Professor David Mattingly

Professor of Roman Archaeology, University of Leicester, BA PhD FBA FSA

Following a BA in History at the University of Manchester, he completed a PhD under the supervision of Professor Barri Jones at the same University.

He was a British Academy Post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford (1986-1989), then Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan before coming to Leicester in December 1991 as a Lecturer. He was promoted to Reader (1995) and Professor (1998).

Heheld a British Academy Research Readership award from 1999-2001 and was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2003.

Current Research Interests and Projects

His research has been wide-ranging in chronological and geographical terms, as well as in subject matter. There are strong unifying trends running through and he is essentially a specialist in the archaeology of the Roman empire. He is an active field archaeologist and has organised projects in Britain, Italy, Libya, Tunisia and Jordan.

A significant component throughout his career to date has been the study of Roman Africa. His main contributions to the advancement of Roman Africa studies have been in terms of study of rural settlement, farming technology and the economy; urbanism and the urban economy; post-colonial approaches to the impact of Rome; the evolution of the Roman military frontiers and, latterly, the study of native society beyond those frontiers. He was a major author of the final reports on the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Survey, and helped initiate work in 1990 at an important Tunisian harbour site called Leptiminus, leading to two published volume of reports, with a third co-edited volume in progress. Recently, the Fazzan Project in Libya has taken him beyond the boundaries of the Roman empire to research the Saharan heartlands of an important people called the Garamantes. This Sahara work has now entered a new phase as the Desert Migration Project.

A second research strand developed from his Oxford-based post-doctoral research into olive cultivation in the Roman world and the production of olive oil and its trade.

A third area of research has been rural field survey, where he has published final reports on multi-period work near Rieti in Italy and in Libya, whilst a monograph on co-directed work in Jordan (Wadi Faynan) is in an advanced state of preparation. Other areas of interest include Roman Britain, imperialism in the Roman world, Roman economic and social history and cartography of the ancient world.

He has authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited 18 monographs. Several others are in preparation. In addition he has written (or contributed to) 140 published articles/chapters, 8 review articles and about 150 other book reviews or minor works.

Recent Publications

• (with G. Barker and D. Gilbertson et al.) Archaeology and Desertification: the Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, southern Jordan. Oxbow, CBRL, Oxford (in press).
• (with C.M. Daniels, J.N. Dore, D. Edwards and J. Hawthorne). The Archaeology of Fazzan. Volume 2, Site Gazetteer, Pottery and Other Survey Finds. London (2007). Pp xxx and 522. (edited by D. Mattingly).
• (edited with G. Shipley, J. Vanderspoel and L. Foxhall,). The Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2006). Pp. xliv and 966.
• An Imperial Possession. Britain in the Roman Empire. Penguin History of Britain Series. London (2006). Pp. xvi and 622. (Paperback edition 2007 with minor corrections).
• (edited with S. McLaren, E. Savage, Y al-Fasatwi and K. Gadgood). The Libyan Desert: Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage. Society for Libyan Studies, London (2006). Pp. x and 338.
• (with C.M. Daniels, J.N. Dore, D. Edwards and J. Hawthorne) The Archaeology of Fazzan: Volume 1 (Synthesis, London, 2003), pp. xxvi and 430, 460 figures (edited by D. Mattingly).
• (with L. Stirling and N. Ben Lazreg). Leptiminus (Lamta): Report no. 2, The East Baths, Cemeteries, Kilns, Venus Mosaic, Site Museum and other studies Portsmouth, RI, JRA Suppl. 40. (2001), pp. 464. See also (with N. Ben Lazreg and contributions from others). Leptiminus (Lamta): a Roman port city in Tunisia, Report no. 1. Ann Arbor (1992), pp. 333
• (edited with J. Salmon). Economies beyond Agriculture in the Classical World. (Leicester Nottingham Ancient History Seminar Series, Routledge. (2001 [2000]), pp. xii and 324
• (edited with D. Potter). Life, Death and Entertainment in Ancient Rome. (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press). (1999), pp. xiv and 353
• (edited). Dialogues in Roman Imperialism. Power, Discourse and Discrepant Experience in the Roman Empire (Journal of Roman Archaeology, Suppl. vol 23), Portsmouth, RI (1997), pp. 200
• (with G.W.W. Barker, D.D. Gilbertson and G.D.B. Jones). Farming the Desert The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey. Volume 1, Synthesis. (principal editor, G. Barker), UNESCO, Soc. for Libyan Studies, Paris/London (1996), pp. xx and 404; Volume 2, Gazetteer and Pottery (principal editor, D.J. Mattingly), UNESCO, Soc. for Libyan Studies, Paris/London (1996), pp. xxii and 394
• Tripolitania. Batsford, London (1995), pp. xxii and 266

Contact Details:

• Email: djm7@le.ac.uk
• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2610