Post by UKarchaeology on Nov 17, 2015 18:17:45 GMT
MOORHEAD — After studying more than 10,000 artifacts from a decades-old archaeological dig, a Concordia College professor and his students might have solved a mystery surrounding an ancient Roman villa.
The mystery has dogged McKenzie Lewis, a 41-year-old assistant professor of classical studies, since he first researched the region surrounding the Villa del Vergigno as a graduate student.
"There's some question about whether it was built in the second century B.C. or early first century B.C. or middle," Lewis said of the villa, a large working farm that went out of use around the 400s or 500s A.D. "That might seem like it's not a big deal in the long run, one generation versus the next generation, but it kind of is."
Located just outside Florence, Italy, in Tuscany, the villa was thought to have been founded by the Roman Empire. But Lewis has always been skeptical of that, which he said speaks to a larger ideological debate in his profession.
"Are things that are big and grand built by an imperial conqueror or did the imperial conqueror come in because there are already large, grand things there?" he asked.
This past summer, Lewis and two students, senior Noah Dovre and junior Morgan Hinton, analyzed 300 boxes of artifacts from the villa's foundation and believe they found evidence to prove the latter. Judging from the types of pottery and when those were in vogue, the villa was built in the late 100s B.C., long before the Romans put down military garrisons in 80 B.C.
Full story: www.inforum.com/news/3884249-concordia-professor-sheds-light-roots-ancient-roman-villa
The mystery has dogged McKenzie Lewis, a 41-year-old assistant professor of classical studies, since he first researched the region surrounding the Villa del Vergigno as a graduate student.
"There's some question about whether it was built in the second century B.C. or early first century B.C. or middle," Lewis said of the villa, a large working farm that went out of use around the 400s or 500s A.D. "That might seem like it's not a big deal in the long run, one generation versus the next generation, but it kind of is."
Located just outside Florence, Italy, in Tuscany, the villa was thought to have been founded by the Roman Empire. But Lewis has always been skeptical of that, which he said speaks to a larger ideological debate in his profession.
"Are things that are big and grand built by an imperial conqueror or did the imperial conqueror come in because there are already large, grand things there?" he asked.
This past summer, Lewis and two students, senior Noah Dovre and junior Morgan Hinton, analyzed 300 boxes of artifacts from the villa's foundation and believe they found evidence to prove the latter. Judging from the types of pottery and when those were in vogue, the villa was built in the late 100s B.C., long before the Romans put down military garrisons in 80 B.C.
Full story: www.inforum.com/news/3884249-concordia-professor-sheds-light-roots-ancient-roman-villa