Urban landscape survey in Italy and the Mediterranean

Field survey has been making a major contribution to our understanding of the rural landscapes of the Mediterranean for nearly forty years. During that time the techniques used to map ancient settlement patterns have grown in sophistication from being a process of simply identifying sites in the landscape, to one which provided nuanced understandings of their layouts, chronologies and contexts. This has led to a revolution in how archaeologists approach urban sites, with survey techniques being used increasingly often to generate a plan of a town site prior to excavation as a way of ensuring that the excavation can be used to address site-specific questions in a way that had not been possible before. Most recently, research has begun to reveal the advantages of integrating a range of different non-destructive techniques on urban sites. In combination with exciting new computer-based means of data visualization, all of this work means that it is now possible to virtually reconstruct a buried town within a relatively short space of time, as opposed to the old and destructive excavation-centered approach that could take generations. Unsurprisingly these advances are starting to make a very important understanding to urbanism in general and the Roman Empire in particular. Urban Landscape Survey in Italy and the Mediterranean builds upon all these new developments and is one of the first publications to focus exclusively upon the contribution of survey techniques to our understanding of ancient towns. It addresses methodology led enquiry into the nature of urban settlements primarily in Italy, but also in Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Portugal and Spain. The twenty-two papers from leading specialists in the field focus on two underlying themes. The first deals with the characterization of urban sites and draws upon a wide range of case studies. These range from key protohistoric centres in central and south Italy, to towns that epitomise the contradictions of cultural change under Rome, such as Paestum, Aquinum and Sagalassos, to Roman centres such as Teano, Suasa and Ammaia. The second theme is inter-urban relationships, looking in particular at wider urbanized landscapes in Italy. The fascinating selection of recent and on-going projects presented here significantly moves the limits of our current knowledge about ancient towns

