Overview
Andrew Welser is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Classical Studies. He studies the Roman economy and the lives of ordinary people in the Roman provinces, with particular focus on how the trade of agricultural products transformed rural communities. His work is grounded in material evidence and reflects his experience excavating in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Cyprus.
His dissertation examines the origins of the olive oil export trade in southern Spain (Hispania Baetica), one of antiquity's largest cash-crop industries. This project investigates how Roman control over land and trade restructured peasant labor and provincial landscapes during the late Roman Republic and early Empire.
Andrew is a proponent of digital methodologies in archaeology, including spatial analysis and linked databases. He has taught Latin 101, 102, and Roman Civilization at Duke. He holds an MLitt in Classics from the University of St Andrews.