Roman Artefacts and Society

Roman Artefacts and Society
Author: Ellen Swift
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2017-01-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 019108798X

In this book, Ellen Swift uses design theory, previously neglected in Roman archaeology, to investigate Roman artefacts in a new way, making a significant contribution to both Roman social history, and our understanding of the relationships that exist between artefacts and people. Based on extensive data collection and the close study of artefacts from museum collections and archives, the book examines the relationship between artefacts, everyday behaviour, and experience. The concept of 'affordances'-features of an artefact that make possible, and incline users towards, particular uses for functional artefacts-is an important one for the approach taken. This concept is carefully evaluated by considering affordances in relation to other sources of evidence, such as use-wear, archaeological context, the end-products resulting from artefact use, and experimental reconstruction. Artefact types explored in the case studies include locks and keys, pens, shears, glass vessels, dice, boxes, and finger-rings, using material mainly drawn from the north-western Roman provinces, with some material also from Roman Egypt. The book then considers how we can use artefacts to understand particular aspects of Roman behaviour and experience, including discrepant experiences according to factors such as age, social position, and left- or right-handedness, which are fostered through artefact design. The relationship between production and users of artefacts is also explored, investigating what particular production methods make possible in terms of user experience, and also examining production constraints that have unintended consequences for users. The book examines topics such as the perceived agency of objects, differences in social practice across the provinces, cultural change and development in daily practice, and the persistence of tradition and social convention. It shows that design intentions, everyday habits of use, and the constraints of production processes each contribute to the reproduction and transformation of material culture.

Roman Artefacts and Society

Roman Artefacts and Society
Author: Ellen Swift
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2017
Genre: Material culture
ISBN: 0198785267

In this book, Ellen Swift uses design theory, previously neglected in Roman archaeology, to investigate Roman artifacts in a new way, making a significant contribution to both Roman social history and our understanding of the relationships that exist between artefacts and people. Based on extensive data collection and the close study of artefacts from museum collections and archives, the book examines the relationship between artefacts, everyday behavior, and experience. The concept of "affordances"--features of an artefact that make possible, and incline users towards, particular uses for functional artifacts--is an important one for the approach taken. This concept is carefully evaluated by considering affordances in relation to other sources of evidence, such as use--wear, archaeological context, the end--products resulting from artifact use, and experimental reconstruction. Artifact types explored in the case studies include locks and keys, pens, shears, glass vessels, dice, boxes, and finger-rings, using material mainly drawn from the north-western Roman provinces, with some material also from Roman Egypt. The book then considers how we can use artefacts to understand particular aspects of Roman behavior and experience, including discrepant experiences according to factors such as age, social position, and left- or right-handedness, which are fostered through artifact design. The relationship between production and users of artifacts is also explored, investigating what particular production methods make possible in terms of user experience, and also examining production constraints that have unintended consequences for users. The book examines topics such as the perceived agency of objects, differences in social practice across the provinces, cultural change and development in daily practice, and the persistence of tradition and social convention. It shows that design intentions, everyday habits of use, and the constraints of production processes each contribute to the reproduction and transformation of material culture.

Artefacts in Roman Britain

Artefacts in Roman Britain
Author: Lindsay Allason-Jones
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2011-02-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521860121

Helps the student understand the numerous artefacts from Roman Britain and what they reveal about life in the province.

Cave Canem

Cave Canem
Author: Iain Ferris
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2018-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1445652943

Lavishly illustrated, this book examines both written and archaeological sources, particularly visual evidence in the form of sculptures, coins, mosaics, wall paintings and decorated everyday items in order to shed light on animals in Roman culture.

Materialising Roman Histories

Materialising Roman Histories
Author: Astrid Van Oyen
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2017-09-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1785706799

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).

