V O R T R A G – SR 12
Die, 17. Juni 2025, um 19 Uhr s. t.
Astrid van Oyen (Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen)
The Roman rural site of Podere Marzuolo (Cinigiano, provincia di Grosseto) is situated in inland southern Tuscany, at a remove from the main road network and at the border of the territories of Roselle and Chiusi. In the second half of the 1st century BC, Marzuolo was installed as one of many small sites that were part of a wave of rural development after the conclusion of the devastating Civil Wars. As a small rural center, Marzuolo hosted craftspeople and farmers and catered to the demand for foodstuffs, tools, and services of the surrounding population. The picture is one of a peaceful, rural existence; of a rural village frequented by peasants, craftspeople, and the occasional peddler. Yet our multi-year, intensive archaeological investigations have shown that this picture of uneventful rural life is a figment of the historical imagination that glosses over the many turns, shifts, events – in short, the drama – of the Roman countryside. This lecture provides a glimpse of this rural drama: a wine business gone wrong; a smithy that burnt down; a potter trying and failing to launch a new production line. In the process, it reflects on archaeological methodology and on the importance of reconstructing human lives on the big stage of history.
