RCRF Congress Leiden

23rd Congress of the Rei Cretariae Fautores

Dear Fautores, dear colleagues, dear friends!

We, the congress organisers, Philip Bes and Roderick Geerts, are very pleased to be welcoming the Fautores community to Leiden. The congress is organised in collaboration with the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University and the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. The congress will take place from the

15th of September 2024 to the 20th

followed by two days of optional post-congress excursions on the 21st and 22nd of September,

according to that wonderful Fautores tradition. For now it is our pleasure to already share the congress theme with all of you:

(Cultural) Contacts & Ceramic Contexts

We are continuously presented with a wealth of archaeological remains and artefacts from across the enormous area once covered by the Roman world. This growing richness continues to provide us with new research challenges as well as opportunities. Pottery was an omnipresent medium, and in certain respects we can speak of empire-wide phenomena, such as the production of terra sigillata/red slip ware. When investigated more closely, however, we become increasingly aware that pottery was highly heterogeneous in terms of production technique, typological and decorative style, exchange range and intensity, and so forth. This perspective allows us to ask a variety of local, regional and ‘global’ questions, for instance concerning the origin and connectivity of objects and styles (e.g., ‘local’ vs ‘non-local’; distributed/absorbed via military presence), the spatial/regional extent of certain styles and customs (e.g., urban-based; a regional feature), or the factors which are thought to have played a role in shaping regional styles and patterns (e.g., landscape; production capacity; transport possibilities).

We hope if not expect to see all Fautores members and other ceramic specialists in Leiden in September 2024 and are already looking forward to an inspirational and interesting week. In case of questions, please contact us directly using this e-mail address: rcrfleiden2024@gmail.com

Best wishes on behalf of the congress organisors, Philip Bes and Roderick Geerts.

Report (Roderick Geerts)

Leidein 1

Fig. 1. The participants of the Leiden Congress in front the Augustan temple of Taffeh (Egypt) in the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden.

The congress started with a Sunday preregistration at the venue, the Lokhorstkerk, before being officially opened on Monday with a welcome from the congress organisors (Philip Bes and Roderick Geerts), Lucas Petit head of collections of the National Museum of Antiquities and our editor Catarina Viegas our editor doing the honours on behalf of our president, Tatjana Cvjeticanin.

Fig. 2. The Lokhorstkerk.

Monday: A total of 125 participants made the congress to a great success. The congress programme started with a keynote lecture by Julie Van Kerckhove on the movement of people after the Caesarian conquest of the Low Countries and how that is reflected in the handmade pottery found in the Netherlands. She was presented with the first copy of the book Roman Pottery in the Low Countries Past Research, Current State, Future Directions, of which all participants also received a copy (https://www.sidestone.com/books/roman-pottery-in-the-low-countries). The first session two comprised further papers on the northwestern provinces, which continued after the unch break. For the remainder of the day we moved southwestwards with papers on North Africa and Southwestern Europe.

Tuesday: The second day started off with presentations on the Alpine regions, Italy and the Adriatic. During the afternoon we took the group photo in front of the nearby Pieterskerk (fig. 3). The day continued with a commemoration of John Hayes introduced by Philip Kenrick and concluded with the poster session.

Wednesday: The third day was another full day of presentations: we continued with Italy and the Adriatic, followed by the Black Sea region, the Aegean, Greece and Asia Minor.

On Thursday we stayed in Asia Minor, and there was a short session on handmade and reliefmade pottery. In the afternoon we visited the Faculty of Archaeology, where we were welcomed by Quentin Bourgeois, Head of the Department of World Archaeology. The visit comprised a visit to the laboratories at the Faculty, and a hands-on pottery display with material from the Faculty’s reference collection as well as from the recent excavations at nearby Valkenburg Z.H. – Limesbuurt and the fort at Valkenburg Z.H. (fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. The hands on pottery display at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University.

Friday: On the fifth and final day of the congress there were sessions where on oil lamps, the Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, Norhteast Africa and Arabia. At the end of the afternoon we visited the exhibitions in the National Museum of Antiquities, after which we returned to the Lokhorstkerk for the General Meeting (for the minutes, see below). We enjoyed the closing dinner in the restaurant Het Prentenkabinet (fig 5.).

Saturday: The first post-congress excursion was to Nijmegen. First stop was the former Museum KAM that now houses the Gelderland Archaeological Centre, where we were welcomed by Stephan Weiß-König. The building houses an amazing ceramic collection, with showcases (fig. 6) displaying all Roman pottery types found in the Netherlands, many dozen of each type were present. At the Radboud University there was a hands on pottery session with material from production sites at Nijmegen and Xanten. The day ended with a visit to the Holdeurn, where the 10th Legion produced their pottery, bricks and tiles.

On Sunday the post-congress excursion took us to the Archeon. The experimental archaeological park near Leiden houses a living history experience from prehistory until the medieval period. After our arrival we were welcomed in the Roman inn with a lunch followed by a presentation and tour of the Roman ship conservation and reconstruction laboratories by Tom Hazenberg. During the rest of the afternoon everyone could explore the park at their own pace before returning to Leiden.

The organisers look back on the Fautores’ 33rd congress with great pleasure and satisfaction, both scientifically and socially, and once more we sincerely thank all participants for both making the trip to Leiden and their contributions, also both scientifically and socially. We will see each other in Madrid!