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ARCHAEOLOGY STAFF BIOS

Archer Martin, Archaeology Supervisor

At the end of his tenure as the Mellon Professor in 2001 Archer Martin was nominated to the newly created position of Archaeology Supervisor. In this capacity he continues to be responsible for archaeology at the AAR.

Martin has pursued his career in Europe. Before coming to the Academy in 1999 Martin was a freelance archaeologist for 10 years, specializing in the study of Roman material culture (in particular pottery). He worked on various projects in Italy and Greece, including the Bastione Farnesiano on the Palatine with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma, Ostia with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Ostia and other institutions, Gortina on Crete with the Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene, and Olympia with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. He was also adjunct professor at the Università di Trento. From 1983 to 1989 Martin taught classical archaeology at the Université de Fribourg in Switzerland.

After receiving his B.A. at Vanderbilt University and studying at the Universität Regensburg in Germany, Martin trained as an archaeologist at the Università di Roma "La Sapienza". He has also held a one-year fellowship at the Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene.

Martin's publications include:

• The South-West Building at Olympia: The Ceramic and Glass Evidence for its Dating, in Jean-Yves Marc, Jean-Charles Moretti (ed.), Constructions publiques et programmes édilitaire en Grèce entre le IIe siècle av. J.-C. et le Ier siècle ap. J.-C. Actes du Colloque organsé par l'Ecole Française d'Athènes et le CNRS, Athènes 14-17 mai 1995, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique Supplément 39, Athènes, 2001, pp. 313-321 ;
• Keramologische Enzelbefunde, in Franz Alto Bauer - Michael Heinzelmann - Archer Martin, Ostia. Ein urbanistiches Forschungsprojekt in den unausgegrabenen Bereiches des Stadtgebietes. Vorbericht zur 2. Grabungskampagne 1999, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Römische Abteilung, 107, 2000, pp. 407-410;
• A Preliminary Note on South Gaulish Sigillata at Cosa, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 37, 2001, pp. 241-242;
• The Joint AAR-DAI Research Project at Ostia: 1998 and 1999 Seasons, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, 45, 2000, pp. 277-283 (with Michael Heinzelmann);
• Amphorae at Olympia, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 36, 2000, pp. 427-433;
• Zur Datierung einzelner Befunde, in Franz Alto Bauer - Michael Heinzelmann - Archer Martin - Andreas Schaub, Untersuchungen im Bereich der konstantinischen Bischofskirche Ostias. Vorbericht zur ersten Grabungskampagne 1998, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Römische Abteilung, 106, 1999, pp. 328-331;
• La sigillata focese (Phocaean Red-Slip/Late Roman C Ware), in Lucia Saguì (a cura di), Ceramica in Italia: VI-VII secolo. Atti del convegno in onore di John W. Hayes, Roma, 11-13 maggio 1995, Firenze, 1998, pp. 109-122;
• Gortina II. Pretorio. Il materiale degli scavi Colini 1970-1977, Padova, 1998;
• Sigillata wasters from Ostia?, in Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 35, 1997, pp. 199-202;
• Roman and late antique fine wares from Olympia, in Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 35, 1997, pp. 211-216;
• Un saggio sulle mura del castrum di Ostia (Reg. I, ins. x,3), in Anna Gallina Zevi and Amanda Claridge (edited by), 'Roman Ostia' Revisited. Archaeological and Historical Papers in Memory of Russell Meiggs, London, 1996, pp. 19-38.;
• Two Roman Contexts from Olympia, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 33, 1996, pp. 127-134;
• Central Italian Lead-Glazed Ware, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 34, 1995, pp. 63-68;
• Trento - Palazzo Tabarelli. Lucerne antiche, and Trento - area di palazzo Tabarelli. Ceramica a pareti sottili, in Enrico Cavada (a cura di), Materiali per la storia urbana di Trento, Trento, 1995, pp. 177-194 and pp. 195-207;
• Die Arbeit an der kaiserzeitlichen Keramik, in Ulrich Sinn, Georg Ladstätter, Archer Martin, Thomas Völling, Bericht über das Forschungsprojekt 'Olympia während der römischen Kaiserzeit und in der Spätantike" IV. Die Arbeiten im Jahr 1995, Nikephoros. Zeitschrift für Sport und Kultur im Altertum, 7, 1995, pp. 174-179;
• Die Arbeit an der kaiserzeitlichen Keramik, in Ulrich Sinn, Georg Ladstätter, Archer Martin, Thomas Völling, Bericht über das Forschungsprojekt 'Olympia während der römischen Kaiserzeit und in der Spätantike" III. Die Arbeiten im Jahr 1994, Nikephoros. Zeitschrift für Sport und Kultur im Altertum, 7, 1995, pp. 248-249;
• Nouvelles observations sur la sigillée sud-gauloise en Italie, S.F.E.C.A.G. Actes du Congrès de Millau 12-15 mai 1994, Marseille, 1994, pp. 115-126 ;
• Evidenza ceramologica per la datazione delle mura "costantiniane" di Portus, in L. Paroli, P. Delogu (a cura di), La storia economica di Roma nell'alto Medioevo alla luce dei recenti scavi archeologici. Atti del seminario Roma 2-3 aprile 1992, Firenze, 1993, pp. 201-202;
• Produzione e circolazione di ceramiche tardoantiche e altomedievali ad Ostia e Porto. Ostia antica - Casone del Sale; Porto (Fiumicino). Area I, in L. Paroli, P. Delogu (a cura di), La storia economica di Roma nell'alto Medioevo alla luce dei recenti scavi archeologici. Atti del seminario Roma 2-3 aprile 1992, Firenze, 1993, pp. 206-215;
• Ceramica fine a Roma e Ostia tra la seconda metà del I e il II secolo, in Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, 31/32, 1992, pp. 91-103;
• La ceramica invetriata romana: la testimonianza dell'Area NE delle Terme del Nuotatore ad Ostia, in Lidia Paroli (ed.), Atti del Seminario Certosa di Pontignano (Siena) 23-24 febbraio 1990, Firenze, 1992, pp. 323-329;
  Sondages under S. Stefano Rotondo (Rome): The Pottery and Other Finds, Boreas. Münstersche Beiträge zur Archäologie, 14/15, 1991/92, pp. 157-178;
• Rare Pieces of Gaulish Sigillata from the Neighborhood of Rome, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta, XXIX/XXX, 1991, pp. 71-80;
• Primo stile pompeiano e funzione sociale: riflessioni su un corpus della pittura di primo stile pompeiano, Opus, IX-X, pp. 205-213;
• Praetoria as Provincial Governors' Palaces, Historia Testis. Mélanges d'épigraphie, d'histoire ancienne et de philologie offerts à Tadeusz Zawadzki, Fribourg, 1989, pp. 229-240 ;
• L'importazione di ceramica africana a Roma tra il IV e il V secolo (S. Stefano Rotondo), L'Africa Romana, 6, 1989, pp. 475-483;
• La datazione di due sequenze stratigrafiche di Ostia: confronto tra monete e ceramica, Atti della Giornata di Studio sulla Moneta in Contesti Stratigrafici (25 settembre 1986), Studi e Materiali dell'Istituto Italiano di Numismatica, 2, 1989, pp. 107-120;
• South Gaulish Sigillata in Italy, Opus, IV, 1985, pp. 125-140;
• La pittura ellenistica a Pompei in decorazioni scomparse documentate da uno studio dell'architetto russo A.A. Parland, Parti II e III, Dialoghi di Archeologia, III serie, 2, 1984, pp. 135-140.
  

