Each quarter, the Stanford Archaeology Center invites prominent archaeologists from around the globe to be in residence for a week as a Distinguished Lecturer. During their residency, the Distinguished Lecturer gives two lectures and interacts with faculty, postdoctoral scholars and students. Stanford Archaeology Center will host Emeritus Prof. Richard Hingley from  Durham University, UK over two days (Jan 14 and Jan 15) for the Winter Quarter of this academic year. 

Abstract:

The aim in this paper is to outline a justification for a new writing project to address how interpretations of the Roman past intersect with the interests and concerns of protagonists/practitioners in the present. I am writing primarily from an archaeological perspective, although my deep interest in classical reception means that the discussion is not confined to the field of archaeology. Likewise, although the focus of much of my research is upon the ancient past in Britain, I seek to look more widely across the Roman and modern worlds in developing my observations.

This study aims to build on recent accounts of the development of theories and approaches in Roman archaeology. I am interest in directing attention to disentangling the strands that bind modern accounts of the classical past with the concerns and interests of the present. It seems to me inevitable that we entangle the past with our concerns and interests about the present. Perhaps we look to the past to provide examples, lessons or warnings about the present and future, or we may use the present to reflect contemporary concerns about aspirations for how our world is developing onto the past. My focus in this account is to highlight the intellectual interest of this topic, not in particular to criticize or challenge contemporary or recent interpretations of the Roman past. To me, the entangling of the past with the present and the present with the past in contemporary approaches is a topic of interest that has an importance in its own right. There is not one right or wrong approach to the Roman past, and I find it interesting to seek to address how the concerns and interests of people in today’s world impact upon how we interpret the ancient past and how this informs us about the nature of the scholarship of our discipline.

It is probably simpler to address this issue by looking at past scholarship, but I wish to emphasize here that addressing current research is also significant. Directing attention to this issue is not to assume that current scholarship (or past scholarship) is (was) wrong, since we can regard this disentangling approach as something of academic interest and value in itself in terms of a way of receiving the past. It helps to inform us of what the Roman past can be used to support or counter and how changing interests and concerns moderate and find reflection in changing research agendas and the trajectories of research.

For more information please visit https://archaeology.stanford.edu/events/distinguished-lecture-series