TRAC 2006 SESSION
Making ends meet or early globalisation?
Economies of power, culture and identity in the Roman world
Dr. Irene Schrüfer-Kolb (Open University) iesk2@tutor.open.ac.uk
This session seeks to include papers that explore the different ways in which identity
was represented and communicated in the Roman world, with a particular emphasis on
manufacture, trade and exchange.
Identity can be expressed in many ways and economic activity plays an important part
in this. Professions, industries and crafts define cultural identity, contribute to
social status and represent the goals, values and power of the individual, social groups
and society as a whole.
In the Roman world, professional status was an important medium to communicate one's
place in society. However, to what extent were economic activities shaped in particular
contexts by social factors such as legal status, family and gender, ethnic origin,
religion or cultural traditions? Can industries and crafts be seen as a statement of
diversity as well as uniformity in the Roman world? And how do the processes of cultural
interaction and Romanisation affect this?
The session hopes to debate these ideas of diversity and community in the Roman economy
in an interdisciplinary way, by bringing together various strands of archaeology and
ancient history, with the aim to facilitate cross-fertilisation and exchange of ideas.
Potential starting points for a critical discussion could include material culture studies,
managed production and consumption, the visual arts, epigraphy, spatial analysis of towns
and industrial landscapes or (post)colonial economic thought.
Paper titles
Dr. Phil Perkins (Open University)
"Have you got what it takes to be a Roman?"
Lucy Cramp (University of Reading/Bristol)
"Meat, spice or cheese? Using lipid residue analysis of mortaria to examine issues of identity in Roman Britain"
Mark Eccleston (University of Sheffield)
"The Social Identity of Nailsmiths in Egypt as Reflected in the Archaeological Evidence and Documentary Papyri"
Hanna Stoger (University of Leiden)
"The guild seats of Roman Ostia: expressions of economic and cultural identity and platforms for social integration"
Dr. Damian Robinson (University of Oxford)
"The urban elite and the landscape of production "
Prof. David Mattingly (University of Leicester)
"Ruling regions, exploiting resources"
Abstracts
"Have you got what it takes to be a Roman?"
Dr. Phil Perkins (Open University)
Back in the 20th century, we used to think that we could identify Romanized people by examining their material culture and
characterizing it, and so them, as Roman. Now we take a more sophisticated view and realize that people (agents) in their
social contexts (structure) may wilfully select from material culture to construct a facet of their identity. So an
individual selecting to use a Roman fine ware as part of their material culture assemblage, may be considered as to some
extent Roman. The potential range of factors influencing the selection of an artefact, as part of the construction of
identity, is vast. However, a fundamental part of making that choice is the availability of an artefact, and one determinant
of the availability is the economy. Of course there may be other determinants, such as taboos or symbolic functions, but
even then the economy - seen in general terms as the process that produces and supplies artefacts - still makes the
artefacts available to choose from. So a Roman may be considered as someone participating in the Roman economy.
But how easy was it to participate in the Roman economy? The burgeoning literature on globalization - of both culture and
economy - frequently and simplistically cites the Roman empire as an early example of globalization. Some more prudent
commentators qualify it as 'known world globalization'. But what do we as Romanists have to say about it? A recent book
by Richard Hingley, Globalizing Roman Culture, takes a rather theoretical approach. In this paper I will attempt to fit
the theory to some evidence and identify elements of the Roman economy that might be characterized as global, drawing
particularly on work quantifying African Red Slip Ware. Once it is possible to assess the global and temporal availability
of an artefact, it then becomes possible to assess the significance of a choice or rejection of an artefact in constructing
an Roman or other identity for individuals in a globalized known world
"Meat, spice or cheese? Using lipid residue analysis of mortaria to examine issues of identity in Roman Britain"
Lucy Cramp (University of Reading/Bristol)
Researchers of colonisation episodes in prehistory and history are becoming acutely aware of the complexity of episodes
of significant demographic and/or social change. The unilinear and monolithic nature of such terms as 'Neolithicisation'
or 'Romanisation' render them an unacceptable framework within which to work, since they fail to appreciate the
heterogeneity of these encounters, nor that this would have had a significant effect upon the specific manifestation
of new ideas, and the sentiment and expression of self- and group identity.
The post-processual framework of recent decades has led to an examination of the mediation of identity and ethnicity
through material culture (e.g. Appadurai 1986; Deetz 1996; Jones 1997). This theoretical framework has been used in
order to challenge the concept of 'Romanisation' and in particular, research has focussed upon whether aspects of a
new culture were sought, enforced or carefully selected to meet pre-existing needs (Cooper 1996; Mattingly 1997; Hill
2001; Webster 2001). Food and food preparation is a key area for investigation, since by examining the way in which
food is selected, obtained, prepared and consumed, we may address issues which factor into nearly every other aspect
of human behaviour, such as belief systems, identity, social structure and economy (Goody 1982; Shanks and Tilley 1987;
Meadows 1994).
