Week 5 – Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome Thu, 24 Nov 2016 13:40:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.14 64544178 Week Five – Your Questions Answered http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2015/03/06/week-five-your-questions-answered/ http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2015/03/06/week-five-your-questions-answered/#comments Fri, 06 Mar 2015 09:55:59 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/?p=8519 Video addressing questions relating to Week five.

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Santa Sabina (Flickr)
Santa Sabina (Flickr)

Video addressing questions relating to Week five.

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Race and bioarchaeology: what else can we do with human remains? http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/21/race-bioarchaeology-else-can-human-remains/ http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/21/race-bioarchaeology-else-can-human-remains/#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2014 14:59:55 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/?p=1873 On the Archaeology of Portus course this week we’ve been looking at the People of Portus. Analysing human remains is an extremely delicate process, both practically and ethically. Archaeologists take any activities associated with human remains very seriously. It wasn’t surprising that Andrew Dufton’s post about the Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets course also included reference to these ethical issues. In this …

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Sexual dimorphism in Egyptian crania
Sexual dimorphism in Egyptian crania

On the Archaeology of Portus course this week we’ve been looking at the People of Portus. Analysing human remains is an extremely delicate process, both practically and ethically. Archaeologists take any activities associated with human remains very seriously. It wasn’t surprising that Andrew Dufton’s post about the Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets course also included reference to these ethical issues. In this post I wanted to make a link between the studies you have seen at Portus and some of my own research.

Following the recent publication of a very controversial book by Nicholas Wade, the issue of ‘race’ is, again, a hot topic within anthropology. Biological anthropologists are almost unanimous in their view that race as a biological entity does not exist. The genetic variation between groups of humans is insufficient to meet the requirements of the biological requirements for a subspecies, which is what race would require to have biological foundation. There is therefore a clear difference between the colloquial understanding of race in terms of skin colour and the biological definition of what comprises subspecies distinctions. In a biological sense, race does not exist; race is a social construct, which for most people, both today and in the past, is usually based upon arbitrary and superficial differences in skin colouration.

There are, however, differences between humans that can be recognised biologically, but these do not map directly on to skin colouration. If one studies people from Nigeria, England and China, there are differences between them, but the biology and genetics of these location-based groups do not reflect the populations of the entire continents of Africa, Europe and Asia (which are Wade’s proposed “continental races” of Africans, Caucasians and Asians). Anthropologists have clearly demonstrated that there are no genetic patterns that link all the populations within a continent to the exclusion of populations in other places. Hence there is no biological basis for race. But there are differences between groups of people, with much of this variation reflecting gene flow. As a result, there is a strong correlation between geographic distance and genetic difference in human populations.

Aspects of this patterning and relationship between geographic distance and biological difference have been studied in a variety of different human skeletal series, including my own work looking at human variation along the Nile Valley. The Egyptian study showed that, although there was some migration along the Egyptian Nile Valley, there was overall population continuity over the period of the formation of the ancient Egyptian state. This means that the development of the Dynastic period occurred as a primarily indigenous Egyptian process.

Zakrzewski, Sonia R. (2007) Population continuity or population change: formation of the ancient Egyptian state. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 132, (4), 501-509.

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Who were the people who made the amphorae for Portus? The evidence from manufacturing techniques http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/18/people-made-amphorae-portus-evidence-manufacturing-techniques/ http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/18/people-made-amphorae-portus-evidence-manufacturing-techniques/#comments Wed, 18 Jun 2014 09:47:44 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/?p=1503 An understanding of the manufacturing techniques and of the production sequence in terms of how pots are made provides us with an insight into the people making the ceramics. The clay, the raw material, is a plastic additive medium, allowing for traces of its manipulation by the potters, to be left in the finished ceramic product. Fashioning methods, or manufacturing …

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Fig. 1 Handle of a Tripolitana 2 amphora showing finger indentations
Fig. 1 Handle of a Tripolitana 2 amphora showing finger indentations

An understanding of the manufacturing techniques and of the production sequence in terms of how pots are made provides us with an insight into the people making the ceramics. The clay, the raw material, is a plastic additive medium, allowing for traces of its manipulation by the potters, to be left in the finished ceramic product. Fashioning methods, or manufacturing techniques, used in creating a vessel are usually detectable. The traces are permanently embedded within a vessel once the firing stage is complete, meaning that the vessels carry information about the people making them, even if we study ceramics from consumption sites such as Portus.

According to academic ceramic literature, knowledge: ‘how we learn and do make things’ (Budden 2007) is socially and culturally based. It is therefore possible to look at technological variables in archaeological ceramics, the types of manufacturing techniques used for instance, to differentiate between archaeological communities. The Tripolitanian (Libyan) amphora handles, for example, are very distinctive. These are pulled and show characteristic finger indentation at the point where they attach the rim-neck or the shoulder in the case of the Tripolitana 2 type. Finger indentation is a characteristic noticed on most all of the Tripolitanian handles (Fig.1).

Different techniques used are indicative of societal aspects, such as organization of production. Having visited a number of traditional pottery workshops in Tunisia, it was apparent that the type of technique used was correlated to the type of pots being produced, to their size in particular, type of workshops, as well as the setting of the workshops, for instance urban versus more rural, and possibly to the relationships between workers (family businesses or more industrial), and finally the type of market which the pots were intended for.

Primary forming techniques can be categorized as being hand made or wheel thrown. However a mixture of techniques existed, and this is especially documented ethnographically in the making of large sized vessels. Coiling is one very common type of hand building. It indicates the creation of a ceramic vessel by adding sausages of clay.  However, coiling and shaping of coils on the wheel – wheel shaping – occurs in workshops in southern Tunisia, where they still manufacture large vessels resembling Roman amphorae. While wheel throwing is a very fast technique used for smaller vessels, wheel shaping is much more laborious and time-consuming, and it is used to make large to very large vessels.

