Papers by Andrew Carroll
Rasenna Journal of the Center For Etruscan Studies, 2009
Dating a Roman poet’s work can be a very challenging task that is constantly being revised. The ... more Dating a Roman poet’s work can be a very challenging task that is constantly being revised. The publication dates of the ancient Roman writers were never securely recorded; therefore scholars look for events within the works that can be collaborated by external dating. Propertius’ Monobiblos has been dated to 28 B.C.E. because of the reference to Tullus traveling with his uncle in poem 1.6. Ovid’s Fasti was written between 2-8 CE since Ovid made reference to it in his Tristia, written in exile. But there is evidence of it being re-written after Augustus death in 14 CE with the insertion of a dedication to Germanicus in book 1. Using these techniques of dating, many scholars give the first book of Tibullus a publication date of 26 B.C.E. because of the mention of Messalla’s triumph on 25 September 27 B.C.E. in poem 1.7. This dating conclusion has lead to certain literary interpretations of the first three Roman elegists: Gallus, Tibullus and Propertius. However this is a highly subjective method of dating which is open to interpretation. In addition to outside datable events, themes that an author covers can also be useful in determining the publication date of a work. The events of the outside world frequently influence a person’s poems. Scholars’ belief that Propertius was published first has lead to the conclusion that Propertius influenced Tibullus’ writing.
“Sharing wives is an established Etruscan custom” and “Tyrrhenian pirates on a well-decked ship” ... more “Sharing wives is an established Etruscan custom” and “Tyrrhenian pirates on a well-decked ship” are just some of the comments slung by authors like Theopompus and the composer of the Homeric Hymns about the inhabitants of central Italy. These descriptions and more of the Etruscans by both Greek and Roman writers as piratical raiders or effeminate warriors have lead to a lasting mythological history about who they were as a culture. Due to a heavy reliance on texts by early antiquarians, many pieces of biased information recorded by Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and other Mediterranean Historians were taken as factual descriptions of surrounding people. But this has greatly distorted modern perception of the Etruscan people. Ancient texts were created in part to promote certain ideals about the author’s own world, and thus they were likely to slander a powerful, competitive culture in the Mediterranean basin to their own city. This depiction has predisposed theories about the Etruscans through the 21st century. Many archaeologists have focused on how the sites and artifacts can validate textual evidence, instead of allowing the archaeological evidence to provide a nuanced view of the Etruscans. One of the most marked examples of this prejudice continues in scholars works like Nancy Winter’s and John Stamper’s books on early Italic buildings, in which the Greeks were seen as the sole inventors of terracotta tile roof technology and that the only way Etruscans learned to build their terracotta roofs is because Demaratus of Corinth brought this technology to Italy during his exile. However evidence in central Italy could prove that terracotta roofs developed mutually in two areas of the Mediterranean in the 7th century. The remains of roofs found at Poggio Civitate (Murlo) are thought to predate the tiles found in Corinth. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that roofing- tile production technology could have developed in Etruscan Central Italy separately from the Greek style, thus proving that the Etruscans developed great technological advances without Greek influence and that the stories recorded by ancient historians need to be used to complement instead of drive the theories of Etruscan archaeology.
Conference Presentations by Andrew Carroll
Treasuries are an enigmatic group of buildings found within Greek sanctuaries. Intellectuals pos... more Treasuries are an enigmatic group of buildings found within Greek sanctuaries. Intellectuals postulate that a Greek city-‐state built these structures to make a statement about or for the advancement of political capital of the home city in a location that other Greek poleis would be sure to learn about it. Most city-‐states constructed treasuries at distant sanctuaries; but their decoration and design have lead scholars believe that they sent local architects and master builders to design these buildings. Consequently, the construction styles from the parent city ended up being mimicked and the engineering peculiarities of a city-‐state appeared in these treasuries. No one shows more in common with its parent city than the treasury of Gela at Olympia. Since its discovery academics have remarked on how it displays Geloan influences in its decoration. These characteristics are puzzling since Gela was a Cretan and Rhodian colony founded around ~690 BCE and an archaeologist would expect that the Geloan’s building design should have more similarities with buildings from Crete and Rhodes, but this was not the case in this early period. By contrast, Gela shared more with the Italic societies of the time, raising the question where the design of these buildings came from. The treasury of Gela is an example of Italic building and decorating scheme being exported to the Greek mainland. The quadrangular floor plan of the original treasury building shares similarities with early Etruscan sanctuaries. The Geloans were using trusses to support the treasury roof, a technique from the Etruscan west. Finally, the terracotta decorations were drawing influence from Orientalizing and Archaic roof decorations. Gela appears to be a crossroad of architectural techniques and highlights the influences coming from the Italic peninsula, which were more dominant than those originating from the Greek mainland. These similarities between the Treasury of Gela and Etruscan monumental buildings demonstrate the permeability of the arbitrary East and West barrier put in place, showing channels of interactions from
Etruria, to Sicily, and finally to Greece.
Exposure to the classical world can have an immense impact on the lives of students. Yet few high... more Exposure to the classical world can have an immense impact on the lives of students. Yet few high school students are fortunate enough to experience these studies in the classroom and even less have the chance to travel to Europe and experience this world first-hand.
An archaeological field school provides students with an authentic learning in a research community. The program gives them a chance to learn about archaeological excavations and stewardship of archaeological resources, it also allows a student engagement in a shared learning experience with other archaeologists. An archaeological field school affords a student interaction with new cultures, both ancient and modern.
