Books by Jared Benton
The Bread Makers The Social and Professional Lives of Bakers in the Western Roman Empire, 2020
Bread was the staple of the ancient Mediterranean diet. It was present in the meals of emperors a... more Bread was the staple of the ancient Mediterranean diet. It was present in the meals of emperors and on the tables of the poorest households. In many instances, a loaf of bread probably constituted an entire meal. As such, bread was both something that unified society and a milieu through which social and ethnic divisions played out. Similarly, bakers were not a monolithic demographic. They served both the rich and the poor, but some bakers clearly operated within regional traditions. Some lived in big cities and others lived in small towns. Some bakers made flat breads and others made leavened loaves. Some made coarse brown loaves and others specialized in fancier white breads. This book offers new methods and new ways of framing bread production in the Roman world to reveal the nuances of an industry that fed an empire. Inscriptions, Roman law, and material remains of Roman-period bakeries are combined to expose the cultural context of bread making, the economic context of commercial baking, the social hierarchy within the workforces of bakeries, and the socio-economic strategies of Roman bakers.
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Journal Articles by Jared Benton
World Archaeology, 2024
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Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports, 2021
This paper discusses the study of stone implements from the Roman site of Volubilis (Morocco), un... more This paper discusses the study of stone implements from the Roman site of Volubilis (Morocco), undertaken in order to identify the types of stone used for different tools found in workshops and to isolate potential quarry sources. As part of the work of the Urban Economy of Volubilis Project, we analyzed the petrology, mineralogy, and geochemistry of sixteen stone millstones and dough mixers. The results show that Volubilis' stone implements likely derived from three different quarry sources, with olive mills, grain mills, and dough mixers each having their own distinct lithology, specifically selected to suit the function of the object. The geochemistry of the stones indicates a local source for all of the samples, including the alkali basalt millstones which are often considered to be imported through long-distance trade. The close proximity of the stone quarries and the evidence for selectivity suggest a degree of communication and reflexivity between the city's craftspeople and those who produced their specialized equipment.
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Mouseion, 2021
During the 2017 field season, our team cleaned and documented six of the bakeries in Volubilis. T... more During the 2017 field season, our team cleaned and documented six of the bakeries in Volubilis. The primary goal of this fieldwork was to provide the first detailed study of the interior operations of the city’s commercial bakeries, documenting the various technologies and attributes within the workshops. Framed in terms of operational sequences, the processes comprising the production of bread are associated with the various spaces within workshops and the relationships between production and the built environs around each workshop. The morphologies of the different technologies are also detailed to begin exploring cross-craft interactions as part of future work at the site.
Durant la saison de fouilles 2017, notre équipe a nettoyé et analysé six des boulangeries de Volubilis. L’objectif premier de cette campagne était de produire une première étude détaillée des opérations internes liées à l’industrie commerciale des boulangeries de la cité, en répertoriant les diverses technologies et caractéristiques des installations. Pensés en termes de chaînes opératoires, les procédés de fabrication du pain sont associés aux différents espaces à l’intérieur des boulangeries, et étudiés en fonction des relations entre la production et l’environnement bâti autour chaque établissement. Les morphologies des différentes technologies sont également inventoriées afin de préparer l’analyse des interactions entre les différents métiers, qui feront l’objet de prochaines recherches sur le site.
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Book Chapters by Jared Benton
in: Bentz, Martin and Heinzelmann, Michael (Eds.): Sessions 6–8, Single Contributions, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2023 (Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World – Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn 2018, Vol. 55), p. 635-648., 2023
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A Quaint and Curious Volume: Essays in Honor of John J. Dobbins, 2021
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Designating Place Archaeological Perspectives on Built Environments in Ostia and Pompeii, 2020
BentonProcess-oriented approaches to understanding production in the Roman world, and the chaîne-... more BentonProcess-oriented approaches to understanding production in the Roman world, and the chaîne-opératoire approach specifically, have become one of the mainstays of Mediterranean archaeology in recent years. Their application has revolutionized how we approach ancient crafts and workshops, but also how we make inferences about ancient life from the last vestiges of ancient built environments. Such approaches are not, however, without their limitations. The purpose of this paper is to review the history of the chaîne-opératoire approach with a view to how its application can be improved and where its limits lie. Process-oriented approaches have led to an undue focus on well-preserved archaeological sites and central Italy in particular, exacerbating a pre-existing tendency to leave little room for regional variation in our discipline. Moreover, theoretical models such as chaînes opératoires do not provide a diachronic framework through which one can draw historicizing conclusions, limiting the academic impact of their use. Finally, at least in the case of operational sequences, they have failed to incorporate industrial processes with social habits, as was their initial purpose, but perhaps if combined with other theoretical models we might begin addressing these obstacles.
