Road Construction and Transport in the Empire - What did they think they were doing? by Ray Laurence

The archaeology of road construction in Roman Britain rightly has a focus on the documentation of evidence, and we need to recognise how the actions of road building after 43 CE shaped the structure of England and to some extent Wales. This paper sets out to use the evidence for road building within Italy with a view to setting out what might have been the thinking of the Roman elite about communications, and how they may have seen the place of roads in the ideological structure of Rome's colonial project. The intention is not to explain everything in one lecture, but to think about how we should see their pre-conceptions of what was "good communications" and what was "absolutely awful communications". Obviously, in applying these concepts - we may establish intentions, but of course (as we all know all too well) intentions are not always delivered in major construction projects - roads fail as well as succeed. We may also begin to contemplate what compromises need to take place and to contemplate this aspect, the talk will draw on some examples from the 19th century British colony in New South Wales. In addition, the talk will provide an introduction to key concepts for understanding the wider transport infrastructure of the Roman empire.