yale university press roman woodworking jan 2007

[...]... explain the impressive assemblage of tools found there Since finds of Roman tools tend to be haphazard, studies of a particular class of Roman tool, woodworking or otherwise, tend to draw upon examples found throughout the Roman world (The appendix lists the tools that were studied for the following discussion as well as their find-spots and current locations.) From the relatively small samples of Roman tools... technical aspects of Roman construction over the past century has been keen, to the degree that certain areas of ancient construction, such as the marble trade, have become subspecialties within the larger field of classical archaeology The majority of attention has been focused upon masonry construction and the classification of Roman concretes and their various facings Nevertheless, Roman woodworking has... trade and the types of trees used by Roman woodworkers was considerably enhanced by Meiggs’s aforementioned book on trees and timber published in 1982 Meiggs was less concerned about technique than with the history of the timber trade in both Greek and Roman settings His study includes not only an impressive compendium of ancient sources that address the topic of ancient woodworking, but vital commentary... simply as a laborer in support of that trade made little difference on the global scale of Roman social standing Highborn Romans and even rankand-file free-born Romans with income were no more likely to become skilled carpenters than they were to choose professions in the fields of medicine, acting, or painting Most Roman woodworkers, like their counterparts in other crafts such as metalworking, leatherworking,... blades, and chisels (Mutz 1980) Other fine examples of individual tools have been found in the Roman legionary outposts of northern Italy (for example, Aquileia), Germany (for example, Saalburg), and England (for example, Caerleon) Among the best preserved of Roman woodworking tools are those which have been found in Roman Britain; important collections include those in the Museum of London, the British Museum,... Rome; Roberta Stewart; and Elizabeth Sullivan I am grateful to Harry Haskell, Keith Condon, Lawrence Kenney, and the rest of the editorial staff of Yale University Press for the support they have shown for this project Rabun Taylor evaluated the manuscript for the press and offered many valuable suggestions Finally, I would like to thank the office of the Dean of the Faculty of Dartmouth College, the Petitt... the period of the Roman empire, there is also little change over time in terms of physical form Some tool types are quite rare Fewer than twenty planes have been discovered in the entire Roman world Twisted drill bits have been discovered at only a handful of sites Since woodworking tools were long-lasting, portable, and disseminated widely by the carpenters who traveled with the Roman legions, we... study of all Roman iron tools in recent years, suggests that the forms of such tools were fully developed in Roman times and did not change until the machine age (1980, 256) One only has to look at the form of a nineteenth-century wooden frame saw and its Roman counterpart depicted on a grave relief, or at an iron claw hammer found at Pompeii, to appreciate the remarkable continuity of form Roman Tools... sawyer was employed for fuel Without this single most important energy source, the Roman baths would have been inoperable, iron and bronze nonexistent, pottery, roofing tiles, and fired brick unobtainable The importance of wood in the Roman world is easy to overlook for an obvious reason Modern discoveries of wood in Roman contexts are extraordinary; the survival of wooden artifacts requires unusual... memberships, and official positions within the guilds themselves (I shall return to the role of the guilds shortly) That the Roman woodworker, like other craftsmen of the Roman world, took pride in his work is clear, even without the direct evidence of written testimony Despite the disregard a Roman aristocrat like Cicero might have displayed for one who worked in a trade (although he nevertheless distinguished .