The Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria is a group that promotes the study of archaeology, anthropology, ethno-archaeology and ethno-history in both Australia and further abroad. Lectures, from a range of talented presenters, are held every third Thursday of the month at 6:30pm at the Kathleen Syme Library & Community Centre (251 Faraday St, Carlton), and are also accessible online via Zoom.
Next Lecture: 6.30pm Thursday 17 April 2025
A first-century AD crafting community in inland Tuscany: excavations at Podere Marzuolo 2016–2024
Presented by Associate Professor Gijs Tol
School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne
This paper presents the results of ongoing excavations at Podere Marzuolo (Tuscany, Italy) by the Marzuolo Archaeological Project, a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Radboud University Nijmegen and Denison University. Work conducted at the site since 2016 highlighted the site’s potential to function as a paragon of the varied nature of Roman rural settlement. Situated c. 40 km from the coast and from the nearest urban settlement, Roselle, Marzuolo finds itself in a landscape populated by small-scale peasant activity sites. It only existed for a few generations before it was destroyed by a violent fire and largely abandoned, and it is of a type poorly documented for the Roman world: a nucleated rural (craft) centre that provided a range of essential goods and services to the surrounding farming communities. This presentation will discuss some of the most important discoveries made over the past seven years, including the discovery of a ‘living’ blacksmith workshop (with a complete set of tools and instruments) and a large deposit of more than 400 vessels of terra sigillata, the iconic red-slipped tableware of the Early Imperial period.
Biography
Gijs Tol currently works as an Associate Professor in Roman Archaeology at the University of Melbourne, specialising in the archaeology of the Roman countryside with a particular emphasis on rural settlement organisation and the study of local and regional economic networks. He joined the University in 2016, after completing his PhD from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) in 2012 and working as a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the same institution. Together with Tymon de Haas (University of Leiden, The Netherlands) he co-directs landscape archaeological work in the Pontine Plain (Lazio, Central Italy) aimed at elucidating the long-term interactions between humans and environment in this former wetlands area. Over the same period, Gijs has co-directed excavations at the early Imperial craft centre Podere Marzuolo. He specialises in the study of Roman material culture and has published widely on both traditional (typological) and modern scientific approaches to interpreting a wide range of artefact classes, including pottery and metals.
Previous Lecture: 6.30pm Thursday 20 March 2025
Looking for evidence of presence
A joint presentation by Margaret Bullen & Maddy van Ewyk
Secretary of AASV | Archaeologist at Alpha Archaeology
In the 1960s, a small group of members of the Anthropological Society of Victoria living in the Mildura area set out to remedy the fact that, in the words of H. F. Thomas, “ Although the history of the white man in the Mildura district has been recorded in great detail, little has been handed down to us about the life and customs of the aborigines who inhabited the area prior to, and for a little while after, his arrival.” Thomas, and a small group of helpers, set out to discover just what traces of the aborigines still existed in the district, travelling over a hundred mile radius from Mildura. They kept excellent records which they sent to both the Mildura Museum and the Museum of Victoria, but they were not regulated in any way and had few of the resources now available to interrogate their findings. Sixty years later, archaeologists are also looking for evidence of Aboriginal presence, this time, frequently in places intended for development. Now the searchers are highly regulated and frequently accompanied by representatives from the local indigenous community.
Notices
Post Office Boxes
We advise all members that AASV now has two mailing addresses. Membership address: PO Box 200, Benalla VIC 3672.
General Correspondence and Artefact subscription enquiries: PO Box 203, Carlton VIC 3053.
