Roman Britain

""It has long been known that areas such as Cheshire, Lincolnshire and Essex were intensely exploited for salt in the Iron Age and Romano-British periods. Previous research has tended to focus on the eastern coast of Britain, with less attention being paid to other potential salt-producing areas. 

In previous studies in southern Britain, much emphasis has been placed on the distribution of salt and the ‘equipment’ used to produce and potentially transport salt - briquetage. Much less attention has been paid to the production process. 

This research project directly addresses this imbalance, by placing the emphasis on to the study of the production sites, and by creating and analysing a new dataset to contextualise sites using a holistic perspective.  The analysis of salt-production sites has redefined the archaeological terminology for salt production, and has critically evaluated how these sites have been incorporated into the archaeological record. 

The re-categorisation of the archaeological remains on a site by site basis has enabled the formation of a comprehensive dataset for the first time.  This has enabled a regional and chronological comparison of salt-production in southern Britain to be undertaken.

The  analysis has shown that despite problems of incorrect perceptions of salt production practices, inconsistent  recording and categorisation, and severe site damage by human and natural forces, it is possible, to inject concepts of ‘agency’ and ‘identity’ into these sites by exploring evidence of technological choice and use of space.

It was possible to identify distinctive ‘working areas’ containing features (hearths and brine tanks) where the main stages of salt-production were carried out.

New ‘Modes of Salt-Production’ have been created in order to compare different methods of organisation and ‘site management’ across time and space.  These modes enable a new approach about salt-production to be made set in the wider context of supply networks and specific consumer markets.   

This research has shown that there were significant regional and chronological variations in salt-production; with three main areas of activity identified in Somerset, Dorset and Kent.  The most significant chronological change was the substantial increase in salt-production during the 1st century A.D. followed by its decline in the 2nd century A.D in Kent and Dorset.  However, this was not the case in Somerset, where the dominant period of salt-production occurred between the 2nd and 4th centuries A.D. 

The identification of regional trends in the scale and organisation of production, as well as the rich diversity of sites, shows that producers adapted  to changes in the supply and consumption of salt over time.  Considerably more salt would have been required to supply the growing population in the 1st century A.D and this encouraged the creation of many new production sites.  However, the diversity in site character suggests that there was little tight control of coastal salt-production sites at that time.  It is argued that instead, focus was placed upon the exploitation of salt from inland brine springs in Cheshire and Worcestershire.  This is evidenced in the organisation, technology and creation of military supply bases close to these sites.

Instead, it is argued that the Roman invasion formalised and expanded existing supply networks from coastal salt-production sites, in addition to creating new inland networks.  This resulted in the creation of more formal ‘production and/or distribution centres.  It is also probable that the emergence of uniform salt-production sites in Somerset in the later Roman period, reflects that this area had become predominant for the supply of salt to major ‘consumer sites such as legionary fortresses and the larger towns.
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Draft final completed section of the South Yorkshire Archaeological Research Framework on behalf of Historic England and the South Yorkshire Archaeology Service. The final published version will be in the form of an interactive website hosted by Historic England that will feature all of the regional archaeological resource assessments and research frameworks, which should be going online in 2020. I would like to thank Andrew Lines, Jim McNeil, Zac Nellist, and Dinah Saich of the South Yorkshire Archaeology Service; for approaching me to see if I would be interested in producing this document. The comments made during and after the day workshop on the Iron Age and Roman periods by the many colleagues who attended were extremely useful, and where possible have been incorporated within this document.

This project presents and analyses all of the signet rings and intaglios so far unearthed in Roman Britain to reinterpret how they were used and their role within provincial society. These small artefacts have traditionally been regarded as attractive but relatively insignificant minor objets d’art, with little relevance to the wider discourses of Romanists. This thesis attempts a more critical examination of how they were used and their role within provincial Roman society. I argue that signet rings were an essential element in provincial society that should no longer be overlooked. This project builds on the pioneering Corpus assembled by Martin Henig in the 1970s, including more recent
discoveries and more than doubling the material available to him. This combined body of evidence includes 2,012 signet rings and intaglios, making it one of the largest contextualised assemblages of these objects ever studied. It also benefits from the results of developer funded archaeology and the advent of recording by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, enabling us to create a richer and more detailed picture how they were used.

