TRAC 2006 SESSION
General Session I
Dr. Roman Roth (University of Cambridge) res27@cam.ac.uk
The TRAC General Session offers an opportunity for both young and
well-established researchers to present their work independent from any of
the themed sessions. This session encourages the continuation of interest
in the development of Roman archaeological studies, focussing on the role
of theoretical issues within this subject and showcasing examples of
current research.
Paper titles
Letizia Ceccarelli (University of Cambridge)
"Religion and society: The phenomenon of the anatomical votive offering in the Republican period"
Natalie White (University of Cambridge)
"Catering for the Cultural Identities of the deceased in Roman Britain"
Francesca Fulminante (University of Cambridge)
"Landscape of Power in Early Iron Age Latium Vetus: defining proto-urban developments in Middle Tyrrhenian Italy"
Dr. Patrick Monsieur (Universiteit Gent, Belgium)
"Amphora burials and/or burials with amphorae: on the use of amphorae in the northern necropolis of Potentia (Porto Recanati, Marche)."
Marleen Martens (Flemish Heritage Institute, Belgium)
"The tumulus of Tienen-Grijpen: funerary feasts and purification rituals"
Hannah Cordts von Löwis of Menar (Institute of Archaeology, UCL)
"Hermann the German: a national hero? Representations of Arminius in German history schoolbooks"
Abstracts
"Religion and society: The phenomenon of the anatomical votive offering in the Republican period"
Letizia Ceccarelli (University of Cambridge)
The central theme of this paper is an analysis of the connection between religion, ritual and society and their reflection
on the landscape in the area of Latium, south of Rome, from the 4th to the 2nd centuries BC. Society transforms and
expresses individual experience through culture and ideology, which has its materialisation in physical realities such
as rituals, symbols and public architecture, whose distribution across the landscape is a reflection of the
socio-political organisation.
Roman religion is generally understood to have comprised of ritually induced experience and collectively perpetuated
belief. The religious acts and observances then had a strong political component and were a statement of social status
and cultural identity.
When considering rituals, it is fundamental to explore the literary sources. However, literary texts rarely offer an
objective representation of rituals, as they themselves reflect an ideological structure that served the interest of
the ruling elite. This generated a sharp separation between the elite religious beliefs and those of the mass of the
illiterate population, and thus encouraged the growth of specialist, 'pragmatic' cults, especially healing cults, where
participation was more an individual experience expressed by votive offerings.
This paper will explore the theoretical interpretation of Roman religion in order to identify the meaning of individual
performances of ritual activities, that it was not merely the repetition of fixed rules but a conscious attempt to
undertake a ritual. The phenomenon of mid-Republican votive deposits, in particular ex-voto terracottas, provide the
opportunity to recognise individual experiences of religion in the participation of rituals not just as part of a
community, but also in taking an active role in the ceremonies. It also offers the opportunity to analyse the modes
and effects of the Roman expansion. The sudden increase in the number of votive terracotta deposits within Etruscan
and Italic societies has been associated with the Roman expansion in Italy. It is suggested that a function of colonies
was not only as a strategic place for garrisons in troublesome areas, but also as "religious staging posts of Roman
expansion".
"Catering for the Cultural Identities of the deceased in Roman Britain"
Natalie White (University of Cambridge)
The recognition of cultural change being not only multidirectional, but unique according to geographical and chronological
context has fuelled a number of recent identity studies within the realm of Roman archaeology. These have focused upon
the discrepant experiences of Britons during the late pre-Roman Iron Age and Roman period. Parallel to this, has been
the recognition that we are what we eat, and that foodstuffs in the past were not simply consumed for subsistence. This
has generated a great deal of research on the cultural associations between food and people.
I propose to bring these two strands of thought together, and highlight the possible potential of examining the food
remains within burials at this time of active cultural change. Both the Romans and indigenous Britons appear to have
possessed similar funerary rituals involving food, particularly the inclusion of food offerings with the deceased in
the grave. I intend to illustrate that if sufficient steps are taken to retrieve such data, that it may be possible
to detect some of the social and cultural choices that were made.
In time, I hope that I may be able to ask a number of questions, although some will be introduced here. For example, does
funerary cuisine change visibly over time, and can we see any regional patterns? Do late pre-Roman Iron Age tastes
prevail? Are these remains reflective of the typical diet within the area, or were these foods perhaps being chosen
for religious or monetary reasons? Does the age and sex of the deceased individual have any bearing of the food that
they were buried with?
"Landscape of Power in Early Iron Age Latium Vetus:
defining proto-urban developments in Middle Tyrrhenian Italy"
Francesca Fulminante (University of Cambridge)
Urbanisation in Middle Tyrrhenian Italy has been a much-debated question in recent years: when did the city in central
Italy begun? What is the relationship between the rise of the city in this region and colonisation by Greece?
This paper aims to answer these questions by applying a contextual approach based on the analysis of archaeological
evidence from Latium Vetus, the region south of the Tiber, which is dominated by the city of Rome.
By comparing funerary evidence and spatial analyses (rank-size, X-Tent, weighted Voronoi and central place model),
I aim to reconstruct the political landscape of Early Iron Latium Vetus. My analysis concludes that urbanisation
in Middle Tyrrhenian Italy is an autochthonous process which must be seen within the perspective of the peer polity
interaction model between various regions of the Mediterranean basin, rather than as a secondary phenomenon imported
from Greece.
