My current research involves two separate projects, both of which are concerned with how the Roman Empire functioned. The first of these is completing the publication of a pair of archaeological field surveys in Turkey, one in the Göksu Valley between Mut and Karaman (2002-2007) and one at Avkat near Çorum (2007-2010). These projects were designed to examine the impact of the Roman imperial state on the countryside in remote and poor areas. The work in the Göksu involved students from the US and the UK. At Avkat (co-run with Princeton-College of Charleston) Trent University provided a team of two faculty (including myself), two graduate students, and five undergraduates in 2008, two faculty, three graduate students and eight undergraduates in 2009. In both projects, techniques used include intensive-fieldwalking, extensive survey, magnetometry, satellite imagery, and GIS analysis of data in the field. Recent and current graduate students are involved with various aspects of publishing these projects.
The second is an investigation of the reign of Zeno, Roman Emperor (474-491). An unpopular figure in his own reign, the historiography of the reign of Zeno is frequently negative. Despite the subsequent historiography, Zeno was highly successful in defending his throne against a number of challenges. His reign thus provides a good way of examining the way in which politics worked in the Roman Empire of the late fifth century.