IPAMAA's Caroline Nemechek successfully defended her dissertation "Understanding the Market for Mosaics in 2nd c. CE Roman Britain" on Friday, May 23rd.
Caroline describes her research as follows: "My dissertation examines how a globalized medium (mosaics) was incorporated at the local level, using 2nd c. CE mosaics from Roman Britain as the source of data. Globalization theory helps conceptualize why more people adopted mosaics floors during the 2nd c. CE, as opposed to the sporadic appearance of mosaics in the 1st c. CE, without the added baggage of presuming a desire for specific cultural associations. Here this moment of change and the people driving it are referred to as the market: instead of assuming that people connected owning mosaics with Roman cultural practices, my dissertation asks how and why market demand emerged for mosaics at this time.
"The importance of this research is twofold. First, it combines aspects of locality, production, and style together in order to examine a more complete picture of mosaic creation and use during this timeframe. Second, it brings new questions to bear on an underutilized source of data; the mosaics of the 2nd c. CE are rarely used in answering questions about society unlike their 4th c. CE counterparts. My approach focuses on three sets of interrelated inquiries, all of which are centered around determining the nature of mosaic production and ownership at this time. The first inquiry examines the distribution of mosaics at this time, as well as the implications of areas of mosaic concentration. The second inquiry focuses on the context of mosaics as an integral part of domestic spaces, in addition to the correlation of these spaces with the owner’s status; that is to say how mosaics and the houses they existed within inform us about people’s economic and ideological power. The third inquiry, in keeping with the market framework, turns to the question of supply: how did mosaic crafters respond to and shape market demand?
"The individual findings of each chapter join to create a more complete picture about how mosaics were made and why people owned them, one which focuses on the specific context of mosaic ownership in the province rather than a more general connection between mosaics and high status Roman cultural practices."
Our sincere congratulations, Dr. Nemechek!
