Lost in Space? Finding the People in Late Antique Archaeology

Bowden, William

Abstract

This paper argues that late antique archaeologists’ focus on space (particularly urban space) reflects the origins of late antique archaeology in challenges to paradigms of “decline” as well as the broader disciplinary histories of classical archaeology. Using the examples of the excavations of a late Roman domus at Butrint (Albania) and the creation of a Virtual Reconstruction of the forum of Venta Icenorum (UK), I suggest that late antique archaeology needs to move away from questions that have grown out of these earlier paradigms and broaden the range of data that is investigated, recovered and considered. My aim is to re-centre the experiences of a wider range of people (rather than largely prioritising the interests and experiences of high-status men). In doing so we can utilise the power of archaeology to study the lived experience of people across society rather than focusing on mapping change in the areas that they inhabited.

Citation

Bowden, W. (2024). Lost in Space? Finding the People in Late Antique Archaeology. In Lived Spaces in Late Antiquity. Taylor and Francis Group

• Online Publication Date: Apr 30, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 21, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 31, 2025
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Book Title: Lived Spaces in Late Antiquity
• ISBN: 9781138385306
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/27590175
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429427152-3/lost-space-finding-people-late-antique-archaeology-bowden?context=ubx&refId=879fe55b-6459-427d-b069-c05c48b08fc3
• Related Public URLs: https://www.routledge.com/Lived-Spaces-in-Late-Antiquity/Machado-Munnery-Sweetman/p/book/9781138385306
• Contract Date: Oct 12, 2023