M Pitts
Biographic Data
| ID | 12308 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Pitts |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Pitts |
| SIGNATURE | PITTS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Exeter |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5671-1069 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 54 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Kimberly Cassibry: Destinations in Mind. Portraying Places on the Roman Empire’s Souvenirs. New York: Oxford UP 2021
York's ‘African-style’ Severan Pottery Reconsidered
This article examines the phenomenon of so-called North African-style pottery made in early third-century York. The pottery, which was produced in significant quantities in late Ebor ware, is strikingly different from vessels in circulation in Roman Britain and the north-west provinces – so much so that the late Vivien Swan argued that it was ‘made by Africans for the use of Africans’. The present study reassesses the evidence of ceramic genealog…
Towards Romanization 2.0: High-Definition Narratives in the Roman North-West
This article explores the implications of studying Romanization 2.0, a concept that entails putting connectivity and human-object entanglements at the centre of new high-definition narratives. While this perspective brings important payoffs, decentring Rome in historical narratives and moving beyond the methodological nationalism that has often dogged studies of Roman imperialism, it also presents archaeologists with an array of methodological ch…
Objectscapes: A Manifesto for Investigating the Impacts of Object Flows on Past Societies
World history is often framed in terms of flows of people: humans coming 'out of Africa', the spread of farmers in the Holocene, the disruptions of the 'Sea Peoples', or 'colonisation' by Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. In this article, the authors argue that world history is also about the flows of objects. To illuminate the impacts of objects on past societies, they introduce the concept of 'objectscapes' as a means of writing new kinds of hist…
Globalization
“Globalization” is a term that describes processes by which localities perceived to be separate or disparate become increasingly inter‐connected, typically on a pan‐regional or global scale.
Classifying and Visualising Roman Pottery using Computer-scanned Typologies
For many archaeological assemblages and type-series, accurate drawings of standardised pottery vessels have been recorded in consistent styles. This provides the opportunity to extract individual pot drawings and derive from them data that can be used for analysis and visualisation. Starting from PDF scans of the original pages of pot drawings, we have automated much of the process for locating, defining the boundaries, extracting and orientating…
Appendix A: Roman Tablewares: some notes on definitions and terminology
The Roman Object Revolution: Objectscapes and Intra-Cultural Connectivity in Northwest Europe
This book explores a major step-change in Eurasian history: the revolutionary boom in standardised objects at the start of the Roman era. The far-reaching impacts of this revolution are addressed through an examination of the circulation and selections of thousands of standardized pots and brooches, with particular emphasis on funerary repertoires, c. 100 BC - AD 100. Breaking with the national frameworks that inform artefact research in much 'pr…
Globalisation vs the state? Macro- and micro-perspectives on Roman economies
There can be few topics in Roman archaeology and history that are contested with such vigour and widespread interest as the Roman economy. In part, this present situation arises as a legacy of older debates on the significance of ancient economic growth and long-distance trade, in which key twentieth-century figures such as M.I. Finley, M. Rostovtzeff and K. Hopkins continue to loom large and provide compelling insights. More recently, the debate…
Gallo-Belgic wares: Objects in motion in the early Roman northwest
What did objects do in the Roman world: Beyond representation
More than a virus: A qualitative study of the social implications of hepatitis B infection in China
Effective public policy to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with hepatitis B needs to address the lived impact of hepatitis B on families, employment and educational choices, finances, and social marginalisation
Margaret Darling & Barbara Precious with Joanna Bird , Brenda Dickinson & Katherine Hartley . A corpus of Roman pottery from Lincoln (Lincoln Archaeological Studies 6). xi+392 pages, numerous colour a…
Margaret Darling & Barbara Precious with Joanna Bird , Brenda Dickinson & Katherine Hartley . A corpus of Roman pottery from Lincoln (Lincoln Archaeological Studies 6). xi+392 pages, numerous colour and b&w illustrations. 2014. Oxford & Oakville (CT): Oxbow, 978-1-84217-487-6 hardback £35. - Volume 89 Issue 344
Rural Transformation in the Urbanized Landscape
The impact of cities in the urbanized landscape of Roman Britain has long been debated. Were towns and colonies catalysts for rural economic growth or merely islands of colonial culture that served as administrative centres for the collection of tax and rent? Considering recent quantitative studies of artefactual and skeletal evidence, this chapter addresses the relationship between town and country through the lenses of consumption and social in…
Globalisation, circulation and mass consumption in the Roman world
Globalisation and the Roman world: Perspectives and opportunities
Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities
not available
Globalization
“Globalization” is a term that describes processes by which hitherto separate or disparate localities become increasingly interconnected, typically on a global scale.
