Roman Discussion Forum

The Roman Discussion Forum is a series of seminars that covers all aspects of Roman archaeology and art, and includes many economic themes.

The current and past programmes of talks are listed below.

 

Please join us on Wednesdays at 1.00 pm (during term time) in the Lecture Room of the Institute of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford.
Talks are followed by discussion and light refreshments.

 

 

RDF Programmes

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Week 1
April 25		 No Meeting
Week 2
May 2		 Reset in stone. Ancient architectural repair techniques
Jean Vanden Broeck-Parant, Oxford
Week 3
May 9		 Recent excavations at Spasinou Charax
Stuart Campbell, University of Liverpool
Week 4
May 16		 Women’s weights for measuring wool: new artifactual evidence for domestic textile production in Late Hellenistic and Roman Greece
Jack Kroll, Oxford
Week 5
May 23		 No Meeting
Week 6
May 30		 Bridging watersheds: Artificial canals and networks of inland navigation in Central Europe in the Roman and Post-Roman periods
Lukas Werther, UCL Institute of Archaeology / Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Week 7
June 6		 Quantifying cereal production in the north-west Roman provinces
Lisa Lodwick, Oxford
Week 8
June 13		 The implications of mass production for Roman identities
Greg Woolf, Institute of Classical Studies, London

 

Week 1
January 17		 No Seminar
Week 2
January 24		 Parasitic Infection in the Roman Empire, New Insights from Ancient Faeces
Marissa Ledger (University of Cambridge)
Week 3
January 31		 Climate change and the Antonine Plague
Brandon McDonald (University of Oxford)
Week 4
February 7		 To be confirmed
Week 5
February 14		 Rure in Chorte, in Urbe in Tabul[??]o: Rereading Varro on Seasonal Migration in
Roman Houses
Evan Proudfoot (Lincoln College, Oxford)
Week 6
February 21		 The Long Roman Glass Industry
Ian Freestone (University College, London)
Week 7
February 28		 To be confirmed
Week 8
March 7		 Building Private Pompeii. A Structural Survey of Insula I.9
Sophie Hay (University of Reading)

 

 

Week 1
October 11
Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire: linking data, and what a hoard of 80,000 coins tells us about coin production under Nerva and Trajan

Marguerite Spoerri Butcher, Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire Project, Oxford
Week 2
October 18		 Tributary landscapes: castros and mining in north-west Spain
Andrew Wilson, Oxford
Week 3
October 25		 The Roman Amphorae Assemblage Database and a reassessment of the ‘Annona Militaris’ on the Rhine frontier
Tyler Franconi, Oxford
Week 4
November 1		 Recent research on the sculptural finds from the Agora Gate at Aphrodisias
Josh Thomas, Oxford
Week 5
November 8		 Settlement scaling theory, infrastructure, and the urbanism of the Roman world
Jack Hanson, Boulder, Colorado
Week 6
November 15		 Roman Delos
Mantha Zarmakoupi, Birmingham
Week 7
November 22		 Project MERCURY: computational modelling of Roman economies
Tom Brughmans, Oxford
Week 8
November 29		 17 Kilograms: The Archaeology of Roman Cavalry
Mike Bishop

 

 

Week 1
April 26
Working boats in the ancient harbours of Rome and Naples, Italy
Giulia Boetto, Centre Camille Jullian, Aix Marseille Université
Week 2
May 3		 The transmission of mechanical technologies between the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean and ancient China
Andrew Wilson, Oxford
Week 3
May 10		 TBD
Week 4
May 17		 Urban workshops in Pompeii: dyeing plants and other workshops
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 5
May 24		 TBD
Week 6
May 31		 TBD
Week 7
June 7		 Origins of the Colonnaded Axes of the Cities of the Roman Eastern Provinces
Prof. Ross Burns, Macquarie University
Week 8
June 14		 Dating the Building Projects in Jerusalem after Herod: The Contribution of the Numismatic Evidence
Donald Ariel, Israel Antiquities Authority

