Day: September 25, 2012

Follow the Anglesey Road

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From the Daily Post:

ARCHEOLOGISTS will follow a buried Roman road in the hope they will find an ancient fort.

The Gwynedd Archaeology Trust completed a major dig at the Tai Cochion site near the village of Brynsiencyn, Anglesey, 18 months ago.

They discovered the site was an important Roman village with the remains of buildings, pottery and coins found.

The Romans reached the site from over the Menai Strait in Gwynedd, where Segontium in Caernarfon was an important fort.

 Now the dig team want to know where the Roman road to the north west of the site leads.

They have tracked the road for around 250 metres and will now use magnetic surveying to try and find where the road ends.

Dave Hopewell, senior archaeologist from the Gwynedd Archaeology Trust, said: “We are convinced that there was another fort on Anglesey that has never been discovered.

“This road could lead us to it.

“We can now use this new equipment to map and follow the road and we now have some funding in place to do this.

“We are excited about where this could lead.”

Anglesey, known as Mona to the Romans, was seen as a major thorn in the side of the Roman invasion of Britain.

The island was a stronghold of the Druids, spiritual and political leaders of the Celtic tribes.

Roman writer Tacitus chronicled the infamous confrontation between the Roman general Suetonius Paulinus and Druids who were said to be a terrible sight in the mid-first century.

A pitched battle was fought on the banks of the Menai Strait, with the Romans breaking the resistance and slaughtering the Druids and their followers.

The Romans later build a fort at Holyhead.

The location of the Tai Cochion settlement together with initial discoveries, suggests the settlement to be a trading post linking Anglesey with the mainland.

Analysis of the pottery shows the site dates from the end of the 1st Century, through to the middle of the 4th Century.

… we mentioned the Tai Cochion dig a couple of years ago: Romans in Wales (third item).

JOB: Latin Lit @ UIUC

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

seen on the Classicists list

The Department of the Classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites applications for a full-time tenure-track Assistant Professor with a specialization of Latin prose literature. Successful candidates must conduct independent research, perform academic duties associated with our BA, MA, and PhD programs, and teach effectively at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Applicants are expected to present evidence of excellence in research and teaching.

Applicants must have a PhD in Classics (or in an immediately relevant field) at time of appointment. The target starting date is August 16, 2013. Salary is commensurate with qualifications.

To apply, create your candidate profile through http://jobs.illinois.edu and upload your application materials: cover letter, CV, writing sample (up to 20 pages), teaching portfolio (sample syllabi, teaching evaluations, and a statement of teaching philosophy), and contact information or Interfolio ID for three professional references. Referees will be contacted electronically upon the submission of the application. Only applications submitted through the University of Illinois Job Board will be considered. To ensure full consideration, all required application materials must be submitted by November 26, 2012; letters of reference must be received no later than December 3, 2012. Initial interviews will be conducted at the APA/AIA meeting in Seattle, January 3-6, 2013.

The University is noted for its extensive library holdings in Classics and related fields and for its museums, with excellent collections of ancient Mediterranean artifacts. The Department of the Classics also publishes the journal Illinois Classical Studies. For more information about the search, please contact slcl-hr AT illinois.edu (please reference Classics Search in the subject line). Additional information about the Department of the Classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign can be found at http://www.classics.illinois.edu/.

Illinois is an Affirmative Action /Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and ideas who embrace and value diversity and inclusivity. (www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu).

In Explorator 15.23

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Forgot to post this the other day:

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
A major Roman mosaic find from Antiochia ad Cragum:

http://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/artsatunl/1473/8558
http://www.livescience.com/23250-enormous-roman-mosaic-found-farmer-field.html
http://phys.org/news/2012-09-crews-uncover-massive-roman-mosaic.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E8FgKVR7ow (video)
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/09/18/enormous-roman-mosaic-found-under-farm\
er-field/
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/uon-cum091312.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49064354/ns/technology_and_science-science/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120918083903.htm
http://news.discovery.com/history/roman-mosaic-field-120918.html
http://phys.org/news/2012-09-crews-uncover-massive-roman-mosaic.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/19/roman_empire_mosaic_turkey/

… while a Hellenistic mosaic find from southern Italy didn’t get quite as
much
coverage:

http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2012/09/20/Hellenistic-mosaic-fo\
und-southern-Italy_7504984.html

