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| archaeology of the Roman provinces | |
|---|---|
| Name | Archaeology of the Roman provinces |
| Period | Roman Empire |
| Region | Roman provinces |
archaeology of the Roman provinces presents the material record of Rome’s territorial administration across regions such as Hispania, Gaul, Britannia, Germania Inferior, Italia, Aegyptus, Syria Palaestina, Asia, and Africa Proconsularis. Studies synthesize finds from urban excavations at sites like Pompeii, Carthage, Ephesus, and Vindolanda with discoveries from military sites such as Hadrian's Wall, Limes Germanicus, and Limes Tripolitanus. Scholarship draws on work by institutions including the British Museum, British School at Rome, École française de Rome, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, and the British Academy.
Research on provincial archaeology integrates evidence from excavations at Ostia Antica, Leptis Magna, Timgad, Jerash, and Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium with numismatic, epigraphic, and ceramic corpora such as the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, the Roman Imperial Coinage, and studies of terra sigillata. Comparative work relates provincial urbanism to texts by Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, Strabo, and Cassius Dio while engaging modern syntheses by scholars connected to the Institute of Archaeology (UCL), the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, and the International Journal of Roman Archaeology.
Excavations at Pompeii, Herculaneum, Leptis Magna, Ephesus, and Arelate illuminate street grids, fora, theatres, and baths echoed in provincial plans documented at Ostia Antica, Pompeii, and Athens and discussed by Vitruvius and Frontinus. Studies of roads and bridges draw on routes such as the Via Appia, the Via Egnatia, and the Antonine Itinerary alongside archaeological fieldwork on milestones, mansiones, and cursus publicus infrastructure preserved in archives of the Royal Archaeological Institute and the Società Geografica Italiana.
Research on villas and estates integrates excavation evidence from Villa Romana del Casale, Fishbourne Roman Palace, Boscoreale, Villa of the Mysteries, and Hadrian's Villa with palaeoenvironmental data from marshes at the Fens, the Po Valley, and Nile Delta contexts studied by teams from the University of Cambridge, Sapienza University of Rome, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Analyses use tools developed in collaboration with the British Trust for Ornithology and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for archaeobotanical and palynology studies, integrating evidence for olive cultivation, viticulture, and cereal production under legal frameworks such as the Lex Julia Municipalis.
Frontier studies combine fort and fortlet excavations at Vindolanda, Housesteads, Birdoswald, Segedunum, and Bremenium with survey of the Limes Germanicus, Antonine Wall, Hadrian's Wall, and Saxon Shore fortifications. Analyses incorporate finds from Mithraeum rediscoveries, weapon assemblages catalogued in the Royal Armouries, and hospital or barracks evidence paralleling accounts by Caesar and Vegetius while engaging conservation practice from the National Trust and the Historic England archives.
Studies of amphorae, lamps, glass, and finewares integrate assemblages from Monte Testaccio, Puteoli, Portus, Sabratha, Ostia, Aphrodisias, and Antioch with petrographic, isotopic, and provenance analyses developed at the Natural History Museum, London, the British Geological Survey, and the Max Planck Institutes. Research traces long-distance trade routes linking Alexandria, Antioch, Cartagena, Massalia, Ravenna, and Milan and intersects with studies of commercial law such as the Lex Rhodia and institutions like the corpus of harbour inscriptions and the Annona grain supply system.
Religious archaeology examines sanctuaries at Delos, Panayia, Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Mithraeum of London Walbrook, Temple of Jupiter Capacius, and rural shrines in Gaul, Hispania, Britannia, and North Africa alongside iconographic programs in mosaics from Villa Romana del Casale, Chellah, and Bulla Regia. Studies consider syncretism involving deities such as Isis, Mithras, Zeus, Jupiter, Dionysus, Serapis, and local Celtic or Berber cults, referencing epigraphic evidence preserved in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum and museum collections at the Louvre, British Museum, and Museo Nazionale Romano.
Methodological advances blend stratigraphic excavation at sites like Pompeii and Vindolanda with geophysical survey, aerial photography by organizations such as English Heritage, remote sensing projects using LiDAR over the Mediterranean Basin, and scientific approaches including radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology at Horsham, and isotopic analysis undertaken at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. Historiographical debates engage the work of scholars associated with the Cambridge Ancient History, the Annales school, the British School at Rome, and theorists such as Eduard Meyer and Theodor Mommsen while addressing post-colonial perspectives promoted in venues like the Journal of Roman Archaeology and conferences of the European Association of Archaeologists.