 

 

Week 1
January 18
The excavation of the Pisa ships. A proposal for chronology and interpretation
Dr Andrea Camilli, Director, Cantiere delle Navi Antiche di Pisa
Week 2
January 25		 The role of water in production processes in antiquity: evidence from pre- Roman and Roman Spain
Dr Elena Sánchez, Universidad de Granada
Week 3
February 1		 Walking Between Gods and Mortals: visualizing religious movement at Ostia
Katherine Crawford, University of Southampton
Week 4
February 8		 Two theatres in the city: a new research project on the theatres of Pompeii
Éloïse Letellier-Taillefer, École française de Rome
Week 5
February 15		 Urban workshops in Pompeii: potters’ and metallurgists’ workshops
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 6
February 22		 Mosaic programmes in domestic contexts at Zeugma
Prof. Kutalmis Gorkay, Ankara University
Week 7
March 1		 A movable feast? Animal exploitation in early Roman Italy
Dr Angela Trentacoste, University of Oxford
Week 8
March 8		 The birth of private banking in Roman Egypt
Prof. François Lerouxel, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Institut universitaire de France

 

 

 

Week 1
October 12
Roman Hoards from the Middle and Lower Danube—General and Specific Patterns
Prof. Cristian Gazdac, Romanian Academy of Science
Week 2
October 19		 Digital Experimental Archaeology: Realizing (or at least Virtualizing) Hero's Description of Automata
Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones, University of Glasgow
Week 3
October 26		 Urban Workshops in Pompeii: Tannery 1, the Evolution of Insula I 5 from the Archaic Period to AD 79
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 4
November 2		 A New Archaeology of Pompeii
Prof. Mark Robinson, Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Week 5
November 9		 Mining in Roman Dacia
Swii Lim, Merton College
Week 6
November 16		 Landed Traders, Trading Agriculturalists? Land in the Economy of the Italian Diaspora in the Greek East
Dr Lisa Eberle, St John’s College, and Énora LeQuéré, Université de Rouen
Week 7
November 23		 The Cargo of the Hermapollon and the History of Indo-Mediterranean Trade
Prof. Federico De Romanis, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”
Week 8
November 30		 Urban Workshops in Pompeii: Tannery 2, the Tanners’ Works
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France

 

 

Week 1
April 27
Late Hellenistic to Early Roman Corinth: Traditions and Transformations after 146 BC
Dr Sarah James, University of Colorado, Boulder
Week 2
May 4th		 Exploitation of natural resources and long-distance Oriental trade in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: 1. From the Ptolemies to the Roman conquest
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 2
***2 pm, May 5th***		 Exploitation of natural resources and long-distance Oriental trade in the Eastern Desert of Egypt: 2. From the Roman conquest to Late Antiquity
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 3
May 11		 Scanning electron microscopy and its application to two under- studied Roman materials: iron slag and ceramic building material
Ed Peveler and Steven Crabbe, University of Oxford
Week 4
May 18		 Consuming perfumes, cosmetics, and medicaments: Glass and social practice in Roman Britain
Thomas Derrick, University of Leicester
Week 5
May 25		 Olive oil production in Cyrenaica, northeast Libya
Ahmed Buzaian, University of Leicester
Week 6
June 1		 The expected and the unexpected: recent archaeological excavations at Cataractonium, Bainess and…Scotch Corner?! (A1 Leeming to Barton Road Improvement Scheme, North Yorkshire)
Hannah Russ and David Griffiths, Northern Archaeological Associates
Week 7
June 8		 Visualising assemblages and building regions: multivariate spatial analyses for pots, bones and other things
Dr Martin Sterry, University of Leicester
Week 8
June 15		 The Roman theatre in Scupi : recent finds from excavations Dr Antonio Jakimovski, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, Faculty of Philosophy, Skopje

 

 

