Objects and identities in Roman Britain and the north-western provinces

这项研究是关于罗马世界的人工制品的意义，以及人工制品与文化身份表达之间的关系。罗马帝国为这类工作提供了一个优秀但不发达的竞技场，因为这是一个考古时期，有非常丰富和出版的人工制品记录。然而，许多关于人工制品的已发表工作是高度描述性的，并且仍然相当不愿意参与理论问题。相反，许多理论文献是令人沮丧的抽象和远离实际的考古数据（例如Meskell 2005）。这本书始于2009年，源于我对罗马物质文化的教学，以及通过特定物品群体探索关于身份（种族，地区，性别，宗教）的“大思想”的愿望。这本书旨在通过他们使用和留下的文物与罗马不列颠人的生活经历相结合。它将表明，对象是至关重要的，我们对过去的理解，并可以用来探索身份的相互联系的方面。第二章回顾了种族的理论模型，然后探讨了可能表明英国移民和海外英国人存在的文物群体的背景和意义。探讨了水桶挂件等物品的背景、性别和宗教关联，说明了文化身份的其他方面如何与族裔身份的表达相互作用。第三章关注的是异国情调的象征性消费，考察了来自罗马不列颠的描绘非洲人的文物的背景和分布。本章还提供了一个机会来讨论最近关于古代种族主义的工作，并将起源的考古鉴定与最近根据氧和锶同位素界定生物起源的科学工作进行了对比。第四章继续讨论消费异国情调的主题，但重点放在异国情调的材料上，将来自北方的琥珀和来自南方的象牙与英国的页岩和黑玉材料进行对比，这些材料用于生产类似的人工制品。详细的分析实际上表明，这两种外来材料都是通过意大利北部的生产和贸易中心介导的，但它们的用途各不相同。象牙是一种精英材料，几乎没有宗教意义。琥珀，很像英国的喷气机，有特殊的物理（静电）属性，并用于护身符和珠子。尽管罗马帝国的统一方面，区域传统仍然存在，无论是作为地方身份的表达或反映生产中心和营销区。第五章使用与身体表现相关的物体（发夹、胸针、腰带配件和盥洗用具）来探讨区域分布的意义。最后，第六章询问是否有等同于高水平"罗马化"的物体？例如，书写的人工证据有多普遍？一些物品（如十字弓胸针）长期以来被认为反映了特定的身份（男性，精英，军事和城市，官方管理），实际上有一个非常广泛的分布和复杂的生活史，而其他人（如灯）来自更受限制的环境。本章提出了一种新的方法来绘制文物的社会分布，以解决其文化意义。总的来说，在本书中，我的目标是将联合收割机的理论意识和参与社会和文化认同问题的意愿与罗马北方省份的大量出版但未被充分利用的物质文化结合起来。这是一种创新的方法，应该对该学科及其他领域产生重大的国家和国际影响。

This research is about the meaning of artefacts in the Roman world and about the relationship between artefacts and the expression of cultural identities. The Roman Empire offers an excellent but underdeveloped arena for such work, as this is an archaeological period that has a very rich and well-published artefact record. However, much of the published work on artefacts is highly descriptive, and there is still considerable reluctance to engage with theoretical issues. Conversely, much of the theoretical literature is frustratingly abstract and far removed from actual archaeological data (e.g. Meskell 2005). This book, begun in 2009, grew out of my teaching on Roman Material Culture, and a desire to explore 'big ideas' about identity (ethnicity, regionality, gender, religion) through specific groups of objects.This book aims to engage with the lived experiences of people in Roman Britain through the artefacts they used and left behind. It will show that objects are crucial to our understanding of the past, and can be used to explore interlinking aspects of identity. Chapter 2 reviews theoretical models of ethnicity before exploring the context and meaning of groups of artefacts that may indicate the presence of incomers in Britain, and of Britons abroad. The contexts, gender and religious associations of objects such as bucket pendants are explored, illustrating how other aspects of cultural identity may interact with expressions of ethnic identity. Chapter 3 is concerned with the symbolic consumption of the exotic, examining the context and distribution of artefacts depicting Africans from Roman Britain. The chapter also offers an opportunity to discuss recent work on racism in antiquity and contrasts archaeological identifications of origin with recent scientific work defining biological origin on the basis of oxygen and strontium isotopes. Chapter 4 continues the theme of the consumption of the exotic, but focuses on exotic materials, contrasting amber from the north and ivory from the south with the very British materials of shale and jet, which are used for the production of similar artefacts. Detailed analysis actually demonstrates that both exotic materials are mediated through North Italian production and trade centres, but that they vary in terms of their use. Ivory is an elite material with little religious significance. Amber, much like the British jet, has special physical (electrostatic) properties and is used for amulets and beads.Despite the unifying aspects of the Roman Empire, regional traditions persisted, be that as an expression of local identities or reflecting production centres and marketing zones. Chapter 5 uses objects associated with bodily presentation (hairpins, brooches, belt fittings and toilet instruments) to explore the meaning of regional distributions.Finally, Chapter 6 asks whether there are objects that equate to high levels of 'Romanisation'? How widespread is artefactual evidence for writing, for example? Some objects (such as cross-bow brooches) long thought to reflect specific identities (male, elite, military and urban, official administration) in fact have a very wide distribution and complicated life histories, while others (such as lamps) come from much more restricted contexts. The chapter proposes a new methodology for mapping the social distributions of artefacts to address their cultural significance. Overall, in this book I aim to combine theoretical awareness and a willingness to engage with questions of social and cultural identity with a thorough engagement with the well-published but underused material culture of Rome's northern provinces. This in an innovative approach, and should have significant national and international impact on the discipline and beyond.