Organizer: Craig Barker, The University of Sydney
SESSION 8 - PRE- AND EARLY ROMAN ITALY: SETTLEMENT, SOCIETY AND ECONOMY
Session Organizers: Gijs Tol, University of Melbourne and Jeremy Armstrong, University of Auckland
SESSION 9 – SACRED GEOGRAPHIES: LANDSCAPE AND RELIGION IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN
Session Organizers: Larissa Tittl, University of Melbourne and Caroline Tully, University of Melbourne
As a part of the research project ‘Fora, stationes and sanctuaries, the role of minor centers in the economy of Roman central Italy’ (Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen), we are organizing a two-day conference to be held on November 28 and 29, 2013 at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome.
The conference will bring together scholars from different disciplines working on the economy of Rome, with a strong (but not exclusive) focus on the countryside of Roman Italy. Aim is to develop a dialogue between different (theoretical, top-down and data-driven, bottom-up) approaches to the rural economy, and to come to new, integrated ways to study its development in the globalizing Roman economy. Emphasis will lie on the economic backgrounds and circumstances that led to the integration of rural economies in a Mediterranean-wide system, including developments in agriculture (specialization, intensification), crafts production and industry (with an emphasis on minor centers and rural areas), and infrastructure (local road systems, waterways, ports).
The two-day conference consists of a keynote lecture introducing the general issues and themes to be addressed in the conference, three thematic sessions and a concluding keynote by an ‘external’ specialist. Each of the three sessions is led by an invited scholar who is asked to introduce the session through a keynote lecture, to prepare a short concluding synthesis to the session and to lead the final discussion. Each session consists of this keynote and four papers of 30 minutes each (including discussion time). We welcome papers that present new (particularly artefact-based) approaches; the papers should cover a variety of perspectives (ceramic, ecological, synthetic) and scales (from detailed case studies to (supra)regional syntheses).
Session 1 Developments in agriculture and their impact on the rural economy
This session focuses on agricultural developments (intensification, specialization, technological innovations, increase in scale) and their impact on the rural economy. Questions we want to address include:
When, where, and how did such developments take place? Are there regional or intraregional trends or divergences? What was the scale of production, and how widely were these products distributed? To what extent did specialization and intensification lead to increased wealth in the countryside, therewith promoting the integration of rural economies into larger (global) market systems?
Session 2 The non-agricultural economy: crafts, industry and trade in the countryside
This session focuses attention on non-agricultural economic activities in the countryside (crafts, industry, trade) and their contribution to economic development. Questions we want to address include:
Which types of crafts and industry took place in the countryside (including rural agglomerations/minor centres)? How was production organized, what was the scale and
distributional range of these products? How was trade organized? And to what extent did crafts, industry and trade lead to increased wealth and promote integration of rural economies into larger (global) market systems?
Session 3 Connecting rural communities
This session focuses on how rural communities became integrated in wider economic networks, looking at both the role of towns and developments in infrastructure as drivers for economic change. Questions we want to address include:
What was the role of towns in driving rural economic development and as intermediaries in exchange? When, where and by whom did investments in infrastructure take place? And what was the impact of infrastructural developments on rural economies, both on the productive and on the consumptive side?
Confirmed speakers:
Dr. Alessandro Launaro (University of Cambridge), Dr. J. Geoffrey Kron (University of Victoria), Dr. Kim Bowes (University of Pennsylvania), Prof.ssa Gloria Olcese (Università la Sapienza, Rome), Prof. René Cappers & Drs. Frits Heinrich (University of Groningen), Prof. J. Theodore Peña (University of California, Berkeley), Dr. Gijs Tol (University of Groningen), Dr. Emmanuele Vaccaro (University of Cambridge), Prof.ssa Sara Santoro (University of Chieti/Pescara), Prof. Michael Crawford (University College London), Dr. Rob Witcher (Durham University); Dr. Tymon de Haas (University of Groningen), Prof.ssa Marinella Pasquinucci (University of Pisa), Prof. Frank Vermeulen, Dr. Patrick Monsieur & Drs. Dimitri van Limbergen (Ghent University), Prof. Peter Attema (University of Groningen), Dr. Wim Jongman (University of Groningen) and Prof. Paul Erdkamp (University of Brussels).
