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Durham Centre for Roman Cultural Studies

Members of the Durham Centre for Roman Cultural Studies

Dr Anna Leone, PhD

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 41140

Contact Dr Anna Leone (email at anna.leone@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

I took my first degrees in Turin and at the "Scuola di Specializzazione" at the University La Sapienza - Rome. I then completed my PhD at the University of Leicester. I have worked on several excavations in central and southern Italy and in North Africa, in particular in Carthage (Tunisia) and in Libya (Fazzan). I worked at the University of Oxford as research assistant to the Professor of Roman Archaeology, where I developed my interest in the topography of Rome. My research and publications focus mainly on Roman and Byzantine ceramics and the problems related to the evolution of North African cities from Late Antiquity to the Arab conquest.

Roman Archeology
My interests in Roman Archaeology focus on different aspects.
In Rome I have co-directed with Dr. D. Palombi (Università La Sapienza) the project at the villa dei Gordiani along the via Prenestina.
I am also interested in architecture and statuary. In particular I have published two papers on the cult of Mercury Sober in the city of Rome and a study of the statuary group of the Dioscuroi found in Cori (South Latium). Studying several fragments I proposed a reconstruction of the statuary group (now visible at the Museum of Cori). In my recent book "The End of the Pagan City" I also considered the fate of statuary and buildign material after the closure of temples. Recently my research has focused on recycling and spolia.

Pottery
I have been working for a long time and published several articles on Roman pottery in Rome, Italy and North Africa. I have a good knowledge of all the classes of pottery that circulated in the Mediterranean from the Republican period to the 7th/8th century AD and beyond. I am interested in all the aspects related to the pottery studies (economy, trade, consumption, problems of chronologies etc.). I have however experience on the study of a number of artefacts, including glass, marble decoratioons.

Roman,Byzantine and early Arab Urbanism
My interest on this aspect started with my PhD, that I have now published. The principal aim of this book is to examine the complex sequence of transition in the selected provinces of Zeugitana, Byzacena and Tripolitana of late Roman North Africa. The general analysis (based on historical sources, epigraphy and archaeological evidence) focuses on transitions in town and country and economy from Roman to Vandal and to Byzantine rule and observing patterns and facets of continuity and change. The period in question from AD 300 to AD 700, spans more that political transitions: it sees the adoption of Christianity (during the Las Imperial period and the Byzantine times), the Vandal rule and the adoption of Arianism and the Arab/Muslim imposition. It is also a period of archaeological and material transition: towns and economic system change, public structures (but not churches) decay. I have analysed how classical towns changed through centuries, how building were reused and progressively transformed.
I am currently working on the publication of the excavation of the Roman and Byzantine shops along the colonnaded street in Jarash, carried out in the '80s by an Italian team.

Paganism and Christianity
My last book in press by Oxford University Press, The End of the Pagan City, focuses primarily on the end of the pagan religious tradition and the dismantling of its material form in North Africa (modern Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD. It considers how urban communities changed, why some traditions were lost and some others continued, and whether these carried the same value and meaning upon doing so. Addressing two main issues, mainly from an archaeological perspective, the volume explores the change in religious habits and practices, and the consequent recycling and reuse of pagan monuments and materials, and investigates to what extent these physical processes were driven by religious motivations and contrasts, or were merely stimulated by economic issues.

Landscape
My interests in landscape archaeology started from my PhD, where I looked at the transformation of the countryside from Late Antiquity to the Arab conquest. I am currently focussing on the clergy and the progressive acquisition of estates and properties by the Clergy and the rise of the Church as an economic and secular power. I am also particularly interested in looking at the transformations occurred in rural villas in Late Antiquity and early medieval period.

Fieldwork project in Sicily
I have directed the survey project in Sicily. The project research area on the north-western slopes of Etna includes the territories of the comuni of Bronte,Maletto and Maniace in the provincia di Catania and focuses,in particular, on the area located in the upper valley of the river Simeto that is formed at the confluence of the Saracena, Acuto and Martello rivers. The project is now in preparation for publication.

