I heard the good news this summer that Joseph Rife’s Isthmia IX: The Roman and Byzantine Graves and Human Remains, was finally available in published form. The ASCSA website describes the work in these terms:
This study describes and interprets the graves and human remains of Roman and Byzantine date recovered by excavation between 1954 and 1976 in several locales around the Isthmian Sanctuary and the succeeding fortifications. This material provides important evidence for both death and life in the Greek countryside during the Late Roman to Early Byzantine periods. Examination of burial within the local settlement, comparative study of mortuary behavior, and analysis of skeletal morphology, ancient demography, oral health and paleopathology all contribute to a picture of the rural Corinthians over this transitional era as interactive, resilient and modestly innovative.
Andrew Reinhard, director of publications, recently interviewed Rife about his work. You can read the interview here and a sample of the work here. Looks like another major publication for the Corinthian countryside that should have significant consequences for how we understand the lives of the territory’s inhabitants.
Corinthian Matters 