University of Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology Monographs

The publication of the papers presented in this volume marks an important step in the study of ancient cities. Despite having long been a focus of archaeological investigation and analysis, until relatively recently they have tended to be described rather than analysed. These eleven papers concentrate on analysing ancient urban centres from within, exploring some of the ways in which people lived in, perceived, and modified their built environments. The papers span several time periods, from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic era as well as geographic locations from Italy to Beirut. The title of this volume thus incorporates two meanings of Greek: the territory of the modern nation-state and areas of the ancient world with cultural influences from the Aegean. The diversity of ancient urban forms is therefore fully recognised and celebrated.

This study presents new evidence for the development of commerce and inter-regional trade through survey and analysis of urban layout and architecture. The study of Roman urbanism – especially its early (Republican) phases – is extensively rooted in the evidence provided by a series of key sites, several of them located in Italy. Some of these Italian towns (e.g. Fregellae, Alba Fucens, Cosa) have received a great deal of scholarly attention in the past and they are routinely referenced as textbook examples, framing much of our understanding of the broad phenomenon of Roman urbanism. However, discussions of these sites tend to fall back on well-established interpretations, with relatively little or no awareness of more recent developments. This is remarkable, since our understanding of these sites has since evolved thanks to new archaeological fieldwork, often characterised by the pursuit of new questions and the application of new approaches. Similarly, new evidence from other sites has since prompted a reconsideration of time-honoured views about the nature, role and long-term trajectory of Roman towns in Italy. Tracing its origins in the Laurence Seminar on Roman Urbanism in Italy: recent discoveries and new directions, which took place at the Faculty of Classics of the University of Cambridge (27–28 May 2022), this volume brings together scholars whose recent work at key sites is contributing to expand, change or challenge our current knowledge and understanding of Roman urbanism in Italy. The individual chapters showcase some of the most recent methods and approaches applied to the study of Roman towns, discussing the broader implications of fresh archaeological discoveries from both well known and less widely known sites, from the Po Plain to Southern Italy, from the Republican to the Late Antique period (and beyond).

In the past 30 years, archaeological field survey has become central to the practice of Classical Archaeology. During this time, approaches have developed from the systematic collection of artefacts to include the routine deployment of various geophysical and remote sensing techniques. The ability of archaeologists to reveal the topography of buried urban sites without excavation has now been demonstrated through a wide range of projects across the ancient world. Archaeological Survey and the City reviews the results of such projects and in particular discusses the ways in which the subject might develop in the future, with an emphasis on the integration of different strands of evidence and issues of archaeological interpretation rather than on the technicalities of particular methodologies. Several themes emerge from the fourteen papers. The first is the increasing number of large-area surveys providing data at a sufficient scale to make a significant contribution to our understanding of classical cities both in the Mediterranean and beyond (eg Baelo Claudia, Caistor-by-Norwich, Xanten, Ammaia). The second theme is the generation of new types of data through the application of specific techniques to address particular questions pertaining to urban life, for instance in identifying particular industrial processes such as metal-working (eg Munigua, Wroxeter) or the increasing success in isolating cemeteries (eg Silchester). The techniques involved in identifying these phenomena complement the use of geochemical survey to characterise particular soil properties related to animal husbandry, cultivation or the creation of domestic waste deposits (eg Faleri Veteres), an area which has considerable future potential. A third theme lies in the application and integration of multiple techniques to provide new dimensions to the information available. The data from a number of survey projects have demonstrated that a single survey technique will rarely if ever, reveal all of the potential information so there is a significant benefit to be derived from applying multiple survey-strategies to the questions being asked of a site. These themes emphasise the dynamism of research in this area, which continues to revolutionise the study of ancient cities.

The Roman period witnessed massive changes in the human-material environment, from monumentalised cityscapes to standardised low-value artefacts like pottery. This book explores new perspectives to understand this Roman 'object boom' and its impact on Roman history. In particular, the book's international contributors question the traditional dominance of 'representation' in Roman archaeology, whereby objects have come to stand for social phenomena such as status, facets of group identity, or notions like Romanisation and economic growth. Drawing upon the recent material turn in anthropology and related disciplines, the essays in this volume examine what it means to materialise Roman history, focusing on the question of what objects do in history, rather than what they represent. In challenging the dominance of representation, and exploring themes such as the impact of standardisation and the role of material agency, Materialising Roman History is essential reading for anyone studying material culture from the Roman world (and beyond).