The Bloomsbury Handbook of Experimental Approaches to Roman Archaeology

Lee Graña Nicolaou, Tatiana Ivleva, Bill Griffiths

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2024
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350217850
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Roman Ancient History
• Index: Social Sciences

This volume is the first comprehensive overview of Roman experimental archaeology, exploring its key themes, methodologies and applications through a diverse array of international case studies. Experiments, simulations and reconstructions are important methods for understanding the past, from uncovering how ancient objects and structures were made, used, destroyed, deposited and affected underground, to illuminating the experiences of tasting ancient foods, fighting alongside comrades or living in replicated structures. Although the incorporation of experimentation has had great success in prehistoric studies, greater reliance on the wealth of literary and material sources remaining from the classical period has meant that its potential for Roman studies has yet to be fully realised.

The 26 chapters in this book are divided into 5 thematic parts, each of which opens with a contextualizing introduction that frames the detailed case studies found in individual chapters and showcases the actual and potential diversity of experimentation as applied to the Roman past by scholars, re-enactors, and practitioners in the heritage sector. In laying out a detailed guide to Roman experimental archaeology, the volume as a whole maps its past, present and future, and provides a firm foundation for further practical research and collaboration. In doing so, it reasserts that experiments and reconstructions are a significant resource for testing or developing theories, rather than merely artistic replicas, and that the vast amount of quantifiable data they yield can be invaluable in support of interpretations of relevant archaeological or historical evidence, regardless of the period in question and beyond the confines of academia.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction The Past, Present and Future Role of Experimental Research in Roman Studies
• Part I Experimentation as a Tool for Academic and Public Education
• 1 Towards Sets of Guidelines for Roman Re-enactment and Reconstruction Archaeology – Revisited
• 2 Doing (Roman) History: Blurring the Lines between Academics, Re-enactors and Artisans
• 2 Doing (Roman) History: Blurring the Lines between Academics, Re-enactors and Artisans
• 4 The Influence of Experimental Workshops on Archaeological Communities: The Impact of ‘TRACamp’
• Part II Rebuilding the Past: Architectural Reconstructions and Archaeological Open-air Museums
• 5 Adventures with a Hypocaust and Mass Cob Walling
• 6 Mind the Gap(s): Theoretical and Hands-on Approaches to the Production of Roman Brick and Tile
• 7 Rammed Earth, Hand-hewn Timber and Wood-fired Tiles: The Physical Reconstruction of Three Roman Craftsmen Houses at Xanten, Germany
• 8 The Oil Merchant’s House in the Roman City Quarter of Carnuntum
• Part III Actualistic Experiments: Activities, Processes and Chains of Production
• 9 Ancient Fish Sauce at the Roman Table: Identifying Archaeological Traces of Ancient Recipes via Experimental Research into the Use and Deposition of Cooking Wares
• 10 The Panis Quadratus: Form, Flour and Tools of the Trade
• 11 Roman Leather Manufacture and the Archaeological Record: An Experimental Approach
• 12 Off with Their Heads! Broken Figurines and Religious Practice in Roman Britain
• 13 An Experimental Approach to the Study of the Roman Oil Lamp
• 14 The Role of Interdisciplinary Experiments in Developing Untested Theories: The Application of Engineering and Digital Approaches in the Study of Roman Dyeing Vats from Pompeii
• 15 Testing Ethnographic Hypotheses with Reconstructed Artefacts: Replicated Lead Fishing Net Weights and Their Use on Cast Nets
• Part IV Experiencing the Past: Sensory Experiences and Interpretations
• 16 Approaching the Romano-British Glass Bangle Craft with a Craftsperson Perspective
• 17 Reconstructing Recipes from ‘Apicius’: Professional Observations on Practices, Consistencies and Successes
• 18 The Price of a Mile: Marching and Its Impact on the Soldier: An Approximation to the Roman Republican Army through an Experimental Perspective
• 19 Identifying Severe Hair Loss via the Reproduction of Known Roman Hair Styles: The Case of Julia Domna
• 20 Interpreting Clothing of the Late Antique Period: The Role of Experimental Archaeology
• Part V Digital Technologies: 3D Reconstructions and Gaming
• 21 3D Reconstructions as an Educational Tool
• 22 Methods and Applications of 3D Digital Reconstructions: The Roman Fishponds of Maritime Villas in Southern Latium
• 23 Shedding Light in Roman Houses: Using 3D Reconstructions to Analyse the Use of Natural Light
• 24 Digital Reconstructions as a Method to Test the Feasibility of Multiple Interpretations of Archaeological Artefacts as Illustrated by a Case Study of a Belt-like Object from Second-century ce Vimose
• 25 Rome Was Not Built in a Day: Reimagining the Roman Empire in Video Games
• 26 The Missing Dead: Reconstructing the Past through Digital Gameplay at Roman Vindolanda
• Conclusion
• Index