Staff profile

BIOGRAPHY

Career

• Editor Antiquity, 2018-2024
• Reviews & Deputy Editor Antiquity, 2013-2017
• Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor, Durham University, UK 2009-
• Lecturer, Durham University, UK 2004-2009
• Temporary Lecturer University of Southampton, UK 2003-4
• Leverhulme Research Fellow The British School at Rome, Italy 1999-2002

RESEARCH

My twin research interests are Roman archaeology and landscape archaeology.

Roman archaeology

My interest in Roman archaeology extends from the core of the Empire (Italy) to the imperial periphery (Britain). I am currently working on the countryside, economy and demography of Italy c.500BC to AD300. In particular, I am interested in the similarities and differences between areas such as the hinterland of Rome (the suburbium) and more peripheral landscapes such as the Biferno valley in the Molise. I am also interested in developing economic and agrarian approaches to the rural landscapes of Roman Italy in order to encompass complementary issues such as social organization, consumption and embodied experience. More generally, I am interested to locate the archaeology of Roman Italy within its broader Mediterranean context. Recent research has included the development of modelling approaches to assess the size and composition of ancient populations and agricultural output which involves integrating historical and archaeological evidence with technologies such as GIS. I am currently exploring the Roman peasant in the context of revisionist ideas about the Roman economy, agriculture, health and identity. I am also working with Marie Curie Fellow Dr Jamie Sewell to explore the Roman impact on the urban settlement pattern of peninsular Italy (350BC to AD200).

Landscape archaeology

All aspects of the theory and practice of landscape archaeology interest me, from sampling patterns and statistical analysis to phenomenology and experiential surveying. I am particularly interested in how varied theories and methods can be usefully combined to enhance our understanding of past landscapes. 

After completing my thesis on landscape and settlement in Roman Italy, I had the opportunity to participate in the restudy of one of the pioneering Italian (and Mediterranean) field surveys – the South Etruria Survey. As part of the Tiber Valley Project, based at the British School at Rome, I studied the impact of the emergence and transformation of the City of Rome on its northern hinterland from 1000 BC to AD 1000. I am currently working as part of a consortium to bring together a series of regional survey databases as part of the Roman Hinterland project. As well as the rural landscapes of the pre-Roman and Roman periods, I am particularly interested in the historiography and methodologies of survey work. 

I have published on phenomenology, computer techniques including GIS, comparative survey techniques and theoretical contributions, as well as articles on the landscape of pre-Roman and Roman Italy.

Beyond the Mediterranean, I have completed an AHRC-funded project which brought together my interests in Roman and landscape archaeology. Along with Durham colleagues, I explored the post-Roman history of Hadrian's Wall and the history of its study and visual representation from the writings of the Venerable Bede through to the age of the internet. In particular I focused on the the social and cultural history of this iconic monument in terms of its wider landscape using a range of theoretical ideas such as representation, embodiment and experience. Following on from this research, I am currently working on the idea of globalization and Roman archaeology, both in the past and in relation to heritage monuments such as Hadrian's Wall in the present.

Research postgraduates

I currently supervise research students working on varied aspects of Roman and landscape archaeology photographic archives and Hadrian's Wall. If you are interested in undertaking postgraduate research, please feel free to contact me to discuss your ideas.

• Mediterranean archaeology
• Modelling techniques
• Roman economy
• Roman frontiers, especially Hadrian’s Wall
• Roman rural settlement
• Roman urbanism
• Ancient Mediterranean agriculture
• Ancient globalisations
• Archaeology of pre-Roman and Roman Italy
• Archaeology in historical fiction
• Archaeological computing
• Archaeological publishing
• Cultural heritage
• Geographical Information Systems
• Landscape archaeology - field survey, methods and theories

Authored book

• Patterson, H., Witcher, R. E., & Di Giuseppe, H. (2020). The Changing Landscapes of Rome’s Northern Hinterland: The British School at Rome's Tiber Valley Project. Archaeopress

Book review

• Witcher, R. (2023). Book Review of Archaeology on the Apulian–Lucanian Border by Alistair Small and Carola Small. Medieval Archaeology, 67(2), 499-500. https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2023.2263022
• Witcher, R. (2011). Double Dutch: two perspectives on the landscapes of first millennium BC Italy. Antiquity, 85(330), 1476-1478. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00062220