Evaluating Gismondi's Representation of Portus, the Port of Imperial Rome

[EN] This paper introduces the Portus Project, an inter-disciplinary collaborative fieldwork project focussed on the ancient port of Rome. It demonstrates the use that is being made of a plaster model of the port produced by Italo Gismondi in 1937, initially as a means for focussing re-evaluations of the various illustrative and other data available relating to the port’s topography, and then as a source for background and comparative digital geometric data within the project’s work to remodel the entire site. The Portus Project employs three-dimensional computer graphics throughout the data gathering, analysis, modelling and representation phases and the paper considers the role that Gismondi’s model is playing in the development and evaluation of such a process.The Portus Project is directed by Simon Keay, and funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Ostia Antica, the University of Southampton, the British School at Rome and the University of Cambridge. It involves many partners including the British School at Rome, the Universities of Southampton, Cambridge, Oxford, Warwick, Bath, Aixen-Provence and Seville, the Institut Català d’Arqueología Clàssica, Parsifal Cooperativa Di Archeologia (Rome) and L-P Archaeology. The project is grateful to the Duke Sforza Cesarini for continued access to his land. Access to Gismondi’s model was provided by the Sorprintendenza per I Beni Archaeologici di Ostia Antica.Earl, GP.; Keay, SJ.; Beale, GC. (2010). Evaluating Gismondi's Representation of Portus, the Port of Imperial Rome. Virtual Archaeology Review. 1(1):21-25. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2010.4752OJS212511FORTE M., PESCARIN S., PIETRONI E. (2005) "The Appia Antica Project", in Forte, M., Williams, P.R. (eds) The Reconstruction of Archaeological Landscapes through Digital Technologies, Atti del II Convegno Italia-USA. British Archaeological Reports. International Series 1379, 2005: pp. 79-95FRISCHER, B. Rome Reborn http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/ [Consult: 1-04-2009].FRISCHER, B. (2008) "The Rome Reborn Project. How Technology is helping us to study history,", in OpEd, November 10, 2008. University of Virginia.GAIANI, M., BALZANI, M. AND UCCELLI, F. (2000) "Reshaping the Coliseum in Rome: An Integrated Data Capture and Modeling Method at Heritage Sites", in Gross, M. and Hopgood, F.R.A. (eds.) Proceedings of Eurographics 2000: European Association. for Computer Graphics, Interlaken, Switzerland, 2000 pp. 369-78 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8659.00429GUIDI, G., B. FRISCHER, ET AL. (2005) "Virtualizing Ancient Rome: 3D Acquisition and Modeling of a Large Plaster-of-Paris Model of Imperial Rome,", in Beraldin, J.-A., El-Hakim, S.F., Gruen, A., Walton, J.S. (eds) Videometrics VIII 18-20 January 2005, San Jose, California, USA, SPIE, vol. 5665, pp. 119-133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.587355GUILLEMAIN, J. (2002) "Pierre-Joseph Garrez (1802-1852), porto di Traiano a Ostia, 1834", in Italia antiqua. Envois degli architetti franesi (1811-1950) - Italia e area mediterranea pp. 393-8. Paris, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts.HAPPA, J., WILLIAMS, M., TURLEY, G., EARL, G., DUBLA, P., BEALE, G., GIBBONS, G., DEBATTISTA, K. AND CHALMERS, A. (2009) "Virtual Relighting of a Roman Statue Head from Herculaneum, A Case Study", in Hardy, A., Marais, P., Spencer, SN., Gain, JE., Straßer, W. (eds): Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality, Visualisation and Interaction in Africa, Afrigraph 2009, Pretoria, South Africa, February 4-6, 2009. ACM 2009 pp 5-12HASELBERGER, L & HUMPHREY, J H. (2006) Imaging Ancient Rome: Documentation - Visualization - Imagination. Proceedings of the Third Williams Symposium on Classical Architecture. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplement 61. JRA, Portsmouth R.I.KEAY, S., (2006). "Portus", in Current World Archaeology 20: 11-20KEAY, S., EARL, G., HAY, S., KAY, S., OGDEN, J., & STRUTT, K. (2008) "The Potential of Archaeological Geophysics. The Work of the British School at Rome in Italy", in Geofisica per l'archeologia: Possibilita e Limiti. Roma 10 Dicembre 2008. pp. 25-44. Rome, CISTEC.KEAY, S., MILLETT, M., PAROLI, L., STRUTT, K. (2005). Portus: An Archaeological Survey of the Imperial Port of Rome. Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 15. London.LUGLI, G. & FILIBECK, G. (1935) Il Porto di RomaiImperiale e l'agro portuense. Bergamo, Officine dell'Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche.MALAFARINA, G. (2005) La Galleria delle carte geografiche. The Gallery of Maps in the Vatican. Modena, Franco Cosimi Panini.MALZBENDER, T., GELB, D., WOLTERS, H . (2001) Polynomial Texture Mapping www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Tom_Malzbender/papers/PTM.pdf [Consult: 1-04-2009]POLLARD, J. & GILLINGS, M. (1998) "Romancing the Stones: towards a virtual and elemental Avebury", in Archaeological Dialogues 5:2, pp. 143-164 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1380203800001276REDDÉ, M. & GOLVIN, J-C. (2008) I Romani e il Mediterraneo. Rome, Istituto e Zecca dello Stato. Libreria dello Stato.RICKMAN, G. (1971) Roman Granaries and Store Buildings. Cambridge.TESTAGUZZA, O. (1970) Portus: illustrazione dei Porti di Claudio e Traiano e della cittá di Porto a Fiumicino. Rome, Julia Editrice.VERDUCHI, P. (2007) "Porto", in Filippi, F. (ed.) Ricostruire l'Antico prima del virtuale. Italo Gismondi. Un architetto per l'archeologia (1887- 1974). pp. 245-52. Rome, Edizioni Quasar.VERDUCHI, P. (1999) "Il porto di Traiano, dépliant, Roma". Model available from: http://www2.rgzm.de/Navis2/Home/HarbourFullTextOutput.cfm?HarbourNR=Ostia-Traiano [Consult: 1-04- 2009]

Corporate Governance for Sustainability

The current model of corporate governance needs reform. There is mounting evidence that the practices of shareholder primacy drive company directors and executives to adopt the same short time horizon as financial markets. Pressure to meet the demands of the financial markets drives stock buybacks, excessive dividends and a failure to invest in productive capabilities. The result is a ‘tragedy of the horizon’, with corporations and their shareholders failing to consider environmental, social or even their own, long-term, economic sustainability. With less than a decade left to address the threat of climate change, and with consensus emerging that businesses need to be held accountable for their contribution, it is time to act and reform corporate governance in the EU. The statement puts forward specific recommendations to clarify the obligations of company boards and directors and make corporate governance practice significantly more sustainable and focused on the long term

