Rogier Kalkers

Presentation of the first results of the Fronteira Landscape Project, dedicated to Roman Landscape Archaeology in the Alto Alentejo.
In January 2018, field work in the municipality of Fronteira resorted to non-invasive methods such as surface survey, photogrametric reconstruction of the landscape, geophysical survey by means of geo-radar and intense analysis of the artefact data geo-referred during the surface survey. This data adds to that obtained in the annual campaigns under way at the Roman villa of Horta da Torre and during the survey of the Roman villa of Monte de S. Francisco, where burials from the 5th or 6th centuries were found. The aim is to structure a global reconstruction of the Roman and Late Antiquity landscape.

Brief overview in Italian of recent and ongoing fieldwork projects (survey, excavation, prospection) in ancient Samnium, modern Molise, including the Tappino Valley (Campobasso area), the territory of ancient Aesernia (modern Isernia), and the territory of ancient Larinum (modern Larino).

This paper presents the first results of a landscape archaeological project carried out in the territory of the ancient colony of Aesernia, modern Isernia, in Molise, Central-Southern Italy. The nature of Roman Republican colonization is currently heavily debated, and the field project aims to contribute to this discussion by investigating the non-urban aspect of a Roman Republican colony that was established in the midst of the Apennine mountains in 263 BC. Through a combination of extensive field surveys (seasons 2011-2013) and geological and geomorphological analysis, the preliminary results show the potential of a landscape archaeological approach and the diversity of settlement strategies within the colonized areas according to different landscape conditions.

The practice of using mobile survey applications (or a digital fieldwork assistant, dFA) has a tradition of more than a decade in the context of archaeological field survey. In their 2002 CAA paper “Educating the Digital Fieldwork Assistant”, Martijn van Leusen and Nick Ryan wrote extensively about the advantages and practicalities of using a digital field notebook combined with a GPS receiver for field surveys. The OpenArchaeoSurvey project is aimed at improving such applications, building on recent developments in mobile technology. The ‘open’ in our project stands for ‘open source software’, but also for allowing real-time data exchange and communication using the fieldwork application. In addition to the practical advantages, this creates the possibility for all participants to reflect on the collected data. Therefore, the development of the OpenArchaeoSurvey goes hand in hand with a tentative exploration of improved possibilities for Mobile Learning, or, how students can be ‘educated by the fieldwork assistant’.

The Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University hosts an international conference on the archaeology of the Roman period in Portugal and its place in the Roman West. The conference brings together archaeologists and ancient historians from different academic backgrounds who are working in the Iberian peninsula and the wider Western Mediterranean. It aims to present new data and insights from various fields and approaches, and to discuss their significance for our understanding of Roman expansion and colonialism.
Five sessions revolve around new insights from landscape archaeological projects, developments in the economy, the process of military expansion, processes of centralization and urbanization, and the ritual and religious sphere. A key goal of the conference is to discuss how the Portuguese panorama compares to other areas in the Iberian peninsula, and to foreground its contribution to current debates about Roman expansion and incorporation in the Central and Western Mediterranean.
With a view to assess the potential of integrating best practices in archaeological approaches and methodology, different national and disciplinary research traditions and historical frameworks will be explicitly discussed. As such, the conference aims to explore ways to collaborate more closely between various Mediterranean areas and research projects, and to develop a shared research agenda.

Roman colonization and expansionism in the Republican period, and its impact on the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, are intensely debated in current ancient historical and archaeological research. Traditional, diffusionist views from the late 19th and especially the 20th century have recently been heavily criticized, and many socio-economic and cultural developments in ancient Italy (e.g. agricultural developments, 'romanization') have been disconnected from Roman conquest and expansionism. Although this development has been extremely important and salutary, this session departs from the idea that we should be careful not to throw away the baby with the bathwater. Very recent and ongoing research can be seen as pointing at real Roman impact in various spheres - if in different ways and places than often assumed. In this session, we investigate whether, and if so to what extent, we can invert the causal logic between a series of new socio-economic and cultural developments in the ancient Mediterranean and Roman colonization. In particular, we will explore the notion that Roman expansionism actively targeted hotspots in both economic ánd cultural networks of special interest in the conquered areas. Seeing local cultural resources at equal footing with more standard local economic resources, and exploring the ways the Roman conquest further enabled and energized these hotspots, stimulates us to rethink the primary workings of Roman expansionism.

Information about the upcoming campaign in North Alentejo. Co-organized by Leiden University and Universdade de Évora, with the support of Prins Bernahard Cuulturfonds.
The aim of the project is to investigate the long term impact of Roman expansionism in the Western Mediterranean. And engages with further research done in Central-South Italy and the river Duero valley.