Books by Matthew Fittock
Un-Roman Sex explores how gender and sex were perceived and represented outside the Mediterranean... more Un-Roman Sex explores how gender and sex were perceived and represented outside the Mediterranean core of the Roman Empire.
The volume critically explores the gender constructs and sexual behaviours in the provinces and frontiers in light of recent studies of Roman erotic experience and flux gender identities. At its core, it challenges the unproblematised extension of the traditional Romano-Hellenistic model to the provinces and frontiers. Did sexual relations and gender identities undergo processes of "provincialisation" or "barbarisation" similar to other well-known aspects of cultural negotiation and syncretism in provincial and border regions, for example in art and religion? The 11 chapters that make up the volume explore these issues from a variety of angles, providing a balanced and rounded view through use of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence. Accordingly, the contributions represent new and emerging ideas on the subject of sex, gender, and sexuality in the Roman provinces.
As such, Un-Roman Sex will be of interest to higher-level undergraduates and graduates/academics studying the Roman empire, gender, and sexuality in the ancient world and at the Roman frontiers.
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Papers by Matthew Fittock
As small portable forms of statuary, pipeclay objects provide a valuable insight into the religio... more As small portable forms of statuary, pipeclay objects provide a valuable insight into the religious beliefs and practices of the culturally mixed populations of the Roman provinces. This thesis provides a complete catalogue of the nearly 1000 published and unpublished pipeclay objects found in Britain, including figurines, busts, shrines, animal vessels and masks. This research is the first study of this material conducted since the late 1970s. Pipeclay objects were made in Gaul and the Rhine-Moselle region but not in Britain. Attention thus focuses on where and how the British finds were made by analysing their styles, types, fabrics and any makers’ marks. This reveals how the pipeclay market in Britain was supplied and how these objects were traded, and suggests that cultural rather than production and trade factors were more influential on pipeclay consumption in Britain. A typological, chronological and distributional analysis of this material is conducted to highlight pipeclay ...
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Britannia, 2015
Pipe-clay figurines are an important but under-examined category of Roman material culture in Bri... more Pipe-clay figurines are an important but under-examined category of Roman material culture in Britain. This paper presents the first typological catalogue of the 168 deity, animal and human figures imported to Roman London from Gaul during the first and second centuries A.D. As in many other collections Venus figurines are the most common type, although there is considerable diversity in form. Comparison with continental collections highlights distinctive patterns of consumption between London, the rest of Britain and Gaul, with the city displaying relatively high numbers of exotic/unusual types, as appears to be typical of Londinium in general. The spatial distribution of the figurines is mapped across the settlement, while their contexts and social distribution on habitation, trade and religious sites throughout the city are explored. Whole specimens from burials and subtle patterns of fragmentation also provide a direct insight into the religious beliefs and symbolic practices of the people of Roman London.
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Roman Finds Group Datasheet 6, 2015
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PhD Thesis by Matthew Fittock
PhD thesis, 2018
As small portable forms of statuary, pipeclay objects provide a valuable insight into the religio... more As small portable forms of statuary, pipeclay objects provide a valuable insight into the religious beliefs and practices of the culturally mixed populations of the Roman provinces. This thesis provides a complete catalogue of the nearly 1000 published and unpublished pipeclay objects found in Britain, including figurines, busts, shrines, animal vessels and masks. This research is the first study of this material conducted since the late 1970s. Pipeclay objects were made in Gaul and the Rhine-Moselle region but not in Britain. Attention thus focuses on where and how the British finds were made by analysing their styles, types, fabrics and any makers’ marks. This reveals how the pipeclay market in Britain was supplied and how these objects were traded, and suggests that cultural rather than production and trade factors were more influential on pipeclay consumption in Britain. A typological, chronological and distributional analysis of this material is conducted to highlight pipeclay consumption in Britannia. As in many other provinces, deities are the most common depiction and Venus figurines the most common type. Comparison with Continental collections highlights distinctive regional consumption patterns, with Britain having several rare and exotic types, especially in London. The social distribution and contexts of the British finds shows that pipeclay objects were mainly used by civilians - probably in domestic shrines and occasionally in temples and in the graves of often sick children. Rare types (both in terms of origin and fabric) probably belonged to higher status foreigners. This thesis identifies previously unidentified subtle differences between the use of pipeclay and metal figurines. While ostensibly the same function, significant differences in style and iconography show ceramic figurines overwhelmingly depicting goddesses while metal figurines tend to depict male deities. Similar numbers of each mean that both are rare in Britain, but subtle differences in their social distribution suggests different groups used ‘higher-status’ metal and ‘lower-status’ ceramic figurines in the province. Fragmentation experiments suggest that deliberately breaking figurine heads was an important ritual practice.
