Tufts University
Classical Archaeology
Over the last two decades, research on Roman period (1st century BC to 4th century AD) pastoralism in the Crau plain in Southern France has focused on modes of transhumance. These discussions have not addressed broader questions about the... more
Over the last two decades, research on Roman period (1st century BC to 4th century AD) pastoralism in the Crau plain in Southern France has focused on modes of transhumance. These discussions have not addressed broader questions about the nature and scale of the pastoral economy, which was centered on wool production. This study examines groups of large sheepfolds dotting the plain and uses calculations based on ancient and modern comparative data to show that the plain's wool industry was quite large. During its period of peak activity in the 1st century AD, the plain's 50,000 hectares contained 17,000 to 60,000 sheep spread among 225 to 300 sheepfolds. These were capable of producing 18,000 to 400,000 tunics per year, depending on garment size and the intensity of production. Contrary to earlier assumptions, the plain was far from desolate and instead was a vibrant and critical element of the regional economy.
This paper presents the results of the Sangro Valley Project’s deployment of a paperless recording system in a mixed environment of excavation and survey. It also discusses some advances made in archaeological photography. Finally, it... more
This paper presents the results of the Sangro Valley Project’s deployment of a paperless recording system in a mixed environment of excavation and survey. It also discusses some advances made in archaeological photography. Finally, it presents preliminary results from on-going experiments with automatically generating Harris Matrices from a FileMaker Pro database and with using iPads and iPhones as GPS units for survey.
During eight years of excavation and three years of post-excavation processing, the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia (PARP:PS) has uncovered and processed over 9,000 non-ceramic small finds. The quantification and... more
During eight years of excavation and three years of post-excavation processing, the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia (PARP:PS) has uncovered and processed over 9,000 non-ceramic small finds. The quantification and thorough qualification of these artifacts has allowed us to produce an extensively detailed dataset. As we move towards publication, our goal has been to produce a catalogue that, while compatible with traditional models that organize artifacts by material and type, allows us to understand our data in ways that stretch beyond this established paradigm.
Our goals in this paper are twofold. First, we outline our efforts to organize our artifacts by traditional typologies while also analyzing groups of artifacts within the chronological, spatial, and formational characteristics of their find contexts. Second, we present two case studies to demonstrate how these efforts have aided our understanding of how assemblages came to be created and how we have applied that understanding toward broader historical questions. It is our hope that this model will encourage others to approach small finds contextually, in concert with the many other classes of evidence recovered by modern excavation projects.
Our goals in this paper are twofold. First, we outline our efforts to organize our artifacts by traditional typologies while also analyzing groups of artifacts within the chronological, spatial, and formational characteristics of their find contexts. Second, we present two case studies to demonstrate how these efforts have aided our understanding of how assemblages came to be created and how we have applied that understanding toward broader historical questions. It is our hope that this model will encourage others to approach small finds contextually, in concert with the many other classes of evidence recovered by modern excavation projects.
Archaeological documentation is in the midst of a technological shift as recording systems transition from paper-based forms to digital formats. Digital systems effectively replicate the information recorded on paper forms, while also... more
Archaeological documentation is in the midst of a technological shift as recording systems transition from paper-based forms to digital formats. Digital systems effectively replicate the information recorded on paper forms, while also offering recording advantages for archaeologists in the field. In addition to such logistical contributions to archaeological workflows, digital technology also has tremendous potential to transform the ways that archaeology is done by shifting how we see our sites, and how we document them through diverse data types. With the goal of exploring this potential, we developed a tablet-based relational database, using FileMaker, which provides the ability to simultaneously record specific characteristics of artifacts and features according to two cultural perspectives—modern archaeological understandings and also those of the Classic Maya. In this article, we describe the database and discuss the results of a pilot field season using the database to record excavations at the site of Say Kah, Belize. Our experiences yield several broader reflections on the impact of using digital recording systems both for practical advantage and for productive shifts in perception.
La documentación arqueológica se encuentra en medio de un cambio tecnológico mediante el cual los sistemas de registro cambian del papel a formatos digitales. Los sistemas digitales replican de manera efectiva la información registrada en formularios de papel, y también ofrecen ventajas para los arqueólogos trabajando en el campo. Además de las contribuciones logísticas al trabajo arqueológico, la tecnología digital también puede transformar las formas de realizar la arqueología al cambiar la manera en que miramos los sitios, y cómo los documentamos a través de diversos tipos de datos. Con el objetivo de explorar este potencial, desarrollamos una base de datos relacional utilizando las computadoras tabletas, y el programa FileMaker, el cual ofrece la posibilidad de documentar simultáneamente características específicas de los artefactos y rasgos según dos perspectivas culturales, los entendimientos modernos de los arqueólogos y también los de los mayas clásicos. En este artículo se describe la base de datos y se discuten los resultados de la primera temporada de campo en que se utiliza la base de datos para registrar excavaciones en el sitio de Say Kah, Belice. Nuestras experiencias generan reflexiones sobre el impacto del uso de sistemas de registro digital tanto como ventajas prácticas y también para los cambios productivos en la percepción.
