Elizabeth M. Greene
Elizabeth M. Greene, PhD Candidate, Classical Archaeology
Elizabeth is a Ph.D. candidate in Classical Archaeology with a focus in the material culture of the Roman world. She received an MA in Classical Archaeology (2004) and in Classical Philology (2003), both from Tufts University, after finishing a BA in Classical Civilization at Boston University. Beth is currently in her final year of Ph.D. work, and holds a Society of Fellows Dissertation Completion Fellowship from UNC for 2010-11. She is preparing a dissertation entitled “Women and children in the social structure of Roman military communities” for an expected defense in spring 2011. This work is at the convergence of archaeology and history, combining archaeological evidence with documentary sources in order to create an in-depth understanding of the role of women in the military communities of the western Roman provinces.
Beth is currently a site supervisor on the ongoing archaeological excavations at Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort near Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. Through her nine seasons with the excavation team, she has supervised excavations in both the fort and extramural vicus, and is currently leading exploratory trenches to the north of the site in virgin territory. In the off season Beth researches the collection housed in the museum at Vindolanda, which has resulted in publications on the assemblage of intaglios and finger rings in a co-authored fascicule on Roman jewelry from Vindolanda, as well as individual contributions in the interim excavation reports. Her current research at Vindolanda focuses on the assemblage of over four-thousand Roman leather shoes that have been excavated from anaerobic conditions at the site, which she is using to create demographic models of the population in each phase of the site’s occupation. Preliminary results of this research were presented at the 2008 conference of the Archaeological Institute of America and in a paper delivered at the Roman Archaeology Conference held in 2009 at the University of Michigan.
Elizabeth’s further interests are in the Roman provinces and frontier regions in general, as well as the rise of Roman imperialism and Romanization in these areas. She delivered a paper about the military diplomas at the XXIst International Limes Congress in Newcastle, England in 2009, which will be published in the conference proceedings in 2011. Generally, Beth uses archaeology and history to focus on questions about social history and the lives of ordinary people in the Roman world.
Elizabeth also maintains an interest in Latin literature, most recently working with Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. She has published an article, “Social Commentary in the Metamorphoses: Apuleius’ Play with Satire,” in a supplementary volume of the journal Ancient Narrative and presented similar research at the International Conference on the Ancient Novel in Lisbon in 2008 in a paper entitled “Apuleius and Juvenal: Satirical Elements in the Metamorphoses.” She has also presented research on Ovid and Augustan politics at the CANE conference in 2004.
E-mail: egreene@email.unc.edu
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