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G. Bruno (ed.), La geoarcheologia come chiave di lettura per uno sviluppo sostenibile del territorio. Atti del congresso nazionale di geoarcheologia: Aidone (EN), 04-05 luglio 2014. SIGEA 2/2015: 19-24., 2015
The Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) of the American Excavations at Morgantina (AEM) is a multi-year... more The Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) of the American Excavations at Morgantina (AEM) is a multi-year research and excavation project focused on an insula at the western end of the Classical and Hellenistic city. This article presents key findings from the project’s 2013 and 2014 seasons and offers preliminary interpretation of the excavation data. We end with a brief account of CAP’s advances in the fields of data management and geospatial recording.
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Peer-Reviewed Preliminary Reports by Jared Benton
FOLD&R Fasti On Line Documents & Research, 500, 2021
In its sixth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) contin... more In its sixth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) continued archaeological investigations inside the House of the Two Mills, a modestly-appointed house of Hellenistic date located near the western edge of the ancient city of Morgantina. This report gives a phase-by-phase summary of the significant discoveries from the 2018 excavation season, highlighting the architectural development of the building as well as evi-dence for the various activities that took place there over the course of its occupation.
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FOLD&R Fasti On Line Documents & Research, 487, 2020
In its fifth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) contin... more In its fifth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) continued archaeological investigations inside the Southeast Building, a modestly-appointed house of Hellenistic date located near the western edge of the city. The 2016 CAP season had revealed the full extent of the property’s boundary walls and allowed us to propose a cohesive phasing scheme for the building’s construction, occupation, and abandonment. We suggested that the house was occupied for approximately 60-75 years, beginning in the second quarter of the third century BCE. The 2017 CAP excavations resolved a number of remaining questions, particularly those concerning the phasing of the boundary walls, the layout of interior spaces in the southern and eastern parts of the building, and the nature of domestic activities at different stages of the house’s occupation. This report describes the results of these excavations and proposes a new account of the building’s early development. The discovery of two large rotary millstones within the building raises the possibility that the occupants of the house may have specialized in the milling of grains and prompts us to rename the building, “the House of the Two Mills”.
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FOLD&R Fasti On Line Documents & Research, 450, 2019
In its fourth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) conti... more In its fourth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) continued archaeological investigations inside a modest house of Hellenistic date located near the western edge of the ancient urban center at Morgantina. Previous CAP excavations, conducted between 2013 and 2015, had verified the presence of an adaptive urban grid in this portion of the ancient city and, moreover, revealed much of the northern part of the building that occupied Lot 1 of insula W13/14S. Following the 2015 excavations, we came to identify this building as a modestly-appointed house that had been occupied for roughly 50 to 75 years, beginning in the second quarter of the third century BCE. The 2016 CAP season represented a significant expansion of the excavation, as four large trenches were set across the entirety of the lot, with the twin goals of resolving stratigraphic questions that remained from previous seasons and exploring the lesser-known southern area of the building. In this report we describe newly excavated evidence for the construction and use of the building as a whole, proceeding phase by phase and trench by trench.
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In its third season, the Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) continued archaeological investigations in... more In its third season, the Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) continued archaeological investigations in the remains of a building, located near the western margins of the ancient urban center of Morgantina. In 2015, excavations opened a larger portion of the so-called Southeast Building, extending from the trenches opened during the 2014 season. These investigations yielded evidence from construction trenches and sub-floor fills that now allow a preliminary dating of the building's phases. The building appears to have had a short life, having been built and abandoned within fewer than 75 years, beginning around the middle of the third century BCE. New architectural features were revealed by the 2015 excavations, including columns composed of terracotta drums and a small oven set in the corner of a central room, indications of monumental decoration and food production, respectively. This combination of monumentality and small-scale production leads excavators to identify the building as a modest house, but further excavations will be needed to fully characterize its form and function.
