'Hammering Out the Social Dynamics of a Roman Blacksmith’s Workshop'

The Global Studies Seminar presents “Hammering Out the Social Dynamics of a Roman Blacksmith’s Workshop” by Denison University’s Assistant Professor Rhodora Vennarucci.

The Marzuolo Archaeological Project conducts one of the first high-resolution studies of a Roman minor center in southcentral Tuscany, Italy. A blacksmith’s workshop destroyed by a fire in the mid-1st century A.D. while still in use preserves a rare “living” snapshot of ancient metalworking practices. By spatially contextualizing three essential tools in a blacksmith’s kit (anvil, tongs, and hammer) within the workshop, this study reconstructs craftspeople interactions and illuminates the organization of production, knowledge transfer, and occupational identity within this rural settlement. Through the integration of archaeological techniques and bottom-up social history, this study challenges traditional approaches to ancient crafts that have focused on products over people and processes and reveals new perspectives on the lived experiences of craftspeople in the Roman countryside.

Vennarucci (VENN-AH-RUE-CHI) is an assistant professor of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at Denison University. She is a Roman archaeologist whose research and publications focus broadly on the socioeconomic history of the Roman world with specific interest in both ends of the distribution network: rural production and urban retail. She is scientific director of the Virtual Roman Retail project and Co-PI of the Marzuolo (MARTZ-WOE-LOW) Archaeological Project and the Archaeological Reconnaissance Ficulle (FEE-COOL-LAY) Project, which are both in Italy. She teaches courses on ancient Greek and Roman visual and material culture, the ancient economy, and Roman urbanism.