Eric DeSena, Archaeology Laboratory Assistant

Eric C. De Sena received his B.A. in Mediterranean Archaeology from SUNY Albany, his M.A. in Classical Archaeology at the University of Illinois at Urbana and is finishing his doctoral dissertation "Pottery and the Ancient Economy: the Supply of Agricultural and Craft Goods in Ostia and Rome" for the Dept. of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford (UK). De Sena's main research interests are Roman pottery, ancient industry and trade, ancient farming, archaeological methods and theory, and the application of scientific techniques in the study of archaeological materials (archaeometry).

Primarily as a pottery specialist, De Sena has worked on a number of excavations in Tuscany, Rome, Ostia, southern Lazio, Pompeii and in Abruzzo with American, Italian, British, French, Finnish and German teams. While based at the University of Illinois, he worked in the archaeometry laboratory (ATAM), mostly conducting neutron activation analysis. De Sena has recently become co-director (with Dr. Alexandru Matei) of the excavations at Porolissum, a Roman military city set along the Dacian limes in what is now northwestern Romania.

He and colleague Helene Dessales are currently editing the volume Archaeological Methods and Approaches: Industry and Commerce in Ancient Italy to be published in the British Archaeological Reports International Series. This volume contains articles based on papers presented at the AAR/EFR symposium of the same name held in April 2002.

Recent articles include:

• E.C. De Sena (2003), "Seeing the Trees and the Forest. Toward a More Refined Understanding of Socio-Cultural Systems in Classical Antiquity: the Case of Olive Oil in Ancient Latium," Archaologiae 1: 11-32.
  
  
• E.C. De Sena (2002), "Reflections on the Supply of Domestic Pottery in Ostia, AD 50-450," MAAR 47: 274-285.
  
  
• Wisseman, S., P. Sarin, R. Ousterhout, E.C De Sena, and W. Williams (2002), "Fresco Pigments from Byzantine Cappadocia, Part II," in E. Jerem and K.T. Biró (eds.), Proceedings of the 1998 International Symposium on Archaeometry, Budapest, Hungary, BAR-IS 1043.
  
  
• E.C. De Sena (1998), "Catalogo dei manufatti ceramici provenienti dagli scavi condotti lungo la linea AV nel territorio dell'alta Valle Latina in S. Pracchia," L. Petrassi, F.M. Cifarelli (eds.), Elementi Minori di un Paesaggio Archeologico, Rome, pp. 259-279.
  
  
• E.C. De Sena and E.S. Friedman (1997), "An Investigation of the Sources of Bronze Age Pottery from Göltepe and Kestel, Turkey by Neutron Activation," in J.R. Druzic, P.B. Vandiver, J. Merkel, and J. Stewart (eds.), Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology, V. Proceedings of the Material Research Society Fall Meetings 1996 Symposium DD: Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology, Pittsburgh, pp. 239-246.
  
  
• S. Wisseman, E. De Sena, S. Landsberger, R. Ylengan, S. Altaner, and D. Moore (1997), "Compositional Analysis of Byzantine Ceramics from Serres and Thessaloniki," in H. Maguire (ed.), Materials Analysis of Byzantine Pottery, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, pp. 157-169.