Week 1
January 20
No Seminar
Week 2
January 27		 The Name Game: Roman Naming Conventions v. Electoral Evidence
Virginia Campbell, University of Oxford
Week 3
February 3		 Retracing Sir Aurel Stein’s Limes: combining GIS, satellite imagery and the archives
Rebecca Banks, EAMENA Project, Oxford
Week 4
February 10		 Introducing MERCURY: an agent-based network model of ceramic distribution for studying Roman economic integration
Tom Brughmans, Universität Konstanz
Week 5
February 17		 On the Edges of Gaul. The Roman occupation along the southern North Sea-Coast (Flanders/SW-Netherlands)
Prof. Wim De Clercq, Universiteit Gent
Week 6
February 24		 The imperial quarry of Domitianê, Egypt
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 7
March 2		 Statues, graves and public space – the spatial context of monuments in the cities of Roman Greece
Christopher Dickenson, University of Oxford
Week 8
March 9		 TBA
Prof. Nicola Terrenato, University of Michigan

 

 

Week 1
October 14
How Romans improved the productivity of animal husbandry: evidence from ancient Western Europe using stable isotopes and faunal remains
Dr Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas, University of Sheffield
Week 2
October 21		 Towards an economic geography of consumption in the Roman World?
Dr Miko Flohr, Universiteit Leiden
Week 3
October 28		 Olive oil production in Roman and late Roman Jordan
Dr Tomasz Waliszewski, Instytut Archeologii, University of Warsaw
Week 4
November 4		 The Southwestern Fazzan in Garamantian times: new evidence from the Italian work in the Wadi Tanzzuft and the Tadrart Akakus
Dr Maria Carmela Gatto, University of Leicester
Week 5
November 11		 Roman exploitation of water power: chronological trends and geographical spread
Prof. Andrew Wilson, University of Oxford
Week 6
November 18		 The Arles-Rhône 3 shipwreck project, from the river to the museum
Dr Sabrina Marlier, Musée départemental Arles antique
Week 7
November 25		 Endangered Archaeology: the Past, Present and Future of the Middle East
Dr Emma Cunliffe, University of Oxford
Week 8
December 2		 Gold mining in the Eastern desert of Egypt from Ptolemy I to the Ummayad period
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France

 

 

 

Week 1
April 29
From figlina to buildings: the use of opus Testaceum in Hispania 
Macarena Bustamante and Lourdes Rodan, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Week 2
May 6		 Life and death in a Roman colony on the eastern Adriatic coast: an osteoarchaeological perspective
Mario Novak, University College Dublin
Week 3
May 13		 A late Roman cemetery excavated in Pallene, Attica: The transition from paganism to Christianity in the hinterland of Athens
Galatea Klapakis, Greek Archaeological Service
Week 4
May 20		 The Port of Clysma revisited
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, College de France
Week 5
May 27		 Iconography of the coinage of the Gallic empire
Jerome Mairat, University of Oxford
Week 6
June 3		 A foot in the door: laterality and movement in Roman houses
Taylor Lauritsen, Cardiff University
Week 7
June 10		 Storms and war: Sicily and the sea
Paul Roberts, Ashmolean Museum, and Alexandra Sofroniew, University of Oxford
Week 8
June 17		 What lies beneath? Interpreting Romano-British ‘votive’ assemblages from the River Tees at Piercebridge
Philippa Walton, University of Oxford

 

 

Week 1
January 21
New work on Late Roman D ware; the discovery and implications of 'Cypriot' Red Slip ware production in Turkey
Mark Jackson, Newcastle University
Week 2
January 28		 Tabernae and urban economies in Roman Italy: towards a history of commercial investment?
Miko Flohr, Universiteit Leiden
Week 3
February 4		 The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain Project
Prof. Michael Fulford, University of Reading
Week 4
February 11		 'Maximising agricultural resources in the Oxfordshire Windrush Valley? - A Roman nucleated settlement at Gill Mill and its environment
Paul Booth, Oxford Archaeology
Week 5
February 18		 A marginal zone? Roman Mining in the Pyrenees
Oriol Olesti Vila, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Week 6
February 25		 Living off the Romans in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Janice Kinory, University of Oxford
Week 7
March 4		 Economic development along Rome's German frontier
Tyler Franconi, University of Oxford
Week 8
March 11		 Textile, leather and organic remains in the Roman forts along the routes to Myos Hormos and to Berenike
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, College de France