La documentación arqueológica se encuentra en medio de un cambio tecnológico mediante el cual los sistemas de registro cambian del papel a formatos digitales. Los sistemas digitales replican de manera efectiva la información registrada en formularios de papel, y también ofrecen ventajas para los arqueólogos trabajando en el campo. Además de las contribuciones logísticas al trabajo arqueológico, la tecnología digital también puede transformar las formas de realizar la arqueología al cambiar la manera en que miramos los sitios, y cómo los documentamos a través de diversos tipos de datos. Con el objetivo de explorar este potencial, desarrollamos una base de datos relacional utilizando las computadoras tabletas, y el programa FileMaker, el cual ofrece la posibilidad de documentar simultáneamente características específicas de los artefactos y rasgos según dos perspectivas culturales, los entendimientos modernos de los arqueólogos y también los de los mayas clásicos. En este artículo se describe la base de datos y se discuten los resultados de la primera temporada de campo en que se utiliza la base de datos para registrar excavaciones en el sitio de Say Kah, Belice. Nuestras experiencias generan reflexiones sobre el impacto del uso de sistemas de registro digital tanto como ventajas prácticas y también para los cambios productivos en la percepción.
In recent years, the study of small finds has moved beyond straightforward typologies, descriptions, and quantifications. New approaches to artifact analysis have drawn attention to the myriad ways in which objects could be used and... more
In recent years, the study of small finds has moved beyond straightforward typologies, descriptions, and quantifications. New approaches to artifact analysis have drawn attention to the myriad ways in which objects could be used and reused, deposited and redeposited in the ancient world. As part of the ongoing study and publication of the substantial assemblage of non-ceramic artifacts recovered by the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia (PARP:PS), we have developed an innovative organizational scheme that allows us to contextualize and prioritize artifacts in terms of their taphonomic formation, chronological period, and spatial provenience. In this paper, we demonstrate that by simultaneously employing traditional typologies based on artifact types and broader classifications based on functional groupings, our analysis sheds light on the broad range of processes by which artifacts came to be deposited in our insulae. We illustrate our methodological contribution by means of a case study that draws on multiple artifact categories to explore the life histories of the materials contained in our deposits. We argue that while dumping and reuse rather than primary-use activities brought most of the artifacts to our insulae, a more nuanced consideration of certain groupings can shed light on the ancient choices and practices that shaped specific spaces.
Mobilizing the Past is a collection of 20 articles that explore the use and impact of mobile digital technology in archaeological field practice. The detailed case studies present in this volume range from drones in the Andes to iPads at... more
Mobilizing the Past is a collection of 20 articles that explore the use and impact of mobile digital technology in archaeological field practice. The detailed case studies present in this volume range from drones in the Andes to iPads at Pompeii, digital workflows in the American Southwest, and examples of how bespoke, DIY, and commercial software provide solutions and craft novel challenges for field archaeologists. The range of projects and contexts ensures that Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future is far more than a state-of-the-field manual or technical handbook. Instead, the contributors embrace the growing spirit of critique present in digital archaeology. This critical edge, backed by real projects, systems, and experiences, gives the book lasting value as both a glimpse into present practices as well as the anxieties and enthusiasm associated with the most recent generation of mobile digital tools. This book emerged from a workshop funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities held in 2015 at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. The workshop brought together over 20 leading practitioners of digital archaeology in the U.S. for a weekend of conversation. The papers in this volume reflect the discussions at this workshop with significant additional content. Starting with an expansive introduction and concluding with a series of reflective papers, this volume illustrates how tablets, connectivity, sophisticated software, and powerful computers have transformed field practices and offer potential for a radically transformed discipline.
Individual chapters are available for free download, here:
http://dc.uwm.edu/arthist_mobilizingthepast/
Individual chapters are available for free download, here:
http://dc.uwm.edu/arthist_mobilizingthepast/
Since 2011 the Sangro Valley Project (Italy) has employed a custom-built paperless recording system with iPads and FileMaker at its core. This paper summarizes the evolution of the project’s paperless system and presents lessons learned... more
Since 2011 the Sangro Valley Project (Italy) has employed a custom-built paperless recording system with iPads and FileMaker at its core. This paper summarizes the evolution of the project’s paperless system and presents lessons learned during five seasons of use (2011–2015) and during the author’s work with two other projects: the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia (Italy), and the Say Kah Archaeological Project (Belize). It identifies problems commonly encountered during the implementation of paperless systems and offers recommendations for avoiding or fixing them. Many of these problems are not unique to projects with digital recording systems, and most difficulties were not technical in nature. Rather, many of the most significant problems arose from integrating workflows. Digital recording systems can streamline fieldwork, improve the quality of data collected in the field, significantly reduce errors and misunderstandings, and facilitate new interpretive approaches, but they require thoughtful preparation and implementation.