Registration
You can register for the conference by sending an email to one of the conference organizers (see below). Please note that due to the limited space available at the conference venue potential participants are admitted on a 'first come first served' basis. A fee of 30 euros is required and includes coffee and lunch during the conference.
For further information you can contact one of the conference organizers:
Tymon de Haas, [email protected] ; phone nr. +31 50 3636719
Gijs Tol, [email protected] ; phone nr. +31 50 3636719"
This paper outlines the project’s evolving methodologies for excavating the workshop between 2017 and 2019 and provides preliminary results and interpretations of the spatial configuration of its production processes. Ongoing analysis of the material assemblage, including planned conservation of the tools and archaeometric analysis of raw materials and waste, will refine our understanding of the techniques and types of metalworking taking place in the forge. Future excavation will integrate the smithy with other crafts practiced simultaneously on site (e.g. pottery production). Ultimately, Marzuolo’s blacksmithing workshop makes a major contribution to the study of Roman metalworking: contextualized within the rural landscape of South-Central Tuscany, the presence of a master smith at a minor center like Marzuolo suggests a certain degree of specialization that highlights the extent of ‘metallization’ under the Roman empire.
"Within the project Fora, stationes and sanctuaries: the role of Minor centers in the economy of Roman central Italy, the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) is currently investigating the spatial and functional characteristics of three complex roadside settlements in the Pontine plain, Lazio, central Italy. In this poster, we present the methodology and first results of recent field research, that focused on the site of Forum Appii. This site, strategically situated on navigable routes and the via Appia, was investigated through field surveys and geophysical prospections. Although further work is necessary, some important points regarding both the site and our approach already emerge from these investigations.
Our surveys show that the site’s surface assemblages are highly complex, representing multiple periods and functions that may only partly relate to the subsurface remains as observed in the geophysical prospections. Therefore, sophisticated, highly intensive field survey strategies are needed in order to properly understand the assemblages. In terms of methodology, this poses considerable challenges to artefact collection and processing procedures.""
The results of the research suggest that, although they show considerable differences in size, complexity and longevity, both sites performed crucial functions within local and regional economies. Forum Appii developed into a large settlement, covering c. 12 ha, providing goods and services for the surrounding population, and it obtained regional importance as a trade hub with the construction of a river port. Ad Medias, despite being much smaller and having a more restricted chronology, yielded ample evidence for artisanal activity. As such it may have serviced both passers-by and the surrounding rural population.
term rural trends invariably show a peak in settlement activity that matches the expansion of the protohistoric centres. Ruralisation in most datasets is seen to start in the late orientalizing period taking off with the rise of the Archaic towns. During the 5th BC a decline is evident in parts of Latium vetus in tandem with major changes in urban settlement configuration and even abandonment of settlements. Although recent developments in pottery chrono-typologies would imply that the archaic boom was less dramatic than suggested in most survey research, the overall Archaic urban
and rural increase in settlement does indicate demographic and economic growth in Latium vetus during the 6th c. BC. Building on the data of the Pontine region, Satricum and Crustumerium projects we look from a comparative perspective at the nature of the settlement evidence for the urban and rural boom and decline during the Archaic and post-Archaic periods in Latium vetus.
This paper focusses on the results of thefieldwork carried out in 2012 and 2013 on and around Forum Appii and Ad Medias, both road stations on the Via Appia in the Pontine plain (Lazio,Central Italy) and evaluates their wider implications for the settlement organization of the Pontine region.
Our surveys show that the site’s surface assemblages are highly complex, representing multiple periods and functions that may only partly relate to the subsurface remains as observed in the geophysical prospections. Therefore, sophisticated, highly intensive field survey strategies are needed in order to properly understand the assemblages. In terms of methodology, this poses considerable challenges to artefact collection and processing procedures.