Fashioning techniques can be observed macroscopically. Wheel thrown pots will show characteristic ridges or rilling, which tend to be symmetrical. These are particularly evident inside the vessels (Fig. 2). Instead,wheel-shaping shows rilling which tend to be blurred and also joins of coils (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2 Internal surface showing full wheel thrown rilling (amphora type Keay 39 from context 3128 at Portus)
Fig. 2 Internal surface showing full wheel thrown rilling (amphora type Keay 39 from context 3128 at Portus)
Fig. 3 Internal surface of a vessel build up through a mixture of coiling and wheel shaping.  Ethnographic example from a Tunisian workshop
Fig. 3 Internal surface of a vessel build up through a mixture of coiling and wheel shaping. Ethnographic example from a Tunisian workshop

The production sequence for the manufacturing of amphorae includes a number of steps, from clay procurement, tempering of the clay with organic or inorganic inclusions, wedging (removing air and unwanted particles from) the clay, building up the ceramic body, adding additional features such as handles, the drying stage and firing.

The wedging of the clay, or preparation of the clay, is an important step, and much attention is given by the potters to such operation. Poor wedging can indeed leave air pockets in the clay, which could cause bubbles in the surface of vessel during the drying and firing stages, compromising the integrity of the vessel. And perhaps leading to the vessel exploding. This skilled and important step of the production sequence is traditionally done using hands or feet (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Pile of a foot-wedged clay from a workshop in Tunisia
Fig. 4 Pile of a foot-wedged clay from a workshop in Tunisia

Air pockets are particular evident in the Tripolitanian vessels at Portus (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5 Air pocket inside a Tripolitanian vessel caused by poor wedging of the clay
Fig. 5 Air pocket inside a Tripolitanian vessel caused by poor wedging of the clay

In terms of the manufacture of amphorae traded with Portus, they were wheel thrown or built up by a combination of coiling and wheel shaping. Working on the amphorae, different technological variables were noticed on Africana 1A and Tripolitanian vessels, two of the most traded vessels represented at Portus with the end 2nd and beginning of the 3rd centuries AD. The first was manufactured in Tunisia while the second was made in Libya. As I was interested in the forming techniques and in understanding the people behind their production, I started photographing the inside of the vessels and recorded a number of technological variables such as types of rilling, the presence or absence of joins of coiling, the degree of skill of execution in the preparation of the clay, and so on. The aim was to gain an insight, from the evidence, about how the different archaeological communities who invested a large amount of skill and labour in supplying Portus, were organized.

The Africana 1A amphora type according to vessel typology and fabric was mainly traded to Portus from Sullecthum, and a lesser amount from Leptiminus. These are both coastal town ports located in central Tunisia. The vessels show in most of the cases full wheel thrown rilling. Evidence of wheel throwing, is also visible microscopically within the micro fabrics, through means of petrological thin sections  (definition of fabrics and petrology are given in my previous blog). Indeed, the clay particles and the inclusions will assume a different orientation according to the manipulation of the raw material and the type of forming technique used. Syllecthum and Leptiminus fabrics show a sort of aligned orientation of the inclusions, which is associated with wheel throwing (Fig. 6, see also the petrological thin section of the Africana 1A in Sullecthum fabric in my previous blog post about ceramics).

Fig. 6 Petrological thin section of the Africana 1A in Leptiminus fabric showing oblique alignment of the inclusions
Fig. 6 Petrological thin section of the Africana 1A in Leptiminus fabric showing oblique alignment of the inclusions

Tripolitanian (Libyan) amphorae were built differently. A mixture of hand building and wheel throwing is visible, underlined by compression areas and finger imprints probably necessary to smooth the coils. Such characteristics are very apparent, for example on Tripolitanian vessels in Leptis Magna fabric (Fig. 7). In thin section, the inclusions of the Tripolitanian fabrics appear randomly distributed (Fig. 8). Also, a higher percentage of air pockets were noticed and recorded within the Tripolitanian amphorae (see Fig. 4).

Fig.7 Inside of a Tripolitanian amphora in Leptis Magna fabric showing compression zones
Fig.7 Inside of a Tripolitanian amphora in Leptis Magna fabric showing compression zones
Fig. 8 Tripolitana 3 amphora type in Leptis Magna fabric. The thin section shows a random distribution of the inclusions. This is a characteristic noticed on all thin sectioned Tripolitanian vessels from Portus, also in fabrics different from Leptis Magna
Fig. 8 Tripolitana 3 amphora type in Leptis Magna fabric. The thin section shows a random distribution of the inclusions. This is a characteristic noticed on all thin sectioned Tripolitanian vessels from Portus, also in fabrics different from Leptis Magna

What does this evidence or difference in the technology used suggest? Archaeological studies in North Africa show that the pottery workshops of Sullecthum and Leptiminus were located on the outskirts of the towns; these were semi-urban workshops. Evidence for olive oil production, such as standing olive oil presses, is, on the other hand, more evident inland from the towns. It appears that two specialized and separate economic sectors were going on: the pot-making and agricultural practice. Therefore, people may have specialized in the making of vessels, reaching a high level of skill in mastering the wheel. Studies have attempted to define skill, and one of the definitions is that skill is the outcome of time spent in performing an activity. Moreover, contracts would have existed between those who produced olive oil, those who manufactured the vessels and those who exported produce to Rome. Good, solid batches of amphorae had to be purchased by third parties, and to be filled with olive oil.

In Tripolitania, by contrast, settlement studies show that sites were equipped with oil olive processing facilities and pottery kilns, highlighting the rural and self-sufficient nature of production. All production, from olive oil, to amphora manufacturing, and bottling took place on site. It is very possible that people who harvested the olives, a seasonal job, could have made their own vessels. In this case, manufacturing error such as air pockets noticed on the vessels, did not matter, because there was no necessity to buy containers from a third party.

You might want to look back at the following sections of the Archaeology of Portus course:

Reference cited in the text:

Budden, S. (2007) Renewal and Reinvention: the role of learning strategies in the Early to Late Middle Bronze Age of the Carpathian  Basin. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Southampton.

