Cultural contacts and identity construction: a colonial context in NE Spain (2nd - early 1st c. B.C.)

Abstract

This paper focuses on a century of interaction between a colonial agent (Rome) and an indigenous people (known in classical texts as the Laietani) who inhabited the area before the arrival of the conquerors. It investigates how contact between the two societies may be detected in the archaeological record, and, where possible, what changes in local culture resulted. The first part, which presents the archaeological sites of the Cabrera de Mar valley and its material culture, documents the contacts over time between those that occupied the valley and those who arrived from the Italian peninsula. A number of indices of such contacts are considered: architecture, construction techniques, imported pottery, epigraphy, and the monetary system. The second part considers whether it is possible to detect in the valley not only cultural contact but also cultural change.

Del <em>oppidum</em> de Burriac a las termas de Ca l’Arnau. Una aproximación a la lengua y a la identidad de los habitantes de <em>Ilduro</em> (Cabrera de Mar, Barcelona)

“…Inicialmente documentado en las fincas de Ca l'Arnau y Can Mateu (7) y que con toda certeza se extiende a la parcelas vecinas de Can Benet (13), Can Rodon de l'Hort (9), y Can Masriera (8) y posiblemente también a las conocidas como Can Pau Ferrer (12), l'Hostal (11) y Mas Català (10). El asentamiento y el oppidum ibérico parece que conviven durante casi tres cuartos de centuria funcionando aparentemente como una única unidad, al menos económicamente hablando (Sinner y Martí 2012;Sinner 2015).…”

The Falerii Novi Project

“…The pattern of movement from indigenous hilltop site to adjacent Roman city finds plenty of parallel in the Mediterranean setting (e.g. Bibracte and Augustodunum in France: Woolf, 1998: 9–10; Ilduro in Spain: Sinner, 2015). More important than finding corollaries of the precise trend is what the case of the Falerii, both Veteres and Novi, can reveal more broadly about the nature of Roman urbanism and its relationship to movement and mobility.…”

Analysing technical choices: improving the archaeological classification of Late Republican Black Gloss pottery in north-eastern Hispania consumption centres

“…Throughout the 2 nd and early 1 st centuries B.C.E., Laietanian territory underwent a complex process of colonization (Sinner 2015). Despite the lack of archaeological and historical evidence from the first half of the 2 nd century B.C.E., remarkable transformations can be detected in the area during the second half of the century, involving the Roman promotion of the main oppidum of the Laietani at Burriac hill.…”

“…The study is part of a wider project focusing on some complex domestic spaces of a Late Republican settlement (mid-2 nd -early 1 st century B.C.E. ), and their material culture (Sinner 2015). The houses under study were located near the public baths, forming an impressive neighbourhood that seems to occupy one of the most privileged spaces within the urban layout.…”