The Classical Studies discipline has distinctive expertise in the material culture of the ancient world. We work on a wide range of topics, including votive offerings from ancient sanctuaries, the archaeology of Etruscan Italy, ancient dress, ceramics, and Roman funerary monuments. The members of the Material Culture research area share an interest in placing the objects, sites and monuments of antiquity into their broader social contexts, identifying how they have shaped (and been shaped by) the ideas and practices of different cultures. We are involved in a number of national and international collaborations, and organise excavations and conferences with a range of partner institutions.

Research projects:

The Votives Project

The Mugello Valley Archaeological Project

Poggio Colla Field School

Selected recent publications:

Life at Sea, Death on Land: the Funerary Commemoration of the Sailors of Roman Misenum (2020)​
Hope, Valerie​
In: Bargfeldt, Niels and Hjarl Petersen, Jane eds. Reflections: Harbour City Deathscapes in Roman Italy and Beyond (pp. 79-98)​
ISBN : 978-88-5491-014-0 | Publisher : Quasar | Published : Rome​​

The Etruscan pithos revolution (2020)​
Perkins, Phil​
In: Gleba, Margarita ed. Making Cities. McDonald Institute Conversations ((In press))​
ISBN : 9781913344061 | Publisher : McDonald Institute | Published : Cambridge

The Toga and Roman Identity (2019-12-12)​
Rothe, Ursula​
ISBN : 9781472571540 | Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic | Published : London​

Researchers:

Dr Eleanor Betts
Dr Emma-Jayne Graham
Dr Valerie Hope
Dr Jessica Hughes
Dr Janet Huskinson
Dr Veronica Maxwell
Professor Phil Perkins
Dr Ursula Rothe
Dr Colin Runeckles
Dr Alexandra Wilding

Current and recent research students:

Colin Andrews, Roman Seal Boxes in Britain (2011)​

Mirjam von Bechtholsheim, Ritual and Identity: British Collections of Bronze Figurines from First-Millennium-BC pre-Roman Italy

Stuart Falconer, The economic history of the civitas Dumnoniorum

Stuart McKie, The Social Significance of Curse Tablets in the Latin West (2017)​

Adam Parker, Magic in Roman Britain

Barbara Roberts, Amulets, their makers, and the spread of ideas in the later Roman Empire