In the Best Interests of the Child? Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Well-Being of Offspring in Three Australian States
In this article, we look at the regulation of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) from the perspectives of service providers and regulators in three Australian states, each with a different approach to regulating ART. We explore how the interests of the child were considered in the development of recent legislative changes, namely, the establishment of central donor registers and changes to eligibility criteria for accessing ART. From particip…
Exploring Health and Social Well-Being in Late Roman Britain: An Intercemetery Approach
This article outlines a new method for comparing proxy data for the health and well-being of Late Roman populations through the statistical analysis of skeletal remains and material culture. A multistage statistical approach is applied to a sample of published Late Romano-British cemeteries. A battery of health indicators are compared using multidimensional scaling, and patterns in the provision of grave inclusions are analyzed using the Gini coe…
Inequality at Late Roman Baldock, Uk the Impact of Social Factors on Health and Diet
This study explores the impact of social inequality through a study of health and diet involving the analysis of skeletal remains and grave furnishings from the Roman period cemetery of Baldock, UK. Analysis revealed correlations between the presence of different types of grave furnishing with aspects of childhood health, and consistent differences in diet between individuals with different quantities and types of furnishings. These findings sugg…
Re-thinking the Southern British Oppida: Networks, Kingdoms and Material Culture
This article examines the role of a range of large settlements in late Iron Age and early Roman southern Britain ( c. 100 BC–AD 70) conventionally described as oppida. After reviewing current perspectives on the function and chronology of British oppida, new insights are provided through the statistical analysis of assemblages of brooches and imported ceramics at a broad sample of sites. Analysis of material culture reveals distinct similarities …
Globalizing the local in Roman Britain: An anthropological approach to social change
Christmas Feasting and Social Class: C hristmas F easting and E veryday C onsumption
This paper examines the role of Christmas meals in Britain, with particular focus on the construction of social class identities through feasting and the consumption of food and drink. Analysis is based on quantitative data from the National Food Survey in the period 1975–2000, sampled at five-year intervals, comparing food shopping data from the month of December with that for the rest of the year. Whilst expenditure on food in December is shown…
Consumption, deposition and social practice: A ceramic approach to intra-site analysis in late Iron Age to Roman Britain
This paper outlines an approach for the interrogation of excavated pottery assemblages from archaeological sites, as a means of providing insights into themes such social practice and identity, at an intra-site resolution. Particular emphasis is placed on the extensive digital archive from the late Iron Age to Roman site of Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex. Using a combination of simple (tables) and more complex statistical procedures (correspondence …
Re-thinking the Southern British Oppida: Networks, Kingdoms and Material Culture
This article examines the role of a range of large settlements in late Iron Age and early Roman southern Britain ( c. 100 BC–AD 70) conventionally described as oppida. After reviewing current perspectives on the function and chronology of British oppida, new insights are provided through the statistical analysis of assemblages of brooches and imported ceramics at a broad sample of sites. Analysis of material culture reveals distinct similarities …
Objectscapes: A Manifesto for Investigating the Impacts of Object Flows on Past Societies
World history is often framed in terms of flows of people: humans coming 'out of Africa', the spread of farmers in the Holocene, the disruptions of the 'Sea Peoples', or 'colonisation' by Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. In this article, the authors argue that world history is also about the flows of objects. To illuminate the impacts of objects on past societies, they introduce the concept of 'objectscapes' as a means of writing new kinds of hist…
The Emperor's New Clothes? The Utility of Identity in Roman Archaeology
This paper discusses the concept of identity as an increasingly central research theme in Anglo-American Roman archaeology. The first part provides an overview and critique of the issue in recent academic discourse, highlighting some potential theoretical and methodological problems. I argue that, if pursued uncritically, there is a danger that approaches to identity are reducible to the search for diversity for diversity's sake, and even worse, …
Exploring Health and Social Well-Being in Late Roman Britain: An Intercemetery Approach
This article outlines a new method for comparing proxy data for the health and well-being of Late Roman populations through the statistical analysis of skeletal remains and material culture. A multistage statistical approach is applied to a sample of published Late Romano-British cemeteries. A battery of health indicators are compared using multidimensional scaling, and patterns in the provision of grave inclusions are analyzed using the Gini coe…