More information is contained in Appendix 1: Technology as a Social Tool’ with relevant bibliography on technology and society, in my e-thesis:

(2012) African amphorae from Portus. University of Southampton, School of Humanities, Doctoral Thesis, 864pp.

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Week five in Italian http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/18/week-five-italian/ http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/18/week-five-italian/#comments Wed, 18 Jun 2014 00:41:29 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/?p=1449 Eleonora Gandolfi has translated the activities from week five into Italian to add to our overview of the course. More Italian materials are on the way.

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Oil lamp

Eleonora Gandolfi has translated the activities from week five into Italian to add to our overview of the course. More Italian materials are on the way.

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Conservation and computational imaging technologies http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/16/conservation-computational-imaging-technologies/ http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/16/conservation-computational-imaging-technologies/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2014 10:00:47 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/?p=949 I’m Eleni Kotoula, a PhD student in the Archaeological Computing Research Group, University of Southampton.  I am a conservator of antiquities and works of art and I have worked in practical conservation since 2004 in museums and cultural organizations in Greece. My conservation research is focused on non-destructive analysis of archaeological material and accelerating ageing of adhesives/ consolidants used in …

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Silver roman imperatorial denarius of Julius Caesar, CAESAR /Aeneas advancing to front, holding Palladium in palm of right hand and carrying father Anchises on left shoulder (O 19 mm), Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis, clockwise from top left: digital image, comparison between PTM (top) and a standard computer graphic approximation (below), normal map and RTI visualization in specular enhancement rendering mode (c) Eleni Kotoula
Silver roman imperatorial denarius of Julius Caesar, CAESAR /Aeneas advancing to front, holding Palladium in palm of right hand and carrying father Anchises on left shoulder (O 19 mm), Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis, clockwise from top left: digital image, comparison between PTM (top) and a standard computer graphic approximation (below), normal map and RTI visualization in specular enhancement rendering mode (c) Eleni Kotoula

I’m Eleni Kotoula, a PhD student in the Archaeological Computing Research Group, University of Southampton.  I am a conservator of antiquities and works of art and I have worked in practical conservation since 2004 in museums and cultural organizations in Greece. My conservation research is focused on non-destructive analysis of archaeological material and accelerating ageing of adhesives/ consolidants used in conservation.

I hope you agree that many interesting finds, covering a variety of materials and artefacts types have been presented so far in the course. In Week Five processing (Processing the finds) and registering of finds (Registering the finds) are discussed. What’s next? Conservation!  But what is conservation? How does computational imaging assists study and conservation of finds?

The conservation of antiquities lies on the edges of the double function of artefacts as resources for archaeological and historical information and as displayable objects, while it attempts to pace the rate of the processes of decay, minimise the deterioration effects and prevent alterations and damage. The cornerstone of conservation is the requirement for long term preservation, balanced with the needs to investigate and interpret, access, use, display and reveal objects and their values.

Undoubtedly visual analysis is a milestone in conservation practice which seeks to provide data relevant to structure, manufacture, damage and use of the object as well as materials identification. All surviving evidence is examined in order to lead to conclusions regarding characterization of the object and its condition. The findings of the visual analysis determine the goal of treatment and treatment type (conservation decision making). The changes introduced during treatment, after discovery, and throughout the artefact’s museum life, not only in appearance (including geometry, colour and texture), but also in chemical structure, are among the most influential processes that determine the artefact’s future, and dramatically affect its interpretation. Remedial treatment has a direct influence on chemical and physical properties of the objects, while preventive conservation or environmental preservation activities affect the object indirectly, as they can change its condition by altering its environment.

Application of digital recording methodologies help conservators perform visual analysis, document and monitor the condition of artefacts and the conservation operations. A characteristic example is the application of RTI in ancient Greek and Roman coins before, during and after cleaning. Also, the integration of imaging techniques offers advanced alternatives to traditional conservation methodologies. Considering the objectives of a conservation project RTI and photogrammetry can contribute significantly in: prevention, investigation, examination and analysis, documentation, communication, dissemination and presentation.

RTI helps exploration of artefacts’ biographies by enabling advanced examination of manufacture and use evidence, decay and conservation operations. Integration of microscopy and RTI makes it possible to catalogue the shape and topography of the various components of artefacts at a microscopic scale. Moreover, the synergy of infrared imaging and RTI highlights the texture and three dimensionality features of the inner layer in case of painted surfaces and assisted the examination of documentary artefacts. In the case of translucent materials the transmitted RTI method is a useful complementary technique. Photogrammetry (as you have learned on the course in Photogrammetry and laser scanning of artefacts) can also be used for 3d digitisation, enabling virtual examination of finds and offering possibilities for virtual reconstruction of incomplete finds. Similarly to RTI, the integration of photogrammetry, multispectral imaging and microscopy provides useful information and enable the user to examine these features in 3d space.

For an introduction to conservation I propose The elements of archaeological conservation by Cronyn, J. M., & Robinson, W. S. published by Routledge. For an intoduction to conservation Imaging  you can have a look at The AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation edited by J. Warda published by the American Institute for Conservation.

Open access resources for conservation
1. Canadian Conservation Institute
2. Institute of Conservation
3. The Getty Conservation Institute
4. Posts on the ACRG site about RTI 
5. We work very closely with Cultural Heritage Imaging who have many resources on RTI.

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Sharing links http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/12/sharing-links/ Thu, 12 Jun 2014 21:25:33 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/?p=897 David Potts who is a PhD student in the Archaeological Computing Research Group at Southampton has extracted the links that were shared on the platform in the first few weeks. We will update this list to help you to build your own reference collections of supplementary material. Add the end of the course we will archive these links to scoop.it …

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David Potts who is a PhD student in the Archaeological Computing Research Group at Southampton has extracted the links that were shared on the platform in the first few weeks. We will update this list to help you to build your own reference collections of supplementary material. Add the end of the course we will archive these links to scoop.it and delicious.com to make them more accessible. The links are associated with the comment on the FutureLearn platform and also with the step so you can check the context.

