Research interests
My research at present is centred on developing several venues arising from my doctoral study and current fieldwork in Italy. I specialize on the archaeology of the Central Balkans, and my doctoral work,
Roman Moesia Superior: the creation of a new provincial entity and processes of multicultural adjustment
, included aspects of provincial settlement patterns, economy, burial and art. At the moment I am preparing for publication three contributions on precious metal mining, ingots and mining coinage associated with the area. As a part of a larger Getty Research project, "The Arts of Rome's Provinces", I am also intensively looking into the trends of provincial art in the region.
My current fieldwork concentrates on Rome and its maritime and fluvial port system. As a part of the Portus project I look at the relationship between Portus and Rome, and Portus' impact on its immediate hinterland. I am currently expanding this work into a new project that will employ the interdisciplinary approach developed for Portus onto the material from some of the other Western Mediterranean ports with a goal of establishing degree and nature of interrelationships between Roman Mediterranean ports. It is hoped that this work will provide valuable insight into the workings of port networks and the associated communities in the Roman Mediterranean.
I am particularly involved with the educational aspects of the Portus Project, and am currently the Director of the
Portus Field School
, and a module coordinator of the Curriculum Innovation Module (CIP):
Portus: Interdisciplinary Fieldwork in Theory and Practice
.
Research group
Classical and historical archaeology
Research project(s)
Portus
The Portus Project is guided by two main objectives. Firstly, it seeks to build a better understanding of Portus itself, as well as its relationship to Ostia, Rome, and the rest of the Mediterranean. Secondly, it aims to develop techniques that will enhance the ways in which highly complex classical sites can be investigated and recorded, and evaluate the impact of those techniques.
The Insula dell’Ara Coeli is a 2nd century AD Roman apartment building that stands five floors high at the foot of the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Though usage of digital recording and geophysical research we hope to reconstruct the layout of the Insula and other structures in the Campidoglio area, and contribute to the study of urban topography of one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Ancient Rome.
Employing a range of multidisciplinary techniques, this joint project between the Universities of Southampton, Oxford and Edinburgh and the Museum of Kumanovo seeks to develop our understanding of site and landscape transformation in the ancient and medieval South Central Balkans over the longue durée. Focusing on the region of Kostoperska Karpa (Mlado Nagoričane, Republic of Macedonia), where at least three major settlements and twenty churches are attested, it combines archival research, satellite imagery analysis, field walking, geophysics and targeted excavation to build a comprehensive framework for interpreting changes in the region’s religious and civic landscape.
Dr Dragana Mladenović
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Southampton
Avenue Campus, Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BF
United Kingdom
Email: D.Mladenovic@soton.ac.uk
Room Number :
65A/3023