Elizabeth M. Greene

2018_Greene.jpgCanada Research Chair in Roman Archaeology

Associate Professor of Classics

BA (Boston University), MA (Tufts University), PhD (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

Office: Lawson Hall 3212
Extension: 84571
Email: egreene2@uwo.ca
Personal Website: https://westernu.academia.edu/ElizabethMGreene
                                       Vindolanda Archaeological Leather Project website: https://www.vindolandaarchleather.com/

Curriculum Vitae

Areas of Research and Teaching

Roman archaeology and social history, Roman provinces and frontiers, conquest and imperialism, cultural exchange, Roman military, women and families in the Roman world, Roman shoes and leather industries, Latin epigraphy.

The Vindolanda Archaeological Leather Project

My current research focus, the Vindolanda Archaeological Leather Project (VALP), takes a comprehensive approach to the largest assemblage of Roman leather and shoes from the fort and settlement at Vindolanda in northern England. The project centers on a scientific database with dozens of data points allowing researchers to cross-reference archaeological information, such as date, occupation period and contextual location, with details of leather characteristics, such as decoration, shoe size, shoe morphology and health data, in order to visualize patterns in the use and deposition of over 7000 leather objects. Click here to read more about VALP and the site of Vindolanda: https://www.vindolandaarchleather.com/

Select Recent Publications

2020. E.M. Greene and B. Birley, “The Assemblage of Archaeological Footwear from the Roman Fort at Vindolanda.” In Ai piedi degli dei. Le calzature e la loro fortuna nella cultura del Novecento, Museo della Moda e del Costume delle Gallerie degli Uffizi. 82-89 (article). 6 catalogue entries.

2020. L. Allason-Jones, C. van Driel-Murray, E.M. Greene. “The Women of Lowland Scotland.” In D. Breeze and W. Hanson (eds.). The Antonine Wall. Papers in Honour of Professor Lawrence Keppie. Archaeopress. 346-65.

2020. “Roman Military Communities and the Families of Roman Auxiliary Soldiers,” in L.L. Brice (ed.), New Approaches to Greek and Roman Warfare. Wiley-Blackwell. 149-160.

2019. T.J. Buck, E.M. Greene, A. Meyer, V. Barlow, E. Graham. “The body in the ditch: Alternative funerary practices on the Northern frontier of the Roman Empire?” Britannia 50, 203-24. doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X1900014X

2019. “Metal fittings on the Vindolanda shoes: Footwear and evidence for podiatric knowledge in the Roman world,” in S. Pickup and S. Waite (eds.), Surveying Shoes, Slippers and Sandals in Antiquity. Routledge. 310-24.

2018. “Footwear and Fashion on the Fringe: Stamps and Decoration on Leather and Shoes from Vindolanda (1993-2016)” in T. Ivleva, J. De Bruin, M. Driessen (eds.), Embracing the Provinces: Society and Material Culture of the Frontier Regions. Oxbow. 143-152.

2017. E.M. Greene and A. Meyer “The North Field excavations at Vindolanda: Preliminary report on the 2009-14 exploratory field seasons,” Mouseion Series III, Vol. 14: 197-251.

2016. “Identities and Social Roles of Women in Military Communities of the Roman West,” in S. Budin and J. Turfa (eds.), Women in Antiquity: Real Women across the Ancient World (Routledge) 942-953.

2015. “Conubium cum uxoribus: Wives and Children in the Roman Military Diplomas,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 28, 125-159.

2014. “If the shoe fits: Style and function of children’s shoes from Vindolanda” in R. Collins and F. McIntosh (eds.), Life in the Limes: Studies of the People and Objects of the Roman Frontiers. Oxford: Oxbow. 29-36.

2013. “Female Networks in the Military Communities of the Roman West: A view from the Vindolanda Tablets” in E. Hemelrijk and G. Woolf (eds.), Women and the Roman City in the Latin West. Mnemosyne Journal Supplement, Brill. 369-90.

2013. “Before Hadrian’s Wall: Early military communities on the Roman frontier in Britain,” in R. Collins and M.F.A. Symonds (eds.), Breaking Down Boundaries: Hadrian’s Wall in the 21st Century, Journal of Roman Archaeology. 17-32.

In the News and Public Archaeology

Elizabeth Greene on Podcast or Perish (Dec. 2022)

If the (Roman) Shoe fits: Elizabeth M. Greene and footwear from Vindolanda on the podcast "Peopling the Past"

"Everything you wanted to know and were NOT afraid to ask! The top 10 visitor questions about Roman shoes." The Vindolanda Trust Webinar Series, March 12, 2021.
Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snf-16yD3JI

Archaeology Abridged Webinars, Archaeological Institute of America
“Living on the Edge: The Roman Frontier in Britain and the Site of Vindolanda” (Jan. 28, 2021)
“In the Footsteps of Roman Soldiers: The Extraordinary Archaeological Finds from Roman Vindolanda” (Feb. 11, 2021)
Available here: https://www.archaeological.org/archaeology-abridged-webinars/

Archaelogical Institute of America Society Lectures, Ann Arbor (Feb. 4, 2021)
“The Social Lives of Roman Soldiers”
Available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZLVGpNCPuoWyIcVmycvRmA/featured

“Who do you think you are?” Podcast guest with Nino Ricci (April 2019)
Available here: https://www.uwo.ca/podcasts/who-do-you-think-you-are/

Radio Canada International (Jan. 29, 2015)
Available here: https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2015/01/29/canadian-researcher-discovers-roman-history-hiding-in-plain-sight/

Research Projects and Articles in Progress

L.L. Brice and E.M. Greene (eds.) Present but Not Accounted For: Women and the Roman Army. Contracted by Cambridge University Press (completion expected in 2021)

“The role of women in Roman military religion,” in L.L. Brice and E.M. Greene (eds.) Present but not accounted for: Women and the Roman army

(with C. Harvey) "An industrial complex at the Roman Military Fort at Vindolanda."

(with A. Birley) “Comparative Material Culture assemblages from a Roman military settlement: Vindolanda in the early 2nd century AD.”

(with A. Birley) “Settlement and Society during Military Conquest: The population at Vindolanda in the Severan period.”

(with E. Wolfram Thill and M. Gensheimer) “Gender Reassignment on the Column of Trajan: Women and Girls in the Sacrifice Scenes of Trajan’s Dacian Wars.”

(with E. Wolfram Thill) “Roman Shoes in Representation and Reality: Roman art and the footwear from Vindolanda.”