Beyond ports: Movement and connectivity in the Roman Mediterranean

Beyond ports will explore the mobility across land and water in coastal regions in the Mediterranean to understand the structure and organisation of territories in the Roman Empire and how communities used and shaped their surroundings to connect with others.This project will use quantitative and analytical methods, specifically archaeological analysis, topographic modelling, spatial and network analyses within Geographic Information Systems.

These tools and approaches will make possible to create digital models of entire regions, helping us understand how they have changed since Antiquity.This project will develop during 4-years at the University of Lund and will count with the collaboration of several specialised researchers from different European universities and research institutions, materialised in three secondments.Beyond ports will provide a holistic interpretation of movement in coastal areas in Antiquity that would bridge the gap between Maritime Archaeology and Classical Archaeology, leading to a renewed understanding of how people used their surroundings to connect with others in the past.

It will also improve the detection of potential unknown archaeological sites in the coast, and promote the collaboration between heritage management institutions and academic research to influence policy regarding the preservation of archaeological heritage in areas at risk caused by human developments and climate change.