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Introduction.
Classical archaeology has always been based on the architectural and art historian's approach to and preference for the more monumental and aesthetical remains of Graeco-Roman civilisation. This approach will no doubt continue for some time, though with more refined and detailed methods of analysis. One line of research, which is gaining in popularity, is concerned especially with past attitudes towards classical art and artifacts.
Field archaeology in the Mediterranean area has lately gone through important changes. Fieldwork on classical and monumental sites in the Mediterranean countries has now introduced almost all the modern and well-developed scientific methods that have been in use in northwestern Europe. Therefore, scientific teams in the South are no longer solely concerned with large-scale digs in city centres and with the exercise of uncovering as many monumental building structures as possible. Much research is now oriented towards the total human occupation of the landscape, thus enlarging the subject of investigations chronologically as well as geographically. It is now understood that many questions concerning the social and economic history of classical antiquity can only be answered if insight can be gained into the broader environment of cities and the rural occupation and organisation in general. This has resulted in a boom of surveys, which have a potential for considerably broadening the range of questions being asked.
In the future even more attention is likely to be given to survey work in this area, not only because of these fundamentally scientific reasons, but also due to a lack of financial resources for large digs abroad. The use of new techniques for remote sensing (e.g. manipulation of satellite images) and the elaboration of more and more refined geographical information systems (GIS) will no doubt play an even greater part in future surveys.
Staff and project personnel.
Senior lecturer (National Fund for Scientific Research);
provincial-Roman archaeology, classical archaeology (Pessinus,
Turkey).
Postal address: Vakgroep Archeologie en Oude Geschiedenis van
Europa, Blandijnberg 2, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
Telephone: +32 9 264 41 37
Telefax: +32 9 264 41 95 c/o F. Vermeulen
E-mail: Frank.Vermeulen@rug.ac.be
Prof. dr. Robert Lunsingh Scheurleer
Senior Guest Professor; history of Greek art, Greek and Roman
civilization in Egypt, museology.
Postal address: Vakgroep Archeologie en Oude Geschiedenis van
Europa, Blandijnberg 2, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
Telephone: +32 9 264 41 39
Telefax: +32 9 264 41 95 c/o R. Lunsingh Scheurleer
Research Assistant: The Potenza Valley Survey (see current
research topics).
Postal address: Vakgroep Archeologie en Oude Geschiedenis van
Europa, Blandijnberg 2, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
Telephone: +32 9 264 41 39
Telefax: +32 9 264 41 95 c/o C. Boullart
E-mail: Catharina.Boullart@rug.ac.be
Assistant
Postal address: Vakgroep Archeologie en Oude Geschiedenis van
Europa, Blandijnberg 2, B-9000 Gent (Belgium) Telephone: +32 9
264 41 39
Telefax: +32 9 264 41 95 c/o P. Monsieur
E-mail: Patrick.Monsieur@rug.ac.be
Current research topics
This project started in 1967, but was renewed from 1987 onwards and consists now of yearly excavation campaigns executed by a team from the University of Ghent. The general aim of the stratigraphical excavations in and around the core of this central Anatolian town is to reconstruct the urban development and urbanisation, particularly between 700 BC and AD 1100. Special attention is paid to the evolution of the cult of the important mother goddess Cybele. A multidisciplinary approach that integrates, for example, palaeobotany, archaeozoology, epigraphy, topography, petrography and geomorphology is used to answer a set of questions that are part of larger research strategies of the archaeology of Asia Minor and other parts of the classical world. Thus contributions have already been made to answering questions about the Hellenisation and Romanisation of Anatolia, the introduction of the Imperial cult in Roman Asia Minor, the town-country nexus in antiquity and the regression of city life during early Byzantine times. The project also contributes to the methodology of geo-archaeological work. The integration of geo-archaeological surveys within the Pessinus' territory, together with the elaboration of a GIS system, the manipulation of satellite imagery and the development of specific computer software, constitute major contributions to methodological innovation.