Week One

1.1 Bing Maps – Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions (Link to Comment)
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1.1 Design, webdesign, fotografia – Giuliano DANSKY D’Angelo (Link to Comment)
1.1 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.1 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.1 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.1 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.1 0 (number) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.1 Rome’s Lost Empire – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
1.3 Port Punique De Carthage (Projet de fin d’études / ISAMM ) – YouTube (Link to Comment)
1.3 The Romans in China: They came, saw and settled | The Economist (Link to Comment)
1.3 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.4 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.5 Maps and Plans » Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
1.5 Plans, reconstructions, engravings (Link to Comment)
1.5 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.5 Flickr: The Portus Project’s Photostream (Link to Comment)
1.5 Flickr (Link to Comment)
1.5 Flickr: The Archaeology of Portus course Pool (Link to Comment)
1.7 British Museum – coin (Link to Comment)
1.7 JSTOR (Link to Comment)
1.7 Register & Read | About JSTOR (Link to Comment)
1.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.7 Welcome to the Portable Antiquities Scheme website (Link to Comment)
1.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.7 Einfache Suche – BAM-Portal (Link to Comment)
1.7 Potsherd – Atlas of Roman Pottery (Link to Comment)
1.7 AWOL – The Ancient World Online: The Art of Making in Antiquity: Stoneworking in the Roman World (Link to Comment)
1.7 Open Context: Data Publication for Cultural Heritage and Field Research (Link to Comment)
1.7 Museovirasto – Rekisteriportaali (Link to Comment)
1.8 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
1.8 ROMAN CONCRETE (Link to Comment)
1.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.8 Dover Kent da49245a.jpg (Link to Comment)
1.8 Slavery in ancient Rome – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.9 Approfondimenti tematici – Direzione Generale per le Antichità – Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismoà ed ellenismo”” (Link to Comment)
1.9 A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts (Link to Comment)
1.9 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.9 List of Rulers of the Roman Empire | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Link to Comment)
1.9 Fountain – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.9 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.9 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.9 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.9 Roman history – Podcast – Emperor Claudius – YouTube (Link to Comment)
1.9 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.9 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
1.9 Lyon Tablet – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.9 Pozzuoli – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.9 Ostia – Harbour City of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
1.9 Fishbourne Roman Palace – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.9 Roman Taxes© 2003-2014 UNRV.com (Link to Comment)
1.9 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.10 Numismaster.com (Link to Comment)
1.10 File:Fiumicino 03 (RaBoe).jpg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.10 Why Italy’s Lost City May Never Be Found – The Daily Beast (Link to Comment)
1.10 File:Roman remains underneath bell tower at St Magnus-the-Martyr – geograph.org.uk – 882914.jpg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.11 Flickr: The Archaeology of Portus course Pool (Link to Comment)
1.11 Flickr: The Archaeology of Portus course Pool (Link to Comment)
1.11 crowds in portus | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
1.11 Publican – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.11 Ostia Antica, harbor of the Imperial Rome – A computer reconstruction – YouTube (Link to Comment)
1.11 Portus Romanus – Pharology (Link to Comment)
1.11 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.12 Mole (architecture) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.12 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.12 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.12 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
1.12 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.12 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.12 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.12 Home (Link to Comment)
1.12 Mole (architecture) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.12 Mole (architecture) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.13 Very Large Array – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.14 Sowing the Seeds: ROMAN MERCHANT SHIPS — WARHORSES of the ANCIENT WORLD (Link to Comment)
1.14 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.14 Ceres, Annona and the Corn Supply on Roman Coins (Link to Comment)
1.14 ORBIS (Link to Comment)
1.14 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.14 The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea : travel and trade in the Indian Ocean (Link to Comment)
1.14 Antikythera mechanism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.14 Free Public Lectures | Gresham College (Link to Comment)
1.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.15 Antiquity Journal (Link to Comment)
1.15 Tacitus – The Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola© 2003-2014 UNRV.com (Link to Comment)
