Roman 'magic'

Principal investigator: Liam
Level: Masters degree

I have been researching material associated with Roman Magic for several years now; the topic of my Masters Dissertation in 2010. I am interested in the spatial and chronological distribution of 'magical' objects within Roman Britain as well as bridging the gap between theoretical discussion and empirical application. My current focus is the distribution and form of supposedly apotropaic phallic charms in Roman Britain with the aim to draw comparison between the great number recorded on the PAS dataset and those recorded sporadically in excavation reports from sites across the country. The major result of this will be the development of useable chronological and spatial data to aid in the interpretation of such objects.

Access to PAS data was very useful for my MA thesis and offered a great deal of material which would have been otherwise difficult to access and assess. PAS data continues to be at the core of my investigations. I have recently submitted a paper for an edited volume on the series of nine Jet pendants depicting a Medusa visage in Britain, assessing the form and contextual discovery of these objects. this paper was based on one given at TRAC 2014. I have most recently had a session proposal accepted for TRAC 2015 in which I am drawing together researchers who are using similar empirical approaches to magical small finds (http://trac.org.uk/2014/10/trac-2015-sessions-confirmed/)

Audit data

• Created: 9 years ago
• Created by: D P