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RFG Lucerna by Matthew Fittock
Lucerna 57, 2019
July 2019 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on ... more July 2019 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on A Corpus of Gaming Boards from Roman Britain by Summer L. Courts and Timothy M. Penn, and An Anthropomorphic Cosmetic Mortar from Flintham, Nottinghamshire by Alastair Willis
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Lucerna 56, 2019
January 2019 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles ... more January 2019 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on Images of Silenius from the Territoriu, of Romano-British Baldock by Gil Burleigh and Ralph Jackson, and Roman Bone Gaming Counters from Caistor St Edmund by Natasha Harlow
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Lucerna 55, 2018
July 2018 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on ... more July 2018 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on An Anthropomorphic Clasp-Knife Handle from the Thames Foreshore at London by M. Marshall, and Roman Slate Styli by Jörn Schuster
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Lucerna 54, 2018
January 2018 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles ... more January 2018 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on Finds from Sacred Places in the Landscape around Romano-British Baldock by Gil Burleigh, and mystery objects from Piercebridge, County Durham
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Lucerna 53, 2017
July 2017 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on ... more July 2017 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on Stained Bone Hairpins from Roman London by M. Marshall and the RFG Spring Conference in St Albans
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Lucerna 52, 2017
January 2017 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles ... more January 2017 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on A Copper-Bowl with Phallic Decoration from Trier,in the Collection of the Yorkshire Museum by Adam Parker, A Crossed Line: A Slightly Different (?Military) Harness Mount by M. J. Dearne and Bringing Writing Tablets to Life by David Sherlock
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Lucerna 51, 2016
July 2016 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on ... more July 2016 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on Bone Spatulate Strips From Roman London by Glynn J.C. Davis, and Glass Adornments in the Late Iron Age and Roman Period Frontiers by Tatiana Ivleva
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Lucerna 50, 2016
January 2016 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles ... more January 2016 edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on The Manufacture and Symbolism of Radiating Designs on Brooches in Roman Britain by Ben Paites, A New Monogram Brooch from Britain by John Pearce, Sally Worrell and Frank Basford, and Romano-British Weighing Instruments by Philip Smither
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Lucerna 49, 2015
July edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on ‘Büge... more July edition of the Roman Finds Group's bi-annual newsletter Lucerna, featuring articles on ‘Bügelzangen’ and related objects from Roman London by O. Humphreys and M. Marshall, and recent finds from PAS by K. Adams, D. Boughton, A. Byard, R. Griffiths, M. Phelps, D. Williams, J. Pearce and S. Worrell
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Book Reviews by Matthew Fittock
Current World Archaeology, 2018
By M. Pitts and A. Van Oyen, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2017
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Current World Archaeology, 2018
By E. Swift, Oxford University Press, 2017
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Lucerna 52, 2016
By R. Hobbs, with contributions by J. Lang, M.J. Hughes, R. Tomlin and J. Plouviez, British Museu... more By R. Hobbs, with contributions by J. Lang, M.J. Hughes, R. Tomlin and J. Plouviez, British Museum Research Publication 200, The British Museum Press, London, 2016.
