International Colloquium «Insulae in context»

The international colloquium Insulae in Context was organized by the Vindonissa-professorship of the University of Basel (Peter-A. Schwarz) and Augusta Raurica (Debora Schmid). It took place between September 25^th and 28^th 2019 in Basel and Augst. Initial position was the analysis of Insula 30 in Augusta Raurica  within the PhD project of Sven Straumann at the University of Basel.

In the focus of this successfully completed conference was the archaeological settlement category of roman Insulae. This group of urban living and trading quarters is characterized by the surrounding square of the commonly orthogonal street grid. The basic idea of the colloquium was to build a platform for researchers who are or have been working on Insulae to discuss specific questions.

The content-related basis of the colloquium was built by concrete questionnaire. Although the main focus was on the structural unit of the insula, the perspective has been extended to the urban surroundings. The embedding in the respective context of the insula enabled further statements.

Based on the architectural layout of an Insula and their spatial and functional structure raised the fundamental question about the functionality of an Insula. Which characteristic elements make an Insula to what it is and how is it used by its inhabitants and users? Are there any recurrent basic forms in the Insula-architecture independent from a geographical and chronological situation? Are there any regional forms? Is it allowed to transfer recognitions from the Vesuvian cities and other Italian sites to those in the northwestern provinces?

Moreover the beginning and ending of the development of an Insula is also an exciting field of view. Are there any parallels between different sites regarding the development of an Insula structure and how is the conveyance arranged?

Answering those and other questions led to a further location-independent categorization of Insulae. By increasing the focus from the single Insula and their surroundings to the whole city we’ve been able to compare an urban district in a larger scale.

The results of the presented papers are going to be published in proceedings, expected in the series Forschungen in Augst.

List of speakers:

Jesús Bermejo-Tirado, University Carlos III Madrid

Pierre Blanc, Aventicum, Avenches

Benjamin Clément, University of Franche-Comté Besançon

Antonella Coralini, University of Bologna

Domenico Esposito, Free University Berlin

Beatrice Fochetti, University of Pisa

Clara Forn, Museum Badalona

Axel Gering, Humboldt-University Berlin

Orsolya Lang, Aquincum Museum, Budapest

Marc Locicero, UBC Vancouver

Dragana Mladenovic, University of Southampton

Caterina Previato, University of Padova

Johannes M. Rainer, University of Salzburg

Peter-A. Schwarz, University of Basel

Sven Straumann, University of Basel

Paula Uribe, University of Salamanca

Chairpersons:

Debora Schmid, Augusta Raurica

Jens-Arne Dickmann, University of Freiburg i. Br.

Thomas Hufschmid, Augusta Raurica / University of Basel

Markus Peter, Augusta Raurica / University of Bern