Chapter in book

• Moreno Escobar, M., & Witcher, R. (2023). One City, Two Tibers? Reintegrating the Supply Networks of Imperial Rome. In P. Campbell, & A. Tibbs (Eds.), Rivers and Waterways in the Roman World: Empire of Water (53-68). (1). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003277613-6
• Witcher, R., & van Helden, D. (2021). Something more than imagination: archaeology and fiction. In J. Gill, E. Lightfoot, & C. McKenzie (Eds.), Writing remains: new intersections of archaeology, literature and science (177-201). Bloomsbury. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350109490.ch-007
• Van Helden, D., & Witcher, R. (2020). Walking in someone else’s shoes: archaeology, empathy and fiction. In D. Van Helden, & R. Witcher (Eds.), Researching the archaeological past through imagined narratives: a necessary fiction. Routledge
• Van Helden, D., & Witcher, R. (2020). Historical fiction and archaeological interpretation: introduction. In D. Van Helden, & R. Witcher (Eds.), Researching the archaeological past through imagined narratives: a necessary fiction. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203730904-1
• Witcher, R. (2019). Epilogue. Modelling Roman agricultural production: people, pots and power. In J. Remesal Rodríguez, V. Revilla Calvo, D. Martín-Arroyo Sánchez, & A. Martín i Oliveras (Eds.), Paisajes productivos y redes comerciales en el Imperio Romano / Productive landscapes and trade networks in the Roman Empire (247-254). Universitat de Barcelona
• Witcher, R. (2017). The global Roman countryside: connectivity and community. In T. de Haas, & G. Tol (Eds.), The economic integration of Roman Italy : rural communities in a globalising world (28-50). Brill Academic Publishers
• Witcher, R. (2016). The globalized Roman world. In T. Hodos (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of globalization and archaeology (634-651). Routledge
• Witcher, R. (2016). Agricultural production in Roman Italy. In A. Cooley (Ed.), A companion to Roman Italy (459-482). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118993125.ch23
• Witcher, R. (2014). Globalisation and Roman Cultural Heritage. In M. Pitts, & M. Versluys (Eds.), Globalisation and the Roman world : world history, connectivity and material culture (198-222). Cambridge University Press
• Witcher, R. (2013). (Sub)urban Surroundings. In P. Erdkamp (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Ancient Rome (205-225). Cambridge University Press
• Witcher, R., & Craven, M. (2013). ‘Much That Has Long Been Hidden’: Reconstructing the Survey Methodology. In R. Cascino, H. Di Giuseppe, & H. Patterson (Eds.), Veii. The historical topography of the ancient city. A restudy of John Ward-Perkins’s survey (9-24). British School at Rome
• Witcher, R. (2013). Insediamento e società in Etruria nella prima età imperiale: ulteriore considerazioni. In G. Schörner (Ed.), Leben auf dem Lande: ‘Il Monte’ bei San Gimignano: ein römischer Fundplatz und sein Kontext (233-247). Phoibos Verlag
• Witcher, R. (2012). 'That From A Long Way Off Look Like Farms': The Classification of Roman Rural Sites. In P. Attema, & G. Schörner (Eds.), Comparative Issues in the Archaeology of the Roman Rural Landscape. Site Classification Between Survey, Excavation and Historical Categories (11-30). Journal of Roman Archaeology
• Witcher, R. (2011). Missing persons? Models of Mediterranean Regional Survey and Ancient Populations. In A. Bowman, & A. Wilson (Eds.), Settlement, urbanization and population (36-75). Oxford University Press
• Goodchild, H., & Witcher, R. (2010). Modelling the Agricultural Landscapes of Republican Italy. In J. Carlsen, & E. Lo Cascio (Eds.), Agricoltura e scambi nell’Italia tardo repubblicana (187-220). Edipuglia
• Witcher, R. (2009). The Countryside. In A. Erskine (Ed.), A companion to ancient history (462-473). Blackwell
