ABSTRACT
The landscape and/or seascape as an artefact in its own right has proven an object of interest for both historians and archaeologists (for example, Horden and Purcell 2000). In this chapter, the subject of discussion turns away from these approaches to the landscape with a view to an examination of how archaeological evidence can be drawn together to present a better understanding for the historian of the variety of approaches to landscape exploitation. It has to be admitted that, although archaeologists collect masses of material through their activities, often synthesis of the material simply do not appear in print. This is particularly true of reports on plant, molluscs and animal remains. There is a whole volume documenting the Natural History of Pompeii (Jashemski and Meyer 2002) with each species carefully identified and documented. However, this takes us little further than a list of where items were identified from recent and past excavations. There is a danger that the evidence from this type of material is simply consigned to the back pages of a report and seldom found by even the most determined student of Roman history. Yet, there is an importance to these studies that needs to be discussed in the context of understanding how Roman society functioned. Embedded within the archaeological record are attitudes to plants and animals as well as straightforward questions associated with economic production and functionalism. In this chapter, some examples are set out to illustrate the range of approaches to the varied foodways within the cultural matrix of urbanism and landscape exploitation found within the Roman Empire.
