Dr Carolyn La Rocco

Classicist and early Medievalist, with a focus on using material culture to understand social changes in the late antique and early medieval west, and particularly late- and post-Roman (Visigothic) Iberia.

Currently, I am a Career Development Research Fellow in Early Medieval History at St John’s. My Fellowship centres on material and textual evidence for female patronage in and its impact on the late antique and early medieval western mediterranean, from roughly the fourth-ninth centuries CE.

Before joining Oxford, I was a Research Fellow at the RomanIslam Center for Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies (Universität Hamburg).

I completed my PhD at the University of St Andrews in 2023. My thesis analysed material and textual evidence for the decline of ‘paganism’ and the rise of Christianity in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia. In particular, it nuanced our understanding of the role of early medieval bishops and other patrons in shaping Iberia’s social, physical, and spiritual topographies.

Research Interests

My current research project looks at material and textual evidence for various forms of patronage by women in the late- and post-Roman west (roughly fourth to ninth centuries CE). The project also has a wide geographic scope, encompassing Iberia, Gaul, Britain, North Africa, and Italy.

I am seeking to highlight the scale and variety of acts of patronage women undertook in the late antique and early medieval west, in order to facilitate more accurate understanding and study of the ancient and medieval world.

Other topics on which I am currently working include various aspects of historical and archaeological study of Iberia in the Visigothic period (eg Iberian mosaics, female monasticism in late- and post-Roman Iberia, Visigothic canon law).

Mosaics are another area of interest of mine, particularly late- or post-Roman installations or modifications.

I am also interested in Reception of the ancient and early medieval world with respect to: silent films, video games, and the ways in which the past is mis-represented for political or other gain today.

Experimental archaeology is another of my interests, particularly regarding the research and recreation of ancient and medieval recipes.

Teaching

I teach on various Classics and History courses, including, e.g.: European and World History 1: 370-900 (The Transformation of the Ancient World); St Augustine and the Last Days of Rome, 370-430; Approaches to History (Archaeology and History); Art under the Roman Empire AD 14–337.