Search

An unexcavated ancient building in the ruins of the Arab village of Sejara is tentatively identified as a synagogue from the Roman or Late Roman period. This suggestion is based on architectural fragments found on the site, in the modern village Ilaniya and at a nearby moshav, as well as an inscription in secondary use photographed in the 1920s. The surviving portion of the dedicatory text seems to mention two women with Latin names, Lucilla and Sacerdotilla, the second being quite rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current advances in spatial simulation bring unprecedented possibilities for spatiotemporal modeling. In this paper, we focus on modeling the impact of settlement on land use in the Roman period in the Dutch river area, on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. During this period, the area witnessed a strong population increase that put more demands on the available land to produce food, not only for the local population, but also for the soldiers stationed on the frontier and the citizens of the newly founded towns. We compare an agent-based model (ABM) of agricultural production in the region (ROMFARMS), and a model using the Past Land Use Scanner (PLUS. Both were used to estimate the effects of increased agricultural demand through simulations of food production, taking into account the available workforce and the productivity and availability of suitable land. However, how should we evaluate the model outcomes? What are the advantages and limitations of each? We discuss issues of scale, temporal resolution and model inputs, together with questions of technical implementation and validation. In this way, we aim to point the way to future researchers to implement these approaches effectively in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Petra Garden and Pool Complex in the ancient city center has been dated based on stratigraphy and an array of diagnostic finds. The present study of the coarse wares from selected contexts at the site (augmented by amphorae and fine wares) aims to show corroborative evidence from the ceramic assemblage to support the dating of three major phases in the history of the complex: the construction of the monumental Nabataean garden and pool complex in the end of the 1st century BCE, the Roman renovations in the early 2nd century CE and, last but not least, the second destruction that ended the occupation of the complex, most probably at the end of the 6th century CE. The overall purpose of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of Petra coarse ware pottery from the Nabataean and Roman periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses recent fieldwork at the Meroitic settlement site of Selib 2, a town located on the west bank of the Nile between the Third and Fourth Cataracts, investigated by the Banganarti/Selib Polish Archaeological Mission since 2010. The fieldwork was concentrated on uncovering the earliest occupation strata from the 1st/2nd centuries CE. Two mud-brick buildings were fully excavated, along with contemporaneous occupational horizons, yielding, among others, unique bell-shaped decorated vessels, a copper plate, and a female clay figurine. Storage jars used as ovens and cooking places were present in all phases and can be considered as a characteristic furnishing of the explored households. Moreover, an archaeological reconnaissance extended the boundaries of the settlement eastward, providing new data for studies of the settlement plan and its various stages of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thin-walled cooking pottery of the early to late Roman period originating from the area of Morphou Bay in the northern part of Cyprus, excavated by the Paphos Agora Project of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, is studied in this paper in order to shed new light on the nature of the supply patterns of this extraordinary class of pottery. The collected data--on the macroscopic characteristic of the ware and shape--and a chronological analysis as well as quantitative study of the assemblage have indicated a continuous presence of this group in Nea Paphos, reflecting perhaps some sort of special social requirements combined with an economic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biblos: Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra is the property of Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Reconstruction of last millennia Sea Surface Temperature (SST) evolution is challenging due to the difficulty retrieving good resolution marine records and to the several uncertainties in the available proxy tools. In this regard, the Roman Period (1 CE to 500 CE) was particularly relevant in the socio-cultural development of the Mediterranean region while its climatic characteristics remain uncertain. Here we present a new SST reconstruction from the Sicily Channel based in Mg/Ca ratios measured on the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber. This new record is framed in the context of other previously published Mediterranean SST records from the Alboran Sea, Minorca Basin and Aegean Sea and also compared to a north Hemisphere temperature reconstruction. The most solid image that emerges of this trans-Mediterranean comparison is the persistent regional occurrence of a distinct warm phase during the Roman Period. This record comparison consistently shows the Roman as the warmest period of the last 2 kyr, about 2 °C warmer than average values for the late centuries for the Sicily and Western Mediterranean regions. After the Roman Period a general cooling trend developed in the region with several minor oscillations. We hypothesis the potential link between this Roman Climatic Optimum and the expansion and subsequent decline of the Roman Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavations at Park Prewett, Basingstoke, were undertaken in advance of a residential development. Three areas were opened, measuring a combined area of 1.6 ha, based on the results of a previous site evaluation. Limited later prehistoric finds suggest background activity of various periods, possibly relating to settlements outside of the excavated area. At the south-west of the site, a series of parallel