 

 

Week 1
October 15		 Roman military vessels based on the archaeological discoveries in Oberstimm and Mainz
Prof. Dr Christoph Schäfer, Universität Trier
Week 2
October 22		 Colour on Roman marble portraiture. Speculations and preliminary conclusions
Amalie Skovmøller, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Week 3
October 29		 The Excavations of the Roman fort of Xeron Pelagos (Eastern Desert of Egypt)
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 4
November 5		 Industry or in decline? Preliminary evidence for glass recycling in Britain from the 1st - 7th centuries AD
Victoria Sainsbury, University of Oxford
Week 5
November 12		 The triumph of propaganda, the propaganda of triumph. Caesar's and Pompey's architecture along the ceremonial path
Eleonora Zampieri, University of Leicester
Week 6
November 19		 Reflections of Ovid in runic text on a bracteate from 5th c. Norfolk
Dr Daphne Briggs, University of Oxford
Week 7
November 26		 The ceramic assemblages in the Roman forts along the routes to Myos Hormos and to Berenike
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 8
December 3		 Nullus enim fons non sacer: Religious water-displays in the Roman world
Dylan Rogers, University of Virginia & ASCSA

 

 

Week 1
April 30		 Recycling statuary.  Evaluating portrait monuments of the fourth century
Dr Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum
Week 2
May 7		 Economy of Roman Pannonia – Achievements and Challenges
Dr Tibor Grüll, University of Pécs
Week 3
May 14		 "Supplying our most noble soldiers": wine for the army in early Roman Egypt
Dr Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw
Week 4
May 21		 Excavations of the Roman forts at Dios on the Coptos-Berenike route 2006-2009 (Egypt)
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France
Week 5
May 28		 TBD
Dr Edmund Thomas, Durham University
Week 6
June 4		 The construction of aqueducts in Roman Hispania
Elena Sanchez Lopez, University of Granada
Week 7
June 11		 The use and supply of precious metals in Dacia before the Trajanic Wars
Swii Yii Lim, University of Oxford
Week 8
June 18		 Late Roman coins as economic and ritual objects in south India
Dr Rebecca Darley, University of Birmingham

 

 

 

 

Week 1
January 22		 Rural life in Roman Britain: language, literacy and the hinterland of Canterbury
Dr Alex Mullen, University of Oxford
Week 2
January 29		 Investigating Isca: new work at the Roman Legionary Fortress at Caerleon
Dr Peter Guest, Cardiff University
Week 3
February 5		 The Making of a Pompeian Myth: Fiorelli, Le Corbusier, and the (Re-)Invention of the 'open plan' Atrium
Evan Proudfoot, University of Oxford
Week 4
February 12		 Roman copper supply: Thinking Recycled
Prof. Mark Pollard and Pete Bray, University of Oxford
Week 5
February 19		 Small-island interaction: Pottery from Roman Malta
Maxine Anastasi, University of Oxford
Week 6
February 26		 The Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire Project
Prof. Chris Howgego and Jerome Mairat, University of Oxford
Week 7
March 5		 ‘…and for sails they used skins and thin-dressed leather…’ (Caesar, De Bello Gallico, 3.12): Ships, Identity and Maritime Communities in the Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean
Dr Matthew Harpster, University of Birmingham
Week 8
March 12		 The excavations of the Roman fort of Didymoi in the Eastern Desert of Egypt
Prof. Jean-Pierre Brun, Collège de France

 

 

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