A typology for recording pavement signs.
Pavement Signs Typology (PDF)
Over many years Charlotte Roueché has been collecting examples of pavement markings, particularly at Aphrodisias and Ephesus: these have conventionally been described as gameboards, although only some of them were definitely intended for this purpose. The late R.C. Bell made a very large collection of such signs, and in 2007 they published a typology to be used for recording pavement markings and gameboards. This has now been enhanced with links to published examples, which are set out in the attached document, to be launched at the 2012 Berlin AIEGL Congress.
Colleagues are invited to provide references to further photographic illustrations, new designs to add to the typology, or any other suggestions or corrections. Please either make your contributions as a comment here, or email charlotte.roueche[at]kcl.ac.uk; the aim is to develop a shared resource, and to enable better practice in the recording of such materials.
This morning I heard your lecture and enjoyed it very much, and would like to mention something you probably already know, the carved signs on the so-called “lithostratos” (cf. John 19:13), i.e. the Roman pavement under the Ecce Homo convent in Jerusalem, just north of the Temple Mount. Of course these signs are usually identified as a game, and tourists are sometimes told that the game was connected somehow to the mocking of Jesus, except that the pavement dates from Aelia Capitolina.
I think we met once in Oxford, perhaps at the last AIEGL conference there, but if so it was brief.
Jonathan Price
Tel Aviv University
I’ve got a partial one from our dig at the Vicus ad Martis along the Via Flaminia in Umbria. I’ll publish a pic in the Fasti OnLine.