Herom Shows its True Colours! Editorial Preface

HEROM is alive and kicking: as of 2015 two issues will be published annually, in the months of May and November of each year. In part this is a managerial decision, to continue to create a place for HEROM as a journal, but this new step also reflects the growing amount of contributions which are being proposed for consideration on Hellenistic, Roman and late antique material culture. This is nothing less than excellent news, as scholars of the past are increasingly becoming aware of how studies of material culture, broken though it may be, are oftentimes instrumental in grounding theory and concepts, archaeological or other-disciplinary, in the reality of the past. It also works the other way round, by allowing the study of the minutiae of past material culture, still the bread and butter of much classical archaeology, to meaningfully reach a wider audience, and in doing so surpass the ad hoc and often coincidental nature of the collections and assemblages we study. As editors - as well as practitioners in this field - we cannot be alone in considering that every archaeological project, be it survey, excavation or even non-fieldwork-based, no matter how big or small in enterprise, dealing with aspects of the Hellenistic to late antique worlds, holds a variety of material culture, which represents considerable potential still to be unlocked. As ever more archaeologists wish to be encompassing, inspirational and inclusive in explaining the human experiences of past communities, studies of material culture increasingly take centre-stage. And rightfully so. HEROM wishes to continue to function as a medium to voice concerns and issues in the study of ancient material culture, but much more so to demonstrate the potential of our evidence to contribute to a historically meaningful understanding of the past.