"Amphora burials and/or burials with amphorae :
on the use of amphorae in the northern necropolis of Potentia (Porto Recanati, Marche)"
Patrick Monsieur (Universiteit Gent, Belgium)
From 1962 to 1965, L. Mercando excavated the necropolis on the north of the colony of Potentia, just near the
coast. Recent excavations in the monumental centre of the ancient city by the Soprintenza and survey by the Ghent
University, as well intra muros as in the nearby countryside, allow a confrontation of old and new results.
Especially the circulation and use of amphorae is of high interest, since the region itself produced several types
(a kiln was recently discovered), but also saw imports from different regions as North-Italy and the East. The necropolis
dates mainly from the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., but some tombs are from the late republican period, others late
antique. Of the 385 excavated tombs, nearly 14% yielded 1, 2, even 3 amphorae, 70 in total of which at least 14
different types were recognized.
It is the aim to present different levels in the study of amphorae in funeral contexts: chronology, their occurrence or
absence, presence and preference of different types and possibly their content or what they stand for, absence of
specific types, residuality, relation to sex, age and social identity, the funeral rituals, eschatology. There is the
nearly complete absence of amphorae in tombs during the Julio-Claudian period, whereas from the Flavians on they occur
regularly. The functional interpretation is hampered by the waste of production sites and of consumption scattering
around, as well as the use of amphora fragments for building purposes (civic and funeral), a fact that was clearly
revealed by survey and recent excavations. Is there a preference in the ritual for Aegean and Forlimpopoli amphorae,
or do they only count for libations of wine and Dionysiac rites? Why these funnel-mouth amphorae, most probably
designed for the transport of olives? Were amphorae used as grave-markers? There is the specific use and deposition:
as a coffin (double meaning?), put upside down sometimes in combination with another vessel (libation), as gift for
the departed. Finally, can the northern necropolis of Potentia be considered as a current example of funeral practices
with amphorae at different periods, or is it a mere example where local or regional burial customs were dominating?
"The tumulus of Tienen-Grijpen: funerary feasts and purification rituals"
Marleen Martens
(Flemish Heritage Institute, Belgium)
In the summer of 2002 archaeologists discovered the remains of an undisturbed tumulus burial. The grave was situated in
the liminal zone at the far end of the settlement area next to a road for intra vicus circulation. The chamber was set
in a shaft almost 4 metres deep. The chamber was 12 square metres with a timber-planked wall founded on posts. One of
the postholes contained a statue of Dionysus/Bacchus. The floor of the burial chamber was covered with remains of the
funeral pyre and some intact objects. On first inspection this would appear as a rather poor tumulus burial. However,
the focus of this burial was on top of the roof of the chamber.
On the roof of the chamber, the body of a young woman was laid next to a horse, 4 dogs and dozens of dog foetuses. In
between the woman and the animals a range of roof tiles, complete pots, objects in copper alloy and glass were laid out.
The presence of objects on top of the funeral chamber has rarely been observed while excavating tumulus burials. Even
more surprising is the position of the woman and the animals on top of the cover of the chamber, instead of in it. The
fact that the woman was laid outside the burial itself and amongst the animals puts her in the centre of the funerary
rituals with the sacrifices. Are we dealing with a human sacrifice?
Dogs and puppies have never been registered before in tumulus burials of the region. What could be the role of the dogs
and especially of the dog foetuses? We know that dogs and especially puppies were customarily used for purification. We
know that death together with childbirth are the most important transitional phases of life and therefore potentially
heavily polluted. Dogs were used as scapegoats by means of which the impurity and pollution of both people and places
were removed. From Plutarch we know that rubbing people with dead bodies of puppies was thought to cause all harmful
and polluting substances to be absorbed by the animal, and thus remove them from the person. This role is not at all
insignificant in a culture in which ceremonies of purification are almost a necessity of life. Are we dealing here with
purification rites concerning a death in circumstances considered so polluted that it could bring calamity over the
community?
"Hermann the German: a national hero? Representations of Arminius in German history schoolbooks"
Hannah Cordts von Löwis of Menar (Insitute of Archaeology, UCL)
History schoolbooks offer a wealth of information about the society that produced them. For example, they reflect the
'official' version of the past more than any other medium - the state carefully considers what picture of the past it
wants its children to acquire. As such, schoolbook research offers interesting insights into the way history as a subject
is used/contributes to the development and construction of national identities and notions of citizenship. History
education also represents the sole (or the primary) source of historical knowledge for most people and thus must not
be neglected by archaeologists who have an interest in making their discipline accessible and relevant to the general
public. In this paper I will examine the changing nature of the representation of Arminius in German history schoolbooks
through time - placing particular emphasis on the differences in the portrayal of Hermann between East and West German
schoolbooks. This paper will therefore provide insights into the difficult and close relationship that the Germans have
with their Roman past, highlighting the ways in which politics and political ideology colour the interpretation and
knowledge of the past as well as the role that is ascribed to Arminius and the Varus battle (and history in general)
in the construction of German national identities.
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Last updated 28th February 2006 R.M.B.