UC Research Makes Surprising Finds on Food, Commerce and Art in the Ancient World

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from the University of Cincinnati’s top-ranked Department of Classics in the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences  will present research Jan. 2-5 at the Archaeological Institute of America and American Philological Association Joint Annual Meeting in Chicago. The meeting attracts more than 3,000 international attendees to share news and ideas among the top archaeological and classical scholars.  

Among the UC research to be presented:

• No Scrounging for Scraps: UC Research Uncovers the Diets of the Middle and Lower Classes in Pompeii

Steven Ellis

, associate professor, is researching the life of the middle and lower classes in ancient Pompeii, including the foods they consumed. He said, “The traditional vision of some mass of hapless lemmings – scrounging for whatever they can pinch from the side of a street, or huddled around a bowl of gruel – needs to be replaced by a higher fare and standard of living, at least for the urbanites in Pompeii.”

For instance, one drain from a central property revealed a richer variety of foods as well as imports from outside Italy, such as shellfish, sea urchin and even delicacies including the butchered leg joint of a giraffe.

“That the bone represents the height of exotic food is underscored by the fact that this is thought to be the only giraffe bone ever recorded from an archaeological excavation in Roman Italy,” says Ellis. “How part of the animal, butchered, came to be a kitchen scrap in a seemingly standard Pompeian restaurant not only speaks to long-distance trade in exotic and wild animals, but also something of the richness, variety and range of a non-elite diet.”

• Money Talks When Ancient Antioch Meets Google Earth

UC research by Classics doctoral candidate Kristina Neumann puts a high-tech spin on studying the ancient world in a project that could affect how historians analyze data. WATCH as Google Earth zooms along the boundaries of ancient Antioch in 30 seconds.

• UC Research Uncovers How Ancient Artists Used Palace Floor as a Creative Canvas

New research by doctoral candidate Emily Catherine Egan finds that the Throne Room floor in the Bronze Age Palace of Nestor located in what is today Pylos, Greece, is an unusual example of artistic innovation for its time. She found evidence that the floor’s painted designs, dating back to between 1300-1200 BC, were meant to replicate a physical hybrid of cloth and stone – serving not only to impress but also to instruct the ancient viewer.

Her work at the Palace of Nestor builds on a long tradition at UC since the remains of the site were first discovered in 1939 by UC archaeologist Carl Blegen.