linear ditches representing a field boundary and trackway dating to the Roman period were discovered. These are part of a wider agricultural landscape known through various excavations around the north of Basingstoke. A medieval field boundary ditch, with associated fence line and potential hedgerow were also identified towards the east of the excavation. A number of features were also uncovered that relate to Park Prewett Hospital, built in the early 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Celtic art in pre-Roman Britain. The author of the article disagrees with the opinion expressed by R.G. Collingwood and certain other scholars that the art of British Celts, being fragile, linear and abstract, having shallow social foundations (since it was the art of the nobility), was doomed to decline and extinction, even if the Roman conquest of Britain had not taken place. The sources referred to in the article demonstrate that Celtic art, whose intrinsic feature was that bent for poetic abstraction which was typical of Celtic mentality in general, had great potential for growth that lay dormant during the Roman period. The view that the artistic style of British Celts possessed creative capacity which remained hidden under Roman reign is confirmed by the Celtic art's revival in medieval Britain during the Anglo- Saxon domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a new method for comparing proxy data for the health and well-being of Late Roman populations through the statistical analysis of skeletal remains and material culture. A multistage statistical approach is applied to a sample of published Late Romano-British cemeteries. A battery of health indicators are compared using multidimensional scaling, and patterns in the provision of grave inclusions are analyzed using the Gini coefficient of inequality. The results of these analyses yield two principal findings. First, patterns are often strongly conditioned by settlement type, with individuals in cemeteries from urban locations exhibiting better health than their nonurban counterparts, contrary to historical models stressing the disadvantages of urban environments. Second, urban cemeteries feature both higher levels of grave furnishings and greater equality in their intracemetery distributions than nonurban cemeteries. Such findings suggest entrenched differences in the quality of living conditions and social relations between urban and rural communities in Late Roman Britain, potentially mirroring the observed modern relationship between high levels of social inequality and poor health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some time about the year A. D. 117, the Ninth Legion…marched north to deal with a rising among the Caledonian tribes, and was never heard of again.During the excavations at Silchester nearly eighteen hundred years later, there was dug up…a wingless Roman Eagle, a cast of which can be seen to this day in Reading Museum. Different people have had different ideas as to how it came to be there, but no one knows, just as no one knows what happened to the Ninth Legion after it marched into the northern mists.It is from these two mysteries, brought together, that I have made the story of ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent scholarship has claimed that the history of Roman Britain has been discussed in terms of 'Romanization' since the beginning of the seventeenth century. In fact, it is wrong to think that there is a single tradition in the understanding of Roman Britain. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Camden and his followers were primarily interested in the bringing of 'civility' to England, with only a minimal consciousness of material culture (coins, inscriptions and sites). Discussion of Roman Britain was already overshadowed by an emphasis on military identity, viewing Roman soldiers and civilian subjects as essentially separate, the latter little influenced by the former. Only in the later nineteenth century, and particularly in the work of Francis Haverfield, did an idea of cultural 'Romanization' find its way to the centre of scholarly discussions. Far from there being a single scholarly understanding of the history of Roman Britain, accounts have been continually rewritten to reflect the nature of the relationship between the English and their empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how disputes were resolved in some parts of Great Britain during the time it was under Roman administration AD43 to cAD400. As there is no direct evidence in the case of Britannia, the article resorted to analogy and comparison based on what is available information. It discusses a compromissum or a binding arbitration agreement, a bonus vir or a good man whose function was to bring the dispute to a satisfactory conclusion, and the presence in Britannia of an authority on the Roman law on arbitration.

Examines the methodologies used by historians in the study of Gaius activities on the Channel Coast of in 40 A.D. Scrutiny on the elaboration of the actions and arguments of Gauis; Assessment on the chronological accounts of the historians; Overview of the episodes and interpretations of historians.

The article discusses the declining political power of the Roman Empire in Western Europe during the reign of Roman emperor Honorius. Correspondence between Honorius and British cities is analyzed, the history of British bureaucracy is described, and information is offered on Honorius' diplomatic relations with the British Goths.

The article discusses the excavation of Roman artifacts and architecture in England. The author discusses the history of Roman society in England, including the invasion of Britain by Roman ruler Julius Caesar and the settlement of Britain by Roman emperor Claudius. Roman walls made from stone and vallum were constructed in Britain to repel enemies and included structures to house soldiers and guards. A road system to connect Roman-built towns and settlements in Britain is described. Excavations have suggested that iron, lead and tin mining was conducted in Britain during the Roman occupation. Artifacts discovered during excavations include bronze objects such as surgical tools and brooches, as well as Roman coins.