The Roman Object Revolution: Objectscapes and Intra-Cultural Connectivity in Northwest Europe
This book explores a major step-change in Eurasian history: the revolutionary boom in standardised objects at the start of the Roman era. The far-reaching impacts of this revolution are addressed through an examination of the circulation and selections of thousands of standardized pots and brooches, with particular emphasis on funerary repertoires, c. 100 BC - AD 100. Breaking with the national frameworks that inform artefact research in much 'pr…
Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities
not available
Pots and Pits: Drinking and Deposition in Late Iron Age South‐east Britain
This paper considers the role of pottery in the Late Iron Age to Roman transition in south‐east Britain. Traditional concern with the significance of Continental imports is rejected in favour of a more holistic and bottom‐up approach giving equal emphasis to locally made forms and imports in complete assemblages. Several stages of inter‐site correspondence analysis are conducted on a range of sites and assemblages in the region. Patterning pertai…
In the Best Interests of the Child? Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Well-Being of Offspring in Three Australian States
In this article, we look at the regulation of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) from the perspectives of service providers and regulators in three Australian states, each with a different approach to regulating ART. We explore how the interests of the child were considered in the development of recent legislative changes, namely, the establishment of central donor registers and changes to eligibility criteria for accessing ART. From particip…
Inequality at Late Roman Baldock, Uk the Impact of Social Factors on Health and Diet
This study explores the impact of social inequality through a study of health and diet involving the analysis of skeletal remains and grave furnishings from the Roman period cemetery of Baldock, UK. Analysis revealed correlations between the presence of different types of grave furnishing with aspects of childhood health, and consistent differences in diet between individuals with different quantities and types of furnishings. These findings sugg…
Towards Romanization 2.0: High-Definition Narratives in the Roman North-West
This article explores the implications of studying Romanization 2.0, a concept that entails putting connectivity and human-object entanglements at the centre of new high-definition narratives. While this perspective brings important payoffs, decentring Rome in historical narratives and moving beyond the methodological nationalism that has often dogged studies of Roman imperialism, it also presents archaeologists with an array of methodological ch…
Christmas Feasting and Social Class: C hristmas F easting and E veryday C onsumption
This paper examines the role of Christmas meals in Britain, with particular focus on the construction of social class identities through feasting and the consumption of food and drink. Analysis is based on quantitative data from the National Food Survey in the period 1975–2000, sampled at five-year intervals, comparing food shopping data from the month of December with that for the rest of the year. Whilst expenditure on food in December is shown…
Consumption, deposition and social practice: A ceramic approach to intra-site analysis in late Iron Age to Roman Britain
This paper outlines an approach for the interrogation of excavated pottery assemblages from archaeological sites, as a means of providing insights into themes such social practice and identity, at an intra-site resolution. Particular emphasis is placed on the extensive digital archive from the late Iron Age to Roman site of Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex. Using a combination of simple (tables) and more complex statistical procedures (correspondence …
Oil for Food: The Global Story of Edible Lipids
This paper addresses the issue of the globalization of food production and consumption in the last half-century through the medium of fats and oils, or lipids. The dual traits of being essential for human life and signifying a diverse range of regional styles of consumption make lipids an ideal bulk commodity to study international differences in food. FAOSTAT food balance sheet data on fats and oils from 1961 and 2003 are interrogated using corr…
Aids and the press: An analysis of the coverage of Aids by Zimbabwe newspapers
An analysis of articles about HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe newspapers for the period January 1987 to September 1988 reveals several areas of concern. An analysis of coverage before and after a Government campaign designed to increase awareness of issues related to AIDS indicated only a short term increase in press coverage of such issues. Articles were assigned to one of seven content categories: statistics, cure or vaccine, prevention, education and…
Attitudes, knowledge, experience and behaviour related to HIV and Aids among Zimbabwean social workers