• Witcher, R. (2008). Regional Field Survey and the Demography of Roman Italy. In L. de Ligt, & S. Northwood (Eds.), People, land and politics : demographic developments and the transformation of Roman Italy, 300 BC - AD 14 (273-303). Brill Academic Publishers
• Witcher, R. (2008). The Middle Tiber Valley in the Imperial Period. In F. Coarelli, & H. Patterson (Eds.), Mercator placidissimus : the Tiber Valley in antiquity : new research in the upper and middle river valley (467-486). QUASAR
• Witcher, R., & Kay, S. (2008). The Tiber Valley Project: The Database and Geographical Information System. In F. Coarelli, & H. Patterson (Eds.), Mercator placidissimus : the Tiber Valley in antiquity : new research in the upper and middle river valley (417-429). QUASAR
• Leone, A., Witcher, R., Privitera, F., & Spigo, U. (2007). The Upper Simeto Valley Project: An Interim Report on the First Season. In M. Fitzjohn (Ed.), Uplands of Ancient Sicily and Calabria : the archaeology of landscape revisited (49-58). Accordia Research Institute, University of London
• Witcher, R. (2005). The Hinterlands of Rome: Settlement Diversity in the Early Imperial Landscape of Regio VII Etruria. In P. Attema, A. Nijboer, & A. Zifferero (Eds.), Papers in Italian archaeology VI : communities and settlements from the neolithic to the early medieval period (1045-1055). Archaeopress
• Patterson, H., Bousquet, A., Fontana, S., Witcher, R., & Zampini, S. (2005). Late Roman Common Wares and Amphorae in the Middle Tiber Valley. The Preliminary Results of the Tiber Valley Project. In J. Gurt i Esparraguera, J. Buxeda i Garrigos, & M. Cau Ontiveros (Eds.), Late Roman coarse wares, cooking wares and amphorae in the Mediterranean : archaeology and archaeometry (369-384). Archaeopress
• Harrison, A., Rajala, U., Stoddart, S., Witcher, R., & Zubrow, E. (2004). The Enhancement of the South Etruria Survey: Phase 1. In H. Patterson (Ed.), Bridging the Tiber : approaches to regional archaeology in the Middle Tiber Valley (29-35). British School at Rome
• Patterson, H., di Gennaro, F., Di Giuseppe, H., Fontana, S., Rendeli, M., Sansoni, M., Schiapelli, A., & Witcher, R. (2004). The Re-evaluation of the South Etruria Survey: The First Results from Veii. In H. Patterson (Ed.), Bridging the Tiber : approaches to regional archaeology in the Middle Tiber Valley (11-28). British School at Rome
• Mattingly, D., & Witcher, R. (2004). Mapping the Roman World: The Contribution of Field Survey Data. In S. Alcock, & J. Cherry (Eds.), Side-by-side survey : comparative regional studies in the Mediterranean world (173-186). Oxbow Books
• Patterson, H., Di Giuseppe, H., & Witcher, R. (2004). Progetto Tiber Valley. La Sabina e le due rive a confronto. In A. Guidi, & S. Ponchia (Eds.), Ricerche archeologiche in Italia e in Siria : atti delle Giornate di studio, Verona, 6-7 maggio 2002 (67-88). Sargon
• Patterson, H., & Witcher, R. (2002). The Tiber and Rome through Two Millennia. In P. Attema, G.-J. Burgers, E. van Joolen, M. van Leusen, & B. Mater (Eds.), New developments in italian landscape archaeology (87-90). Archaeopress
• Witcher, R. (2000). Globalisation and Roman Imperialism: Perspectives on Identities in Roman Italy. In E. Herring, & K. Lomas (Eds.), The emergence of state identities in Italy in the first millennium BC (213-225). Accordia Research Institute, University of London
• Witcher, R. (1999). GIS and Landscapes of Perception. In M. Gillings, D. Mattingly, & J. van Dalen (Eds.), Geographical information systems and landscape archaeology (13-22). Oxbow Books
• Witcher, R. (1998). Roman Roads: Phenomenological Perspectives on Roads in the Landscape. In C. Forcey, J. Hawthorne, & R. Witcher (Eds.), TRAC 97 : proceedings of the Seventh Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, which formed part of the Second International Roman Archaeology Conference, University of Nottingham, April 1997 (60-70). Oxbow Books