I am in the process of starting a new project in Libya, in the inland area of Lepcis Magna, in the Msallata plateau.  The fort of Salama (mentioned by a 14th c. source) is located at the south-east periphery of Quryat Selma (coordinates 32,6416 N and 13,9520  E), mid way from the city of Msellata and Gasr Khiar. The area is located at 38 km west of the ancient city of Lepcis Magna. The project will combine interpretation of satellite images, landscape extensive survey and GIS recording, as well as geophysical investigation of the Salama fort area and stratigraphic analysis and recording of the standing structures (the Medieval Salama fort and the nearby mosque, cisterns and Roman farms). In the longer term the project will also include extensive excavation. The project is in co-operation with the Deutsches Archäologische Institut – Rome (Dr R. Bockmann) and the University of Msurata (Dr H. Abdouli). The project is also finalized to train local archaeologists on the field and on recording, managing and protecting the Cultural Heritage after the conflict. Results of the project will be part of the new plans of the Department of Antiquities to create a complete archive of the archaeological remains on the territory.

Research Students
I am currently supervising students working on , Roman rural Sanctuaries in Syria,Third century crisis in North Africa and Spain, Ptolemaic and Christian Egypt, Fate of Statuary in Late Antiquity,  The iconography of the Severan women. If you have any idea for a PhD research that you want to discuss with me, feel free to email me.

Research Groups

Department of Archaeology

  • Landscapes of Complex Society Research Group
  • Ritual, Religion, Belief and Place Research Group

Research Projects

Department of Archaeology

Research Interests

  • Archaeology in North Africa
  • Late Antique urbanism in North Africa and the near East
  • Roman and Byzantine pottery
  • Roman Economy
  • Roman, Byzantine Sicily
  • Topography of Rome

Selected Publications

Books: authored

Books: edited

Books: sections

  • Leone, A (Forthcoming). 23. Pottery Catalogue. In Forthcoming 2013. The Archaeology of Fazzān. Volume 4, Survey and Excavations at Old Jarma (Ancient Garama) carried out by C. M. Daniels (1962-69) and the Fazzān Project (1997-2001). Society for Libyan Studies/Department of Antiquities, London. Mattingly, D. J., Daniels, C. M., Dore, J. N., Edwards, D., Leone, A. & Thomas, D. C. Society for Libyan Studies. 4.
  • Leone, A. (Forthcoming). Garamantes and Trade: The evidence from Germa. In Fazzan- Germa Excavation. Mattingly, D.J. Society for Libyan Studies. 4.
  • Leone, A. & (with minor contributions from J. N. Dore† and H. Eckardt) (2013). 13. Pottery from the FP project excavation in Jarma. In Forthcoming 2013. The Archaeology of Fazzān. Volume 4, Survey and Excavations at Old Jarma (Ancient Garama) carried out by C. M. Daniels (1962-69) and the Fazzān Project (1997-2001). Society for Libyan Studies/Department of Antiquities, London. Mattingly, D. J., Daniels, C. M., Dore, J. N., Edwards, D., Leone, A., & Thomas, D. C. Society for Libyan Studies. 4.
  • Leone, A. & Moussa, F. (2012). Roman North Africa and Sahara. In Oxford handbook of African Archaeology. Lane, P. & Michell, P. Oxford University Press. 1.
  • Edwards, D.N., Mattingly D.J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Dore, J.N. & Leone, A. (2010). Excavations and survey at Tinda, al Khara'iq and Ikhlif Escarpment Settlements. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly, D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3.
  • Mattingly, D.J., HAwthorne, J., Daniels, C.M., With contributions from, Dore, J.N., Leone, A. & Cole, F. (2010). Excavations at the Classic Garamantian Settlement of Saniat Jibril. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly D.J. London: The Society for Lybian Studies. 3.
  • Edwards, D.N., Mattingly, D.J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Dore, J.N. & Leone, A. (2010). Excavations of other Garamantian Cemeteries and Burials. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly, D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3.
  • Mattingly, D.J., Hawthorne, J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Dore, J.N., Leone, A., Kenrick, Ph. & Tagart, C. (2010). The Garamantian Cemetery of Saniat Bin Huwaydi. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3.
  • Hawthorne,J., Mattingly,D.J., Daniels, C.M., with contributions from, Barnett, T., Dore, J.N. & Leone, A. (2010). Zinkekra: an Early Garamantian Escarpement Settlement and Associated Sites. In The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 3, Excavations of C.M. Daniels. Mattingly, D.J. London: The Society for Libyan Studies. 3: 19-84.
  • Leone, A. (2007). Christianity and Paganism, IV: North Africa. In The Cambridge History of Christianity.2. Constantine to c.600. Casiday A., & Norris F.W. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2: 231-247.
  • Dore, J. N., Leone, A. & Hawthorne, J. (2007). Section 41. The Pottery Type Series. In The Archaeology of Fazzan Volume 2, Site Gazetteer, Pottery and other Survey finds. Mattingly, D.J., Daniels, C.M., Dore, J.N., Edwards, D. & Hawthorne, J. London: Society for Libyan Studies. II: 305-431.
  • Leone,A., Witcher, R., Privitera, F. & Spigo, U. (2007). The Upper Simeto Valley Poject. An interim report of the first season. In Understanding Upland Landscapes: Interdisciplinary Investigations of Sicily. Fitzjohn, M. London: Accordia Research Institute.
  • Leone, A. (1999). I manufatti Greci e Romani nel museo del Cairo. In La Collezione del Museo del Cairo. F. Tiradritti Vercelli: White Star. 488-409.
  • Leone, A. (1997). Terrecotte dell’Egitto Greco-Romano. In Enciclopedia dell’Arte Antica Classica e Orientale. Roma: Secondo Supplemento 1971-1994, V.