A recent study of Samuels & Boyle (1989) examined knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of social service team members in Newham, East London in relation to HIV and AIDS. This study extends theirs to investigate social workers, both experienced and in training, in Harare, Zimbabwe, Whilst overall, there appear to be high levels of knowledge and positive attitudes displayed by these social workers, detailed examination of their responses shows gaps…
Press coverage of Aids in Zimbabwe: A five-year review
Five years of newspaper coverage of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe is examined. Both the number of items and the amount of space devoted to the topics has increased steadily over the 5 years. The nature and content of the items show a continuing bias towards issues more closely associated with western patterns of the epidemic, and comparative neglect of personal stories, local issues and items with a counselling focus. Language is also examined and fou…
“I Drink, Therefore I am?” Pottery Consumption and Identity at Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex
This paper is concerned with the concept of ' identity' and how it can be approached through the statistical analysis of ceramic assemblages. It is split into three main sections, conceming theory, methodology, and the case study of the late Iron Age to early Roman settlement at Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex
Regional Identities and the Social Use of Ceramics
Pots and Pits: Drinking and Deposition in Late Iron Age South‐east Britain
This paper considers the role of pottery in the Late Iron Age to Roman transition in south‐east Britain. Traditional concern with the significance of Continental imports is rejected in favour of a more holistic and bottom‐up approach giving equal emphasis to locally made forms and imports in complete assemblages. Several stages of inter‐site correspondence analysis are conducted on a range of sites and assemblages in the region. Patterning pertai…
Christmas Feasting and Social Class: C hristmas F easting and E veryday C onsumption
This paper examines the role of Christmas meals in Britain, with particular focus on the construction of social class identities through feasting and the consumption of food and drink. Analysis is based on quantitative data from the National Food Survey in the period 1975–2000, sampled at five-year intervals, comparing food shopping data from the month of December with that for the rest of the year. Whilst expenditure on food in December is shown…
Consumption, deposition and social practice: A ceramic approach to intra-site analysis in late Iron Age to Roman Britain
This paper outlines an approach for the interrogation of excavated pottery assemblages from archaeological sites, as a means of providing insights into themes such social practice and identity, at an intra-site resolution. Particular emphasis is placed on the extensive digital archive from the late Iron Age to Roman site of Elms Farm, Heybridge, Essex. Using a combination of simple (tables) and more complex statistical procedures (correspondence …
Oil for Food: The Global Story of Edible Lipids
This paper addresses the issue of the globalization of food production and consumption in the last half-century through the medium of fats and oils, or lipids. The dual traits of being essential for human life and signifying a diverse range of regional styles of consumption make lipids an ideal bulk commodity to study international differences in food. FAOSTAT food balance sheet data on fats and oils from 1961 and 2003 are interrogated using corr…
The Emperor's New Clothes? The Utility of Identity in Roman Archaeology
This paper discusses the concept of identity as an increasingly central research theme in Anglo-American Roman archaeology. The first part provides an overview and critique of the issue in recent academic discourse, highlighting some potential theoretical and methodological problems. I argue that, if pursued uncritically, there is a danger that approaches to identity are reducible to the search for diversity for diversity's sake, and even worse, …
Globalizing the local in Roman Britain: An anthropological approach to social change
Re-thinking the Southern British Oppida: Networks, Kingdoms and Material Culture
This article examines the role of a range of large settlements in late Iron Age and early Roman southern Britain ( c. 100 BC–AD 70) conventionally described as oppida. After reviewing current perspectives on the function and chronology of British oppida, new insights are provided through the statistical analysis of assemblages of brooches and imported ceramics at a broad sample of sites. Analysis of material culture reveals distinct similarities …
Inequality at Late Roman Baldock, Uk the Impact of Social Factors on Health and Diet
This study explores the impact of social inequality through a study of health and diet involving the analysis of skeletal remains and grave furnishings from the Roman period cemetery of Baldock, UK. Analysis revealed correlations between the presence of different types of grave furnishing with aspects of childhood health, and consistent differences in diet between individuals with different quantities and types of furnishings. These findings sugg…
Globalization
“Globalization” is a term that describes processes by which hitherto separate or disparate localities become increasingly interconnected, typically on a global scale.
