Research project
The Minor Centres Project
This five year research project aimed to investigate the role of minor central places in the economy of Roman Central Italy.
- Duration
- 2011 - 2016
- Funding
-
NWO
-
Groningen Institute of Archaeology
- Partners
- Dr Gijs Tol (Melbourne University)
- Prof Peter Attema (Groningen University)
- Dr Barbara Borgers (University of Vienna)
- Filmo Verhagen (Uppsala University)
Current models of the Roman economy focus almost exclusively on regional and interregional exchange and have a strong bias towards urban centers. However, ethnographic and historical comparative studies suggest that rural economies in complex pre-industrial societies were not necessarily based on relations between rural sites and urban centers only: many goods and services were produced and exchanged within rural areas, and rural central places provided the locus where much of this exchange took place.
This five year research project (aimed to investigate the role of minor central places in the economy of Roman Central Italy. The core of the project is formed by field research on three such rural central places: the sites of Astura, Forum Appii and Ad Medias, all situated in the Pontine region (Lazio, Italy). These sites and their respective hinterlands are investigated through field surveying, geophysical prospection and targeted excavations, focusing on the material evidence (predominantly pottery) for economic interaction and exchange. The artefacts collected during the fieldwork are used to map distribution patterns of both imported and locally produced pottery and changes therein over time. Emphasis will be placed on the study of locally and regionally produced (coarse) wares, using mineralogical analysis of pottery samples and comparing these with data from known production sites in Central Italy and from production sites mapped in the course of the project itself. The outcomes of these studies are used for an analysis of the mechanisms of production and distribution of both imported and locally produced pottery and by extension to assess the role of minor centers in rural exchange networks. The material evidence will also be incorporated in a regional study that evaluates various economic-geographical models, such as Central Place Theory and Network Theory.
While the project has officially been concluded, I am currently with Dr. Gijs Tol and Prof. dr. Peter Attema preparing the final publication of this project. The ceramic studies, moreover, are currently being continued by Dr. Barbara Borgers as part of a postdoctoral project at the Universty of Vienna and by Filmo Verhagen within a PhD at the university of Uppsala.