My approach has been to resituate these objects in terms of the archaeological context in which they were found, but also to consider them as functional as well as decorative objects. When
studied in this way signet rings provide a unique perspective on the identity of their wearers, and how they wanted to present themselves to others. I have found growing evidence for the use of signet rings amongst local elites before the Roman invasion of Britain, and it is clear that they had a role to play in negotiating identity after the conquest. I have also been able to identify trends in the way that different communities used signet rings, both as regards their imagery and materiality. It is also apparent that in
some parts of Britain these objects remained a feature of a type of dress and the hallmark of a society that remained alien to their inhabitants throughout the Roman period. However, for those who chose to wear them, signet rings could be more than just objects but reflections of themselves.

Apollo Cunomaglos leads to a multi-disciplinary discussion of Celtic religion: from wolves to cosmology, fertility, ancestry, afterlife, rites de passage and manty more.
The epithet Cunomaglos is known from an altar at the Britanno-Roman sanctuary of Nettleton Shrub in Wiltshire. He has traditionally been interpreted as a hunting deity, as «Apollo Hound Prince», in British scholarship. But since it is certain that the ancient Celtic word cuno was used to denote both wolf and dog in this period, it seems more probable that we are dealing here with Apollo «Lord of the Wolves» similar to the Greek Apollo Lykaios. It is important to jettison the negative image that wolves still have in scholarship in order to understand the meaning of Apollo Cunomaglos. An interdisciplinary analysis of pre-Roman and Romano-Celtic iconography —as well as evidence from other cultures in addition to medieval Welsh and Irish mythology— suggests that wolves must have played a significant role in people’s religious understandings, for example in relation to fertility, nourishment, cosmology, strength, ancestry, prophecy, afterlife beliefs, rites de passage, and many more. Altogether, there emerges a certain image of Apollo Cunomaglos as potentially a powerful, even omnipotent deity, perhaps related to Apollo Maponus, Belenos, Lugus, and Vaelicus.
[ES] Resumen: Apollo Cunomaglos es conocido gracias a un altar procedente del santuario britano-romano de Nettleton Shrub, en Wiltshire  Inglaterra). En la historiografía anglosajona, ha sido tradicionalmente nterpretado como una deidad cazadora, como «Apolo, el Príncipe  azador». Sin embargo, dado que la antigua palabra céltica cuno fue tilizada en esa época tanto para aludir al lobo como al perro, parece más probable que en este caso nos encontremos ante un Apolo «Señor de los Lobos» similar al Apollo Lykaios del mundo griego. Para poder comprender el significado de Apollo Cunomaglos es necesario superar la imagen negativa que se tiene de los lobos en el ámbito académico.
Con ese propósito, este artículo plantea un análisis interdisciplinar de la iconografía prerromana y romano-céltica, de las mitologías medievales galesase irlandesas, y de evidencias de otras culturas relacionadas con el lobo, que muestra la gran importancia de ese animal en las concepciones religiosas de esas poblaciones, como, por ejemplo, en las relacionadas con la fertilidad, la nutrición, la cosmología, la fortaleza, los ancestros, la profecía, las creencias escatológicas, y los ritos de paso, entre otras. De todo ello emerge una potencial imagen de Apollo Cunomaglos como una deidad poderosa, casi omnipotente, que quizás estuvo relacionada con otros dioses como Apollo Maponus, Belenos, Lugus y Vaelicus

The archaeological investigations revealed a concentration of Later Mesolithic/Early Neolithic struck and burnt flint underneath stratified Roman deposits. These included part of Ermine Street Roman road, associated roadside silt layers, domestic debris and an infant burial. Flanking Ermine Street were Roman hearths and clay floors, together with gullies, pits and postholes. A substantial pottery assemblage including local Hadham wares was recovered. Numerous hipposandal fragments, hobnails and part of an agricultural tool were found, as well as an unusual copper alloy enamelled brooch, a stylus, hairpins and bracelet fragments. Several iron and copper-alloy model objects, including a miniature axe and possibly, a spear and a knife, were probably votive deposits. The uppermost stratified levels of the site appeared to have been truncated prior to the deposition of ‘dark earth’ dating to the late Roman period or later.