Motz, Christopher F. “Sangro Valley and the Five (Paperless) Seasons: Lessons on Building Effective Digital Recording Workflows for Archaeological Fieldwork.” In Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology, edited by Erin Walcek Averett, Jody Michael Gordon, and Derek B. Counts, 77-109. Grand Forks, ND: The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, 2016.
Motz, Christopher F. “Sangro Valley and the Five (Paperless) Seasons: Lessons on Building Effective Digital Recording Workflows for Archaeological Fieldwork.” In Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology, edited by Erin Walcek Averett, Jody Michael Gordon, and Derek B. Counts, 77-109. Grand Forks, ND: The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, 2016.
PDF contains: resumen español / résumé français / abstract italiano / resumo português. Due to size limits, the file on Academia.edu only has 150 dpi images; the file on OhioLINK is 300 dpi. In the Augustan period, a group of... more
PDF contains: resumen español / résumé français / abstract italiano / resumo português.
Due to size limits, the file on Academia.edu only has 150 dpi images; the file on OhioLINK is 300 dpi.
In the Augustan period, a group of workers built a series of fish-salting vats in Tuscany using virtually identical techniques as the team that installed a set of vats in southwest Spain a few generations earlier. How did this happen? The builders surely never met, so the resemblance between their constructions is remarkable. But even more striking is how common this phenomenon was among the countless ordinary, mundane structures found throughout the Roman world. The basic explanation for these similarities is simple: the knowledge that underpinned their design and construction spread from person to person and place to place. This, however, leaves many questions about the intricacies of the process unanswered.
In this dissertation I examine how the movement of knowledge among sub-elite communities shaped the construction of ancient industrial buildings. I introduce a “knowledge network analysis” framework—an analytical approach that I developed to focus attention on how knowledge moves through communities, setting people and the social ties that bind them at the forefront of my investigation. I critically examine ancient literary, epigraphic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence, complemented by comparative anthropological and sociological studies, to reconstruct who designed and built Roman workshops, how the requisite knowledge moved among them, and what socio-cultural factors shaped the links between them. I then apply this model to the archaeological remains of two Roman industries—fish-salting (food production) and fulling (cloth treatment)—which together encompass 405 workshops containing 2,829 pieces of equipment. I analyze patterns in their design and construction to deduce the contours of the “toolkits” of knowledge that were used to create them, and to deduce who used these toolkits and how they spread.
I determine that in each industry, both workshop managers and specialized builders contributed crucial know-how. As a result of the industries’ distributions and geospatial positions, however, their knowledge networks had distinct shapes. The workshops of the geographically concentrated fish-salting industry were similar and highly specialized; workshops in the scattered fulling industry were largely generic, but some specialized practices spread within social clusters. Finally, I show how the positions of these industries in their wider natural, social, cultural, and economic contexts further shaped the development of their knowledge networks. I explore aspects of the impact an industry’s processes and business model had on its distribution; the role of urbanism and the market economy in promoting knowledge transmission; the impact of intensive building activity on knowledge creation and movement; the reasons why specialized knowledge emerged; the limits of knowledge networks and the causes of regionalism; and the evolution of knowledge during periods of social, political, and economic upheaval.
By investigating systems of knowledge that were essential to the creation and use of spaces and objects, this study reveals part of the intellectual infrastructure of the Roman world. In doing so, it presents a new framework for reconstructing the spread of craft knowledge—one not restricted to the ancient Mediterranean—while speaking to the study of the sub-elite, architecture and construction, crafts and industrial spaces, the economy, and the provinces.
NOTE: For the data set, see https://www.academia.edu/50109245/A_Dataset_of_Roman_Fish_Salting_and_Fulling_Workshops
Due to size limits, the file on Academia.edu only has 150 dpi images; the file on OhioLINK is 300 dpi.
In the Augustan period, a group of workers built a series of fish-salting vats in Tuscany using virtually identical techniques as the team that installed a set of vats in southwest Spain a few generations earlier. How did this happen? The builders surely never met, so the resemblance between their constructions is remarkable. But even more striking is how common this phenomenon was among the countless ordinary, mundane structures found throughout the Roman world. The basic explanation for these similarities is simple: the knowledge that underpinned their design and construction spread from person to person and place to place. This, however, leaves many questions about the intricacies of the process unanswered.
