Dr Robert Witcher

Robert's twin research interests are Roman archaeology and landscape archaeology. His interest in Roman archaeology extends from the core of the Empire (Italy) to the imperial periphery (Britain). Robert is currently working on the countryside, economy and demography of pre-Roman/Roman Italy. In particular, he is interested in the similarities and differences between regions such as the hinterland of Rome (the suburbium) and more peripheral landscapes such as the Biferno valley in the Molise. Robert is also developing economic and agrarian approaches to rural landscapes in order to explore complementary issues such as social organisation, consumption and globalisation. Robert is a member of an international consortium working to bring together regional survey databases as part of the Roman Hinterland project. Beyond the Mediterranean, he has worked on an AHRC-funded project which 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. As Editor of Antiquity, he is also involved in initiatives such the Rewriting World Archaeology mentoring programme to work with early career researchers from low- and middle-income countries to develop skills such as writing for international journals.

Affiliated research