Although there is limited evidence for pre-Constantinian Christianity in Roman Britain, it is clear that in the fourth century AD the early church became increasingly widespread, partly owing to the influence of the Roman state. The
archaeological evidence for this includes personal items bearing potential Christian imagery, possible liturgical fonts or
basins, church structures and putative Christian burial traditions. The wider relationship between Christianity and
contemporary pagan religious traditions are explored, and this chapter reviews this surviving material evidence and draws
out evidence for regional variation in the adoption of Christianity. More generally, some of the wider practical and
methodological issues involved in understanding the archaeology of Roman Christianity in Britain are examined,
considering how easy it is to unproblematically identify evidence for Christian practice within late Roman Britain.

The study of cremated human remains from archaeological contexts has traditionally been viewed as less valuable than the study of inhumed bodies. However, recent methodological and theoretical developments regarding the taphonomic processes that transform the human body during cremation have highlighted their potential for understanding past cultural and funerary practices. This study combines the first application of spectroscopic with more traditional methods of studying cremated bone to examine Romano-British contexts, with the aim of better understanding funerary practices along the military frontier. Five Romano-British military sites from northern England (Beckfoot, Carlisle, Herd Hill, Lincoln and Malton) were studied, with remains excavated from a range of cinerary urn contexts. Despite the known heterogeneity of the ethnic composition of the Roman army, analyses revealed a surprising consistency with respect to the cremation practice, implying shared knowledge of pyre procedure and, possibly, a prescribed funerary practice amongst military communities in the Roman North. The consistency within these five northern provincial sites in Britain stands in contrast to cremation contexts from Roman sites elsewhere in Europe, as well as other periods of the British past. The associated material culture recovered from these cremation deposits, however, does provide evidence for differences in dress and bodily display. This contrasts with the homogeneity of the cremation technology and highlights the importance of these individualizing features for signalling identity amongst Roman military communities in Britain.

The excavations at Caerleon in the summer of 2011 were focused on the complex of monumental buildings outside the fortress of Isca. This impressive suburb extended over about 5 hectares, including some of the largest Roman buildings in Britain, and this report presents the results of the nine trenches opened across the full extent of the complex. The preliminary study of the pottery assemblage indicates the suburb could have been first constructed at about the same time as the fortress (i.e. A.D. 70s), but that the majority of the buildings would seem to have been abandoned perhaps as soon as the early-third century. They were possibly used for the disposal of rubbish, including the remains of unusually large quantities of pigs and birds, during the late Roman period after which the buildings were stripped of their stone and tile before disappearing for 1,500 years. The final discussion looks to provide possible answers to the project’s original research questions, concluding with some observations regarding the layout and architecture of the Southern Canabae and its relationship with the fortress and the legionary command in this part of Britannia.

Reviewed here: http://www.deremilitari.org/REVIEWS/Campbell_MonsGraupiusAD83.htm 

I mentioned the work of Stan Wolfson, which the reviewer would like to see more formally referenced. It can be found in BAR British Series 459 (Tacitus, Thule and Caledonia: The achievements of Agricola's navy in their true perspective), which only came to my attention after Mons Graupius had gone to press.

The reviewer also complains that, when I mentioned Martin Henig's views on p.87, "the only information supplied is the journal, volume year, and publication date". He wishes that I had "quoted from Henig’s work so that the reader could consider the argument in a greater context". The context can be found here: http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba37/ba37feat.html (last accessed in 2009; see cache at: http://web.archive.org/web/20160403143300/http://archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba37/ba37feat.html )

Also reviewed on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mons-Graupius-AD-83-Campaign/dp/1846039266/

Aren't Amazon reviews wonderful? In amongst sensible opinion and objective critique, there are often some crackpot comments that raise a laugh.

