I received my undergraduate degree in Classics from Queen’s University (Kingston), and continued my investigation of the ancient world through a master’s at UBC’s Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies. Recently, I completed my doctorate in Archaeology at Leiden University (the Netherlands). During this time, I participated in archaeological projects in Jordan, Serbia, Bulgaria, Sicily, and mainland Italy. I returned to UBC in August 2019 to begin a Research and Teaching Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Academia.edu Website



https://ubc.academia.edu/MarkLocicero

Research Interests

• Roman Urbanism
• Ancient Mediterranean Hydraulic technology (aqueducts, latrines, sewers
• Waters and their cultural perceptions (ancient and comparative)
• Sustainable Water Usage (ancient and comparative)

Projects

My doctoral research adapted methods from sustainable resource management to bridge modern and ancient ways of experiencing urban life with many different kinds of water. I investigated three city blocks of Ostia, Rome’s early harbour city, and reconstructed their hydraulic histories from the Republican to the Late Antique period. My current project expands that research in scale and geography, and aims to analyze the hydraulic history of an entire ancient city: Timgad, in present-day Algeria. I will explore how Roman and local hydraulic technology worked together in this city on the edge of the Sahara desert, to identify the cultural forces that motivated water habits over the entire period of this city’s life. Using archaeological, literary, and epigraphic sources, my goal is to draw out the reasons why people used, recycled, wasted, and displayed water as they did.