Recycling and Reuse in the Roman Economy

The recycling and reuse of materials and objects were extensive in the past, but have rarely been embedded into models of the economy; even more rarely has any attempt been made to address the scale of these practices. Recent developments, including the use of large datasets, computational modelling, and high-resolution analytical chemistry are increasingly offering the means to reconstruct recycling and reuse, and even to approach the thorny issue of quantification. This volume is the first to bring together these new approaches, and the first to present a consideration of recycling and reuse in the Roman economy, taking into account a range of materials and using a variety of methodological approaches. It presents integrated, cross-referential evidence for the recycling and reuse of textiles, papyrus, statuary and building materials, amphorae, metals, and glass, and examines significant questions about organization, value, and the social meaning of recycling.

1 - Introduction: Recycling and Reuse in the Roman Economy
2 - Recycling in the Roman World: Concepts, Questions, Materials, and Organization
3 - The Reuse of Textiles in the Roman World
4 - Reuse and Recycling of Papyrus
5 - Reuse of Statuary and Spolia: An Economic Perspective
6 - An Inconvenient Truth: Evaluating the Impact of Amphora Reuse through Computational Simulation Modelling
7 - Modelling Roman Concepts of Copper-Alloy Recycling and Mutability: The Chemical Characterization Hypothesis and Roman Britain
8 - Recycling and Roman Silver Coinage
9 - Elements, Isotopes, and Glass Recycling
10 - Seeking the Invisible: New Approaches to Roman Glass Recycling
11 - A Regional Economy of Recycling over Four Centuries at Spolverino (Tuscany) and Environs
12 - The Organized Recycling of Roman Villa Sites
13 - Old Buildings, Building Material, and the Death of Recycling in Post-Roman Britain
14 - Reuse of Roman Artefacts in Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval West: A Case Study from Britain of Bracelets and Belt Fittings
15 - When the Statue is Both Marble, and Lime

Chloë N. Duckworth is a Lecturer in Archaeological Materials Science at Newcastle University. Her research focuses upon the chemical analysis of ancient and medieval glass, and upon the archaeology, science, and theory of technology and production. She directs archaeological fieldwork at two UNESCO World Heritage sites in Spain: the Alhambra (Granada) and Madinat al-Zahra (Cordoba). She is a keen advocate of public outreach and works to disseminate archaeological knowledge both in traditional media (television and radio) and online. Andrew Wilson is Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire at the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College. His research focuses on the Roman economy and ancient technology, urbanism, and settlement, and he has conducted excavations in Italy, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Cyprus, and Turkey. He is co-director (with Alan Bowman) of the Oxford Roman Economy Project (OxREP) and (with Chris Howgego) of the OxREP-Ashmolean Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire project; he is also Principal Investigator of the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project (EAMENA).