A couple of reviewers comment on my "unquestioning acceptance" of Bennachie as the site of the battle. The Osprey Campaign format requires the author to decide upon a location, in order to draw up the Bird's-Eye View panoramas; the identification of a likely battlefield also allows the site to be depicted in the three colour paintings.

There is no real problem here, as "scholarly opinion has in recent decades favoured a location for the battle in Aberdeenshire (Mount Bennachie near Inverurie has been a firm favourite)" -- I quote the words of Professor Lawrence Keppie, a veteran scholar of Roman Scotland (in the peer-reviewed journal War In History, vol 14, 2007).

Nevertheless, I laid my cards fairly openly on the table (p. 91) when I emphasized that there have been other candidates, and even explained the criteria upon which Bennachie has been assessed as the most likely location.

It seems that you simply cannot please all of the people even some of the time.

One reviewer complained that "He also doesn't even reference James Fraser's extensive recent book about Mons Graupius in the bibliography, perhaps because it presents a contrary view about the location", but this is not the reason. The real reason can be found in Classical Quarterly Vol. 65.1 (2015), pp. 407-410, where I have comprehensively dismantled Fraser's case.

Also reviewed here: https://www.amazon.ca/Mons-Graupius-AD-83-battle/product-reviews/1846039266/
and (in German) here: http://www.amazon.de/product-reviews/1846039266/
and (in French) here: http://www.amazon.fr/product-reviews/1846039266/

This is an interim report produced as part of the AHRC-funded, joint British Museum/University of Leicester 'Hoarding in Iron Age and Roman Britain' project. The idea was to use published, unpublished and HER data to conduct several specific county-based case studies. These were intended to 'get a feel' for the extent and quality of data available, with some (very) preliminary analysis of emerging patterns. They will be superseded in due course by more detailed, GIS-based analyses integrated with more detailed investigation of the hoard contents themselves.

In the summer of 2006, during the digging of geotechnical test pits on the site of a former sports field, workmen heard a sound ‘like breaking glass’ as hundreds of copper-alloy coins fell out of the JCB bucket. This dramatic discovery of a hoard of almost 3600 Roman coins was the precursor to an archaeological investigation, mostly undertaken in 2008, of the western edge of the scheduled ancient monument of Snodland Roman villa. Although the villa had been investigated on several occasions, both by antiquarians and more recently, its origins and development were in general poorly understood, and it was hoped that the new excavations might offer a framework for the beginnings of its reconsideration. However, it must be borne in mind that this site differs from the previous excavations, being located not in the main villa residences but some 80m to the west at the interface between the outer buildings and the agricultural land. The findings, mostly of pits and ditches, rather than of mosaics and hypocausts, reflect this peripheral location, although a somewhat enigmatic concentric building with masonry foundations was also identified.
The evidence for pre-Roman activity on the site was limited to a few pits and a late prehistoric trackway with some ditched elements of an adjacent field. Roman occupation at the site began in the middle of the 1st century AD with a field boundary, probably laid out as part of the founding of the villa to the east. Also recovered was the earliest evidence of buildings from Snodland – a significant assemblage of residual Neronian ceramic building material from a bath house.
Towards the end of the 1st century AD, the site was extensively occupied for the first time. A building with masonry foundations (B1) was constructed in the extreme east, most of which is beyond the eastern limits of the site, and a rigorous linear system of fields laid out to the south and west. Building 1 had an apparent concentric layout with a central room surrounded by a corridor, and represented a distinctive, if poorly understood, building type found mainly in Kent.
The modified building (B1) survived until the 3rd century AD, when it was at least partially demolished and replaced by a larger structure (B2). Two possible timber buildings (B3 and B4) were also constructed to the north and south, and the surrounding field system reorganised.
Building 2 was an enlargement of Building 1 and, in terms of form, appeared to be its direct successor, maintaining the same concentric plan, but with the corridor element subdivided into small rooms. Its function was uncertain; one of the rooms may have been a kitchen and there was some evidence for the storage of crops.
The early to mid 4th century AD saw a significant decline and change in the nature of the activity on the site. Building 2 and the possible outbuildings (B3 and B4) were demolished and the fields fell out of use. The site was largely abandoned and the most significant new land use was a small enclosed inhumation cemetery (C1). Two coin hoards, one found during the preliminary geotechnical works on the site, were located towards the southern boundary of the excavation area. From the post-Roman period until recently, the site appeared to have remained as open ground with no significant occupation identified.

