Lapis Gabinus: Tufo and the Economy of Urban Construction in Ancient Rome.

Abstract

In this dissertation I consider the role which tufo quarries played in the economy of urban construction at Rome by analyzing, in detail, one such quarry just east of the city—that which produced lapis Gabinus, a building stone used widely at Rome in the first century BCE. The principal evidence for this analysis consists of the remains of quarry faces at Gabii, associated archaeological features, and the distribution of the stone in extant Roman monuments. Wherever possible, petrographic analyses were utilized to confirm the presence of lapis Gabinus, which has been misidentified in the past. I use this evidence to develop a picture of the scale, organization, and techniques of the production and transportation of lapis Gabinus blocks. In addition, I explore methods of quantifying the cost of stone quarrying, in terms of manpower, in order to assess the economic significance of the quarries more generally. I demonstrate that the use of lapis Gabinus was influenced by a number of factors, including the decline of the town of Gabii, Roman knowledge of the stone’s physical characteristics, and the ease with which it could be transported by river to the capital. Moreover, processes of lapis Gabinus extraction and transportation played a large role in tying Rome to the countryside and highlight the intersection of stone quarrying with other industries in the wider economy. While most studies of Roman stone quarrying focus on imperial involvement and on marbles and other fine decorative stone, by reconstructing the processes of extraction and transportation for the lapis Gabinus quarries I provide insight into the everyday working of a production site which is more representative of stone extraction across the empire. At the same time, lapis Gabinus appears in some of the most significant Roman monuments of the first century BCE, and the organization of its production therefore has implications for Roman public architecture more generally. This approach exposes in greater detail the dynamics of the construction industry in the Late Republic and provides a unique lens with which to view the economic ties between Rome and its immediate hinterland.