Roman Period | American Journal of Archaeology

The Archaeology of Olive Oil Production in Roman and Pre-Roman Italy

website — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:12:36 +0000

This article provides a comprehensive synthesis and re-evaluation of the archaeological evidence for olive cultivation and oil production across Italy from prehistory through the Roman era. Italy is often neglected in studies of ancient olives and oil, with greater focus given to the eastern Mediterranean or Gaul, Spain, and North Africa. Extant studies on Italian regions fail to capture broader patterns and transregional developments. Scientific advancements, more rigorous sampling strategies, and a rapidly expanding paleoenvironmental and archaeological dataset encourage an updated state of the field. Traditional assumptions regarding the sparse prehistory of olive exploitation prior to Greek or Phoenician contact are challenged by growing paleoenvironmental evidence highlighting Neolithic and Bronze Age activity. This is complemented by indications of pre- and early Roman oil production sites, including perhaps the earliest rotary olive crusher. Substantial Roman-era oil production was not confined to southern Italy but occurred more widely across the peninsula using a diverse range of facilities, including large villas, farms, and rudimentary rural installations. Regional biases remain along with significant gaps in evidence, both geographically (e.g., Sardinia) and in terms of material culture (e.g., a notable scarcity of milling apparatus) compared with other regions.

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Marble Wall Revetment in Roman Times: Materials and Techniques

website — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:12:34 +0000

Making marble wall revetment in Roman times required real know-how. Surprisingly, ancient sources are silent on the installation methods of revetment. The archaeological literature is also sparse, but there are two schools of thought: one assumes that a plaster layer was applied before the marble slabs, while the other assumes that mortar was poured behind the slabs held in place by metal clamps. All point out the presence of shims on the plaster, although there has been no consensus as to their function. The recent discovery of an organic material (based on pitch and beeswax) helps us understand how these shims were laid: they were placed behind the slabs, before the slabs were installed, to hold them in place when the mortar set. Above all, it provides a clear understanding of how the Romans went about installing their marble revetment: choosing one or other of the two supposed variant methods as required. This synthesis also gives us the opportunity to present a typology of metal clamps and to discuss several adaptations of the technique, such as the practice at Pompeii of preparing the wall surface with a toothed chisel.

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Syncretic Religious Practice at Dedoplis Gora (Caucasian Iberia) in the First Century CE

website — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:12:33 +0000

Monuments discovered through archaeological excavations provide information about the pre-Christian religion in Kartli (Caucasian Iberia, modern Georgia). Particularly remarkable is a grandiose temple complex discovered in central Georgia, where the kings of Kartli worshiped Iranian (Zoroastrian) gods merged with local Georgian astral deities. In the Dedoplis Gora palace, which is located 3 km south of the temple complex, three rooms (N10, N20, N26) yielded sanctuaries. The presence of three household sanctuaries in one building suggests that they had different users. In this article, I suggest that room N10 with an altar was a Zoroastrian-type domestic shrine where permanent residents of the palace of Dedoplis Gora offered daily sacrifices and prayed. Meanwhile, the noble owners of the palace prayed in room N20, based on the luxurious items found on the altar. It is likely that the Zoroastrian altar in room N20 was used to worship the Greek cult of Apollo, based on the statuettes found there. Room N26 may have been used for a ritual related to a local cult of fertility, agriculture, and harvest. Coexistence of different religions in the same household is not surprising in the kingdom of Kartli in the first century.

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Horns, Crenellations, and Snakes: The Significance of Egyptian Censers in the Houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum

website — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 20:27:15 +0000

This article explores the significance of censers with Egyptian forms or featuring Egyptian-looking motifs found in the houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum. I offer the first full publication of seven unstudied bronze censers, many with known archaeological contexts. The typological analyses reveal that five artifacts featuring altar horns or crenellations originated in Egypt and the Levant, while two others, decorated with Egyptian uraeus snakes, are typical Roman tripods. From a modern perspective, these censers seem to reflect the influence of Egyptian culture in Early Imperial Italy. Comparable artifacts and images from the archaeological sites around Vesuvius, however, indicate that, despite their Egyptian origin, not all censers were likely to have been recognized as such. The horned altars can be linked conceptually to Isiac cults, but, like the other censers, they come from houses without any evidence of veneration of Egyptian deities, as would be attested by Egyptian motifs decorating walls or shrines. Being luxurious cult instruments without a demonstratable connection to cult practices, the censers reveal the versatile, often ambiguous ways in which Egyptian artifacts were perceived and used in Roman society. In doing so, they highlight the complex blend of cultural exchange, domestic and public religion, and Roman interpretation of Egyptian motifs.

