Roman Africa: An Archaeological Review

Abstract

The significance of the African provinces is well-appreciated in historical studies of the Roman Empire, but there is a distinct lack of good summaries in English on recent developments in the field of study. Some introductory books sacrifice readability in favour of detail, others offer a more synthetic view, but lack depth. The bibliography is now vast and ever more intimidating for the uninitiated; we hope that what follows will serve both as a useful introduction for those new to the field and as a refresher for others. In this review we have concentrated on developments which seem to us to be of particular importance, whilst directing the reader's attention to basic references in other areas. The emphasis throughout is on archaeological work and this will explain short measure having to be given to some important historic and epigraphic studies. Another choice had to be the geographical limits of the study and, mostly, we have restricted our coverage to Africa Proconsularis and Numidia, though certain themes demand expanding the horizons to sites in the Mauretanian provinces and Cyrenaica also. We have considered 1970 as an appropriate start-date for our survey, allowing us to review developments across the last twenty five years, though necessarily with greater emphasis being placed on publications of the last decade.

Archaeology and roman society: Integrating textual and archaeological data

“…198-204, with references). The North African Kasserine survey previously mentioned (Hitchner and Mattingly, 1991;Mattingly, 1996;Mattingly and Hitchner, 1995) revealed a densely occupied countryside: in an area of only 3.5 sq km, 20 settlement sites with 10 olive presses produced an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 liters per year from the 3rd to 5th centuries A.D. To Mattingly, results of the Kasserine and other surveys in Africa indicate the province enjoyed an "oil boom" (1996, p. 235), confirming the old adage that the Middle Ages began when the last drop of African oil for lamps ran out and candles had to be lit instead. Oil was hardly a luxury item, and its widespread distribution suggests some economic complexity.…”

Inuenta est blandae rationis imago : Visualizing the Mausoleum of the Flavii

“…39 Mattingly and Hitchner 1995: 174 note that for North Africa "the published studies seem to indicate far higher levels of infant mortality and far shorter adult life-spans than the epigraphic material suggests." E. Thomas 2007 argues that the coincidence of the father's age and the number of lines in the poems proves that the poems were designed for inscription on the monument.…”

“…On "Romanization" as a phenomenon manifested and explored through epigraphy, particularly funerary epigraphy, see MacMullen 1982 andMeyer 1990, with Zanker 2000 (on tombs after the Social Wars, 31-32). Some cautionary notes concerning the concept of "Romanization" in this context are sounded by Freeman 1993and Woolf 1996. Hitchner 1995 surveys the contribution made to this debate by the Flavii monument and by the publication of G.R.…”

Ritual, Space and Politics: Reflections in the Archaeological Record of Social Developments in Lepcis Magna, Tripolitania

“…The rich cultural mix of the city is revealed by the use of Latin and Neo-Punic for inscriptions, though this is masked by a decline of the latter through the first century AD (contrasting with continued use of Libyco-Punic inland, written in both Latin and Libyco-Puni c lettering, Elmayer 1983;Mattingly 1995). Punic titles (such as sufes, shhm, azrm) were retained through the first century AD, though to a much lesser extent after Trajan's award of colonial status.…”

“…Lepcis Magna ' s history shows a sequence of influences from Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian, and Roman cultures, retlected in the architecture and epigraphy (see Mattingly 1995). This paper is concerned with the monumental centre constructed from the late first century Be.…”