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Conference Presentations by Matthew Fittock
Pipeclay figurines are an important yet under-examined category of artefact that provide a valuab... more Pipeclay figurines are an important yet under-examined category of artefact that provide a valuable insight into the religious lives of those who inhabited Roman Britain. Produced in terracotta workshops located in the Allier Valley and region around Cologne during the first and second centuries AD, the figurines from South Shields comprise an important part of the finds recovered from the north of the province. The range of figurine types from the site is limited and includes common depictions of Venus, Dea Nutrix and Minerva, but also an interesting plinth base inscribed by the craftsmen Servandus that is particularly rare amongst the wider material now available from the country. This paper will assess the social distribution and contextual deposition of the collection of pipeclay figurines from South Shields alongside a wider corpus of discoveries from nearby sites, like Benwell and Wallsend, to evaluate the possible function and social significance of these objects across the region. Comparison with other pipeclay figurine assemblages recovered from London, wider Britain, and Gaul will also highlight any distinctive patterns of regional consumption and use, while subtle fragmentation patterns additionally provide an insight into beliefs and ritual practices that help further explore the nature of religious life in these areas of the Western Provinces.
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The Roman Archaeology Conference. Session: Clay and Cult; Roman Terracottas and their Production and Use in Domestic, Religious and Funerary Contexts, 2014
Pipeclay figurines are an important but very much understudied aspect of British-Romano material ... more Pipeclay figurines are an important but very much understudied aspect of British-Romano material culture. Imported from Gaul during the first and second centuries AD, the 129 deity, animal, and human figures from Roman London provide a useful snapshot of the wider under-researched and unpublished material now available from Britain. Typological classification reveals that, like continental collections, Venus figurines are the most common type and vary considerably in form. Distinctive patterns of consumption can be distinguished between London, wider Britain and Gaul, including a relatively high frequency of exotic and unusual types from the settlement itself. Alongside a spatial distribution analysis, the contexts and social distribution of figurines on habitation, trade, and religious sites is explored to evaluate their possible function. Whole figurines from burials and subtle fragmentation patterns additionally provide a direct insight into beliefs and ritual practices to help further elucidate the character of religious life in Roman London.
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Conference Reviews by Matthew Fittock
Lucerna 49, 2015
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Books by Matthew Fittock
The volume critically explores the gender constructs and sexual behaviours in the provinces and frontiers in light of recent studies of Roman erotic experience and flux gender identities. At its core, it challenges the unproblematised extension of the traditional Romano-Hellenistic model to the provinces and frontiers. Did sexual relations and gender identities undergo processes of "provincialisation" or "barbarisation" similar to other well-known aspects of cultural negotiation and syncretism in provincial and border regions, for example in art and religion? The 11 chapters that make up the volume explore these issues from a variety of angles, providing a balanced and rounded view through use of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence. Accordingly, the contributions represent new and emerging ideas on the subject of sex, gender, and sexuality in the Roman provinces.
As such, Un-Roman Sex will be of interest to higher-level undergraduates and graduates/academics studying the Roman empire, gender, and sexuality in the ancient world and at the Roman frontiers.
Papers by Matthew Fittock
PhD Thesis by Matthew Fittock
RFG Lucerna by Matthew Fittock
Book Reviews by Matthew Fittock
Conference Presentations by Matthew Fittock
Conference Reviews by Matthew Fittock
The volume critically explores the gender constructs and sexual behaviours in the provinces and frontiers in light of recent studies of Roman erotic experience and flux gender identities. At its core, it challenges the unproblematised extension of the traditional Romano-Hellenistic model to the provinces and frontiers. Did sexual relations and gender identities undergo processes of "provincialisation" or "barbarisation" similar to other well-known aspects of cultural negotiation and syncretism in provincial and border regions, for example in art and religion? The 11 chapters that make up the volume explore these issues from a variety of angles, providing a balanced and rounded view through use of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence. Accordingly, the contributions represent new and emerging ideas on the subject of sex, gender, and sexuality in the Roman provinces.
As such, Un-Roman Sex will be of interest to higher-level undergraduates and graduates/academics studying the Roman empire, gender, and sexuality in the ancient world and at the Roman frontiers.