The Durius Valley Project : local identity, cultural change, and landscape relationships in Roman Spain and Portugal
Research on the western provinces of the Roman empire has undergone a paradigm shift in recent decades, away from dated studies of Roman imperialism and sweeping notions of âRomanisationâ, towards an interest in the multicultural nature of the empire, and its complex local identities. In this thesis, I formulate an analytical model that combines the strengths of established scholarship on intercultural change, identity, landscape archaeology, and the relationship between human society and environment in the ancient world. I apply this to the archaeological, literary and epigraphic record of the lived experiences of the communities of the Durius River Valley (the modern Duero/Douro) in the Iberian peninsula. By drawing scholarly thinking on identity, cultural change/interaction, and landscape together, I exemplify the effects of empire on the landscape relationships and fluid, situational, multi-valent identities of the inhabitants of the valley during and after the establishment of Roman power here, from approximately the third/second centuries BC to the second century AD. By selecting a clearly-defined region as an arena to apply my methods, I achieve a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the experiences
Clarke, Henry Howard Bowden
The Durius Valley Project : local identity, cultural change, and landscape relationships in Roman Spain and Portugal. Research on the western provinces of the Roman empire has undergone a paradigm shift in recent decades, away from dated studies of Roman imperialism and sweeping notions of âRomanisationâ, towards an interest in the multicultural nature of the empire, and its complex local identities. In this thesis, I formulate an analytical model that combines the strengths of established scholarship on intercultural change, identity, landscape archaeology, and the relationship between human society and environment in the ancient world. I apply this to the archaeological, literary and epigraphic record of the lived experiences of the communities of the Durius River Valley (the modern Duero/Douro) in the Iberian peninsula. By drawing scholarly thinking on identity, cultural change/interaction, and landscape together, I exemplify the effects of empire on the landscape relationships and fluid, situational, multi-valent identities of the inhabitants of the valley during and after the establishment of Roman power here, from approximately the third/second centuries BC to the second century AD. By selecting a clearly-defined region as an arena to apply my methods, I achieve a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the experiences
valley project local_identity cultural_change landscape relationship roman spain portugal western_province roman_empire undergone paradigm_shift away dated study roman_imperialism sweep notion romanisation towards interest multicultural nature empire complex local_identity formulate analytical_model combine strength establish scholarship intercultural change identity landscape_archaeology relationship human_society environment ancient_world apply_archaeological literary_epigraphic record live_experience community river_valley modern iberian_peninsula draw scholarly think identity cultural_change interaction landscape together exemplify effect empire landscape relationship fluid situational multi identity inhabitant valley establishment roman power select clearly defined region arena apply_method achieve nuanced detailed experience