PERSPECTIVES ON ROMAN TECHNOLOGY

Summary. This paper considers the very different views on Roman technology expressed by K.D. White, O. Wikander and J.P. Oleson. The concept of Roman technology is explored in the light of recent archaeological research into boats, vehicles, water-lifting devices and water-mills. It is argued that the application of appropriate, evolving, and occasionally innovative technology can be detected in several spheres of civil and military engineering, such as water-supply and architecture. However, the application of technology is most impressive in the context of food production and transport. Whilst agreeing that the Roman empire was not fertile ground for an Industrial Revolution of the kind experienced in eighteenth-century England, I hope to demonstrate that this conclusion does not require a wholesale rejection of the possibility of technical innovation.     

Bridging anthropology and its archives: an analysis from the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives

Much has been written about the need to open up archives as part of the decolonial turn and decolonizing methodologies. What does this look like in practice for anthropology? Despite increasing interest in archives and ‘the archival turn’ among anthropologists, our study at the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) found that anthropologists who use archives in their work lack familiarity with organizational principles and histories that would help them navigate and gain access to these records, as well as critique them. Beyond reporting this recent research, we posit that the disconnect between archives and anthropology is not isolated to the NAA or the US, but is pervasive in the discipline. In sharing this work, we hope to inspire other similar institutional moves and to promote archival education and scholarly engagement in anthropology and its training programmes.