The Archaeological Institute of

Katherine Beydler, a Ph.D. candidate in Classical Studies at the University of Michigan (kbeydler@umich.edu)
11:15 a.m. AM, Wilson Center, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois

7:30 p.m., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

Kroum Batchvarov, Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology, University of Connecticut (kroum.batchvarov@uconn.edu)

7:30 p.m., Black Box Theater (Brunner Theater Building), Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois

Flyer
Kroum Batchvarov, Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology, University of Connecticut (kroum.batchvarov@uconn.edu)

7:30 P.M., Monmouth College, Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth, Illinois

Hilary Becker, Asst. Professor of Classical Studies, Binghamton University (hbecker@binghamton.edu)

Hilary Becker, Asst. Professor of Classical Studies, Binghamton University (hbecker@binghamton.edu)

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

Monday, May 4, 2020
"The Cities of the Bible"
Robert Cargill, Associate Professor of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Iowa (robert-cargill@uiowa.edu)
7:30 P.M., Round Room (Room 110), Center for the Fine Arts, Knox College, Galesburg, IL

Katherine Beydler, a Ph.D. candidate in Classical Studies at the University of Michigan (kbeydler@umich.edu)
11:15 a.m. AM, Wilson Center, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
This presentation utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Roman medicine. Archaeobotany, the recovery and study of plant remains from archaeological contexts, offers excellent evidence for the study of pharmacy; it grants access to species that are underrepresented in historical and textual sources and provides data for the distribution and cultivation of plants throughout the Roman world. When analyzed alongside literary sources, it can illuminate where and why various medical plants were used. Using common medical plants as case studies, Katherine Beydler presents a methodological framework for how to combine these forms of evidence while respecting their limitations. Roman medicine, like many other forms of technology, spread to new regions during the Republican and Imperial periods, while Rome experienced an influx of new pharmaceuticals. The overall goals of this method are to better understand how the use of medical plants changed during the Roman period and to analyze how that change was perceived and described by ancient authors.

7:30 p.m., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

The goal of this project is to attempt to determine whether people from Pompeii and Herculaneum survived the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and if so, whether survivors can be located in the Roman world. Evidence that might indicate refugee resettlement includes individuals whose movement is documented, Roman family names, voting tribes, refugee intermarriage, new infrastructure, and cultural evidence, Analysis of this material finds that the coastal communities of Cumae, Naples, Puteoli, and Ostia provide the best support for refugee resettlement. The patterns indicate that more people survived from Pompeii than from Herculaneum, that most stayed in coastal Campania, and that government intervention and support came after resettlement, but did not drive it. Additionally, the refugees that can be traced seem to have selected refuge cities based on personal factors such as social and economic networks.

Kroum Batchvarov, Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology, University of Connecticut (kroum.batchvarov@uconn.edu)

7:30 p.m., Black Box Theater (Brunner Theater Building), Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois

Since 2015 The Black Sea MAP, one of the largest maritime archaeological projects ever staged, has been investigating the changes in the ancient environment of the Black Sea region including the impact of sea level change during the last glacial cycle and interconnectivity through the millennia. In the course of the Black Sea MAP’s surveys, more than sixty wrecks have been discovered and recorded with the latest robotic laser scanning, acoustic and photogrammetric techniques. The earliest wreck found so far is from the Classical period from around the 5th – 4th century BC. However, ships have also been found from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods spanning two and a half millennia. They represent an unbroken pattern of trade and exchange, warfare and communication that reaches back into deep antiquity, and because of the anoxic conditions of the Black Sea, some of the wrecks survive in incredible condition. Ships lie hundreds or thousands of metres deep with their masts still standing, rudders in place, cargoes of amphorae and ship’s fittings lying on deck, with carvings and tool marks as distinct as the day they were made by the shipwrights. Many of the ships show structural features, fittings and equipment that are only known from iconography or written description but never seen until now. This assemblage must comprise one of the finest underwater museums of ships and seafaring in the world. (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/science/shipwrecks-black-sea-archaeology.html)

Kroum Batchvarov, Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology, University of Connecticut (kroum.batchvarov@uconn.edu)

7:30 P.M., Monmouth College, Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth, Illinois
On 3 March 1677, French Vice-Admiral Jean d'Estrées launched an assault on an inferior Dutch squadron, commanded by Jacob Binckes, anchored in Rockley Bay, Tobago. The French attack was defeated, but a total of 12 warships on both sides were sunk. The Rockley Bay Research Project (https://nauticalarch.org/projects/rockley-bay-research-project/), supported by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and the University of Connecticut began an archaeological investigation of the battle in 2012. At least one of the Dutch men-of-war lost in the battle has been found by the team. A tentative hypothesis of its identity can be offered.