1.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.15 globalization: definition of globalization in Oxford dictionary (British & World English) (Link to Comment)
1.15 Nail (fastener) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.16 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.16 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.16 Old Plans – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
1.16 ORBIS (Link to Comment)
1.16 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.17 THE GREAT BELZONI – the movie – YouTube (Link to Comment)
1.17 BBC News – The Yorkshire Museum buys £50,000 Viking hoard (Link to Comment)
1.18 Thermoluminescence dating – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.18 Potsherd – Atlas of Roman Pottery (Link to Comment)
1.18 abyssopedia anfore garum dressel amphorae cressi shop on lineélichet 47 (Gallica 4) (Link to Comment)
1.18 Amphora Graveyard of Monte Testaccio | ArchaeoSpain (Link to Comment)
1.18 Introduction to the Atlas (Link to Comment)
1.18 expo catalañol, (Link to Comment)
1.18 expo catalañol, (Link to Comment)
1.19 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.19 File:Amphorae stacking.jpg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.19 File:Amphorae stacking.jpg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.19 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.19 File:Amphorae stacking.jpg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.19 Recipe for Garum or liquamen, the Roman fish sauce (Link to Comment)
1.19 Garum, Pompeii Fish Sauce (Link to Comment)
1.19 Amphora Graveyard of Monte Testaccio | ArchaeoSpain (Link to Comment)
1.19 Search results from the database – Page: 1 – Database (Link to Comment)
1.19 Amphora Graveyard of Monte Testaccio | ArchaeoSpain (Link to Comment)
1.19 Ceramics and Glass Glass Roman storage vessels (amphorae) (Link to Comment)
1.19 Ceramics and Glass Glass Roman storage vessels (amphorae) (Link to Comment)
1.21 British Museum – figure (Link to Comment)
1.21 Amphora (Link to Comment)
1.21 A Visual Glossary of Greek Pottery (Article) — Ancient History Encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.21 Amphora – Collections – Antiquities Museum (Link to Comment)
1.21 Welcome to the Scheme’s database – Database (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 The Temple of Claudius at Colchester Castle Museum | Archaeological Site | Colchester|Essex (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 panel 05 ingles (Link to Comment)
1.21 Ceramics and Glass Glass Roman storage vessels (amphorae) (Link to Comment)
1.21 British Museum – Collection search: You searched for bust of the emperor Claudius (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Leptis Magna Archaeological Museum: (Link to Comment)
1.21 Amphoras (Link to Comment)
1.21 Temple of Claudius at Colchester (Link to Comment)
1.21 antica statua romana dell’imperatore Claudio nel Museo Vaticano — Foto Stock © scaliger #13772176 (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Claudius© 1999-2008 (Link to Comment)
1.21 expo catalañol (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Amphora – Europeana – Search results (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Garum Storage | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
1.21 British Museum – portrait head (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Portraits of Emperor Claudius (Link to Comment)
1.21 Claudius | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
1.21 Portus Romanus – Pharology (Link to Comment)
1.21 Archaeology Data Service: myADS (Link to Comment)
1.21 British Museum – flask (Link to Comment)
1.21 British Museum – Roman Emperors (Link to Comment)
1.21 British Museum – Collection search: You searched for bust of the emperor Claudius (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Dolium – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Roman Agora of Thessaloniki – GTP (Link to Comment)
1.21 Bust of a Man (27.211) — The Detroit Institute of Arts (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Collections – SAM – Seattle Art Museum (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 villa regina boscoreale p2 (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Search – Google Cultural Institute (Link to Comment)
1.21 British Museum – Image gallery: Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae (Link to Comment)
1.21 Eaton Gallery of Rome | Level 3 | Royal Ontario Museum (Link to Comment)
1.21 Yorkshire Museum (Link to Comment)
1.21 Rome: Piranesi’s vision | State Library of Victoria (Link to Comment)
1.21 Pottery in Britain 4000BC to AD1900: A Guide to Identifying Potsherds: Amazon.co.uk: Lloyd Laing, Jennifer Laing, Greg Payne: Books£7.35 Gift Card (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Ceramics and Glass Glass Roman storage vessels (amphorae) (Link to Comment)
1.21 Ceramics and Glass Glass Roman storage vessels (amphorae) (Link to Comment)
1.21 Norfolk Museums Service – Coin Hoard (Link to Comment)
1.21 Corpus CEIPAC – registro (Link to Comment)
1.21 Cameos & Intaglios on Pinterest (Link to Comment)
1.21 Perseus Digital Library (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Tijdbalk | Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Link to Comment)
1.21 Exhibition: Classical and Near Eastern Antiquities – Nationalmuseet (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Mediterranean Ceramics: Late Roman Amphora 1 (Link to Comment)
1.21 No title available (Link to Comment)
1.21 Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University (Link to Comment)
1.23 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
1.23 No title available (Link to Comment)