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Marble Distribution Patterns in the Early Byzantine Southwestern Levant: Quantitative and Spatial Approaches

website — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 20:27:15 +0000

This study applies a quantitative and spatial approach to Early Byzantine marble finds from the southwestern Levant, integrating data into a theoretical model of overland transport costs. While the largest proportion of marble finds is concentrated along the Mediterranean coast near seaports, where transport costs were lower, the most significant variation in different categories of finds occurs farther inland. This unexpected variation suggests that factors beyond transport costs, such as the cultural and religious significance of sites, also influenced the distribution of marble objects. Sites with religious importance, for example, appear to have played a key role in this pattern, highlighting the complex interplay between economic and cultural forces in the Early Byzantine period. This study is the first comprehensive quantitative and spatial analysis of marble finds from the Early Byzantine period, the results of which show the patterns of distribution of imported marbles and reveal factors impacting this trade.

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Communities on the Move in Coastal Apulia (Southern Italy), 10th Century BCE to 17th Century CE: 2,600 Years of Human-Environment Coevolution at Salapia

website — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 15:22:12 +0000

The Gulf of Manfredonia, on the northern Adriatic coast of Apulia, has been the site of many settlements over nearly three millennia. In this article, we write the environmental history of the south-facing Salapia Lagoon and three towns—Salpia vetus, Salapia, and Salpi—bringing together archaeological, paleoenvironmental, climatological, and textual evidence. Each town manifested strategies to thrive in a wetland environment as a center for trade, administration, and logistics. Each also experienced periods of progressive decline caused by the overexploitation of lagoon resources and environmental challenges. We argue that the micromobility of these settlements served as a repeated and productive strategy to overcome insalubrity and precarity, ensuring the continuity of lagoon life. This case study reveals patterns informative for expanding current conversations around climate migration and how best to manage dynamic wetland environments.

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For Men, About Men: A Review of Legion: Life in the Roman Army

website — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 15:22:10 +0000

The review presents a critical examination of the British Museum’s Legion exhibition from the perspective of a British-Iraqi, female archaeologist. While acknowledging that the exhibition brought together a stellar cast of objects, the author questions whether these were sufficient to sustain an enriching visitor experience without a strong narrative derived from recent research developments in Roman archaeology. In particular, she highlights the lack of reflective moments for visitors, especially around questions of the roles of women, enslaved people, and colonial violence, past and present.

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Ancient Diet and Agricultural Economy in the Levant: An Archaeobotanical Study

website — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 15:22:09 +0000

This study utilizes archaeobotanical macroremains to explore the impact of integration into the Roman empire on foodways and agriculture in the Levant. Published and unpublished data from 65 sites dating from 1000 BCE to 500 CE are subjected to meta-analysis in order to shed light on patterns according to chronological and social variations. Additional archaeological evidence and literary comparisons are integrated throughout. Results reveal the unique character of consumption patterns in the region. The data reflect a variety of phenomena, including agricultural expansion, shifts in crop choices and cultural preferences, dietary regionalism, and the use of agricultural by-products and alternative fuel sources. Findings ultimately shift the narrative from Roman impact on provincial consumption patterns to instead highlight the importance and influence of local food practices. In bringing the eastern provinces into greater focus, the need for a nuanced approach to ancient foodways is emphasized.

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An Approach to Quantifying Ceramic Vessels Among Diverse Datasets

website — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 15:22:09 +0000

This article compares approaches to counting ceramic vessels among large datasets of already catalogued sherds and aims to demonstrate that relative proportions of vessel forms can be used to address questions of sociocultural behavior, irrespective of approaches to recording sherd counts. We aim to demonstrate that it is valid to carry out quantitative, comparative, intersite analyses of sufficiently large ceramic datasets of sherds that were recorded in different ways and for which specific, time-consuming methods for calculating vessel quantities were not carried out at the time of recording. We use the χ² goodness-of-fit test to demonstrate that to be able to do comparative analyses of pottery types among such datasets, it matters little how sherds are counted. As a case study we use the Arch-I-Scan Project’s catalogue of terra sigillata sherds (often called “samian” in the United Kingdom) from three different locations in Roman Britain. We demonstrate that different ways of recording vessel forms have little impact on the proportional relationships of such forms. This method can thus document food-consumption practices across different contexts.

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The Gladiatorial Spectacles in Cyprus and the Enigma of the Amphitheater at Salamis

website — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 22:46:53 +0000

Of the 12 cities that were active in Cyprus during the Roman Imperial period, current archaeological data indicates that gladiatorial and related spectacles were held only in Paphos, Salamis, and Kourion. The first two were the most important cities of the island and most probably organized such shows from the first century CE; in Kourion this happened later, in the first half of the third century CE. Concerning the venues where these events took place, there is evidence suggesting that the theaters of all three cities received provisional or permanent modifications to host these events. Additionally, Paphos boasted an early oval amphitheater. Salamis was also believed to have had an amphitheater, as suggested by late first-century CE inscriptions. Here it is argued that the “amphitheater” referenced in these inscriptions was actually a stadium, partially uncovered during excavations in the 1960s. Furthermore, an actual amphitheater excavated in Salamis, often associated with the inscriptional amphitheater, is now proposed to be a later structure, integrated into the preexisting stadium, likely dating from the mid fourth century CE. These revised interpretations have significant implications for the understanding of Roman spectacles in Cyprus.

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