Edited works: contributions

  • Leone, A. (2006). Changing Urban Landscapes: Burials in North African Cities from the Late Antique to Byzantine periods. In Mortuary Landscape in North Africa. D. Stone & L. Stirling Toronto: Toronto University Press.
  • Leone, A. & Mattingly, D.J. (2004). Vandal, Byzantine and Arab Rural Landscapes in North Africa. In Landscapes of Change: Rural Evolutions in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Christie, N. Aldershot: Ashgate. 135-162.
  • Leone, A. (2003). Topographies of production in the cities of late antique North Africa. In Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology. Lavan, L. & Bowden, W. Leiden: Brill. 257-287.
  • Leone, A. (2000). Darius rex a Nemi. In Rome: 29-34.
  • Leone, Anna (1999). Change or no Change? Revised Perceptions of Urban Transformation in Late Antiquity. In Leicester: 121-130.
  • Leone, A. (1996). Un’Adultera Meretrix a Bulla Regia: alcuni aspetti della città tardoantica. In 11: 1371-1383.

Journal papers: academic

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Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

  • Social sciences: Rome, Roman Italy, North Africa and the Near East. Late Antique, Byzantine, Early Islamic North Africa
  • Roman, Greek & ancient civilisations:

Grants Awarded

  • 2010: Knott Fellowship - IAS (university of Durham) http://www.dur.ac.uk/ias/christopherson_knott/
  • 2009: BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND PAGANS (£16161.00 from Arts and Humanities Research Council)
  • 2007: Grant from the Institute of Advanced Studies Durham for the conference Cities and Gods (£1000)
  • 2007: THE UPPER SIMETO VALLEY PROJECT (£7475.00 from The British Academy)
  • 2006: Rosemary Cramp funds for the conference Cities and Gods (£1000)
  • 2006: THE VILLA OF THE GORDIANI AT THE 3RD MILE (£5635.00 from The British Academy)
  • 2005: LACUS IUTURNAE (£13955.26 from Academy of Finland)

Supervises

For details of research postgraduates associated with the Roman Centre, please see our Postgraduates page.

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