Since 1963 the University of Ghent has played a prominent role in the long-term research programme of the 'Belgian Archaeological School in Greece' at Thorikos and the Laureion. This programme's main activity consists of the systematic excavation and study of the material remains of ancient silver and lead exploitation and of the human occupation of the site of Thorikos, from the Bronze Age into the early Byzantine period. The focus is on Classical Greek times (5th - 4th century BC), a period of major expansion of the silver industry and of the urban development of Thorikos, both connected with the economic and political growth of the polis Athens. Through the years important contributions have been made in a number of areas, such as funeral customs in the Geometric period, the early evolution of the Greek theatre, housing and urbanisation in Classical times and particularly the industrial process of exploitation and handling of silver in Antiquity. Since the (temporary?) halt of excavation activities on this site - from the late eighties onwards - much of the work has been concentrated on further multidisciplinary study of artifacts and excavated features. Thus, for the moment, systematic research activities are concerned with subjects such as geometric pottery, the typology of ore washeries and the typochronology of wall structures in Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic times.
Graeco-Egyptian and Romano-Egyptian terracotta's and faience
The Greeks and Romans in Egypt were confronted with an old and venerable civilisation. While the Ptolemaic court at Alexandria successfully retained and even created its own culture, elsewhere the influence of the land of the Nile is at work. In collaboration with the Allard Pierson Museum, University of Amsterdam, the extensive collection in that institution of art and artifacts from Greek and Roman Egypt is a focus of research and publication. The collection of terracotta's, including interesting series from Memphis and Naukratis, is being systematically described analysed and prepared for publication. Meanwhile, work on Graeco-Egyptian faience continues. All faience objects, including fragments of the so-called Mirahineh series, are being inventoried.
Museums, collectors and the tradition of collecting Greek and Roman Art:
The influence of the classical tradition through the collection and study of Greek and Roman art, both originals and in casts, is a subject that touches upon the roots of European culture. Questions such as why and how classical objects were collected in the North and the South of the Netherlands are best answered by tracing their history. A systematic census of amuletic pendants of Roman Harpocrates - the first of which was found in 17th century Nijmegen and studied in the literature of that time - illuminates attitudes towards Roman finds from the local soil. Casts of antique sculpture and drawings and paintings of such objects are being studied as testimonies of earlier interest in the Greek and Roman past.
The regional scale of this project (from 2000 till at least 2003) is limited to the Potenza valley, a broad river valley linking the Apennine hills to the Adriatic coastline in Central Italy. The main objective of this investigation is to reconstruct the occupation and landscape history of the Potenza area. Although the global impact of Roman expansion in the region is e central objective, it is of primary importance to measure long-term evolutions and changes. Therefore, the expansion of the Iron Age Piceni culture (9th century BC) has been chosen as a starting point and the transformation of the classical society in early medieval times (9the century AD) as a non-abrupt end of the study period. Thus, it is our task to study as many elements as possible of the former landscape through time and explain the human behaviour that caused them. The questionnaire involved will try to measure the evolution of social complexity within the studied communities and evaluate all tangible phenomena of acculturation. On a higher supra-regional scale correlation must then be sought with the global history of classical Italy. This geo-archaeological and historical analysis has also some methodological objectives. These concern a/o. the further development of interdisciplinary geo-archaeological survey methods (including the use of active aerial photography) and the refinement of integrated historical-archaeological GIS-work. The co-ordinator of this project is Frank Vermeulen (Department of Archaeology, University of Ghent). The Belgian principal investigators are Frank Vermeulen, Catharina Boullart, Patrick Monsieur (Department of Archaeology, University of Ghent), Morgan De Dapper, Beata De Vliegher (Department of Geography, University of Ghent). The collaborating Italian institutions are the University of Macerata (Umberto Moscatelli), the University of Camerino (Piero Farabollini) and the Soprintendenze della Marche (Mara Silvestrini).
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