Case Reports1. A Late Presentation of Loeys-Dietz Syndrome: Beware of TGFβ Receptor Mutations in Benign Joint Hypermobility

Background: Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) and dissections are not uncommon causes of sudden death in young adults. Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) is a rare, recently described, autosomal dominant, connective tissue disease characterized by aggressive arterial aneurysms, resulting from mutations in the transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) receptor genes TGFBR1 and TGFBR2. Mean age at death is 26.1 years, most often due to aortic dissection. We report an unusually late presentation of LDS, diagnosed following elective surgery in a female with a long history of joint hypermobility. Methods: A 51-year-old Caucasian lady complained of chest pain and headache following a dural leak from spinal anaesthesia for an elective ankle arthroscopy. CT scan and echocardiography demonstrated a dilated aortic root and significant aortic regurgitation. MRA demonstrated aortic tortuosity, an infrarenal aortic aneurysm and aneurysms in the left renal and right internal mammary arteries. She underwent aortic root repair and aortic valve replacement. She had a background of long-standing joint pains secondary to hypermobility, easy bruising, unusual fracture susceptibility and mild bronchiectasis. She had one healthy child age 32, after which she suffered a uterine prolapse. Examination revealed mild Marfanoid features. Uvula, skin and ophthalmological examination was normal. Results: Fibrillin-1 testing for Marfan syndrome (MFS) was negative. Detection of a c.1270G > C (p.Gly424Arg) TGFBR2 mutation confirmed the diagnosis of LDS. Losartan was started for vascular protection. Conclusions: LDS is a severe inherited vasculopathy that usually presents in childhood. It is characterized by aortic root dilatation and ascending aneurysms. There is a higher risk of aortic dissection compared with MFS. Clinical features overlap with MFS and Ehlers Danlos syndrome Type IV, but differentiating dysmorphogenic features include ocular hypertelorism, bifid uvula and cleft palate. Echocardiography and MRA or CT scanning from head to pelvis is recommended to establish the extent of vascular involvement. Management involves early surgical intervention, including early valve-sparing aortic root replacement, genetic counselling and close monitoring in pregnancy. Despite being caused by loss of function mutations in either TGFβ receptor, paradoxical activation of TGFβ signalling is seen, suggesting that TGFβ antagonism may confer disease modifying effects similar to those observed in MFS. TGFβ antagonism can be achieved with angiotensin antagonists, such as Losartan, which is able to delay aortic aneurysm development in preclinical models and in patients with MFS. Our case emphasizes the importance of timely recognition of vasculopathy syndromes in patients with hypermobility and the need for early surgical intervention. It also highlights their heterogeneity and the potential for late presentation. Disclosures: The authors have declared no conflicts of interes

The Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health: vision beyond 2020