Week Two

2.1 Latin epigraphy : an introduction to the study of Latin inscriptions : Sandys, John Edwin, Sir, 1844-1922 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive (Link to Comment)
2.1 Laser scanning with Faro Focus 3D – YouTube (Link to Comment)
2.1 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.1 Sign up for Portus News – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
2.1 Week one – imagining the Claudian port » Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
2.1 Civitavecchia Port. Guide to Civitavecchia Port (Link to Comment)
2.1 James Miles – Archaeological Computing Research Group (Link to Comment)
2.1 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
2.1 List of Rulers of the Roman Empire | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Link to Comment)
2.1 Image-Isolated | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
2.1 Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (Link to Comment)
2.1 Portus Project (Link to Comment)
2.1 Sidescan Sonar – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
2.1 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.1 Documenting the Excavation – an album on Flickr (Link to Comment)
2.1 Flickr: Explore photos from The Portus Project’s Portus and the Empire under Trajan set on the map (Link to Comment)
2.1 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.1 Time Scanners – National Geographic Channel – UK (Link to Comment)
2.2 A Visit To Trajan’s Market in Rome (Link to Comment)
2.2 Roman Emperors – DIR Trajan (Link to Comment)
2.2 14. The Mother of All Forums: Civic Architecture in Rome under Trajan – YouTube (Link to Comment)
2.2 Munigua – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre (Link to Comment)
2.2 Trajan’s Glorious Forum – Archaeology Magazine Archive (Link to Comment)
2.2 Trajan’s Column – Cichorius Plates – Wikimedia Commons (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 Category:Trajan’s Column – Cichorius Plates – Wikimedia Commons (Link to Comment)
2.2 Engineering an Empire Rome Trajan – YouTube (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 Trajan’s Column-Reliefs – YouTube (Link to Comment)
2.2 Open Yale Courses | Roman Architecture | Lecture 14 – The Mother of All Forums: Civic Architecture in Rome under Trajan (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire – Episode 6: Dacian Wars (Documentary) – YouTube (Link to Comment)
2.2 WaterHistory.org (Link to Comment)
2.2 Reliefs Scene-by-Scene on Trajan’s Column in Rome (Link to Comment)
2.2 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.2 Trajan’s Bridge | True Romania (Link to Comment)
2.2 Trajan’s Column per iPhone, iPod touch e iPad dall’App Store su iTunes (Link to Comment)
2.2 Trajan’s Forum – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.2 British Museum – Gold aureus showing Trajan’s Column (Link to Comment)
2.3 Ostia – Introduction (Link to Comment)
2.3 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
2.3 Roman engineering – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.3 Temenos – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.3 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.3 cover Submerged archaeological structures of the Phlegraean area (Link to Comment)
2.4 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.4 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.4 Chirping for Large-Scale Maritime Archaeological Survey: A Strategy Developed from a Practical Experience-Based Approach (Link to Comment)
2.4 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.5 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.5 2.5sm61_edit | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
2.5 2.5sm61_edit | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
2.5 2.5sm61_edit | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
2.5 Flickr: Explore photos from The Portus Project’s The Imperial Port System set on the map (Link to Comment)
2.5 Bing Maps – Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions (Link to Comment)
2.5 2.5sm61_edit | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
2.5 2.5sm61_edit | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
2.5 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.6 Friday Five…Revolting Roman Recipes | DigVentures (Link to Comment)
2.6 Asafoetida – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.6 Garum – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.6 Recipe for Garum or liquamen, the Roman fish sauce (Link to Comment)
2.6 THE FREE-LANCE GEOGRAPHER (Link to Comment)
2.6 Fish sauce – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.6 Garum – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Roman ship thrills archaeologists (Link to Comment)
2.7 Weevil – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 Garum sauce by Heston Blumenthal – YouTube (Link to Comment)
2.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.7 Daily Life in the Roman City: Rome, Pompeii, and Ostia (The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series) eBook: Gregory S. Aldrete: Amazon.ca: Kindle Storeçais (Link to Comment)
2.7 Tomb of Eurysaces the Baker – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.8 Appian Way – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.8 Monte Testaccio: a mountain of Roman amphorae | Irish Archaeology (Link to Comment)
2.8 Monte Testaccio, Italy – Find a Dig (Link to Comment)
2.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.8 Great Stink – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.8 Tropical cyclogenesis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.8 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.9 Simulation of the Portus harbour on Vimeo (Link to Comment)
2.9 Staddle Stones – Midhurst England Lloegr (Link to Comment)
2.9 Plan of Portus (Link to Comment)
2.10 Simulation of the Portus harbour on Vimeo (Link to Comment)
2.10 BBC NEWS | UK | UK dig finds Roman amphitheatre (Link to Comment)
2.10 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.10 Home (Link to Comment)
2.10 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.10 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.10 Bing Maps – Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions (Link to Comment)
2.11 Carbon 14 dating 1 | Measuring age on Earth | Khan Academy (Link to Comment)
2.11 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.12 Outputs – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
2.12 Portus Project (Link to Comment)
2.12 Portus Project (Link to Comment)
2.13 Companion: Defixiones (Curse Tablets) (Link to Comment)
2.13 Archaeology Data Service: myADS (Link to Comment)
2.13 Dressel 20 amphoras and allied types (Link to Comment)
2.13 Archaeology Data Service: myADS (Link to Comment)
2.14 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.14 Turin Shroud may not be a medieval fake as it dates back to Christ’s lifetime, say scientists | Mail Online (Link to Comment)
2.15 What Animal Bones Can Tell Us In Archaeology (Link to Comment)
2.15 Neanderthal genome reveals interbreeding with humans – life – 06 May 2010 – New Scientist (Link to Comment)
2.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.15 Zooarchaeology – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.15 Stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Berinsfield, Oxfordshire : dietary and social implications. – Durham Research Online (Link to Comment)
2.15 BBC News – Surrey Roman snail poachers ‘could wipe out species’ (Link to Comment)
2.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.16 Box-flue Tiles, Roman Britain, British Museum | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
2.16 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.16 Roman Brick Stamps: Auxiliary and Legionary Bricks (Link to Comment)
2.17 List of Roman consuls – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.17 List of Roman consuls – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.17 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.17 The ruins and excavations of ancient Rome : a companion book for students and travellers (Link to Comment)
2.17 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.17 Old Bricks:England Wh to Wi (Link to Comment)
2.17 Trajan (Roman emperor) — Encyclopedia Britannica (Link to Comment)
2.17 Speaking Signa and the Brickstamps of M. Rutilius Lupus – 2005 | John Bodel – Academia.edu (Link to Comment)
2.17 Marcus Rutilius Lupus – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.17 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.17 Marcus Rutilius Lupus – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.17 Marcus Rutilius Lupus – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.19 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.19 The Date of Trajan’s Markets: An Assessment in the Light of Some Unpublished Brick Stamps | Lynne Lancaster – Academia.edu (Link to Comment)
2.19 International Mortar Dating Project | (Link to Comment)
2.19 Via Gabina: Brick Stamps (Link to Comment)
2.19 Ancient Bread From Pompeii Fascinates (Link to Comment)
2.19 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.19 Trajan’s Column App – 3D ROME – Ricostruzioni 3D Archeologia (Link to Comment)
2.19 Today’s Photo: Roman Brick Stamp From Ostia | Visiting the Ancients (Link to Comment)
2.19 No title available (Link to Comment)
2.19 Roman Brick Stamps: Auxiliary and Legionary Bricks (Link to Comment)
2.19 The Date of Trajan’s Markets: An Assessment in the Light of Some Unpublished Brick Stamps | Lynne Lancaster – Academia.edu (Link to Comment)
2.19 Rome: Construction Principles – Opus Testaceum (Link to Comment)
2.19 Thorvaldsens Museum – The collections – Ancient artefacts – Søge resultat (Link to Comment)
2.19 Trajan’s column (Column) | V&A Search the Collections (Link to Comment)
2.19 Brick Stamp of L. Lurius Proculus | Harvard Art Museums (Link to Comment)
2.19 Brick Stamp of L. Lurius Proculus | Harvard Art Museums (Link to Comment)
2.21 Maps and Plans » Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
2.21 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
2.21 Jewry Wall – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
2.21 Social Archive » Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)

