The Excavations of San Giovanni Di Ruoti

This third volume of The Excavations of San Giovanni di Ruoti series deals with the social, economic, and environmental information derived from the analysis of zooarchaeological and palaeobotanical remains found at the fourth-century A.D. Italian villa of San Giovanni di Ruoti. The four contributors use the large collection of organic evidence obtained from the site, including mammal and bird bones, shells, land snails, and plant remains, to provide information on diet, food preparation, economics, trade routes, taxation, local environment and climate, agricultural economy, and animal husbandry. With both technical analysis and an interpretive component, the contributors offer various reconstructions of Roman life, often in combination with quotations from ancient literary sources, allowing this work to appeal to both the specialist and layperson alike. Written with a thoroughness and attention to detail not often seen in zooarchaeological work, this analysis represents an important advance in the study of faunal and botanical data in Roman archaeology in Italy, and will be an invaluable resource for all environmental and classical archaeologists.

Michael MacKinnon is a Postdoctoral fellow at Boston University.