Eye health and vision have widespread and profound implications for many aspects of life, health, sustainable development, and the economy. Yet nowadays, many people, families, and populations continue to suffer the consequences of poor access to high-quality, affordable eye care, leading to vision impairment and blindness. In 2020, an estimated 596 million people had distance vision impairment worldwide, of whom 43 million were blind. Another 510 million people had uncorrected near vision impairment, simply because of not having reading spectacles. A large proportion of those affected (90%), live in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, encouragingly, more than 90% of people with vision impairment have a preventable or treatable cause with existing highly cost-effective interventions. Eye conditions affect all stages of life, with young children and older people being particularly affected. Crucially, women, rural populations, and ethnic minority groups are more likely to have vision impairment, and this pervasive inequality needs to be addressed. By 2050, population ageing, growth, and urbanisation might lead to an estimated 895 million people with distance vision impairment, of whom 61 million will be blind. Action to prioritise eye health is needed now. This Commission defines eye health as maximised vision, ocular health, and functional ability, thereby contributing to overall health and wellbeing, social inclusion, and quality of life. Eye health is essential to achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Poor eye health and impaired vision have a negative effect on quality of life and restrict equitable access to and achievement in education and the workplace. Vision loss has substantial financial implications for affected individuals, families, and communities. Although high-quality data for global economic estimates are scarce, particularly for LMICs, conservative assessments based on the latest prevalence figures for 2020 suggest that annual global productivity loss from vision impairment is approximately US$410·7 billion purchasing power parity. Vision impairment reduces mobility, affects mental wellbeing, exacerbates risk of dementia, increases likelihood of falls and road traffic crashes, increases the need for social care, and ultimately leads to higher mortality rates. By contrast, vision facilitates many daily life activities, enables better educational outcomes, and increases work productivity, reducing inequality. An increasing amount of evidence shows the potential for vision to advance the SDGs, by contributing towards poverty reduction, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, and decent work. Eye health is a global public priority, transforming lives in both poor and wealthy communities. Therefore, eye health needs to be reframed as a development as well as a health issue and given greater prominence within the global development and health agendas. Vision loss has many causes that require promotional, preventive, treatment, and rehabilitative interventions. Cataract, uncorrected refractive error, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy are responsible for most global vision impairment. Research has identified treatments to reduce or eliminate blindness from all these conditions; the priority is to deliver treatments where they are most needed. Proven eye care interventions, such as cataract surgery and spectacle provision, are among the most cost-effective in all of health care. Greater financial investment is needed so that millions of people living with unnecessary vision impairment and blindness can benefit from these interventions. Lessons from the past three decades give hope that this challenge can be met. Between 1990 and 2020, the age-standardised global prevalence of blindness fell by 28·5%. Since the 1990s, prevalence of major infectious causes of blindness—onchocerciasis and trachoma—have declined substantially. Hope remains that by 2030, the transmission of onchocerciasis will be interrupted, and trachoma will be eliminated as a public health problem in every country worldwide. However, the ageing population has led to a higher crude prevalence of age-related causes of blindness, and thus an increased total number of people with blindness in some regions. Despite this progress, business as usual will not keep pace with the demographic trends of an ageing global population or address the inequities that persist in each country. New threats to eye health are emerging, including the worldwide increase in diabetic retinopathy, high myopia, retinopathy of prematurity, and chronic eye diseases of ageing such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. With the projected increase in such conditions and their associated vision loss over the coming decades, urgent action is needed to develop innovative treatments and deliver services at a greater scale than previously achieved. Good eye health at the community and national level has been marginalised as a luxury available to only wealthy or urban areas. Eye health needs to be urgently brought into the mainstream of national health and development policy, planning, financing, and action. The challenge is to develop and deliver comprehensive eye health services (promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation) that address the full range of eye conditions within the context of universal health coverage. Accessing services should not bring the risk of falling into poverty and services should be of high quality, as envisaged by the WHO framework for health-care quality: effective, safe, people-centred, timely, equitable, integrated, and efficient. To this framework we add the need for services to be environmentally sustainable. Universal health coverage is not universal without eye care. Multiple obstacles need to be overcome to achieve universal coverage for eye health. Important issues include complex barriers to availability and access to quality services, cost, major shortages and maldistribution of well-trained personnel, and lack of suitable, well maintained equipment and consumables. These issues are particularly widespread in LMICs, but also occur in underserved communities in high-income countries. Strong partnerships need to be formed with natural allies working in areas affected by eye health, such as non-communicable diseases, neglected tropical diseases, healthy ageing, children's services, education, disability, and rehabilitation. The eye health sector has traditionally focused on treatment and rehabilitation, and underused health promotion and prevention strategies to lessen the impact of eye disease and reduce inequality. Solving these problems will depend on solutions established from high quality evidence that can guide more effective implementation at scale. Evidence-based approaches will need to address existing deficiencies in the supply and demand. Strategic investments in discovery research, harnessing new findings from diverse fields, and implementation research to guide effective scale up are needed globally. Encouragingly, developments in telemedicine, mobile health, artificial intelligence, and distance learning could potentially enable eye care professionals to deliver higher quality care that is more plentiful, equitable, and cost-effective. This Commission did a Grand Challenges in Global Eye Health prioritisation exercise to highlight key areas for concerted research and action. This exercise has identified a broad set of challenges spanning the fields of epidemiology, health systems, diagnostics, therapeutics, and implementation. The most compelling of these issues, picked from among 3400 suggestions proposed by 336 people from 118 countries, can help to frame the future research agenda for global eye health. In this Commission, we harness lessons learned from over two decades, present the growing evidence for the life-transforming impact of eye care, and provide a thorough understanding of rapid developments in the field. This report was created through a broad consultation involving experts within and outside the eye care sector to help inform governments and other stakeholders about the path forward for eye health beyond 2020, to further the SDGs (including universal health coverage), and work towards a world without avoidable vision loss. The next few years are a crucial time for the global eye health community and its partners in health care, government, and other sectors to consider the successes and challenges encountered in the past two decades, and at the same time to chart a way forward for the upcoming decades. Moving forward requires building on the strong foundation laid by WHO and partners in VISION 2020 with renewed impetus to ultimately deliver high quality universal eye health care for all