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FOLD&R FastiOnLine documents & research (364). pp. 1-23. ISSN 1828-3179, 2016
This article provides a preliminary report on the 2014 excavations carried out by the American Ex... more This article provides a preliminary report on the 2014 excavations carried out by the American Excavations at Morgantina (Sicily): Contrada Agnese Project (CAP). The 2014 season was the second year of this multiyear research and excavation project aimed at investigating both the urban planning of the city and the lives of its residents, with a specific focus on the periods of occupation and cultural transformation from the third to first century BCE. During the second season, three trenches were excavated in the area corresponding to Lot One of the urban insula W13/14S. This preliminary report presents the significant stratigraphic units and material finds encountered in each trench, along with a provisional outline of the phases of activity, setting the developments observed in each trench within the broader historical and archaeological context of the urban center at Morgantina. The discovery of several rooms with similar architectural features suggests that they belong to a single building, the so-called Southeast Building, the function and dimensions of which will be investigated in future CAP excavations.
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FOLD&R Fasti On Line Documents & Research, 322, 2014
This article provides a preliminary report on the 2013 excavations carried out by the American Ex... more This article provides a preliminary report on the 2013 excavations carried out by the American Excavations at Morgantina (Sicily): Contrada Agnese Project (CAP). The 2013 season marked the start of this multiyear re-search and excavation project aimed at investigating both the urban planning of the city and the lives of its resi-dents, with a specific focus on the periods of occupation and cultural transformation from the third to first century BCE. During the first season, three trenches were excavated in two parts of the ancient city. Their locations were chosen, in part, based on the results of a geophysical survey, conducted on the archaeological site in the spring of 2012. This preliminary report presents the significant stratigraphic units and material finds encountered in each trench, along with a provisional outline of the phases of activity, setting the developments observed in each trench within the broader historical and archaeological context of the urban center at Morgantina.
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Book Reviews by Jared Benton
American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 125, No. 4, 2021
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American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 123, No. 3 (July 2019) Published online at www.ajaonline.org/book-review/3914 DOI: 10.3764/ajaonline1233.benton, 2019
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.376... more Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.123.3.fm JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
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Entries in Reference Sources by Jared Benton
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Conference Presentations by Jared Benton
Annual Conference of the Archaeological Institute of America, 2021
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Books by Jared Benton
Journal Articles by Jared Benton
Durant la saison de fouilles 2017, notre équipe a nettoyé et analysé six des boulangeries de Volubilis. L’objectif premier de cette campagne était de produire une première étude détaillée des opérations internes liées à l’industrie commerciale des boulangeries de la cité, en répertoriant les diverses technologies et caractéristiques des installations. Pensés en termes de chaînes opératoires, les procédés de fabrication du pain sont associés aux différents espaces à l’intérieur des boulangeries, et étudiés en fonction des relations entre la production et l’environnement bâti autour chaque établissement. Les morphologies des différentes technologies sont également inventoriées afin de préparer l’analyse des interactions entre les différents métiers, qui feront l’objet de prochaines recherches sur le site.
Book Chapters by Jared Benton
Peer-Reviewed Preliminary Reports by Jared Benton
Book Reviews by Jared Benton
Entries in Reference Sources by Jared Benton
Conference Presentations by Jared Benton
Durant la saison de fouilles 2017, notre équipe a nettoyé et analysé six des boulangeries de Volubilis. L’objectif premier de cette campagne était de produire une première étude détaillée des opérations internes liées à l’industrie commerciale des boulangeries de la cité, en répertoriant les diverses technologies et caractéristiques des installations. Pensés en termes de chaînes opératoires, les procédés de fabrication du pain sont associés aux différents espaces à l’intérieur des boulangeries, et étudiés en fonction des relations entre la production et l’environnement bâti autour chaque établissement. Les morphologies des différentes technologies sont également inventoriées afin de préparer l’analyse des interactions entre les différents métiers, qui feront l’objet de prochaines recherches sur le site.