Pottery from the early phase comes from a series of dumps and shows a high incidence of misfiring, low degree of standardization and contains many vessels stamped with SEX(TI) (OCK 2000, nos. 1958&1961). Evidence for production during a later phase (TSI proper) comes from well-organized stacks of ca. 250 vessels bearing a restricted number of name stamps. These are thought to derive from kiln loads produced and subsequently stored at Marzuolo. Marzuolo, situated near extensive clay resources, is not the first rural TSI production site discovered in Central Italy, but its first production phase is unique, both because of its early date and its apparently experimental nature.
Earlier analytical work using thin section petrography, conducted in the framework of the ‘Roman Peasant Project’, suggested differences between the pottery belonging to the earlier and later phase of terra sigillata production. The present study aims to build upon the findings of this earlier work and to further investigate the potential local production at Marzuolo, tracing its development over time.
The Minor Centres Project at Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) aims to investigate the role of minor central places in the economy of Roman Central Italy. The core of the project is formed by field research on three rural central places: the sites of Astura, Forum Appii and Ad Medias, all situated in the Pontine region (Lazio, Italy). These sites and their respective hinterlands are currently investigated through field walking surveying and geophysical prospection, while specialist studies of the material evidence, predominantly pottery, are applied to reconstruct economic interaction and exchange. The artefacts collected during the fieldwork are used to map distribution patterns of both imported and locally produced pottery and changes therein over time. The outcomes of these studies will be used for an analysis of the mechanisms of production and distribution and by extension to assess the role of minor centres in rural exchange networks.
The magnetometer surveys were aimed at the identification and interpretation of buried archaeological remains associated with the surface material distributions, and at establishing site
extensions. Different techniques were applied by several investigators, depending on local measuring conditions. Dual gradiometer systems (Bartington, Geonics) were applied to cover small plots in all three areas. To cover large areas at two sites along the Via Appia, Forum Appii and Ad Medias, a DGPS controlled ten-gradiometer cart system LEA-MAX (Eastern Atlas) was used. This system allows to measure profiles with a length up to several 100 m, which is the dimension of some of the targeted fields in the Pontine plain.
In the project we adopt a predominantly ceramic approach to assess the relationship between these sites and their hinterland. This paper discusses the productive structures and related features mapped at or in the immediate vicinity of the three case-study sites (numerous kilns and associated waste deposits, as well as clay preparation facilities, mainly dated to the Late Republican period) and provides an overview of their associated products, that include both ceramics (coarse wares, amphorae and possibly black glazed) and building materials (tiles and cover tiles). Finally, we will assess the distributional range of these products by comparative typological and archaeometric analyses of artefacts from the mapped productive locations and rural consumption sites.
coherence, interplay and (dis-)continuity between town and country in times of rapid and seemingly far-reaching socio-economic transformation: in which way did the foundation of colonies subvert traditional systems of production and exchange? How did settlement
hierarchies change during late antiquity and how did this affect economic interrelations? We welcome contributions dealing with different periods and different areas within the Mediterranean, and are particularly interested in papers that present methodological innovations that enhance more traditional studies on settlement patterning and ceramic distributions.
The PRP database structure is aimed at the aggregate and comparative analysis of rural settlement patterns across these different landscape zones in space and time, and to reconstruct economic and demographic trends on the local and regional scales from protohistory into the medieval period.
In the first part of this article we will give an overview of the challenges involvedin creating this overarching project database, and present recent work done on the Pontine Region Project and its database as well as longitudinal socio-economic and demographic studies of the Pontine landscape and past populations to illustrate the analytical potential of data integration. So far, we have carried out a restricted number
of quantified socio-economic case studies of specific landscapes within the Pontine Region and are working towards truly comparative analyses on the regional scale of the Pontine landscape based on the Pontine data. Moreover, we will outline an objective for the future: to incorporate ‘legacy’ datasets in our database. In our case these especially comprise topographic studies, among which are several Forma Italiae archaeological inventories to complement our own site data, and to allow us to link rural settlement patterns to urban development and infrastructure.
