Research Themes

Archaeological approaches to ancient art
My current research interests focus on the critical evaluation of archaeological approaches to ancient art (see publications list). My aim is to develop this research area looking in particular at the reception of ancient art in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I am currently working on a pilot project exploring aristocratic and antiquarian interests in Romano-British art and architecture. This study focuses on the excavations at Woodchester (Glos.) and Bignor (Sussex) by Samuel Lysons (1763-1819). The aim is to gain a more detailed understanding of the values and interests underpinning the development of British classical archaeology in its earliest stages. For example, to what extent were the British aristocracy and antiquarians influenced by methodological and scholarly advances elsewhere in Europe at this time, most notably in Germany? To what extent were they keen to promote their finds further afield, and how was Romano-British art and architecture perceived and displayed in relation to that discovered elsewhere in Europe?

Fourth-century Romano-British villas

I have produced a series of papers and a substantial monograph looking at mosaics within their architectural setting and in relation to the broader social context of their production and use. My current research in this area is concerned with the development of villas within their broader landscape context with a view to furthering our understanding of the nature and extent of fourth-century villa estates.

PhDs supervised

Current:

Suzanne Mitchell. A comparative study of archaeological and ethnographic methods regarding rock markings in northern central British Colombia  (supervisor, with J. Cooper) (part-time DL PhD student).

Laura Nicotra. Sculpture in the Forum of Trajan, Rome (co-supervisor with P. Allison) (part-time DL PhD student).

Heather Keeble Perceptions of Roman Britain in the nineteenth century (co-supervisor with J. Taylor)

Graduated:

Safaa Abd el Salam. Conservation of Roman paintings in Egypt. Full-time PhD student (co-supervisor with G. Morgan). Graduated 2000.

Topics available for PhD supervision

• Roman provincial art
• Romano-British villas and mosaics
• Archaeological approaches to art
• Ancient art and the antiquities market