Joey Williams

Potsherds constitute the most common finds on archaeological sites in the classical world. Pottery offers important evidence for dating sites and provides a major source for studies including trade relations and economic exchange, food consumption, and aspects of identity. So, pottery studies form an essential part of any archaeological training, the basics of which can be gained only through direct contact with ceramic material.
The Summer School in Roman Pottery Studies is a four-week program designed to introduce the participants to Roman pottery analysis. In 2020, it will be held at Lugnano in Teverina, a hill town in the Tiber Valley just north of Rome, which is considered one of the most attractive small towns in Italy. Via the train station at Attigliano-Bomarzo, it has good connections to Rome and Orvieto, as well as other destinations.
Students will learn the fundamentals of Roman pottery through seminars, field trips, and the hands-on exploration of a ceramic assemblage. In the first half of the summer school, overall concepts and the single ceramic classes with their characteristics, function, date, and provenience will be presented. In the second half, participants will apply their knowledge to a pottery assemblage excavated near Lugnano. This element is designed to give the participants practical experience by working under the supervision of the directors with the final goal of publishing the assemblage if the participants wish.

The Caladinho Archaeological project examines the remains of a fortified structure related to the colonization of the region in the 1st century BCE. Caladinho is the first example of one of these small, fortified, rural structures to be systematically excavated in the Alentejo region of Portugal.

The Summer School in Roman Pottery Studies is a four-week program designed to present the basics of Roman pottery analysis , which can be gained only through direct contact with ceramic assemblages. Potsherds constitute the most common finds on archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, and pottery studies form an essential part of any archaeological training. Pottery offers important evidence for dating sites and provides a major source for studies including trade relations and economic exchange , food consumption, and aspects of identity. This year the Summer School will utilize recently excavated pottery from the Roman villa, horreum, and houses of Oplontis, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the Bay of Naples. The burial of Oplontis by the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius made for a rich, well-preserved assemblage that is ideally suited for a hands-on approach to understanding the Roman economy and daily life in the first-century Pompeian suburbium. The course consists of seminars, field trips, and a hands-on exploration of a ceramic assemblage. Students will learn the fundamentals of Roman pottery including single ceramic classes with their characteristics, function, date, and provenience. Participants will then apply their knowledge to pottery from ongoing excavations at Oplontis. This element is designed to give the participants practical experience by working under the supervision of the directors with the final goal of publishing the assemblage.

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.