A Social Archaeology of Roman and Late Antique Egypt

A Social Archaeology of Roman and Late Antique Egypt
Author: Ellen Swift
Publisher:
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2021
Genre: Egypt
ISBN: 9780191904103

Artefact evidence has the unique power to illuminate many aspects of life that are rarely explored in written sources. This book presents the first in-depth study that uses everyday artefacts as its principal source of evidence to transform our understanding of the society and culture of Roman and Late Antique Egypt.

Art and Society in Roman Britain

Art and Society in Roman Britain
Author: Jennifer Laing
Publisher:
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2000
Genre: Art and society
ISBN: 9780905778501

An outline of Romano-British art making clear the close relationship between the political and economic history of the province and its art and arguing that Roman art responded rapidly to diverse influences. Laing also considers the development of Romano-British studies, the patrons and craftsmen themselves, and the diverse examples of art.

The Roman Object Revolution

The Roman Object Revolution
Author: Martin Pitts
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2019-08-17
Genre: Design
ISBN: 9048543878

Archaeologists working in northwest Europe have long remarked on the sheer quantity and standardisation of objects unearthed from the Roman period, especially compared with earlier eras. What was the historical significance of this boom in standardised objects? With a wide and ever-changing spectrum of innovative objects and styles to choose from, to what extent did the choices made by people in the past really matter? To answer these questions, this book sheds new light on the make-up of late Iron Age and early Roman 'objectscapes', through an examination of the circulation and selections of thousands of standardised pots, brooches, and other objects, with emphasis on funerary repertoires, c. 100 bc-ad 100. Breaking with the national frameworks that inform artefact research in much 'provincial' Roman archaeology, the book tests the idea that marked increases in the movement of people and objects fostered pan-regional culture(s) and transformed societies. Using a rich database of cemeteries and settlements spanning a swathe of northwest Europe, including southern Britannia, Gallia Belgica, and Germania Inferior, the study extensively applies multivariate statistics (such as Correspondence Analysis) to examine the roles of objects in an ever-changing and richly complex cultural milieu.

Artifacts from Ancient Rome

Artifacts from Ancient Rome
Author: James B. Tschen-Emmons
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2014-09-30
Genre: Art
ISBN:

When Roman objects and artifacts are properly analyzed, they serve as valuable primary sources for learning about ancient history. This book provides the guidance and relevant historical context students need to see relics as evidence of long-past events and society. Artifacts from Ancient Rome is a unique social history that explores major aspects of daily life in a long-ago era via images of physical objects and historical information about these items. This book also affords "hands-on training" on how to approach primary sources. The author—a historian also trained as an archaeologist—begins by explaining the concept of using artifacts to understand and "see" the past and providing a primer for effectively analyzing artifacts. Entries on the artifacts follow, with each containing an introduction, a description of the artifact, an explanation of its significance, and a list of further sources of information. Readers of the book will not only gain a composite impression of daily life in ancient Rome through the study of artifacts from domestic life, religion, war, transportation, entertainment, and more, but will also learn how to best understand and analyze primary sources for learning.

Roman Archaeology for Historians

Roman Archaeology for Historians
Author: Ray Laurence
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2012-06-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136295313

Roman Archaeology for Historians provides students of Roman history with a guide to the contribution of archaeology to the study of their subject. It discusses the issues with the use of material and textual evidence to explain the Roman past, and the importance of viewing this evidence in context. It also surveys the different approaches to the archaeological material of the period and examines key themes that have shaped Roman archaeology. At the heart of the book lies the question of how archaeological material can be interpreted and its relevance for the study of ancient history. It includes discussion of the study of landscape change, urban topography, the economy, the nature of cities, new approaches to skeletal evidence and artefacts in museums. Along the way, readers gain access to new findings and key sites - many of which have not been discussed in English before and many, for which, access may only be gained from technical reports. Roman Archaeology for Historians provides an accessible guide to the development of archaeology as a discipline and how the use of archaeological evidence of the Roman world can enrich the study of ancient history, while at the same time encouraging the integration of material evidence into the study of the period’s history. This work is a key resource for students of ancient history, and for those studying the archaeology of the Roman period.