Excavation revealed a pit containing Beaker pottery and a few other features with Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery. The lack of Late Iron Age material suggests that this low level activity had ceased by the time of the establishment of a small early Roman farmstead which contained at least two roundhouses. By the mid 3rd century these houses had been abandoned and replaced by a new set of enclosures probably associated with the construction of a villa evidenced by architectural fragments in later features. Four inhumation burials were found. Five pottery sherds attest post-Roman, possibly preAnglo-Saxon, activity. Prehistoric activity and Roman rural settlement at Blacklands, Staverton: excavations in 2007 by Alistair Barber, Jörn Schuster and Neil Holbrook with contributions by Sarah Cobain, Peter Davenport, Kevin Hayward, Lorrain Higbee, Harriet Jacklin, E. R. McSloy, Kathryn Price, Fiona Roe and Jane Timby Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 106 (2013), pp. 1...

Processing and analysis of lidar data in Nottinghamshire has identified the survival of earthwork field systems beneath woodland in some of the oldest established parts of Sherwood Forest. The morphology and alignment of these field systems strongly suggests that these represent a survival of the late Iron Age and Roman brick-work plan field systems of North Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire with considerable potential to elucidate the history of abandonment of these fields and the establishment of Sherwood Forest.

This article discusses 48 Roman coin hoards and over 15,000 coins from site assemblages found in Hertfordshire. Although the analysis shows that in many ways Hertfordshire behaves like other parts of the country, there are some interesting aspects which ask questions of the broader history and archaeology of the county.

In 1867 Augustus Lane Fox (General Pitt-Rivers) reported discoveries of human skulls from the buried silts of the Walbrook, the stream that once ran south from Moorfields through the City of London to flow into the Thames at Dowgate, and concluded that ‘the heads were severed from the bodies before they were thrown into the positions in which they were found.’ Subsequent similar finds from the upper Walbrook have continued to inspire discussions of their date and significance, and such discussions have usually included references to the work of the medieval arch-confabulator and deviser of pseudo-history Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Anthropologists and cultural geographers have long accepted that animals play an important role in the creation of human cultures. However, such beliefs are yet to be embraced by archaeologists, who seldom give zooarchaeological data much consideration beyond the occasional economic or environmental reconstruction. In an attempt to highlight animal remains as a source of cultural information, this paper examines the evidence for the changing relationship between people and wild animals in Iron Age and Roman southern England. Special attention is given to 'exotic' species - in particular fallow deer, domestic fowl and the hare - whose management increased around AD 43. In Iron Age Britain the concept of wild game reserves was seemingly absent, but the post-Conquest appearance of new landscape features such as vivaria, leporaria and piscinae indicates a change in worldview from a situation where people seemingly negotiated with the 'wilderness' and 'wild things' to one where people felt they had the right or the responsibility to bring them to order. Using Fishbourne Roman Palace as a case study, we argue that wild and exotic animals represented far more than gastronomic treats or symbols of Roman identity, instead influencing the way in which people engaged with, traversed and experienced their surroundings.

Caracalla. A Military Biography is now available as a hardcover, Kindle and e-book an from the website of its publisher Pen & Sword Publishing and from most of the major booksellers.  It is not only the first published biography in English of this remarkable individual, but also the first that reassess the evidence from the point of view of military history.

This course presents a broad survey of historical forces at work over the past 6,000 years, examining the manners in which human societies have organized themselves along categories of race, ethnicity, class, and gender to meet the challenges of the increasing human population and its demands on natural resources: thus, it examines continuity and change in societies over time, in different places, and among various peoples.

This paper revisits some of the Roman-period discoveries made on Bullock Down, near Eastbourne, East Sussex. It aims to re-assess some of these discoveries and to update interpretations made in the past. As an example, this paper considers the unexpected signs of wealth  recovered from one of the two farmstead sites.

