Theme:
6. The Mediterranean from Within
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
A Liquid Continent. Linking Seascapes, Social Power and Ecology in the Mediterranean
Content:
This session explores the mobility of people and goods across the Roman Mediterranean and connectivity between different seascapes. The focus will be, geographically, on the North and West Mediterranean, in particular Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and island archipelagos, attempting to explore the network of mobility through inland and coastal landscapes to produce new insights about long-distance movement and cabotage phenomena. Historically, the session aims to collect contributions that deal with contexts from the end of the Roman Republic to the beginning of the Empire when substantial changes occurred in terms of social actors, ecology, war events and economic transformations. Regarding social agency, our interest is to investigate the role of aristocratic élites in activating this Mediterranean mobility and the underprivileged at the passage of the new imperial control. Methodologically, the session also aims to link vertically and spatially the underwater archaeological contexts, represented by several shipwrecks, conceived as privileged information sites, with the networks of material and immaterial infrastructures widespread along the superficial seascapes (harbours, rivers, islands, cultural, social and economic connections). In this perspective, the Mediterranean is not just a sea between lands but a veritable continent that connects.
This session seeks to gather insights into the Ancient Mediterranean as a distinctive realm of interactions, transforming it into a shared arena of coexistence. We invite contributions spanning Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia during the 2nd Century BC and the 2nd Century AD, with a particular focus on the following themes: the significance of islands in Mediterranean dynamics; the impact of technology on the proliferation of maritime travel; cross-maritime and coastal movements; the correlation between mobility and social standing amid seascapes; shifts in ecology; connections between inland and coastal regions; and the role of shipwrecks in shaping the narrative of the Mediterranean.
Keywords:
Roman Mediterranean, Seascapes, Power, Change, Ecology, Connectivity
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
edoardo vanni (Italy) 1
Co-organisers:
Franco Cambi (Italy) 2
Soledad Blasco Nuñez (Spain) 3
Affiliations:
1. University for Foreigners of Siena
2. University of Siena
3. Centre d'Arqueologia Subaquàtica de Catalunya
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