Hilary Becker, Asst. Professor of Classical Studies, Binghamton University (hbecker@binghamton.edu)

Little is known about the Etruscan army, principally because no Etruscan literary testimony or histories have survived. Etruscan armor from a range of different contexts away from the battlefield offers new opportunities to understand the significance of the Etruscan soldier within social context. This talk begins with a survey of armor discovered in tombs and votive contexts at sites such as Tarquinia, Vetulonia and Monte Falterona, to see just how (and where) Etruscan men defined and articulated their military status. While ancient Greeks tended to prefer giving armor as votive dedications rather than burying it in a tomb, Etruscan practices were almost the inverse. Etruscans could not only “take their armor with them” to the tomb, but occasionally the tomb itself also reveals further information about the life of the soldier. Indeed, a few elite tombs are decorated with multiple sets of shields. These tombs, modeled after Etruscan houses may reveal where Etruscan armor was stored and even may reveal the responsibilities that elite men may have held in terms of equipping fellow citizens. This theory is especially enlightened by a series of inscribed helmets which reveal who was paying for armor in Etruria. These tombs and armor combined provide vital clues in terms of understanding for the first time how the Etruscan city-state managed its resources and citizens.

Hilary Becker, Asst. Professor of Classical Studies, Binghamton University (hbecker@binghamton.edu)

7:30 P.M., Pattee Auditorium, Center for Science and Business, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois

The discovery of the only known pigment shop in ancient Rome revealed an array of colors in their raw, mineral form waiting to be sold to wall painters. Ancient pigments provide a surprising opportunity to understand how science can be used in archaeology, revealing what pigments were present in the shop and, potentially, the source from which they originated, as well as exploring the supply-side economy of Roman painting and the steps by which these pigments went from the mine, to a shop, to the walls of a Roman house. This lecture also explores the economy of the Roman pigment trade, looking at the prices of pigments as well as the potential for their adulteration.

Monday, April 27, 2020
Classics Department Diversity lecture: "Diversity and Domination at the Roman Dinner Table"
Nandini Pandey, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Wisconsin—Madison (nandini.pandey@wisc.edu)
4:30 P.M., Hanson 102, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois
How did the Romans conceptualize and experience their empire's extraordinary ethnic and geographical heterogeneity? Pandey suggests that "heterotopias of diversity"—civic, domestic, and literary spaces where Romans collected tokens of their multicultural empire—played an important role in helping elites learn to value and negotiate difference. This analysis brings material evidence to bear on Petronius' Satyricon to examine the early imperial triclinium as one such heterotopic space. Multinational labor, art, and consumer goods brought the world to elite Roman dinner-tables, but also reinforced the social dynamics and consumerism that drove Roman imperialism, in ways that might make us rethink modern performances of cosmopolitanism through cuisine.

Monday, May 4, 2020
"The Cities of the Bible"
Robert Cargill, Associate Professor of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Iowa (robert-cargill@uiowa.edu)
7:30 P.M., Round Room (Room 110), Center for the Fine Arts, Knox College, Galesburg, IL

For many, the names Bethlehem, Babylon, and Jerusalem are known as the setting for epic stories from the Bible featuring rustic mangers, soaring towers, and wooden crosses. What often gets missed is that these cities are far more than just the setting for the Bible and its characters--they were instrumental to the creation of the Bible as we know it today.

Based on his book of the same name, in this lecture Robert Cargill blends archaeology, biblical history, and personal journey as he explores these cities and their role in the creation of the Bible. He reveals surprising facts such as what the Bible says about the birth of Jesus and how Mary’s Virgin Birth caused problems for the early church. We’ll also see how the God of the Old Testament was influenced by other deities, that there were numerous non-biblical books written about Moses, Jacob, and Jesus in antiquity, and how far more books were left out of the Bible than were let in during the messy, political canonization process. Reviewing the textual and archaeological record related to cities associated with the Bible’s creation, Cargill touches on topics including the Grotto of the Nativity and the battlegrounds of Megiddo, from the towering Acropolis of Athens to the caves in Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. This lecture connects the audience with the real world places that shaped the Bible.