Objects in Context, Objects in Use: Material Spatiality in Late Antiquity

This book promotes the study of material spatiality in late antiquity: not just the study of buildings, but of the people, dress and objects used within them, drawing on all available source material. It seeks to explore the material world as it was lived in late antiquity, in an interpretative inquiry, rather than simply describing the evidence that has survived until today. The volume presents a series of comprehensive bibliographic essays which provide an overview of relevant literature, along with discussions of the nature of the sources, of relevant approaches and field methods. The main section of the book explores domestic space, vessels in context, dress, shops and workshops, religious space, and military space. Synthetic papers drawing on a wide range of archaeological, art-historical and textual sources are complemented by case-studies of context-rich late antique sites in the East Mediterranean and elsewhere, including Pella, Dura-Europos, Scythopolis, and Sagalassos.

Luke Lavan is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Kent, Canterbury. His doctorate (2001) considered Provincial Capitals in Late Antiquity. He has edited conference volumes on late antique urbanism, the countryside and historical methodology, and is series editor of Late Antique Archaeology.

Ellen Swift is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Kent, Canterbury. She has particular interests in artefact studies, late Roman dress, and Roman art. Her forthcoming book on Roman decoration is to be published by Ashgate.

Toon Putzeys works for the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project of the Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven. His doctorate (2006) considered Contextual Analysis at Sagalassos, a classical city with important late antique levels in the mountains of South-West Turkey.