The 'Romanisation' of Turdetania

Turdetania was one of the Iron Age cultural blocks which emerged after the disintegration of Tartessos in the later 6th century BC. It corresponded largely to the lower Guadalquívir valley of southern Spain. From the early 2nd century BC it formed the heart of the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior and, from the later 1st century BC, Hispania Baetica. This paper sets out to examine the Romanisation of the region from an indigenous perspective rather than a Romano-centric viewpoint. Until the mid-first century BC Roman impact was negligble and merely served to reinforce the Turdetanian prestige goods economy. Subsequently, however, the foundation of coloniae and a consequent increase in commercial activity were catalysts for rapid change. A new hierarchy of dominant and dependent centres arise and, by the early 1st century AD, the agricultural wealth of the region was being more directly exploited for Rome's benefit. This relatively ‘delayed’Romanisation is interpreted as native resistance to cultural change

Un tesoro de denarios procedente de Empúries

En las excavaciones realizadas en 1994-95 en el yacimiento de la Ciutadella de Roses (Alt Empordà), se descubrió un tramo de la muralla de la ciudad de Rhode situada en la colina de Santa María, donde se encuentra la ocupación griega más antigua. Esta muralla se ha localizado en la vertiente de levante de la colina. El otro lado de este riachuelo fue ocupado por el barrio helenístico, con talleres de cerámica de barniz negro. La construcción de la muralla se puede datar en el último cuarto del siglo tercero aC, en el contexto de la Segunda Guerra Púnica

The potential of archaeological geophysics: the work of the British School at Rome in Italy

Review of recent geophysical work by the British School at Rome on archaeological sites in Italy

La Itálica de Adriano. Resultados de las prospecciones arqueológicas de 1991 y 1993

La prospección geofísica y la recolección sistemática de materiales de superficie dentro de áreas no excavadas de Itálica han puesto al descubierto las plantas de edificios, ahora enterrados, en la Nova Urbs, así como datos sobre su cronología y decoración. Nos confirma que la Itálica de Adriano fue una ciudad excepcional, cuya inspiración debe buscarse en otros centros adrianeos en Oriente. La prospección reveló la existencia de un gran conjunto termal, varios edificios públicos insospechados, un conjunto de calles, mansiones y casas señoriales. Nos sugiere también que el proyecto urbanístico adrianeo nunca se terminó. En época tardoimperial la extensión urbana de Itálica se redujo a un núcleo densamente habitado localizado al Sur del Traianeum y bajo el solar del actual pueblo de SantiponceA geographical survey and the systematic collection of surface materials within unexcavated parts of Italica has revealed the discovery of plans of hitherto buried buildings in the Nova Urbs, as well as evidence about their chronology and decoration. It has been confirmed that Hadrianic Italica was an exceptional town, the inspiration for much of which is to be sought in other Hadrianic centres in the eastern Empire. The survey revealed the existence of a large baths-palestra complex, several hitherto unsuspected public buildings and a range of undocumented streets, mansions and houses. It also suggests that the Hadrianic projects may never have been completed. In the late years of the Empire Italica had become a walled and densely populated area lying to the south of the Traianeum and beneath the modern village of Santiponc