Location: Fiumicino, Rome, Italy

Season Dates: June 23, 2013 - July 14, 2013
Application Deadline: May 31, 2013

Website: http://www.portusproject.org/

Flyer:

Program Type
Field school

Affiliation: University of Southampton

Project Director: Prof. Simon Keay, University of Southampton

Project Description

Background: The Field School is hosted by the Portus Project (www.portusproject.org), established six years ago with an aim to study the maritime port of Imperial Rome, Portus, located at the mouth of the Tiber (Italy). Directed by Prof. Simon Keay and led by the University of Southampton, the project is run as an international collaboration with a number of partners, including the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma, the British School at Rome and the University of Cambridge. Due to its academic excellence and cutting-edge innovation in fieldwork techniques, including computer modelling work developed by the project co-director Dr Graeme Earl, Portus is a leading Roman archaeology excavation recognized as such by the highest academic funding bodies, whose support it continues to enjoy, as well as wide media coverage, including recent BBC1 programme Rome’s Lost Empire ("The Roman Empire: what lies beneath" is the US version of the programme).

About Portus: Portus (Fiumicino) was the maritime port of ancient Rome and, together with the neighbouring river port at Ostia, was the focus of a network of ports serving Imperial Rome between the mid-first century A.D. and the sixth century A.D.  It was established by Claudius in the mid-first century A.D., enlarged by Trajan, and subsequently modified during the third and fourth centuries A.D.  The port began to enter a period of slow decline from the late fifth century A.D. onwards, although it was the scene of a major struggle between Byzantine and Ostrogothic troops during the Gothic wars (A.D. 535-553).

Portus was critically important for supplying the city of Imperial Rome with foodstuffs and materials from across the Mediterranean from the first century A.D. onwards.  It also acted as both a point of export for supplies and products from the Tiber Valley to the north of Rome, and a major hub for the redistribution of goods from ports across the Mediterranean. It must also have acted as a major conduit for people visiting Rome from around the Mediterranean.

Project Aims & Objectives: Directed by Simon Keay, the Portus Project is guided by two main objectives.  Firstly, it seeks to build a better understanding of Portus itself, as well as its relationship to Ostia, Rome, and the rest of the Mediterranean.  Secondly, it aims to develop techniques that will enhance the ways in which highly complex classical sites can be investigated and recorded, and evaluate the impact of those techniques. Used in combination, non-destructive survey, open area excavation, and the computer graphic representation of excavated and graphically-simulated Roman buildings are key components to achieving these objectives.

Period(s) of Occupation: Imperial Roman Period, Late Antiquity

Project Size: 25-49 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 3 weeks

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: None

Room and Board Arrangements

The fee includes tuition, accommodation, workdays and weekend meals, program activities and excursions. Airfare and health insurance are not included.

Academic Credit
Name of institution offering credit: University of Southampton, UK
Number of credits offered: 30CATS. 30 UK credits roughly equate to 15ECTS or 10 US Credits, but it is up to student’s home institution how many credits it will actually award. Those interested in obtaining accreditation should therefore check with their home institutions first. The full syllabus that can be used for that purpose can be obtained by emailing the Field School Director.
Tuition: £3,500

Contact Information
Dr Dragana Mladenović
Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton, Avenue Campus, Highfield
Southampton, SO17 1BF
United Kingdom
D.Mladenovic@soton.ac.uk

Recommended Bibliography

Keay, S., Millett, M., Paroli, L. and K. Strutt (2005) Portus: An Archaeological Survey of the Port of Imperial Rome, London: British School at Rome.

Keay, S.J. and L. Paroli (eds.) (2010) Portus and its hinterland: recent archaeological research, London: British School at Rome.