Reiterating that the ‘Tophet’ in Carthage was not a site of child sacrifice:

http://www.livescience.com/23298-carthage-graveyard-not-child-sacrifice.html
http://news.yahoo.com/ancient-baby-graveyard-not-child-sacrifice-scientists-1459\
10745.html

cf:
http://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/ancient-baby-graveyard-or-infant-sa\
crifice-site/

Some headless Roman statues from Turkey (I think we mentioned these):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/headless-roman-statues-discovered-turke\
y_n_1893901.html

Phrygian and Lydian inscriptions from northwest Turkey:

http://www.news.leiden.edu/news-2012/linguists-from-leiden-d
ecipher-phrygian-and-lydian-inscriptions.html

A Roman sarcophagus from a Dorset garden:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2204955/The-trough-Dorset-garden-\
turned-Roman-sarcophagus-worth-50-000.html

Possible Roman remains at a hospital site in Henley:

http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=1163800

What Cory Brennan is up to:

http://news.rutgers.edu/focus/issue.2012-08-28.1598204061/article.2012-09-19.101\
1849344

A Chalkidian helmet is coming to auction:

http://usa.greekreporter.com/2012/09/21/rare-chalkidian-helmet-at-hixenbaugh-anc\
ient-art/

A third-century temple find at Peperikon:

http://sofiaglobe.com/2012/09/21/archaeology-third-century-temple-ancient-altars\
-found-at-bulgarias-perperikon/

Vague item with lots of problems about a ‘pan’ found near Sozopol:

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=143316

Bulgaria is trying to get heritage status for the Valley of the Thracian
Kings:

http://paper.standartnews.com/en/article.php?d=2012-09-22&article=40079

A cross-dressing Alexander?:

http://www.historytoday.com/tony-spawforth/alexander-cross-dressing-conqueror-wo\
rld

Pompeii in pop culture:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9557926/Pompeii-in-poular-culture\
.html

Latest in the Elgin/Parthenon marbles issue:

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_19/09/2012_462088

More on Etruscan pyramids:

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120917/NEWS04/709179956&source=RSS
http://news.discovery.com/history/etruscan-pyramids-120918.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49088030/ns/technology_and_science-science/
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/09/2012/etruscan-pyramidal-cham\
bers-discovered-in-italy

More on the ‘crisis’ and Greek antiquities:

http://usa.greekreporter.com/2012/09/19/greek-crisis-claims-another-victim-antiq\
uities/

More on that Caesar-associated fort in Germany:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/roman-fort-caesar-gaul-germany_n_188527\
1.html
http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/15699_ENG_HTML.php

Review(ish) of Persian Fire and Rubicon:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/15/david-s-bookclub-persian-fire-a\
nd-rubicon.html

‘Dieing’ to Know the Ivory

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From the BBC:

A scientific study on an ivory Roman gaming die found in Gloucestershire has ended a 40-year mystery.

The small cube was found in Frocester near Stroud in the late 1960s but until now the type of ivory was unknown.

Dr Sonia O’Connor from the University of Bradford has carried out tests at Gloucester City Museum which she says prove the ivory came from an elephant.

The museum’s curator David Rice said he was “disappointed” the object was not made of rarer whale ivory.

“We’ve been puzzling about it for 30 years [since it has been in the museum],” he said.

“I am disappointed, but it’s good to know what it is.

“It shows Gloucestershire was connected to the world even 2,000 years ago, with things coming from Africa to the county.”

Trade routes

Dr O’Connor first studied the die in the early 1980s, but revisited it after the award of new funding.

It has allowed her to study objects made of hard animal tissue such as ivory, antler, bone, horn and tortoiseshell.

“Although it had been identified as ivory nobody could work out what the species was, and at the time I couldn’t get any further either,” she said.

Dr O’Connor came to the elephant ivory conclusion after studying the texture of the surface.

“I would love for it to have been one of the unusual ivories for the Roman period but it is actually elephant ivory.

“The species helps us understand trade routes and the importance of the piece.

“The rarer the material perhaps the more valuable it was to the people who owned it.”

Mr Rice said he now planned to put the die on permanent display in Gloucester Museum.

… I wonder what would turn up if they tested all those dice which are always on eBay