In this dissertation I examine how the movement of knowledge among sub-elite communities shaped the construction of ancient industrial buildings. I introduce a “knowledge network analysis” framework—an analytical approach that I developed to focus attention on how knowledge moves through communities, setting people and the social ties that bind them at the forefront of my investigation. I critically examine ancient literary, epigraphic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence, complemented by comparative anthropological and sociological studies, to reconstruct who designed and built Roman workshops, how the requisite knowledge moved among them, and what socio-cultural factors shaped the links between them. I then apply this model to the archaeological remains of two Roman industries—fish-salting (food production) and fulling (cloth treatment)—which together encompass 405 workshops containing 2,829 pieces of equipment. I analyze patterns in their design and construction to deduce the contours of the “toolkits” of knowledge that were used to create them, and to deduce who used these toolkits and how they spread.
I determine that in each industry, both workshop managers and specialized builders contributed crucial know-how. As a result of the industries’ distributions and geospatial positions, however, their knowledge networks had distinct shapes. The workshops of the geographically concentrated fish-salting industry were similar and highly specialized; workshops in the scattered fulling industry were largely generic, but some specialized practices spread within social clusters. Finally, I show how the positions of these industries in their wider natural, social, cultural, and economic contexts further shaped the development of their knowledge networks. I explore aspects of the impact an industry’s processes and business model had on its distribution; the role of urbanism and the market economy in promoting knowledge transmission; the impact of intensive building activity on knowledge creation and movement; the reasons why specialized knowledge emerged; the limits of knowledge networks and the causes of regionalism; and the evolution of knowledge during periods of social, political, and economic upheaval.
By investigating systems of knowledge that were essential to the creation and use of spaces and objects, this study reveals part of the intellectual infrastructure of the Roman world. In doing so, it presents a new framework for reconstructing the spread of craft knowledge—one not restricted to the ancient Mediterranean—while speaking to the study of the sub-elite, architecture and construction, crafts and industrial spaces, the economy, and the provinces.
NOTE: For the data set, see https://www.academia.edu/50109245/A_Dataset_of_Roman_Fish_Salting_and_Fulling_Workshops
, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio (Cagliari), undertook its first season of archaeological excavations and fieldwork at the Punic-Roman city of Tharros, Sardinia, in the summer of 2019. This... more
, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio (Cagliari), undertook its first season of archaeological excavations and fieldwork at the Punic-Roman city of Tharros, Sardinia, in the summer of 2019. This report outlines the preliminary results of this first season of activities, while also situating them within an overview of the broader interests of the project. The excavations were carried out in two different and relatively distant areas of the city: one of these areas is identified as a series of Roman shops (tabernae) to the south of a bath complex (Terme II), which had already been cleared down to (and through) the latest floor surfaces during the first systematic excavations of the city in the 1950s; the other area, further north toward the top of the Murru Mannu hill, had never been excavated, and thus provided an opportunity to both delineate urban structures and to investigate the contexts associated with their decline and abandonment. Our investigation of this second area revealed the remains of a Roman shop. The sequences of development for these retail properties revealed construction activities associated with a pre-Imperial period of occupation, with sizable structures adhering to a somewhat different urban configuration than that associated with the Roman era. Most of the surviving architecture, however, dates rather to a period of significant urban development in the 2 nd century CE; it was at this time that we see the construction of shops in both areas. These shops underwent a series of structural developments until about the 5 th century CE, when they appear to go out of use and were subsequently abandoned and ultimately dismantled for their building material to be used elsewhere.
The University of Cincinnati, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio (Cagliari), undertook its first season of archaeological excavations and fieldwork at the Punic-Roman city of Tharros, Sardinia, in... more
The University of Cincinnati, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio (Cagliari), undertook its first season of archaeological excavations and fieldwork at the Punic-Roman city of Tharros, Sardinia, in the summer of 2019. This report outlines the preliminary results of this first season of activities, while also situating them within an overview of the broader interests of the project. The excavations were carried out in two different and relatively distant areas of the city: one of these areas is identified as a series of Roman shops (tabernae) to the south of a bath complex (Terme II), which had already been cleared down to (and through) the latest floor surfaces during the first systematic excavations of the city in the 1950s; the other area, further north toward the top of the Murru Mannu hill, had never been excavated, and thus provided an opportunity to both delineate urban structures and to investigate the contexts associated with their decline and abandonment. Our investigation of this second area revealed the remains of a Roman shop. The sequences of development for these retail properties revealed construction activities associated with a pre-Imperial period of occupation, with sizable structures adhering to a somewhat different urban configuration than that associated with the Roman era. Most of the surviving architecture, however, dates rather to a period of significant urban development in the 2 nd century CE; it was at this time that we see the construction of shops in both areas. These shops underwent a series of structural developments until about the 5 th century CE, when they appear to go out of use and were subsequently abandoned and ultimately dismantled for their building material to be used elsewhere.