Roman roads are the backbone of British history. This book examines the questions that never seem to be asked about Roman roads. Whilst new routes are traced and theories propounded about how they were surveyed, the important issues like Why? and When? have been neglected. How does an animal track turn into a major military highway? Were there any roads in the prehistoric period? How the Romans built their roads is assessed using comparative information (such as the detailed 18th-century records of Highland military road construction). The way the system functioned is examined and most particularly the often-ignored point of how it developed and changed in the Roman period. Change is a theme pursued for the early medieval period, as the importance of some parts of the system ensured their continuation whilst others were abandoned. What processes preserved a road, and what made it decay? Finally the book looks at the legacy of Roman roads now and the way in which they have been viewed and studied in recent times is considered.
An accompanying website provides links to related material (online sources of information and map resources) together with access to a Google Earth map derived from Margary’s description of the roads of Britain.

Resistance to an intelligent interpretation of Ptolemy's geography of Scotland has created a milieu in which an approach to the prehistory/development of Pictland is impossible. With this problem addressed, sense can be made of evidence on the ground; the dynamics of political power and the results of unrecorded wars which led to the boundaries the confederated Pictish kingdom can be seen-not perfectly, but with a different order of magnitude of resolution. The hypothesis offered here builds upon and provides a possible context for data recently released about the archaeological explorations at Tap O' Noth. This version 2 corrects misallocations in the table for map 1

This paper has three aims. It will create the first synthesis of current knowledge surrounding Roman theatres in Britain, taking into account recently discovered sites and suggesting the re-classification of two others currently designated as amphitheatres. Secondly, this study will investigate whether these theatres display a similar relationship with religious sites to that demonstrated in continental Europe. It will also ascertain the overall motivation behind the construction of each theatre, the collective findings then being applied to the ongoing ‘imperialism vs acculturation’ debate concerning the nature of the Roman occupation in Britain, the specifics of which will be summarised at the outset.

The methodology will involve individual analysis of the archaeological data from each theatre site, looking at location, architecture and dating, proceeding in sections divided according to settlement type. Small finds will only be utilised very sparingly for the purposes of dating, as there are significant discrepancies between the datasets at each site. The information overall is frequently patchy, so in order to gain the fullest picture of the British theatres, appropriate reconstructive parallels from theatres in Gaul and mathematical formulae derived from studies on Gallic theatres will be applied.

The following points will be established during the course of this investigation. The list of Roman buildings in Britain that might accurately be described as theatres now stands at ten. These are located entirely in the south and display a notable variation of layouts. A clear majority of these display evident connections to religious sites, in some cases where explicit cult attributions can be made. The motivation for theatre construction will be shown to begin with a Roman ‘imperialist’ prototype, moving into a more ‘acculturative’ rationale as the British elites adopted the building form to develop their traditional power structures.

Keywords: Roman, Theatre, Religion, Imperialism, Acculturation

En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar las recientes investigaciones arqueológicas relativas al transporte marítimo de grano en época romana, tratando de indicar a su vez las limitaciones de estas fuentes de información. Los resultados de los análisis arqueobotánicos realizados en los últimos años nos informan principalmente de la importación de grano, así como de los insectos asociados que, bien por encontrarse en los propios pecios o en los lugares de recepción de los alimentos, nos permiten deducir su transporte por vía marítima. También el avance de los trabajos enmarcados en la denominada Arqueología Náutica nos brinda la oportunidad de conocer las embarcaciones y las operaciones de trasbordo de los grandes navíos cargueros que surcaban los mares, a partir del estudio de los pecios y las estructuras portuarias descubiertas. Por otro lado, los problemas de conservación y documentación de los alimentos que viajaban a bordo de los barcos nos obligan a recurrir a fuentes indirectas que nos hablan del transporte marítimo de diferentes tipos de grano. En este sentido, trataremos de analizar la información procedente de los lugares de recepción que, dotados de enormes horrea, estratégicamente situados en zonas costeras, nos advierten de la existencia de un transporte de grano importado por vía marítima, especialmente durante las operaciones militares de conquista, hipótesis que se ha podido corroborar gracias a los recientes análisis arqueobotánicos.

