Woman as Work Force in the Imperial Rome: New Prospectives from Recent Excavations in the Roman Suburbs

Authors

  • Valentina Benassi Anthropology Service of the Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Anna Buccellato Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Carla Caldarini Anthropology Service of the Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Paola Catalano Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Flavio De Angelis Department of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"
  • Roberto Egidi Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Simona Menozzi Division of Paleopathology, History of Medicine and Bioethics, Department of Oncology, Transplantation and New Technologies in Medicine, University of Pisa
  • Stefano Musco Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Alessia Nava Collaborator of the Anthropology service of the Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Walter Benedetto Pantano Collaborator of the Anthropology service of the Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Rita Paris Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome
  • Lisa Pescucci Collaborator of the Anthropology service of the Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome

Keywords:

Woman , Work forces , Roman Imperial Age

Abstract

 The systematic excavation of funerary sites carried out by the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma during the last years, has allowed the collection of a considerable amount of bio-archaeological data. This work try to highlights the role of the woman in the roman society as work force, examining several biomechanical stress markers in the skeleton. The sample consist of 1041 individuals, coming from areas surrounding the urban centre and the rural environment nearby the City and chronologically framed in I-III century AD. Considering together the biological and the archaeological data, we tried to understand the occupational activities in which the women could be involved.       

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Published

2011-02-01

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Articles