Urban survey of abandoned Roman towns in Italy
Mediterranean Archaeology
The research unit Mediterranean Archaeology at Ghent University studies the archaeology of the major civilisations of the Mediterranean area, in particular of the Greek, Phoenician-Punic and Roman cultures. The research unit consists of 10 researchers and assistants under supervision of Prof Dr Roald Docter (Greek and Phoenician-Punic) and Prof Dr Frank Vermeulen (Roman).
Methodology
General: In the past, Mediterranean archaeology has adopted a strong art-historical and architectural approach. As most of the studied material remains have a high aesthetical value, a strict division between the archaeology and art history of Classical Antiquity is impossible.
Recent: During recent decades, Mediterranean archaeology has undergone important methodological changes. Today, the focus is not limited to large-scale excavations of ancient cities and on the discovery of monumental buildings. An important aspect of research is now oriented towards the wider human presence in the landscape. Both on the level of landscape research and on the level of excavations, Mediterranean archaeology of Classical Antiquity has adopted several methods from natural sciences. This also applies for the study of archaeological artefacts, which is now oriented towards a much wider array of objects.
Mediterranean archaeology at Ghent University
Large-scale field projects in Mediteranean archaeology at Ghent University started in the 1960s. The research unit has been / is active in France, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey.
Contact
Projects
(Geo-)archaeological research in the Roman town of Ammaia (Portugal): Relation city and countryside.
Central Adriatic amphorae of the late republican and early imperial times : characterization of the amphora types and their production centres.
The reconstruction of the commercial and cultural interaction across the Strait of Sicily between the VI and II centuries BC (doctoral research by Andrea Perugini).
Carthage Bir Massouda
Enough to feed an army. Carthaginian rural exploitation during the late third century BC (Horizon 2020 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship)
High-resolution imaging of buried Roman remains by means of a modular ground penetrating radar array.
Marble décor in Roman architecture: a socio-economic study of the use, provenance and trade of marble in Central Adriatic Italy.
Archaeological research in Mariana (Corsica).
Historical and archaeological research in Pessinus (Turkey).
The Potenza Valley Survey project (PVS) (Italy).
Pots, presses, people and land. The role of overseas export and local consumption demand in the development of viticulture and oleoculture in central Adriatic Italy (250 BC - AD 200). (Doctoral research: Dimitri Van Limbergen)
Prehistoric ceramics from Thorikos
Public baths and bathing in the late Antique Western Mediterranean. (Doctoral research: Sadi Maréchal)
Radiography of the past. Integrated non-destructive approaches to understand and valorise complex archaeological sites.
Roman central-Adriatic Italy: city, countryside and economy.
Decoloranda et coloranda urbs. The transformation of urban settlement patterns in central Adriatic Italy from Late Antiquity to Middle Ages.
Thorikos Archaeological Research Project (TARP)