The Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria (AASV) 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.
**To attend via Zoom, please register with this link, and you will be emailed your code.
Next Lecture: Thursday 17 September 2026 at 6:30pm
Graduate students from the University of Melbourne present their work
Informal occupation: identifying urban destitution in Roman cities
Presented by Rhiann Thomas, University of Melbourne
Urban destitution, characterised by extreme poverty, deprivation and social exclusion, has only been recognised in the social sciences since the late 19th c. Likewise, the inclusion of destitution in Roman studies as a multifaceted socio-economic state is relatively recent. Roman sources from the Republic to Late Antiquity feature vivid, and in some cases fictional, descriptions of urban beggars, transient communities without shelter, and slum-like neighbourhoods (e.g., Horace, Epistles 17.52–62; Martial, Epigrams 12.32; C. Theod. 14.18.1 and 15.1.39). Despite the academic interest in Roman urban destitution among social historians and classicists, the application of these textual sources and analysis in archaeological practice remains incomplete. This is partially the result of the common assumption that the destitute possessed few non-perishable material belongings or homes, and were most likely illiterate, thus leaving little to no mark in the archaeological and epigraphical record. This premise has perpetuated the invisibility of an entire socio-economic group in academic archaeological discussions. This paper, however, proposes supplementing the reading of Latin texts pertaining to begging, being unhoused and the development of informal settlements (e.g., slums) with contemporary ethnographies and sociological studies that illuminate a distinctive material culture of urban destitution. Through a short discussion about this research’s preliminary findings on sites of informal occupation, this presentation suggests that there is a distinct and identifiable material culture unique to Roman urban destitution.
Biography
Rhiann is a PhD Candidate in Archaeology at the University of Melbourne. Her research is focused on the material culture of urban destitution in Roman cities, primarily between the 1st c. BCE and 4th c. CE, and how spatialised poverty develops during the process of urbanisation. Rhiann holds a BA(Hons) in Anthropology and Ancient World Studies and will be conducting research at the British School at Rome in late 2026. She has also excavated in Georgia and Australia and has a professional background in DEI resource development.
Settlement history and dynamics in the Plain of Gioia Tauro during the first millennium BCE
Presented by Anna-Elisa Stümpel, University of Melbourne
This presentation discusses the history and dynamics of settlements in the Plain of Gioia Tauro (PGT), a coastal plain on the Tyrrhenian Sea, located in the region of Calabria, (southern) Italy, during the 1st millennium (1000 to 250) BCE. It focuses on the organisation and management of the general (cultural) landscape of the PGT, and changes due to processes of urbanisation. A methodological approach only recently introduced to archaeological research is applied; this makes it possible to analyse the landscape of the plain in its entirety and to complement and enhance the corpus of known archaeological sites in the PGT. This approach largely involves the application of remote sensing techniques – that is, publicly available LiDAR data and satellite imagery – onto the landscape of the PGT. By means of these data, the PGT is remotely surveyed according to criteria tailored to the unique geological and geomorphological qualities of its (historical) landscape, settlement systems outlined by the legacy data, and theoretical subsistence strategies implied by the local historical landscape but also the archaeological record. Due to intensive natural and anthropogenic modifications to the landscape, especially over the past two centuries, the remote sensing datasets are complemented by historical cartography and aerial photography from which the historical landscape of the PGT is deduced. Preliminary results of my analyses – that is, the macroscopic remote survey of the PGT– are presented in this contribution.
Biography
Anna-Elisa is originally from Germany, where she took her undergraduate degree in Classical Archaeology and Art History at The Georg-August University in Göttingen. She came to Australia in 2023 to undertake her PhD at UoM after completing her research masters at The University of Groningen, the Netherlands. In her studies and research, she primarily focuses on landscape archaeology in southern Italy, especially Calabria. For her masters thesis, for instance, which was supervised by Prof. Dr. P. A. J. Attema, she reconstructed the cultural landscape of the Crotoniatide in general, as well as the ancient polis of Kroton’s territory, in particular, from a long-term perspective, that is, from the Bronze Age to the 4th c. BCE. In this work, she focused on different essential environmental aspects of the landscape, and the archaeological evidence was also of relevance since her study largely focused on the reconstruction of the cultural landscape. The results of Anna-Elisa’s thesis have been presented at archaeological symposia and published. Anna-Elisa also has research interests in (social) zooarchaeology, funerary archaeology in combination with physical anthropology, art history and the iconography of figurative, plastic art.
Previous Lecture: Thursday 20 August 2026 at 6:30pm
A graduate student from La Trobe University presents her work
Investigating Berribee Quarry and stone artefact assemblages on First People of the Millewa Mallee Country, NW Victoria
Presented by Isabel Tickle, La Trobe University
Stone was an important resource for Aboriginal people, providing durable, sharp edges for cutting tools, and hard surfaces for tasks such as grinding. This research focuses on Berribee Quarry, an important source of stone to the First People of the Millewa Mallee. Archaeological evidence shows that the quarry was used between 800 and 2,990 years ago. At the quarry, there is evidence that rock was extracted by excavating pits into the outcrop, which would have involved a considerable investment of time and energy. This indicates its importance in an area with infrequent, isolated raw material sources of variable quality. To better understand what material was carried by people as they moved around the landscape, this study also examined museum collections of material taken from northwest Victoria. Although these collections are small and incomplete, they provide evidence for the movement of stone across the landscape and, in turn, offer insights into the mobility of Aboriginal people in the region.
Biography
Isabel is a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology and History at Latrobe University. Based in Mildura on the Country of the First Peoples of the Millewa-Mallee, she conducts research into Aboriginal archaeology with a focus on stone artefacts. Her work explores how stone artefact assemblages can reveal patterns of mobility, resource use and connections between people and the landscape in the past.
Previous Lecture: 16 July 2026
Functionality and production of arrowheads in the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age Near East
Presented by Simona Jankulovska, Monash University
This research examines the functionalities of different arrowhead designs in the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age Near East through experimental and theoretical approaches. It explores how an arrowhead’s physical properties affect performance in military contexts by examining the speed, penetration and impact of 15 different arrowhead designs. Furthermore, it identifies the manufacturing processes used in fabricating these designs and how performance affected the production process. The talk will cover the experimental process undertaken for the research, the results of the experiment, and how the findings can inform the theoretical approach of production.
Biography
Simona Jankulovska is an early-career archaeologist working in Victoria. She recently submitted her postgraduate thesis as a student of Monash University. It explored ancient bow-and-arrow technology through experimental archaeology and metallurgy, and through the establishment of a hypothetical production web. Professionally, Simona collaborates with local teams to survey, excavate and preserve Victoria’s cultural landscapes, and she works within a small, tight-knit team to prepare Cultural Heritage Management Plans. Following the formal grading of my Master’s thesis, I intend to transition into a PhD program to deepen my research in ancient weaponry. Outside of the trenches and the library, she enjoys exploring different landscapes and cultures, and reading out in nature.
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.
