Lecture Summaries: 8 December, 2004

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'Christians to the Mines':  Roman Copper Exploitation in the Jordanian Desert
by
David Mattingly
University of Leicester

Our view of Roman mining is inevitably coloured by the dramatic accounts of the sufferings of Christians sentenced to hard-labour at the Roman metalla. New archaeological research focused on one of the most infamous of these sites, the copper mining centre of Phaino in the Jordanian desert, is providing a different perspective on the nature of Roman mine organisation.