During Summer 2014, Mr. Andrew Carroll and Mr. Joey Lechuga took a group of four high school boys to Tuscany, Italy, in a collaborative project between Regis Jesuit High School, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project. The trip entailed two parts, the first involved visiting museums, and the second the participation of students in the excavations at Poggio Civitate.
Every year tourists visit different historical sites to find famous tombstones, view cultural art... more Every year tourists visit different historical sites to find famous tombstones, view cultural artwork, or because a guidebook boasts of its significance. Tourists often enter the archaeological or historical landscape with at least a partial understanding of cultural implications of the artefacts and ruins housed there. However, even visitors with a partial understanding leave historic sites without an understanding of their significance. Part of the problem is visitors of tombs, temples, and other sites are greeted only with silent signs or quiet tour books to help them appreciate their significance. Scholars should utilize these moments of connection to help enhance the visitors’ understanding and to communicate their own research. The signs present, or not, are some of the only means of communication between the visitor and the academics advancing the field. Therefore, the signs and exhibits there are critically important for explaining ideas and theories in a digestible manner to a broad audience. In this paper, I will examine the interpretive signs at one major Etruscan cultural site, the Necropoli dei Monterozzi of Tarquinia through personal experience guiding a group through this site. I will describe ways in which these signs could be improved to generate greater access to knowledge about the site. As more tourists are drawn to this and other sites, better outdoor exhibits and explanation panels are needed for the tourists to fully appreciate what they are viewing. With an ultimate goal of an increase in knowledge, understanding and protection of the sites, this is a vital first step in the preservation of Italian archeological and historical sites.
The industrial center of Poggio Civitate's 7th complex yields copious amounts of evidence for dif... more The industrial center of Poggio Civitate's 7th complex yields copious amounts of evidence for different forms of manufacturing including such diverse items as bronze working, ivory carving, textile production, production of ceramics, tiles and more. Moreover in addition to the more durable markers of manufacturing, grape seeds, carbonized wheat and olive pits persevere aspects of Etruscan daily life that are often absent in the archaeological record. However, cheese, like many food items, is lacking in the archaeological record and therefore any examination of it needs to occur from the products used in its production instead of the final product itself. It is clear from the preponderance of sheep bones recovered during the past 50 years of excavations, that the inhabitants were exploiting sheep for both meat consumption and textile production. It would follow that since they were keeping sheep for many years for their wool, that they would make use of other secondary products, such as their milk. The Etruscans would need to overcome the obvious lack of refrigeration by transforming the milk into an item that can be kept for months. While producing cheese seems like the obvious choice for stabilizing milk, the production of it requires specialized equipment. Without the aid of modern instruments to more precisely control temperatures, the Etruscans would have needed specialized equipment for this process. In recent years of excavation several types of ceramic fragments were recovered which puzzle excavators. When taken collectively, and in conjunction with the zooarchaeological evidence, the ceramics appear to be different specialized items for the production of cheese. I argue that ceramic fragments with large fenestrations, or piercings through the side of the vessel, are used for helping control the temperature of the milk during the boil, while those with small fenestrations would have been used in connection with a coarse linen cloth in the process of separating the curds and whey from one another. The joining together of the ceramic evidence with the faunal analysis allows for a more secure understanding of the use of these fenestrated ceramics, that till now has eluded excavators. For the first time, this poster joins together the evidence of cheese production which provides a more nuanced understanding of food production at this important Etruscan site of habitation.
Poggio Civitate, an Etruscan site 25km south of the modern city of Siena, preserves some of the E... more Poggio Civitate, an Etruscan site 25km south of the modern city of Siena, preserves some of the Etruscan world’s earliest monumental architecture. In the second quarter of the 7th century BCE, inhabitants constructed a complex of socially related buildings on the hill’s Piano del Tesoro plateau, an elite residence, an industrial center and a tripartite religious structure. Each of these structures was extremely large for the time and all displayed an ornately decorated terracotta roofing system that icongraphically reflected the social and political concerns of the site’s local aristocracy. Until recently, evidence for the domestic architecture of Poggio Civitate’s non-elite population remained elusive. However, in 2007 and 2008, excavation revealed the presence of a hut situated on a terrace immediately south of Piano del Tesoro and added a significant new facet to our understanding of the social form and development of this early Etruscan site.
Teaching Documents by Andrew Carroll
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Papers by Andrew Carroll
Conference Presentations by Andrew Carroll
Etruria, to Sicily, and finally to Greece.
An archaeological field school provides students with an authentic learning in a research community. The program gives them a chance to learn about archaeological excavations and stewardship of archaeological resources, it also allows a student engagement in a shared learning experience with other archaeologists. An archaeological field school affords a student interaction with new cultures, both ancient and modern.
During Summer 2014, Mr. Andrew Carroll and Mr. Joey Lechuga took a group of four high school boys to Tuscany, Italy, in a collaborative project between Regis Jesuit High School, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project. The trip entailed two parts, the first involved visiting museums, and the second the participation of students in the excavations at Poggio Civitate.
Teaching Documents by Andrew Carroll
Etruria, to Sicily, and finally to Greece.
An archaeological field school provides students with an authentic learning in a research community. The program gives them a chance to learn about archaeological excavations and stewardship of archaeological resources, it also allows a student engagement in a shared learning experience with other archaeologists. An archaeological field school affords a student interaction with new cultures, both ancient and modern.
During Summer 2014, Mr. Andrew Carroll and Mr. Joey Lechuga took a group of four high school boys to Tuscany, Italy, in a collaborative project between Regis Jesuit High School, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project. The trip entailed two parts, the first involved visiting museums, and the second the participation of students in the excavations at Poggio Civitate.