The analysis of cooking vessels, and the way in which they were used, can therefore further our understanding of self-
and group identity and how this may manifest itself during episodes of profound demographic and social change.
My research intends to approach this using a recently developed scientific technique (GC/MS) to separate and
identify non-visible ancient lipids which may have become absorbed into the walls of mortaria during their use
at a range of site-types. Mortaria are often perceived as synonymous with a 'Roman' diet and continental traditions
of food preparation, and yet their prevalence in Britain along with an unexpectedly high recovery of mortaria from
some small and low-status rural sites (Evans 1995; Cool 2004) challenges this concept. My work therefore intends
to re-examine traditional conceptions of the function of this vessel, and to investigate whether the use of mortaria
was consistent throughout all site-types, or whether the role of the vessel was reassigned to suit specific needs at
certain sites or points in time.
Initial results from a small number of preliminary will be presented. Emphasis will be placed upon the implications
of these data regarding the absorption or transformation of ideas and material culture in Roman Britain.
References
Appadurai, A. 1986. The social life of things. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cool, H. 2004. Some notes on spoons and mortaria, pp. 28-35
in B. Croxford, H. Eckardt, J. Meade and J. Wakes eds. TRAC: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Leicester 2003. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Cooper, N. 1996. Searching for the blank generation: consumer choice in Roman and Post-Roman Britain, pp. 85-98
in J. Webster and N. Cooper eds. Roman Imperialism: post-colonial perspectives. Proceedings of a symposium held at Leicester University in November 1994. Leicester: School of Archaeology Studies, University of Leicester.
Deetz, J. 1996 In small things forgotten: an archaeology of Early American life. New York: Anchor Books.
Evans, J. 1995. Later Iron Age and 'native' pottery in the north-east, pp.46-68 in B. Vyner (ed.) Moorland Monuments: studies in the archaeology of north-east Yorkshire in honour of Raymond Hayes and Don Spratt. York: Council for British Archaeology.
Goody, J. 1982. Cooking, cuisine and class: a study in comparative sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hill, J.D. 2001. Romanisation, gender and class: recent approaches to identity in Britain and their possible consequences, 12-18
in S. James and M. Millett (eds.) Britons and Romans: advancing an archaeological agenda. York: CBA Research Report 125.
Jones, S. 1997. The archaeology of ethnicity: constructing identities in the past and present. New York and London: Routledge.
Mattingly, D. 1997. Introduction, pp.7-26 in D. Mattingly (ed.) Dialogues of power and experience in the Roman Empire: power, discourse, and discrepant experience in the Roman Empire. Portsmouth: JRA supplementary series 21.
Meadows, K. 1994. You are what you eat: diet, identity and Romanisation, pp.133-140 in S. Cottam, D. Dungworth, S. Scott and J. Taylor (eds.) TRAC 94. Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Shanks, M. and Tilley, C. 1987. Re-constructing archaeology: theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Webster, J. 2001. Creolizing the Roman Provinces. American Journal of Archaeology 105, 209-225.
"The Social Identity of Nailsmiths in Egypt as Reflected in the Archaeological Evidence and Documentary Papyri"
Mark Eccleston (University of Sheffield)
The iron industry and the production of objects in iron would have been crucial to the economy in Egypt during the
Roman Period. Apart from the large quantities of iron needed for the military, public buildings and state enterprises
such as mining expeditions, there would have been a constant demand for farming tools and domestic building materials
such as nails. Very little is known about the iron industry in Egypt during the Roman Period, either from an archaeological
perspective or from the Greek or Coptic documentary papyri. This paper will examine some of the Greek documentary papyri
relating specifically to the profession of 'nailsmith' and discuss possible interpretations of the social and craft
identity of nailsmiths. This will be compared to the papyrological evidence for 'blacksmiths' more generally and put
in context via a discussion of some archaeological evidence for blacksmith's workshops. Questions such as 'What was a
nailsmith and how did this differ from a blacksmith?' will be addressed along with the difficulties of using the Greek
names for trades to infer specific craft specialisations. This short case study highlights the need for further work on
the iron industry in Roman Egypt and the possibility of dealing with concepts such as social identity, craft specialisation
and agency in the context of Roman Egypt.
