The Tomb of the Scipios is a multigenerational patrician tomb outside Rome dating from the early third to mid-second century b.c.e. The tomb is perhaps most famous for its verse epitaphs, which have traditionally been identified as echoes of the lost elite family domestic archives that informed the first Roman histories. In dialogue with the recent turn towards considering the role of non-literary methods of recording the past in the development of Roman historical thought, this paper proposes a reinterpretation of these epitaphs within their archaeological context. Ultimately, this paper argues that the Tomb of the Scipios and its epitaphs should be understood not simply as lost echoes of other types of family history, but as a site where the family experienced history through an ongoing dialogue with the dead.

Religious practice in the Roman world involved diverse rituals and knowledge. Scholarly studies of ancient religion increasingly emphasise the experiential aspects of these practices, highlighting multisensory and embodied approaches to material culture and the dynamic construction of religious experiences and identities. In contrast, museum displays typically frame religious material culture around its iconographic or epigraphic significance. The author analyses 23 UK museum displays to assess how religion in Roman Britain is presented and discusses how museums might use research on ‘lived ancient religion’ to offer more varied and engaging narratives of religious practices that challenge visitors’ perceptions of the period.

Humans inhabit rich social and physical worlds and archaeology is increasingly engaging with the multi-sensory experience of life in the past. In this article, the authors model the soundscapes of five Chacoan communities on the Colorado Plateau, where habitation sites cluster around monumental great houses. The work demonstrates that the audible range of a conch-shell trumpet blown from atop these great houses consistently maps the distribution of associated habitation sites. Staying within the audible reach of great houses may have helped maintain the social cohesion of communities in the past which, the authors argue, also has implications for the management of archaeological landscapes in the modern world.

‘Smellscapes’ have become an increasingly popular concept in recent years. Here, the authors argue for a new direction in sensorial archaeology by focusing on the ‘smell of things’ or the potential information held in the odours of archaeological objects. They offer a case study using early modern earthenware ceramics from Portugal—renowned for the distinctive smell and taste imparted to their contents—to explore the possibility of developing standardised analytical techniques and vocabularies that would allow archaeologists to describe the odours associated with artefacts.