Week Three

3.1 Create a timeline – Word (Link to Comment)
3.1 Map of the Roman Empire – Ancient Cities, Rivers, and Mountains during the first century A.D.´BERIS (Link to Comment)
3.1 Leptis Magna en Lybie, il y a 1800 ans – YouTube (Link to Comment)
3.1 BBC News – Trotting in Rome: Farewell to a sporting way of life (Link to Comment)
3.1 Society for Libyan Studies (Link to Comment)
3.1 Visit Tarragona – YouTube (Link to Comment)
3.1 Roman ships at Portus » Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
3.1 Roman Mediterranean Shipping » Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
3.2 Leptis Magna Travel Video Guide – YouTube (Link to Comment)
3.2 Septimius Severus – The First African emperor of Rome – YouTube (Link to Comment)
3.2 Flickr: The Archaeology of Portus course Pool (Link to Comment)
3.2 PLOS Medicine: Plague: Past, Present, and Future (Link to Comment)
3.2 List of epidemics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
3.2 Julius Caesar and the pirates (Link to Comment)
3.2 Antonine Plague – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
3.4 Coursera.org (Link to Comment)
3.4 Maps and Plans » Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
3.4 Flickr: The Archaeology of Portus course Pool (Link to Comment)
3.4 Coursera.org (Link to Comment)
3.5 Portus Project (Link to Comment)
3.5 Lidar – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)
3.5 Link to another course comment (Link to Comment)
3.5 Aerial Photogrammetry at Portus – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
3.5 BBC News – ‘Hexacopter’ changes the way TV reporters work (Link to Comment)
3.6 The Light Fantastic | English Heritage (Link to Comment)
3.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.6 Contemplating Data Analysis and Narrative | Kristian Strutt (Link to Comment)
3.6 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.6 BBC News – A Point of View: Is the archaeological dig a thing of the past? (Link to Comment)
3.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.7 The Major Buildings at Portus – Grandi Magazzini Di Settimio Severo – an album on Flickr (Link to Comment)
3.7 The Major Buildings at Portus – Grandi Magazzini Di Settimio Severo – an album on Flickr (Link to Comment)
3.8 Zagora dig blog | Zagora – Powerhouse Museum (Link to Comment)
3.8 Portus Field School – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
3.8 Ostia – Harbour City of Ancient Rome (Link to Comment)
3.9 WINE for Darwin and Mac OS X | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net (Link to Comment)
3.9 New Discoveries at Ostia Antica and the Isola Sacra | Kristian Strutt (Link to Comment)
3.9 Contemplating Data Analysis and Narrative | Kristian Strutt (Link to Comment)
3.11 The Palaeoenvironment of the Delta – an album on Flickr (Link to Comment)
3.13 Ostia – The Harbour District: Portus (Link to Comment)
3.13 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.13 Marble in Rome, a tale of conquests – New York Times (Link to Comment)
3.13 Marbles to Rome: The Movement of Monolithic Columns Across the Mediterranean | Brian Sahotsky – Academia.edu (Link to Comment)
3.13 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.13 Polychromy of Roman Marble Sculpture | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Link to Comment)
3.14 Toilet Trouble at the Sochi Olympics – Bloomberg View (Link to Comment)
3.14 Public restrooms in the Ancient Roman world | Visiting the Ancients (Link to Comment)
3.14 CNN Video – Breaking News Videos from CNN.com (Link to Comment)
3.14 Public Toilets | Flickr – Photo Sharing! (Link to Comment)
3.15 :: University of Southampton (Link to Comment)
3.15 Face in the sand: Roman amphitheatre unearthed at ancient port | Mail Online (Link to Comment)
3.15 Becoming an Archaeologist – Finds in the Landscape – an album on Flickr (Link to Comment)
3.15 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.17 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.17 No title available (Link to Comment)
3.17 NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF ATHENS – OFFICIAL SITE© Dynamic Drive (www.dynamicdrive.com) (Link to Comment)
3.17 Egyptian column with illustrated frieze | Musei Capitolini (Link to Comment)
3.17 FASTI – All Records (Link to Comment)
3.17 Destruction / Loss of Information Timeline : HistoryofInformation.com (Link to Comment)
3.17 British Museum – Collection search: You searched for Severan Period marble (Link to Comment)
3.17 Request Rejected (Link to Comment)

Week Four

4.7 opus caementicium roman walls (Link to Comment)
4.7 No title available (Link to Comment)
4.9 The Rise of 3-D printing in Archaeology – Archaeological Computing Research Group (Link to Comment)
4.10 No title available (Link to Comment)
4.12 No title available (Link to Comment)
4.12 Model of Portus (Link to Comment)
4.16 Ostia (Link to Comment)

Week Five

5.12 No title available (Link to Comment)
5.13 Portus Project Lecture – Archaeological Computing Research Group (Link to Comment)
5.13 Autodesk 123D Catch | 3d model from photos (Link to Comment)
5.19 Ceramics and Glass Glass Roman fineware (Link to Comment)

Week Six

6.4 Palazzo Imperiale II – Portus Project (Link to Comment)
6.17 No title available (Link to Comment)
6.17 Silex – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Link to Comment)

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Ceramics as material culture: Study of the North African amphorae from Portus http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/01/ceramics-material-culture-study-north-african-amphorae-portus/ http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/01/ceramics-material-culture-study-north-african-amphorae-portus/#comments Sun, 01 Jun 2014 10:17:23 +0000 http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/?p=728 Ceramics are a very important type of archaeological evidence at sites, with the potential to inform us about chronology and society. They come up at various points in the Archaeology of Portus course and this blog posts provides some extra information based on my research. If you want to check back (or forward!) to relevant pieces of the course I …

The post Ceramics as material culture: Study of the North African amphorae from Portus appeared first on Archaeology of Portus: Exploring the Lost Harbour of Ancient Rome.

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Fig. 1 Rim of Africana 1A from Portus in Sullecthum fabric

Ceramics are a very important type of archaeological evidence at sites, with the potential to inform us about chronology and society. They come up at various points in the Archaeology of Portus course and this blog posts provides some extra information based on my research. If you want to check back (or forward!) to relevant pieces of the course I would start with the following:

One of the main applications of typological studies (study of a vessel’s shape) is to provide a chronological framework for excavated archaeological contexts upon which to base our understanding and interpretation of past activities taking place at an archaeological site. Study of the fabrics, that is the fired clay with its geological inclusions, allows us to provenance the ceramic materials. Typology, fabric, and petrological analysis represent standard methodologies for the study of ceramics, allowing us to make sense of a large amount of material found on archaeological sites.

The first step in any ceramic analysis is typological classification, including study of vessel shape and its morphological characteristics. This involves for example categorizing sherds from the site based upon similarities in their profile or shape, and comparing these with existing typologies from previous studies. This allows us to identify different types of vessel.