"The guild seats of Roman Ostia: expressions of economic and cultural identity and platforms for social integration"
Hanna Stoger (University of Leiden)
Ostia, the harbour city of Rome is one of the key sites for the study of Roman economy and urbanism. The richness of the
material record, foremost the city's built environment, offers suitable case studies to examine the full complexity of
Roman society.
Central to the proposed paper are questions concerned with the integrative capacity of Roman Ostia in the 2nd century AD.
Following the construction of the imperial harbours, the city attracted a massive wave of immigration. During the 2nd
century AD Ostia was transformed into a new city obscuring both its history and original population. The study focuses
on urban processes and the associated forms of spatial utilization when the city experienced its vastest urban expansion
and the biggest changes in its social structure touching all levels of society. Conspicuously, the major part of the
population seemed to share a lack of identification with the city. Only gradually could a new sense of belonging develop,
allowing Ostia's guild seats (collegia) to flourish, offering new means for social integration and individual
self-representation.
The collegia, hybrid spaces between public and private, encouraged social cohesion by promoting activities attached to
specific and identifiable locations. Within the theoretical framework of spatial analysis the proposed paper explores
the role of the collegia as one of the strategic elements in Ostian society. Under the premise that the complexity of
the urban society is reflected in the physical complexity of the town, the guild seats are being examined as shaping
force of Ostia's urban and social development.
Space syntax' analytical tools will be applied to examine Ostia's collegia in terms of their location and overall
integration within the city's street network and built environment. In addition, three independent spatial aspects
of Ostia's collegia will be considered: the size and shape of spaces, the organisation of space and the ease of access.
Size and form as a physical expression of economic and social standing reflect the status of the guild and their members.
The degree of control or ease of access reflects the level to which the collegia have been structured to encourage public
use or include or exclude people and/or activities and ultimately promote social integration.
"The urban elite and the landscape of production"
Dr. Damian Robinson (University of Oxford)
In their writings on the villa system of production the Roman agronomists Cato, Varro and Columella reveal a rural elite
identity actively shaped by capital investment, economic risk taking and a quest for greater productivity and profitability
from their farms. Such ideals are also archaeologically observable in the remains of the villa buildings themselves,
which form part of the landscape of rural production so celebrated in the sources. While Nicholas Purcell has suggested
that such landscapes run all the way from the countryside into the market place of towns (1995, 172), for many scholars
the active participation of the upper class in the economy simply stops at the city walls. Once inside, profitability
is in the hands of entrepreneurial freedmen and while the participation of the urban elite is no longer denied, their
role is somewhat marginalised and the impetus towards the economic maximisation of their urban landholdings is seldom
considered. Yet the archaeological remains of the largest houses in Pompeii, which are the subject of this paper, bear
eloquent testimony to the activities of their owners; activities that through archaeological investigations can be
seen to extend back in time to the foundation of such properties. Urban shops and workshops are a facet of the identity
of the elite house, whose owners are part of the same group of bold economic risk-takers addressed by Cato, Varro and
Columella. Long-term investment in urban business, an active role in their management and issues such as profit
maximisation and specialisation can be seen as playing important roles in the creation of a distinctly upper class
economic identity. Indeed the intensely visible character of the shops and workshops that crowd around the front
doors of elite houses are as much a part of upper class demonstrations of wealth as the luxurious ornamentation of
the interior of their houses, or for that matter by the ideal combination of both pars urbana and rustica in their
rural villas.
Reference
Purcell, N. 1995. The Roman villa and the landscape of production, in T.J. Cornell and K. Lomas (eds.) Urban Society in Roman Italy. London: UCL Press.
"Ruling regions, exploiting resources"
Prof. David Mattingly (University of Leicester)
The economy holds an interesting place in the debate about the relative impacts of structure and agency in shaping
the Roman world. Since Finley dismissed the modernising tendencies of Rostovtzeff it has become conventional to
stress the primitive and under-developed characteristics of the Roman economy. The minimalist model, much associated
with Cambridge University, emphasises subsistence strategies and individual agency over state structures and the
capacity for surplus production and growth. It also encourages us to think in terms of a monolithic and homogeneous
'Roman economy'.
In this paper I shall mainly focus on the needs and behaviour of colonial powers like Rome and shall explore some
crucial relationships between imperialism and economy. I suggest that these led to the formation of different economic
identities in the Roman world, much as social identities were also transformed under the globalising influence of
incorporation into the empire. In other words, we need to think in terms of 'Roman economies' and to recognise that
power was a key driver of some areas of economic activity, with significant consequences for individual actors.
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Last updated 1st February 2006 R.M.B.