The 2015 TRAC proceedings feature a selection of 14 papers summing up some of the key sessions presented at the conference held at the University of Leicester in March 2015, which drew over 180 delegates of 17 nationalities from a variety of universities, museums, and research institutions in the UK, Europe, and North America. As this conference marked the 25th anniversary of TRAC, the volume opens with a preface commemorating the last 25 years with an eye toward the future direction of both conference and community. The proceedings begin with Dr Andrew Gardner’s keynote paper on the topic of ‘Debating Roman Imperialism: Critique, Construct, Repeat?’. This is followed by an array of papers with topics ranging in geographic scope and period, from small finds in early Roman Britain to bathing practices Late Antique North Africa, and from the investigation of deviant burials to the application of urban scaling theory in Roman contexts. Because of this diversity the volume is not broken into specific sections, however, papers with similar themes are grouped accordingly, allowing the text to flow and be read as a whole. The range of contributing authors is also of note, as papers were submitted by PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and university faculty, all helping to make the 25th anniversary of this series one that continues to emphasis and reflect the aims of TRAC, both as a conference and as a conduit for exploring more theory-driven approaches to the Roman past.
Preface v
Debating Roman Imperialism: Critique, Construct, Repeat?
Andrew Gardner 1
Distraught, Drained, Devoured, or Damned? The Importance of
Individual Creativity in Roman Cursing
Stuart McKie 15
Fear of the Dead? ‘Deviant’ Burials in Roman Northern Italy
Alessandro Quercia & Melania Cazzulo 28
‘Landscapes of Life’ and ‘Landscapes of Death’:The Contribution of Funerary
Evidence to the Understanding of the Perception and Organisation of Roman
Rural Landscapes in Northern Italy
Chiara Botturi 43
Lieux de Mémoire, Central Places, and the Sanctuary of Ribemont-sur-Ancre:
A Preliminary Look
David S. Rose 57
Agency, Structure, and Place: Finds in the Landscape in the Late Iron Age /
Early Roman Transition
Nicky Garland 76
A Context for Roman Priestly Regalia: Depositional Practices and Spatial
Distribution of Assemblages from Roman Britain
Alessandra Esposito 92
From Treasured Items to Trash? The Use of Brooches in Roman Cornwall in
the Creation of Identity and Social Memory
Siân Thomas 111
Public and Private Bathing in Late Antique North Africa. Changing Habits
in a Changing Society?
Sadi Maréchal 125
Understanding the Status of the Cult of Mithras in the Tetrarchic Period:
A Socio-Archaeological Approach
David Walsh 141
Adventus: Conceptualising Boundary Space in the Art and Text
of Early Imperial to Late Antique Rome
Maria Kneafsey 153
On Gender and Spatial Experience in Public: The Case of Ancient Rome
Amy Russell 164
Imperial Statues and Public Spaces in Late Antiquity: Conceptualising
‘Constantine’ at York as an Ancient Public Commission
Brittany Thomas 177
Urban Scaling and the Growth of Rome
Matthew J. Mandich 188
