Procurator Gynaecii Procurator Gynaecii Procurator Gynaecii (Latin for "Manager of the weaving factory"; plural "procuratores gynaeciorum") is an official Roman title recorded in the document "Notitia Dignitatum", a list of Imperial civil and military officials in the late 4th or early 5th century. There were fourteen "procuratores gynaeciorum" in various parts of the Western Roman Empire: The last in the list was stationed in Britain at a place called "Venta". This is usually taken to be Venta Belgarum (Winchester), but it has been argued that Venta Icenorum (Caistor by Norwich) is intended. In the listings of "Notitia Dignitatum" these "procuratores gynaeciorum" are
La Venta of legitimizing power.” Frans Blom and Oliver La Farge made the first detailed descriptions of La Venta during their 1925 expedition, sponsored by Tulane University. Originally La Venta was thought to be a Mayan site. It wasn't until more sophisticated radiocarbon techniques were developed in the 1950s that Olmec sites were irrefutably dated as preceding the Maya. La Venta was first excavated by Matthew Stirling and Philip Drucker (assisted by Waldo Wedel in 1943, due to Drucker’s military service during WWII) between 1940 and 1943, resulting in several articles by Stirling and in 1952 a two-volume monograph by Drucker. Stirling