Annual Report 2008-9 - The British School at Rome

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A R C H A E O L O G Y Andrew Wilson (Society for Libyan Studies) in conjunction with Josephine Quinn and Jonathan Prag (Oxford). It was funded by the British Academy as part of its Reconnecting the Mediterranean initiative, and drew upon speakers from universities in Italy, Malta, Spain, Tunisia and the UK. OTHER FIELD PROJECTS The fourth season of BSR excavations took place at the site of Falacrinae, as part of the Vespasian Project directed by Dr Helen Patterson (BSR Molly Cotton Fellow) and Professor Filippo Coarelli (Perugia). Excavations at the vicus shed light on the earliest occupation at the site, as well as something of the non-urban character of the Roman vicus itself. The site of the Roman villa at San Lorenzo, being supervised by Stephen Kay, with the support of BSR staff Roberta Cascino and Cinzia Filippone, is now understood to have been a monumental complex, that developed through multiple phases, beginning under Augustus and growing throughout the Imperial period until its abandonment in the second century AD although later reoccupied in the fourth century AD. The Imperial villa was dominated by a large courtyard, with a portico on at least one side, while to the west were the remains of a possible garden. The residential area of the villa lay to the north, where the excavation revealed a white mosaic floor, belonging to a second phase of occupation, and a luxurious marble floor in opus sectile. The site was eventually abandoned in the early fifth century AD, as is attested by a destruction layer of burnt roof timbers and the collapsed roof, which sealed a layer rich in ceramics, coins and bronze vessels. The BSR also supported the successful completion of a further season of excavation at the villa of Emperor Marcus Aurelius at Villa Magna (Anagni), directed by Dr Lisa Fentress. CONFERENCES In addition to those mentioned previously, the BSR hosted several other conferences and workshops in the course of the year, including the sixth Incontro di Studi sul Lazio e la 26 Sabina, and the second Valle Giulia workshop, Urban Landscape Survey (March 2009) in conjunction with the Belgian and Dutch Academies. BSR staff were also busy giving papers and hosting sessions at a range of important meetings, including the AIAC XVI Congress of Classical Archaeology at Rome (September 2008), the Incontri sull’Archeologia dei Paesaggi workshop II at Salerno (November 2008), Geofisica per l’Archeologia at Rome hosted by CISTeC (December 2008), Computer Applications in Archaeology at Williamsburg, USA (April 2009), ASMOSIA at Tarragona (June 2009). Simon Keay gave the second Byvanck/BABESCH lecture on the Portus Project at the National Archaeological Museum in Leiden in December 2008. He was also invited by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas to evaluate the performance and strategic plan (for the period 2010–13) for the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma in Madrid (February 2009). STAFF After two years’ outstanding work, Leonie Pett (Geophysical Research Assistant) left in late September 2008 to start a PhD at the University of Cambridge. Her position was filled by Gregory Tucker, a masters graduate in maritime archaeology from the University of Southampton. Elizabeth De Gaetano (Geophysical Research Assistant) also departed in December 2008 after two years’ excellent work at the BSR after her successful application to the AHRC for full funding to complete her PhD at the University of Southampton. In January 2009 Jessica Ogden, who has just successfully completed her MSc in Archaeological Computing and Geophysics at the University of Southampton joined the geophysics team, while Giles Richardson (Geophysical Research Assistant) departed in order to further his interest in underwater archaeology. Simon Keay Research Professor in Archaeology
FACULTY OF A RCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY AND L ETTERS The Faculty opened its meeting on 4 March 2009 by thanking the School’s outgoing Director Andrew Wallace-Hadrill for his ‘solicitous attention to the professional concerns of the Faculty over the past fourteen years’. Behind this gesture and comment lies a great swathe of achievements on Andrew’s part that have hugely enhanced the scholarship that we exist to support. It seems almost invidious to single out individual aspects, but perhaps I may be permitted to comment on two. First, the leadership Andrew has shown in developing modern studies within the School – aided, of course, by David Forgacs, who returns to his post at University College London at the end of this academic year and to whom the Faculty is also immensely grateful. Second, there are the building projects that have seen the School’s Library