The second step in ceramic analysis is to look at the fabrics, based on the clay and inclusions used in making the pottery. A ceramic fabric consists of the fired clay matrix and its mineral or organic inclusions. These may occur naturally, or may be intentionally added to the clay by the potters. Fabric analysis, or fabric characterization, takes into account a number of variables, such as the colour, the degree of coarseness, the type of the main inclusions occurring in the fabric, and their frequency and distribution. This is generally carried out with a lens or a binocular microscope. The main application of fabric analysis is to provenance the archaeological ceramics, allowing us to delineate areas of exploitation or workshops of production, and to distinguish between local and imported pottery at an archaeological site.

A further stage in fabric analysis is that of petrological analysis. Petrology is the study of a cross-section of a ceramic sherd under a petrological microscope. By using a petrological microscope it is possible to identify geological inclusions according to their optical properties, and rock fragments where present, which may be distinctive of geological areas. This work requires the grinding down of a ceramic sherd to obtain a completely flat ceramic layer of ideally 0.03mm thickness, which is then fixed to a glass slide.

But what are Roman amphorae, and what can this type of vessel tell us? Roman amphorae are large to very large-sized vessels used for moving agricultural foodstuffs from one province to another. They carried mainly olive oil, wine, different kinds of fish products (salsamenta), and dried fruit. Amphorae are therefore very important evidence for studying the vital link between production and consumption in antiquity, and topics related to the Roman economy.

My study at Portus focused on North African amphorae, and in particular on those manufactured in Africa Proconsularis, which fall within modern Tunisia and western Libya. North African amphorae form the bulk of all ceramic materials at Portus, emphasizing the role of this province in supplying its ceramic and agricultural products to Rome. From the end of the 2nd century AD and in the 3rd century AD, a large amount of amphorae, carrying olive oil, reached Portus from central Tunisia and above all from Tripolitania (modern Libya).

One of the main aims of the research was to tie the amphora vessels down to their workshops and areas of production with the aim of providing a more defined view of the links between the North African suppliers and Portus. Based on an understanding of the principals of typology, fabrics and petrology, and on previous academic work within this field of research, the study identified a number of important workshops that worked in commercial partnership with Portus in the late 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, such as Sullecthum (central Tunisia), Leptis Magna and Tripoli and their rural hinterlands, and in the 4th and 5th centuries AD, such as Nabeul (northern Tunisia).

Focusing in particular on Sullecthum, a coastal port-town in central Tunisia, the pottery workshops manufactured most of the Africana 1A amphorae excavated at Portus. Sullecthum fabric is a very distinctive one. It is usually fired to produce two colours; red and greyish, while it contains numerous small white specks of limestone (Fig. 1 above).

A cross section of the sherd analyzed under the petrological microscope shows that this fabric is essentially a limestone-quartz fabric (limestone are the rounded and brownish inclusions, the quartz are white and rounded). It may contain small grains of pyroxenes, or volcanic minerals (these latter are very colorful under the petrological microscope, under crossed polars) (Fig. 2).

Photo03_3
Fig. 2 Sullecthum fabric under the petrological microscope showing a limestone and quartz fabric

The Africana 1A carried olive oil, underlining the importance of this type of economy, based on olive trees growing in central Tunisia, as well as the commercial export activity to Portus.

Sullecthum fabric occurs also on the Africana 2A and on the Keay 25.1, although in a smaller amount (the full profile of the aforementioned vessels can be accessed on the AHRC Southampton amphora website: http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/amphora_ahrb_2005/cat_amph.cfm). According to the current amphora literature, the Africana 2A traded fish sauce. This emphasizes the importance of a fish-based economy at the site, where fish-processing tanks have been excavated. Such produce from Sullecthum seems therefore to have been complementary to that of olive oil. The Keay 25.1 amphora is a later vessel, dating to the 4th century AD, and it is associated with wine, although other produce could be carried in this vessel.

The importance of Sullecthum to Ostia-Portus, and to Rome, is visible in comparative material from different types of archaeological evidence. At the Merchant Square in Ostia, the trading guild of Sullecthum is represented in the mosaics as one of Rome’s commercial partners (Fig. 3). A certain P. Caesellinus Felix, a citizen from Sullecthum, (from the latin civis Sullecthinus), was buried at Ostia, as recorded by a funerary inscription. He may have been involved in the trading activities taking place between Sullecthum and Portus as testified by the amphorae.

Sullecthum
Fig. 3 Mosaic of ship-owners from Sullecthum (www.ostia-antica.org)

Bibliography

Adams, A. E., Mackenzie, W. S., Guilford, C. (1984) Atlas of Sedimentary Rocks under the Microscope (Hong Kong).

Bonifay, M. (2004) Etudes sur la céramique romaine tardive d’Afrique (Oxford).

Bonifay, M., Capelli, C., Drine, A., Ghalia T. (2010) Les productions d’amphores romaines sur le littoral Tunisien. Archéologie et archéométrie. Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 41, pp.319-327.

Capelli, C., Ben Lazreg, N., Bonifay, M. (2006) Nuove prospettive nelle ricerche archeometriche sulle ceramiche nordafricane: l’esempio dell’atelier di Sullecthum-Salakta (Tunisia centrale), in Cucuzza, N. and Medri, M. (eds) Archeologie: Studi in onore di Tiziano Mannoni (Bari), pp.291-294.

Keay, S. (1984) Late Roman Amphorae in the Western Mediterranean. A Typology and Economic Study: the Catalan Evidence (Oxford).

Keay, S. (2010) Portus and the Alexandrian Grain Trade Revisited, Bollettino Di Archeologia On Line I 2010/ Volume Speciale B/ B7/ 3. www.archeologia.beniculturali.it/pages/pubblicazioni.html I (2010), pp. 11-22.

Keay, S. and Paroli, L. (2011) Portus and its Hinterland. Recent Archaeological Research (London).

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