Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 25. – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1995)
Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta XXXIV - Kenrick, Pm: Corpus vasorum Arretinorum: the third Generation. p. 281–282.
through publications and without the need for extensive travel or for the study of unpublished collections. I consider this to be an amply sufficient basis for study. The technology of today offers an ideal means of listing and analysing this material, through the use of a database package on a computer - and it can be a computer on a desk-top. It will be possible, for instance, to show more clearly than ever before which shapes were made by which potters; where many of the potters were working, when and for how long; and which markets they favoured for the distribution of their products. (We can tell already, by comparison of only a few publications, that potters working at the same time within the same town might send their wares to quite different parts of the Empire.) The ultimate form of publication which I envisage is a printed volume containing facsimile drawings and discussion of the topics I have just mentioned, accompanied by the database files on disk. None of us can escape from the use of computers today, and to have the entire index on one's own machine will vastly simplify the process of identifying new finds. The financing of this project is international. It will be conducted at the University of Oxford under the auspices of the British Academy, which is expected to bear part of the cost. Substantial contributions have been received or promised from the Gerda-Henkel Stiftung at Düsseldorf, from the Ceramica Stiftung in Basel and from a longstanding friend and colleague of Prof. Comfort in the U.S.A., Dr. Anna Marguerite McCann. Useful sums have also been given by the University of Oxford and by the Österreichische Akademie von Wissenschaften. Latest estimates suggest that perhaps 80 per cent of the projected cost will be met by these sources, and attempts to secure further funds are continuing. I have spoken of a five-year project. That is the time which I consider sufficient for a representative body of new material to be catalogued and studied in the way that I have described. If it does not in that time cover everything in print, I doubt that the conclusions will be affected. There is, however, one logical extension to the study which is not contemplated at this stage, and that is the transcription of Oxé's original catalogue onto the computer so that its contents can be listed and analysed alongside the new material. This is certainly a desideratum, but a process which could not be started until the new catalogue is satisfactorily under way; it would also be essential to carry out some checking and up-dating of О x é's lists as they were transcribed. This might take perhaps a further two years, but I think it important from the point of view of securing funds that it should be seen as a distinct second phase of the project, to be undertaken only when the opportunity arises and the first phase is demonstrably close to completion. I therefore ask for the co-operation of all of you in keeping me informed 0 ' of newly published instances of stamps on Italian Sigillata, as I know you have done for Professor Comfort in the past. I am proud to succeed our Late Honorary President in this task, and I invite you to rejoice with me at the inception of a project which has been brought into being through the energies of many members of our Society, and which promises substantial returns to all those interested in the archaeology and economic history of the Roman World. (I) At the Institute of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont Street, OXFORD, OX1 2PG, England. BIBLIOGRAPHY Conspectus 1990 OXÉ-COMFORT 1968 E. ETTLINGER et al., Conspectus formarum terrae sigillatae ltalico modo confectae. Materialien zur röm.german. Keramik, X. Bonn. A. OXE - H. COMFORT, Corpus Vasorum Arretinorum. Bonn. 282