and Lecture Theatre become facilities that can hardly be bettered among the foreign academies in Rome. It is a great credit to Valerie Scott and her staff that the highest standard of support for scholarship is being maintained. Meanwhile, the Lecture Theatre has proved so successful a venue that Council has had to consider a strategic reduction of the programme that the admirable Sue Russell and her colleagues run. Andrew’s period of time as Director has seen other developments. The Fellowship for Grand Tour or Anglo- Italian Cultural Studies, generously funded by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, has now passed its tenth year with the tenure of William Eisler, whilst the new Giles Worsley Travel Fellowship was held in the autumn by Rebecca Madgin. Rebecca gave a presentation about her work to a large audience at Sotheby’s in London in January and has gone straight on to a research fellowship at the University of Glasgow. Meaghan McEvoy (Rome Scholar 2008–9) will take up a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship this coming autumn, while Claire Holleran (Rome Awardee 2008–9) has a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Liverpool and Emma-Jayne Graham (Rome Fellow 2005–6), has been appointed to a teaching fellowship at the University of St Andrews. It is also gratifying that we have been able to pick senior fellows who have played important mentoring roles at the School in addition to pursuing their own research. Balsdon Fellow Michael Bury and Hugh Last Fellow Stephen Heyworth are to be greatly thanked for their efforts in this regard. Thanks are also due to the two members of the Faculty whose five-year terms of office came to an end in December: Charles Burdett and Ruth Whitehouse. In addition, Martin Millett has had to step down from the Faculty this summer in order to take up the position of Chair of BASIS, the body of the British Academy through which the School receives state support. They leave the Faculty as it continues to adjust to its new role overseeing the School’s publications activities as well as awards and archaeology. The early signs are that the new system is working very well, with a great increase in the number and range of colleagues able to have some input to the School’s academic and publishing profile. It is unfortunate to have to close this report by noting, however, that financial pressures stemming from reduced income and an extremely detrimental sterling-euro exchange rate have begun to have an effect on the Faculty’s activities. Our March meeting, principally held to award Scholarships, Fellowships and Grants for 2009–10 (and masterminded as efficiently as ever by the exceptional Registrar Gill Clark) saw a strong field of applicants but was followed by the disappointment of discovering that Council could fund only four of the top five candidates to be dispatched to Rome. This situation makes it even more imperative for Faculty to keep in mind the need for external support for the humanities. If there is one thing readers of this report can do to help, it is to let us know of organisations or individuals who might be prevailed upon to give some support to the humanities activities of the British School at Rome that we all value so highly. Frank Salmon Chair, Faculty of Archaeology, History and Letters 27
Page 1 and 2: T HE B RITISH S CHOOL AT R OME Patr
Page 3 and 4: C HAIRMAN’ S F OREWORD It is not
Page 5 and 6: Andrew and Jo Wallace-Hadrill and S
Page 7 and 8: lectures represent no diminution of
Page 9 and 10: in its social context. And needless
Page 11 and 12: H ERCULANEUM C ONSERVATION P ROJECT
Page 13 and 14: Left: Mimmo Camardo inspects marble
Page 15 and 16: H UMANITIES AWARDS Balsdon Fellow M
Page 17 and 18: BSR residents visiting the Meeting
Page 19 and 20: M ODERN S TUDIES Icompleted my last
Page 21 and 22: Trevelyan’s Garibaldi Trilogy: hi
Page 23 and 24: Above: White marble head from excav
Page 25: Salzare at Fosso dell’Incastro ne
Page 29 and 30: Above: Studio 7, Via Antonio Gramsc
Page 31 and 32: Pound, 2009, by Penelope Cain (Aust
Page 33 and 34: A RCHITECTURE P ROGRAMME This year
Page 35 and 36: L IBRARY AND A RCHIVE There has bee
Page 37 and 38: P UBLICATIONS AND E XHIBITIONS BY S
Page 39 and 40: Core Staff S TAFF Director Professo
Page 41 and 42: (f) To award scholarships, Exhibiti
Page 43 and 44: F INANCIAL S TATEMENTS for the year
Page 45 and 46: B ALANCE SHEET as at 31 March 2009
Page 47 and 48: 2. OTHER GRANTS, DONATIONS AND LEGA
Page 49 and 50: N OTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Page 51 and 52: S UBCOMMITTEES AND H ONORARY F ELLO
Page 53 and 54: of Suburban Rome. Disegni dei Conto
Page 55 and 56: Hayes; Mr T.M. Hayes; Miss A.E. Hea

Annual Report 2008-9 - The British School at Rome

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