This is a synthetic chapter which introduced all of the small finds reports written for the various excavations at Catterick between 1958 and 1997. It attempts to bring them together to cast light on the lives of the people who lived there during the Roman period when at various times it was occupied as a fort, a vicus and a small town. It is the article which sets out why one individual found buried at the Bainesse site might have been a gallus, a transvestite priest of the goddess Cybele.

When the book was published this last section attracted a considerable amount of attention in the media and a certain amount of somewhat hostile comment from the scholarly community.  If you are interested in my reaction to that see Cool, H. 2002 ‘The Catterick Gallus’ Lucerna no. 24, 18-21.

Cool, H.E.M. 2002. ‘An overview of the small finds from Catterick’, in Wilson, P.R. 2002. Cataractonium Roman Catterick and its Hinterland.  Excavations and Research, 1958-1997. Part II. (CBARR 129, York), 24-43.

The formation of Roman Cirencester (Corinium Dobunnorum) has been viewed in the past from a decisively Roman-centric viewpoint. Its creation was simply explained as the successor of a civilian vicus settlement associated with a Roman fort. This dissertation argues that a fort and any associated vicus were short-lived, perhaps even forgotten by the time the public building works took place. Instead, a heavy importance is placed on the role of the pre-existing political structure centred on the Bagendon oppidum and its hinterland. It is maintained that in the Late Iron Age the presence of a hierarchical social structure is archaeologically visible in southern England. This resulted in the presence of a local elite who operated at Bagendon, with power based on links to the core centres of Continental trade in the south-east of England and indirectly to Rome. It is then claimed that immediately after 43 AD this elite entered into treaties with the Romans and subsequently became the administrators of Corinium. The Romans are stated to have arrived in the area within the very early years of conquest and not experienced any archaeologically visible resistance. On the contrary, evidence of continued occupation at Bagendon; the existence of Roman quarrying near existing settlement; some of which can be affiliated with the oppidum; and the very rare occurrence of Roman or Gallo-Roman roadside burials outside of these local settlements, implies a possibly unparalleled positive response to the early Roman occupation. It is then contended that the formation of Corinium was a voluntary process, which the local elite would have paid for on credit. Ultimately, Cirencester’s location on a floodplain, and off the original courses of the main Roman roads is explained as a compromise between two parties; to site the town to both local, and Roman requirements.

An archaeological evaluation in 2016 by Oxford Archaeology picked up a section of the entrenchment ditch known as EWJ at Graylingwell, north of Chichester. Organic remains from a lower fill in the feature produced an early/mid-Roman radiocarbon date. Excavations in 1998 by Southern Archaeology on an adjacent site revealed part of the same entrenchment. Pottery from a middle fill of the ditch indicates that it was backfilling in the same period. This article combines the results of both excavations and discusses their wider implications.

SUMMARY Investigations to the south of Ock Street and to the west of West St Helen's Street carried out by Oxford Archaeology in 2002–3 have revealed new evidence for the development of Abingdon from the Iron Age to the post-medieval period. The outer late Iron Age/early Roman settlement boundary ditch identified in previous investigations was traced through the site, and new evidence for a recut of this ditch was found. The remains of the medieval building that later became The Lamb Inn on the southern side of Ock Street were revealed and appear to have been occupied at some point by a leather worker and possibly a tanner. Tenements uncovered fronting West St Helen's Street were also found to have been the site of small-scale industrial activity. Parts of a medieval building in the centre of the development area, discovered during an evaluation in 1996–7, were further exposed, including the discovery of a garderobe, strengthening evidence that it was the vicarage of St Helen's rather than the Chapel of St Edmund as was once suggested. Clay-pipe manufacture appears to have occurred at the site of the Lamb Inn from the early seventeenth century, with the end of this industry coinciding with the end of the Ely occupancy of the Inn in the early eighteenth century. The excavations revealed evidence for the destruction of buildings during the English Civil War in the seventeenth century, and a small cemetery in the south of the development area may also belong to this period.

