Osteoarchaeology and the Ancient World Scholar’s Toolkit

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Osteoarchaeology and the Ancient World Scholar’s Toolkit

by Adam Hope

Osteoarchaeology: What, Why, and How?

Osteoarchaeology uses bodily remains recovered in archaeological contexts to develop historical insights. The evidence base is the human skeleton, which, when complete, consists of 206 bones and either twenty “baby” or thirty-two “adult” teeth depending on age at death. The completeness of a skeleton hinges on various factors: naturally, burial is a must — meaning this approach is unsuitable for the study of societies which practice “sky burial,” such as pre-Islamic Iran or medieval Tibet — while looting and soil acidity determine the quantity and quality of surviving bone material. Upon detection, bone is excavated by careful troweling. Extensive records are then produced, detailing the anatomical features found, the stratigraphic level at which they were discovered, and features such as visible signs of damage or indicators of sex and age.

Roman Art & Imperial Marmor

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In this paper, I discuss the Roman imperial exploitation of valuable white and colored stone resources—or marmor—and the implications of their usage for public, provincial, and private arts across the Mediterranean. I argue that from the late Republic through the high Empire, Roman elites privileged marble, granite, porphyry, and other polished stones as signifiers of status, taste, and regional domination.

A Tunnel That Appears in the Moribund Hour

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Despite hailing from different backgrounds, Antigone and Socrates ultimately meet their ends in similar manners, claiming their places in classical history as some of its earliest depictions of civil disobedience. As it were, their motives and the actions that led to those moments are explored in the dialogue created below, as well as the similarities and differences in their approaches to religion, rebellion, duty, and death; thus, the purpose of this preface is not to re-discuss these notions in redundancy. 

Fractured by formido: Plotting the Destabilizing Specter of Fear in Catiline’s War

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Fractured by formido: Plotting the Destabilizing Specter of Fear in Catiline’s War
By Gideon Gruel

In Catiline’s War, Sallust constructs the eponymous Catiline and his infamous conspiracy to overthrow the Republic as products of Rome’s advancing moral decay and indicts the largely confused counteraction of the Roman populace — the Senate together with the commons — thereto as likewise symptomatic of that decay. This was not a decay of wealth, empire, or political institutions, though these too eventually suffered, but a decay of the mind. For Sallust, this mental decay, its exact evolution muddled and difficult to perspicuously plot, is rooted in a gradual corruption of the way Romans…

Food for Thought: Women’s Domestic Roles through the Culinary Iconography of Archaic Greek Terracotta Figurines

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Photo: The collection of Archaic Greek terracotta figurines at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), image courtesy of author. Food for Thought: Women’s Domestic Roles through the Culinary Iconography of Archaic Greek Terracotta Figurines By Camille Blanco   Among the corpus of ancient Greek artifacts found in the eastern Mediterranean, ceramics and pottery remain […]

Al(l)ia Potestas: A Woman with a Different Authority

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Al(l)ia Potestas: A Woman with a Different Authority
By Daniel Campos-Rojano

A strange funerary inscription dedicated to a certain Allia Potestas has puzzled philologists for its language, layout, and outlandish content. The epitaph, written primarily in dactylic hexameter, was found near the Salary-Pinciano burial ground in Rome, a site that was primarily in use from the decline of the Republic to the end of the Flavian Age. Although the dating is controversial, the inscription is generally dated to the early Imperial Age. The poet often alludes to or outright quotes Ovid as a source of literary inspiration which supports this dating…

Medea Through the Centuries

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Medea Through the Centuries
By Maggie Yuan

A witch. A sorceress. An enchantress. Each of these terms have been ascribed to Medea, the Colchian princess who married Jason and aided him in his quest for the Golden Fleece. Her story has fascinated audiences for centuries, inspiring writers to craft their own versions of the myth…

Practical Just War: St. Augustine & His Framing of Just War Theory 

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Practical Just War: St. Augustine & His Framing of Just War Theory 
By Benjamin Elkins

Today, the application of moral terms to warfare may seem quite ordinary. Discussions about which military general is or is not a criminal, which states are just or unjust, or who should or should not be held accountable for war crimes are commonplace within modern discourse. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, scholars were quick to call it an unjust war of aggression. As a result, thousands of people bought flags and posters that read “Slava Ukraini” — glory to Ukraine. Throughout the 2023 Hamas-Israel war, numerous opinion pieces have been published evaluating the morality behind either side…

Homeric Poetry and the Construction of Humane Understanding

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Homeric Poetry and the Construction of Humane Understanding
By Eden Riebling

In recent years, an interdisciplinary subfield sometimes called Empathy Studies has become central to the literature on diversity, equity and inclusion. Yet empathy remains an elusive concept, more easily praised than implemented or understood. The Oxford English Dictionary defines empathy as “the ability to understand and appreciate another person’s feelings, experience, etc.