Projects / Programmes
Crafts and Craft Activities in the Roman Period
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.02.00 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H340 |
Humanities |
Archaeology |
Roman period, crafts, stone masonry, pottery production, glass production
Researchers (6)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The main purpose of the project is a research with a wide spectrum which will link archaeology with the use of new technologies of modern technological society on one side and the analysis of the material (marble, clay analysis) on the other side. Its goal is the evaluation and sum up the state of research and knowledge about crafts and craft activities in the Roman period, their relation to the previously existing crafts in the prehistoric period, the possible continuation of this tradition in the Roman period and their existance in the period afther the fall of the Roman cvilisation. We also wish to emphasize the inovation of new techonologies and crafts in the period of the Imperium Romanum on the territory of the south-east Alpine region. Recent extensive archaeological excavations in the last fifteen years have resulted in numerous new information, that were not yet completel evaluated as well as not comparatively analysed. The important source and base for the reserach are also newly published corpus of the epigraphic and other lapidary material which in its own way throw light on crafts and with this connected activities as weel as their connection and link-up in the everday life of the Roman period.
The prepared database will be used as a starting point for the future work and reseach, which will focus in detailed anyalysis of the single craft activities. From this point of view we will first evaluate the tradition of the single crafts in the prehistoric period, verify which crafts were strong enough to continue and influence the single groups of crafts in the Roman period (pottery making), which crafts have died out and were newly introduced in the society in the Roman period (glass making) when new technologies were developed and introduced on the field and which are new on the field (stoneworking). Special focus will be also an insight to the craft activities in the migration and early Slavic period.
Significance for science
The scientific value of the project is the enhanced scope of research of the crafts from the prehistoric times to the medieval period. Thorough knowledge of these processes and a deep understanding of their evolvement facilitates the expansion of research and the implementation of the results to other fields of expertise, e.g. the understanding of the economic aspects of life in the past, the Romanisation process, the evolving of the settlement outline, the local and global economic relations, the development of ancient towns as well as rural areas and their co-dependence. In the broad sense, the research results give grounds for the interpretation of the rich and diverse intercultural relations in the researched area through the past, such as the prehistoric connections between the Hallstatt cultures of this area with the Italic and Greek cultural basins, the foundation for which were precisely crafts and trade. The main achievement of the research of the prehistoric panel is the complex outline of communications between the Celtic and the Macedonian cultural basin. The analysis of the trade with craft products between the two areas facilitated the postulation for a new absolute chronology of the late Iron Age period and the beginning of the intermediate period. The publishing of the results was met with a huge interest in the researchers’ community and several researchers from this field of expertize acknowledged the accuracy of the results.
For the Roman period it is imperative to stress the intensity of the interdisciplinary research, especially in the field of glass and marble analyses. The analysis of the marble statues from the Celeia ager was a part of a broad process of analyses of the materials from the ancient provinces between the Alps and Pannonia; the results proved the importance of the transitional area of the SE Alps and the N Adriatic in the period of the expansion of the Roman empire (as an area with natural goods’ potential which facilitated further expansion towards the E and the Balkans) as well as in the period of the akme of the Roman Empire and the late antiquity period.
The project group contributed to the broadening of the research scope to the less known field of ancient crafts which had yet to be researched (the bronze statues, the local glass production, the ceramics production in the post-medieval p.) and it also dealt with the vast cashe of materials from new excavation sites, all the while communicating the acquired results to the younger generations, thus boosting their research potentials in this field of expertize. This was achieved by the implementing the research process in the teaching process, mentoring the young researchers and PhD students. On the other hand, the research results were communicated to the scientific community at home and abroad by organizing domestic and international scientific events and by attending the conferences abroad which enabled the international comparison of the results, the establishing of international contatcs and the transferring of the results into the international research community.
The results of the project group were acclaimed by the international community already during the course of research. In the cooperation with the Italian national committee for the glass research (AIHV Italia) a symposium was organized in 2009 on the glass production in the Adriatic. The progress of the research of ancient glass in Slovenia and the neighbouring areas was next acclaimed internationally; the association for the history of glass (AIHV) awarded the organization of one of the largest archaeological congresses to Slovenia and the project manager I. Lazar, the chairman of the organization committee. The congress will take place in 2012. These results are a testimony of of the acclaimed quality and the excellence of our scientific community that is acclaimed in the international community and as such a well respected research partner in international projects.
Significance for the country
The research results, analyses and interpretations brought new knowledge on the past and the historical development of this area which was inextricably connected to the broad concept of the Roman Empire. Several segments of material culture were analysed and newly appraised, which shed new light on the trade in the Mediterranean and some other cultural phenomena, as well as facilitated the more precise chronology and the related issues. All the results were published (or will be) in domestic and international scientific papers and monographs. Numerous scientific events gave grounds to the presentation of the project results and will boost further research in certain fields of expertise. Several results transcend the scope of the Slovenian research community and could thus be understood as interregional, which means that they are, combined with the international publishing of the research results, the finest promotion of our scientific excellence.
This project brought a big shift towards the arrangement and the analyses of the materials that were acquired in Slovenia in the last 15 years during the intensive archaeological research for the future motorways. The processing of material facilitated not only the evaluation but also proper conservation and documentation of the finds which are finally placed in the museums in charge of our moveable heritage. Properly assessed and interpreted materials are, naturally, the clearly discernible museum artefacts which, if properly exhibited, kindles the interest of a broader community. This way the research results are best communicated to the community, while the evaluated materials add to our cultural image and promotes our cultural heritage. Since all researchers are also engaged in the teaching process, the results are readily implemented into the teaching process, thus contributing to the upbringing of the young generation of future researchers who make their first contacts with these contents already in the course of their studies. All project members thus communicated their research results to both graduate and post-graduate students of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Primorska, as well as to students of other universities as guest professors, e.g. the University of Zagreb, the University of Sarajevo and the University of Rijeka. Several lectures were performed in international congresses and hosting events at foreign universities (Austria, Chech Republic, Italy). The cooperation in the teaching process both at home and abroad is the most immediate communication of the research results to students and it contributes to their further postgraduate research, while hosting lectures are the best way of communicating the results to the international community and demonstrating the Slovenian scientific excellence.
Another aspect of the transferring of research results into the teaching process is of particular importance to the Slovenian community, i.e. the organization of the Summer School of Museology, an event that takes place in Piran. It is organized in the cooperation with international museum institutions, the museum association ICOM and the local community; the attendants are normally museum curators, civil servants and students, interested in the practical experience of communicating the research results to the visitors of museums, galleries, public collections and other public institutions that are committed to the preservation and the promotion of cultural heritage.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
2009,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
2009,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
