Q&A with Gillian De Boer

NAME

GILLIAN DE BOER

OCCUPATION

ARCHAEOLOGIST

Gillian De Boer, postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, studied Classics and Archaeology with a focus on Imperial Roman History for both her bachelor and masters degrees. In the past, she’s worked at archaeological digs in Rome, and the Sangro Valley in Abruzzo. Here, we chat to her about her work and must-visit sights.

What are some of your favourite sites to visit?

My favourite is Baths of Caracalla [ancient Roman public baths] because they are just so impressive. It gives you an idea of how advanced the imperial Romans were when it came to engineering. For example, saunas were heated by ingenious central heating systems called hypocausts. There were libraries, shops, shrines, sporting areas and facilities for other leisure activities, too. And the Pantheon is just amazing. I particularly enjoy it at night, when it’s lit up and quiet—it's so mysterious and atmospheric. Today it remains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, almost 2,000 years after it was rebuilt. I also suggest going for a wander around the Forum Boarium, the ancient meat market.

Are there still active archaeological digs in Rome?

All the time! La Sapienza University is still doing work in the Roman Forum where they are investigating down to virgin soil (soil untouched by civilisation). You can probably see archaeologists from all over the world working in large tourist sites and other parts of the city, if they’re not looking for something new, then they’re maintaining or restoring a site.

What are some items one might expect to find at a modern archaeological dig in Rome?

Literally anything! When I was on site in the Roman Forum in 2010, colleagues found a number of votive vases containing skeletal remains of a human foetus—likely stillbirths that were offered to the gods. In the Sangro Valley in 2013 we found Imperial period coins, flagstones, roof tiles, hundreds of pottery shards, and I even dug up an ancient horse skeleton that was burnt in a rubbish dump. There’s so much that we still don’t know about the ancient world that you can only imagine what the earth is hiding from us.

What are your off-the-beaten-path recommendations for historic sightseeing?

Ostia Antica! It’s absolutely my favourite site in Rome. It’s really an inspiring place to spend the day. It's the ancient port town of Rome where all trade passed through and it sits at the mouth of the Tiber River. The site itself is like a rough and tumble Pompeii, no one seems to know about it and you’ll have free range of the place. It's the perfect example of middle class Imperial Roman life, from smart urban planning, to daily life on-the-go (a thermopolis was a fast food joint, like McDonald's today).