Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Investigating the Material Dimensions of Colonialism: The Impact of the Roman State in Southern Gaul

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Michael Dietler (University of Chicago), Benjamin Luley will investigate the changes in daily life that occurred for the Celtic-speaking peoples of what is today southern France at the archaeological sites of Lattes, Nages, Ambrussum, Nîmes, and Narbonne after the Roman conquest. The first four sites were indigenous, densely-settled fortified cities with populations of several thousand inhabitants, whereas the site of Narbonne was an old and very important Roman colony. The region of southern France came under Roman control after 121 B.C., and scholars have often assumed that the peoples of this region willingly and consciously adopted Roman practices and values in a process referred to as 'Romanization'. However, very few studies have investigated the ways in which daily life changed for the native populations of the conquered Roman provinces. As a result, archaeologists have been unable to address the specific ways in which the Roman state impacted indigenous life and the ways in which the indigenous peoples of the provinces became integrated into the Roman Empire and participated in imperial society. This research will involve a new synthesis of the results from excavations at the five sites combined with a residue analysis of sample ceramics, as well as participation in the ongoing excavations at Lattes. This approach breaks with more traditional attempts at investigating the Roman provinces that have largely ignored the daily, domestic aspects of life. In particular, no residue analysis has ever been performed on ceramics from this region, and this project will allow archaeologists to better understand what local peoples were consuming and how these practices changed over time. In a post-colonial world, the effects of modern colonialism are still emphatically present throughout the globe. However, there is a general lacuna in knowledge about the role of daily material life in the changes associated with colonialism. Furthermore, the majority of studies of colonialism have focused on the expansion of modern world powers since the growth of capitalism, primarily through the literary and ethnographic record. This research will therefore provide a needed material perspective for broader comparative studies on colonialism by using a notably rich and well-documented record of colonial interaction in southern France that spanned several centuries. Through a focus on the material dimensions of daily life, the research will address this notable lacuna and allow for an understanding of how the material world functions in colonial transformations. This project will foster interaction between French, Spanish, Catalonian, and American archaeologists at one of the most important international archaeological sites in Western Europe and contribute to deeper collaborative efforts between the French Centre national de la Recherche scientifique (CNRS) and the University of Chicago.