In the second part of the paper, we discuss the possibility and potential to integrate the Pontine Region database with those of two other major survey projects, the Suburbium Project (Sapienza Rome) and the Tiber Valley Project (British School at Rome), to design an aggregate database that covers representative sections of Rome’s Suburbium.4 To this
end, we have formed an international consortium of researchers from the Universities of Groningen (NL), Durham (UK), St. Andrews (UK), Cologne (G) and Melbourne (AUS). This new project, called the Rome Hinterland Project (RHP), is supported by an internationalization grant from the Netherlands Organization of
Scientific Research (NWO) to which all partners contributed financially.5 This initiative will facilitate longitudinal and quantitative studies on socio-economic and demographic aspects of Rome’s hinterland from its formation to well into the medieval period.
of structural remains at the site. The investigation yielded evidence belonging to two main occupational phases. A large quantity
– and wide variety – of Late Antique materials indicate the presence of a substantial settlement, that is alluded to in historical and textual
evidence as well. For the High Medieval period (12th century AD) evidence was obtained for the production of pottery (ceramica a
bande rosse) and lime, possibly forming part of the economic basis of a larger (private or ecclesiastical) estate.
Keywords: Italy, Pontine Region, Astura, Late Antiquity, medieval period, Late Antique economy, Peutinger Map, connectivity, road
station, pottery production, lime production.
The paper was presented at the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn, 22 – 26 May 2018 as part of Panel 11.1: The Rural Foundations of The Roman Economy. New approaches to Rome's ancient countryside from the Archaic to the Early Imperial period was organised by Peter Attema (University of Groningen) Gabriele Cifani (Tor Vergata, Rome) Günther Schörner (University of Vienna).
(Italian) A seguito della sintesi pubblicata sulle indagini archeologiche nel territorio di Sezze, condotte dall'Università di Groningen sotto l'egida del Progetto della Regione Pontina (PRP), questo documento discute la metodologia e i primi risultati di due progetti di ricerca sul campo più recenti nel quadro del PRP, entrambi finanziati dall'Organizzazione olandese per la ricerca scientifica (NWO): 1) l'Avellino Event Project (AVP) delle Università di Groningen e Leiden che studia gli effetti distali della grande eruzione del Vesuvio risalente all'età del bronzo sull'ambiente umano della pianura di Fondi e della pianura Pontina. 2) il progetto dei Centri Minori che studia lo sviluppo degli insediamenti di Forum Appi e Ad Medias lungo la Via Appia in relazione allo sviluppo della campagna romana. Entrambi i progetti contribuiscono in modo significativo alla ricostruzione a lungo termine del paesaggio umano nella pianura di Sezze e aprono prospettive su ulteriori lavori interdisciplinari.
Editors:
Jeremy Armstrong – University of Auckland ([email protected])
Gijs Tol – University of Melbourne ([email protected])
Board:
Amelia Brown – University of Queensland
Lieve Donnellan – University of Melbourne
Elizabeth Greene - University of Western Ontario
Ray Laurence – Macquarie University
Nicolas Monteix – Rouen University
Rebecca Phillipps – University of Auckland
Jeroen Poblome – KU Leuven
Fernando Quesada Sanz - Autonomous University of Madrid
Christopher Smith – University of St Andrews
this collection has been integrated into Pontine Region Project research: the Nettuno and Astura surveys and the study of the spring sanctuary at Laghetto del Monsignore. Regarding the former, the collection includes materials of a quality and diversity rarely found in contemporary field surveys and provides information on sites that have disappeared from the (surface) archaeological record. For Laghetto del Monsignore, the Liboni
collection provided a quantitative basis that allowed the detailed reconstruction of (changing) ritual practices during the lifespan of the cult place. These case studies underscore the significant role that collection-based research can play in archaeology, challenging the traditional view of museum collections as merely educational and display resources.
region – intensive surface survey, coverage of the landscape by teams walking in close order,
recording patterns of human activity visible on the landsurface as scatters of pottery and lithics,
or building remains. Since 2000, archaeologists from Dutch and Belgian universities working
on Mediterranean survey projects have gathered annually to discuss methodological issues in
workshops that gradually attracted landscape archaeologists from other European countries and
Turkey. On the basis of these discussions, this paper, written by regular workshop contributors
and other invited authors with wider Mediterranean experience, aims to evaluate the potential
of various approaches to the archaeological surface record in the Mediterranean and provide
guidelines for standards of good practice in Mediterranean survey.