In the Best Interests of the Child? Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Well-Being of Offspring in Three Australian States
In this article, we look at the regulation of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) from the perspectives of service providers and regulators in three Australian states, each with a different approach to regulating ART. We explore how the interests of the child were considered in the development of recent legislative changes, namely, the establishment of central donor registers and changes to eligibility criteria for accessing ART. From particip…
Exploring Health and Social Well-Being in Late Roman Britain: An Intercemetery Approach
This article outlines a new method for comparing proxy data for the health and well-being of Late Roman populations through the statistical analysis of skeletal remains and material culture. A multistage statistical approach is applied to a sample of published Late Romano-British cemeteries. A battery of health indicators are compared using multidimensional scaling, and patterns in the provision of grave inclusions are analyzed using the Gini coe…
Rural Transformation in the Urbanized Landscape
The impact of cities in the urbanized landscape of Roman Britain has long been debated. Were towns and colonies catalysts for rural economic growth or merely islands of colonial culture that served as administrative centres for the collection of tax and rent? Considering recent quantitative studies of artefactual and skeletal evidence, this chapter addresses the relationship between town and country through the lenses of consumption and social in…
Globalisation, circulation and mass consumption in the Roman world
Globalisation and the Roman world: Perspectives and opportunities
Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities
not available
Margaret Darling & Barbara Precious with Joanna Bird , Brenda Dickinson & Katherine Hartley . A corpus of Roman pottery from Lincoln (Lincoln Archaeological Studies 6). xi+392 pages, numerous colour a…
Margaret Darling & Barbara Precious with Joanna Bird , Brenda Dickinson & Katherine Hartley . A corpus of Roman pottery from Lincoln (Lincoln Archaeological Studies 6). xi+392 pages, numerous colour and b&w illustrations. 2014. Oxford & Oakville (CT): Oxbow, 978-1-84217-487-6 hardback £35. - Volume 89 Issue 344
Gallo-Belgic wares: Objects in motion in the early Roman northwest
What did objects do in the Roman world: Beyond representation
More than a virus: A qualitative study of the social implications of hepatitis B infection in China
Effective public policy to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with hepatitis B needs to address the lived impact of hepatitis B on families, employment and educational choices, finances, and social marginalisation
Classifying and Visualising Roman Pottery using Computer-scanned Typologies
For many archaeological assemblages and type-series, accurate drawings of standardised pottery vessels have been recorded in consistent styles. This provides the opportunity to extract individual pot drawings and derive from them data that can be used for analysis and visualisation. Starting from PDF scans of the original pages of pot drawings, we have automated much of the process for locating, defining the boundaries, extracting and orientating…
History (18 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Archaeology (15 works) · Political science (15 works) · Geography (14 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (12 works) · Art (10 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (10 works) · Ancient history (9 works) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History (9 works)