ARCHEOLOGY. 369 



Van Deman, Esther B., Rome, Italy. Associate in Roman Archceology. 

 (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 9-15.) 



On account of the uncertain living conditions still existing in Italy, 

 it was deemed inadvisable to resume work there before the spring 

 of 1922. The year has been spent very profitablj^, however, in great 

 part upon the text of the handbook on Roman Concrete Construction 

 and in the study of a number of problems connected with it for the 

 solution of which the university libraries of America offer special 

 facilities. Among the more important problems to which special 

 attention has been given is that of the historical development of 

 brick and of concrete construction in general and the political and 

 economic conditions leading to or accompanying the various steps in 

 that development in Rome. A careful study has been made of the 

 history of construction in other ancient civilizations, for the sake of 

 comparison as well as to determine, if possible, the people and the 

 period to which the discoveiy of the use of burned bricks and of con- 

 crete is to be assigned. The meagemess of the details concerning 

 construction found in ancient authors and the inaccuracy and unsci- 

 entific character of the descriptions of the ancient remains in 

 various countries given by the earlier modem travelers and students 

 render the subject one of extreme difficulty. Investigations of a 

 more scientific character, however, have been carried on, in recent 

 years, in certain of the more important centers of ancient culture, 

 among which are Greece, Crete, Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria. As a 

 result, a considerable body of trustworthy evidence concerning the 

 construction of the ancient monuments in these countries is now 

 accessible, though in part as yet unpublished. 



An exhaustive review has been undertaken of the periodical litera- 

 ture along the lines involved which has been published since the rise 

 of modern archaeological investigation in the early part of the nine- 

 teenth century. By this means, a number of important monuments, 

 now wholly or in part destroyed, have been identified. 



The first three months of the year were spent in Bermuda. The 

 building-stone used throughout the islands was found to resemble 

 very closely that used in certain parts of Sicily. A study, in leisure 

 hours, of the house and the field walls, especially those built by the early 

 settlers, revealed also many noticeable similarities between their 

 methods of construction and those used in the ancient Sicilian monu- 

 ments. An interesting, if not unique, example of the use in modern 

 times of the primitive corbelled or pseudo- vault, was found in a group 

 of smaU, square stone buildings belonging to the earlier period, which 

 were used as butteries. 



During the past five years a marked increase has been noted in 

 the recognition by foreign as well as by American archaeologists of 

 the working value of the new canon of construction. 