Conference Paper

• (2013, March). Cities and Gods: Religious Space in Transition. Presented at Cities and Gods: Religious Space in Transition, Durham, England

Edited book

• Van Helden, D., & Witcher, R. (Eds.). (2020). Researching the archaeological past through imagined narratives: a necessary fiction. Routledge
• Kaizer, T., Leone, A., Thomas, E., & Witcher, R. (Eds.). (2013). Cities and Gods. Religious Space in Transition. Peeters Publishers

Journal Article

• Kitching, P., & Witcher, R. (2023). Failure on the frontier: a response to Price & Jaffe. Antiquity, 97(396), 1613-1616. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.161
• Hanscam, E., & Witcher, R. (2023). Women in Antiquity: an analysis of gender and publishing in a global archaeology journal. Journal of Field Archaeology, 48(2), 87-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2022.2143896
• Attema, P., Carafa, P., Jongman, W., Smith, C., Bronkhorst, A., Capanna, M., de Haas, T., van Leusen, P., Tol, G., Witcher, R., & Wouda, N. (2022). The Roman Hinterland Project: integrating archaeological field surveys around Rome and beyond. European Journal of Archaeology, 25(2), 238-258. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2021.51
• Stoddart, S., Palmisano, A., Redhouse, D., Barker, G., Di Paola, G., Motta, L., Rasmussen, T., Samuels, T., & Witcher, R. (2020). Patterns of Etruscan urbanism. Frontiers in digital humanities, 7, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2020.00001
• Witcher, R. (2019). From the wisdom of old age to a wider debate. Antiquity, 93(370), 1079-1081. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.113
• Thompson, T., Szigeti, J., Gowland, R., & Witcher, R. (2016). Death on the frontier: military cremation practices in the north of Roman Britain. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 10, 828-836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.05.020
• Sewell, J., & Witcher, R. (2015). Urbanism in Ancient Peninsular Italy: developing a methodology for a database analysis of higher order settlements (350 BCE to 300 CE). Internet Archaeology, 40, https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.40.2
• Witcher, R. (2013). On Rome’s Ecological Contribution to British Flora and Fauna: landscape, legacy and identity. Landscape History, 34(2), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/01433768.2013.855393
• Hingley, R., Witcher, R., & Nesbitt, C. (2012). Life of an Ancient Monument: Hadrian's Wall in History. Antiquity, 86(333), 760-771. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00047906
• Witcher, R. (2010). The Fabulous Tales of the Common People, Part 2: Encountering Hadrian’s Wall. Public Archaeology, 9(4), 211-238. https://doi.org/10.1179/175355310x12880170217652
• Witcher, R. (2010). The Fabulous Tales of the Common People, Part 1: Representing Hadrian’s Wall. Public Archaeology, 9(3), 126-152. https://doi.org/10.1179/146551810x12822101587138
• Kay, S., & Witcher, R. (2010). Predictive Modelling of Roman Settlement in the Middle Tiber Valley. Archeologia e calcolatori (Testo stampato), 20(2009), 277-290
• Witcher, R., Tolia-Kelly, D., & Hingley, R. (2010). Archaeologies of Landscape. Excavating the Materialities of Hadrian's Wall. Journal of Material Culture, 15(1), 105-128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183510355228
• Leone, A., Palombi, D., Maiuro, M., Witcher, R., Howard, P., & Vallelonga, F. (2009). The Villa of the Gordiani at the 3rd Mile of the Via Prenestina, Rome. Reassessment of a Roman and Medieval Site in the Suburbs of Rome
• Witcher, R. (2008). (Re)surveying Mediterranean Rural Landscapes: GIS and Legacy Survey Data. Internet Archaeology, 24,
• Witcher, R. (2006). Broken Pots and Meaningless Dots? Surveying the Rural Landscapes of Roman Italy. Papers of the British School at Rome, 74, 39-72. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0068246200003226
• Witcher, R. (2006). Settlement and Society in Early Imperial Etruria. The Journal of Roman Studies, 96, 88-123. https://doi.org/10.3815/000000006784016161
• Witcher, R. (2006). Agrarian spaces in Roman Italy: society, economy and Mediterranean agriculture. Arqueología espacial, 26, 341-359
• Witcher, R. (2005). The Extended Metropolis: Urbs, Suburbium and Population. Journal of Roman Archaeology, 18, 120-138
• Kay, S., & Witcher, R. (2005). The Tiber Valley Project: The Role of GIS and Databases in Field Survey Data Integration and Analysis. Archeologia e calcolatori (Testo stampato), 16, 113-127
• Patterson, H., Di Giuseppe, H., & Witcher, R. (2004). Three South Etrurian Crises: First Results of the Tiber Valley Project. Papers of the British School at Rome, 72, 1-37
• Patterson, H., Bousquet, A., Di Giuseppe, H., Felici, F., Fontana, S., Witcher, R., & Zampini, S. (2004). Le produzioni ceramiche nella media Valle del Tevere tra l’età repubblicana e tardoantica. Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum acta, 38, 161-170
• Di Giuseppe, H., Sansoni, M., Williams, J., & Witcher, R. (2002). The Sabinensis Ager Revisited: A Field Survey in the Sabina Tiberina. Papers of the British School at Rome, 70, 99-150
• Patterson, H., di Gennaro, F., Di Giuseppe, H., Fontana, S., Gaffney, V., Harrison, A., Keay, S., Millett, M., Rendeli, M., Roberts, P., Stoddart, S., & Witcher, R. (2000). The Tiber Valley Project: The Tiber and Rome through Two Millennia. Antiquity, 74(284), 395-403