Class Year
2024
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Spring 2024
Department 1
Anthropology
Abstract
This paper investigated how material goods both represented and actively created ethnic identity, gender, and socioeconomic status in a funerary context during a colonial period. Relying on evidence collected from a Roman-period necropolis from Lattara in Mediterranean France, these results were then examined alongside funerary evidence from the necropolis of the nearby Iron Age settlement of Ambrussum to compare pre-Roman and Roman funerary practices. Specifically, within the two necropolises, the grave goods, inscriptions, and biologically sexed remains were the main points of comparison. This paper also utilized the ideas and concepts from the subdivision of funerary archaeology, as well as feminist theory, to better understand the results. Based on the results, it was determined that in terms of gender, there was not a conclusive divide from the Lattara necropolis, but there was from Ambrussum; thus suggesting a change in gender identities and roles between the pre-Roman and Roman periods. Socioeconomic status was evident in the materials from the Lattara necropolis, which included status objects, but this was distinct from the assemblages from Ambrussum. Finally, in terms of ethnicity, there was no conclusive data drawn from grave goods, but there were differences within the epitaphs, specifically through the included names. Therefore, this paper concluded that whilst material goods are often markers of cultural changes, within funerary contexts, this is often more imperfectly deduced as different identities can be witnessed between everyday contexts compared to funerary ones. Furthermore, given the data collected from the Lattara and the Ambrussum necropolises, gender divides are less present materialistically in funerary contexts within this part of the Mediterranean during the first century A.D., likely due to the shifting gender identities of local populations as a result of their colonial encounter with Rome.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Fusco, Heather, "The Necropolis of Lattara: An Examination into Gender, Socioeconomic, and Ethnic Identities in a Funerary Context Following the Roman Conquest of Mediterranean Gaul" (2024). Student Publications. 1189.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/1189
Included in
Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons
Comments
This paper was written for ANTH 400: Capstone Experience in Anthropology.