"From 1989 to 1994 more than fifteen hundred bone and ivory objects were excavated from the northeast slope of Rome's Palatine Hill. These remains constitute the largest such find in the west Mediterranean and the first traces of the actual working of ivory in Rome itself. In this original work, art historian Archer St. Clair explores the significance of these finds in understanding both the development of artisanship in Rome and the broader Greco-Roman cultural and artistic tradition to which they belong."--Jacket.