Evidence from the past – source of knowledge for the present
Chiara Strazzulla (Classics and Ancient History)
The Importance of Being Volumnius: Roman and Etruscan connections in the burial of Publius Volumnius Violens of Perusia
In a period as crucial for the so-called Romanisation of Italy as the Second Triumvirate, local elites faced a political conundrum – was it wiser to create connections with the ever growing power of Rome, or to keep close to their Italic roots? Such a situation gave rise to the creation of double identities playing both with ancient local origins and with Roman connections – whether they were true or skilfully fabricated. Based on literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence, the case of Publius Volumnius Violens of Perusia is a surprisingly well documented instance of this phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare different types of evidence to reconstruct the importance of links to Etruscan tradition and early Republican Roman history in the life and career of a member of a local elite, and the ways such links could be purposefully emphasised, or even fabricated. This will help a better understanding of the ways ethnic identity and political connections were closely intertwined in a moment of rapid change in Roman society.
Matthew G Knight (Archaeology)
Out-of-Time Bronze Objects: Connecting with Ancestors in Prehistory
The phenomenon of depositing single and hoarded bronze objects is perhaps the defining characteristic of the Bronze Age (c.2200-800 BC). An act commonly noted, but rarely explored further, however, is the retention and rediscovery of these earlier objects over time and their subsequent deposition in the later contexts of the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods. Some of these bronze objects were at least a thousand years old when they were deposited and carefully curated over time suggesting their use as an heirloom and a means for establishing ancestral connections. The deposition locations at settlements and in the wider landscape can also be viewed as a way for legitimising claims to the land and/or commemorating past traditions. This paper looks at a series of case studies that reinforce many of these ideas. The reuse and re-appropriation of already ancient monuments and landscapes has been widely discussed in the literature, but by turning the focus onto the retention of objects over vast stretches of time, it is possible to engage with the agency of prehistoric individuals and communities. This paper ultimately enhances our understanding of mnemonics through the use of objects in prehistoric communities.
Daiana Travassos Alves (Archaeology)
Plant food consumption and the origin of Amazonian Dark Earth in the Lower Tapajos region, Amazonia, Brazil
The Amazon region has been traditionally seen as a pristine tropical rainforest where pre-Columbian inhabitants were passively adapted to the environment. Currently, several scholars argue that the environment is in fact produced by both ecological and anthropogenic factors. Their main assumption is that humans have domesticated the landscape by transforming it to further their needs. The dynamics of plant food production in the Lower Tapajos region in Brazilian Amazonia is probably related to the formation of the Amazonian Dark Earths, an extremely fertile soil that has been studied by scholars from several fields, still engaged in the process of understanding their origins. This paper discusses archaeological contexts in the Lower Tapajos region and presents a hypothesis on plant food consumption and the formation of ADE in this area. The approach of Archaeobotanical methods is fundamental for achieving this objective.