"Estas páginas contienen una reflexión sobre un tema importante en el mundo antiguo: el aprovisionamiento de cereal al ejército romano. El hecho de que la base de la alimentación fuera el grano y su ausencia la causa más frecuente del descontento y de las sublevaciones en el seno del ejército motivó el desarrollo de férreos mecanismos de control y administración de los alimentos enviados a las tropas. Este trabajo ofrece información novedosa sobre este asunto y proporciona las claves para conocer mejor la dieta del soldado y las infraestructuras y construcciones asociadas al abastecimiento militar, desde la fase republicana al periodo bajoimperial.

Para el análisis del aprovisionamiento de cereal al ejército, el principal testimonio arqueológico que se conserva son los almacenes y graneros (horrea). El estudio detallado de estos edificios pretende servir de manual de referencia para el profesional que debe interpretar correctamente las estructuras descubiertas, ofreciendo información detallada sobre técnicas constructivas, dimensiones y otros datos de interés. En último término, permite reconstruir la apariencia de estas edificaciones y conocer la evolución de los sistemas empleados en su construcción, que se fueron adaptando a las necesidades del ejército en cada uno de los periodos durante los que se mantuvo vigente la hegemonía de Roma.

Esta obra muestra al público general y al profesional de la arqueología un aspecto esencial en la expansión y consolidación del Imperio Romano, pues el aprovisionamiento de cereal fue una de las claves económicas que permitió a los generales romanos mantener alta la moral de sus ejércitos con alimentos a los que estaban acostumbrados y se convirtió en el motor que impulsó el ánimo y el fervor de las tropas, consiguiendo así su eficacia en la batalla y su lealtad en tiempos de paz"

Book review:
http://www.pyrenae.com/home/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=category&id=20:ressenyes-43-2-2012&lang=es

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9191541&fulltextType=BR&fileId=S0068113X14000075


http://revistas.usal.es/index.php/0514-7336/article/view/9973"

http://www.sehepunkte.de/2013/02/21727.html"""

For a long time, it has been assumed that Rome’s auxiliary units could not have possessed artillery. For one thing, heavy weapons have no place in the tactics of light-armed skirmishers. There is ample evidence to show that the legions were routinely equipped with artillery, but did their auxiliary counterparts ever handle catapults?

Este estudio pone el foco de atención en las mujeres que aparecen en la epigrafía militar de Britannia. A través del análisis de estas inscripciones tratamos de acercarnos a cuestiones tales como la origo, el estatuto jurídico o el papel de la mujer en la esfera de relaciones de los militares romanos. No se debe pasar por alto la visibilización de la mujer en la Historia, agente histórico y sujeto de estudio junto con el varón.

In AD 69 the sprawling and loosely organized client kingdom of Brigantia in northern Britain was shaken by a native revolt which expelled the queen and required Roman intervention to save her life. The Brigantian Revolt precipitated significant changes in Roman policy toward northern Britain: systematic conquest and direct administration of the area replaced indirect control through a client ruler. Subjugation itself required a massive military effort and took over a decade; it was not completed until around AD 80, during the governorship  of Agricola. Although Tacitus' analysis of the Brigantian Revolt and the motivations behind it are of limited use in understanding the reasons for the uprising, he does provide invaluable information about the course of the revolt. The sequence of events described fits well with archaeological evidence from northern Britain and patterns identified in other native revolts against Roman rule. Archaeology not only roughly confirms the chronology and location of military activity described by Tacitus, but hints at the political arrangements in Brigantia that served as the backdrop for the revolt. Furthermore, the course of the revolt follows closely the pattern identified by Steven Dyson in his studies of other native revolts against the Roman Empire: coming some time after its initial incorporation into the empire, a native elite leads a rebellion at a time when Roman prestige is low and the permanence of Roman rule is becoming clear to the native community.
Tacitus proves to be a useful element in reconstructing and interpreting the Brigantian Revolt.
His works, however, must be understood within the social and political context of their
composition, in conjunction with independent evidence provided by archaeology, and in
comparison with other, better documented, native revolts.