The Archaeology of Roman Britain: Biography and Identity

244 Pages·2015·3.135 MB·English

by  Adam Rogers

The Archaeology of Roman Britain
Within the colonial history of the British Empire there are diffi culties in
reconstructing the lives of people that came from very different traditions of
experience. The Archaeology of Roman Britain argues that a similar criti-
cal approach to the lives of people in Roman Britain needs to be developed,
not only for the study of the local population but also for those coming into
Britain from elsewhere in the Empire who developed distinctive colonial
lives. This critical, biographical approach can be extended and applied to
places, structures and things which developed in these provincial contexts
as they were used and experienced over time. This book uniquely combines
the study of all of these elements to access the character of Roman Britain
and the lives, experiences and identities of people living there through four
centuries of occupation.
Drawing on the concept of the biography and using it as an analytical tool,
author Adam Rogers situates the archaeological material of Roman Britain
within the political, geographical and temporal context of the Roman Empire.
This study will be of interest to scholars of Roman archaeology, as well as to
those working in biographical themes, issues of colonialism, identity, ancient
history and classics.
Adam Rogers is a Research Associate in the School of Archaeology and
Ancient History at the University of Leicester, UK. He is author of Late
Roman Towns in Britain (2011) and Water and Roman Urbanism (2013).
Routledge Studies in Archaeology
1 An Archaeology of Materials 7 Materiality and Consumption in
Substantial Transformations in the Bronze Age Mediterranean
Early Prehistoric Europe Louise Steel
Chantal Conneller
8 Archaeology in Environment
2 Roman Urban Street Networks and Technology
Streets and the Organization of Intersections and Transformations
Space in Four Cities Edited by David Frankel , Jennifer
Alan Kaiser M . Webb and Susan Lawrence
3 Tracing Prehistoric Social
9 An Archaeology of Land
Networks through Technology
Ownership
A Diachronic Perspective on
Edited by Maria Relaki and
the Aegean
Despina Catapoti
Edited by Ann Brysbaert
10 From Prehistoric Villages
4 Hadrian’s Wall and the End
to Cities
of Empire
Settlement Aggregation and
The Roman Frontier in the 4th
Community Transformation
and 5th Centuries
Edited by Jennifer Birch
Rob Collins
5 U.S. Cultural Diplomacy and 11 Space and Time in
Archaeology Mediterranean Prehistory
Soft Power, Hard Heritage Edited by Stella Souvatzi
Christina Luke and Morag and Athena Hadji
M. Kersel
12 Open-Air Rock-Art
6 The Prehistory of Iberia Conservation and Management
Debating Early Social State of the Art and Future
Stratifi cation and the State Perspectives
Edited by Maria Cruz Berrocal , Edited by Timothy Darvill
Leonardo García Sanjuán , and António Pedro Batarda
and Antonio Gilman Fernandes
13 Knowledge Networks and Craft 15 The Archaeology of Roman
Traditions in the Ancient World Britain
Material Crossovers Biography and Identity
Edited by Katharina Rebay- Adam Rogers
Salisbury , Ann Brysbaert and
Lin Foxhall
14 Sharing Archaeology
Academe, Practice, and the Public
Edited by Peter G Stone and
Zhao Hui
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The Archaeology of
Roman Britain
Biography and Identity
Adam Rogers
First published 2015
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2015 Taylor & Francis
The right of Adam Rogers to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: P roduct or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rogers, Adam, 1981–
The archaeology of Roman Britain : biography and identity /
Adam Rogers.
pages cm — (Routledge studies in archaeology ; 15)
1. Great Britain—History—Roman period, 55 B.C.–449 A.D. 2. Great
Britain—Antiquities, Roman. 3. Romans—Great Britain. I. Title.
DA145.R7326 2014
936.2—dc23
2014022737
ISBN: 978-1-138-79674-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75766-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction: Roman Britain, Biographies and Identities 1
2 Biographies of Knowledge 20
3 People in Roman Britain 56
4 Buildings, Settlements, Landscapes and Critical Identities 100
5 The Lives of Objects and Materials 159
6 Conclusion: Critical Biographies and Roman Britain 188
References 199
Index 225
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Figures
2.1 Photographing archaeological remains: creating the static
and isolating image. 32
2.2 Map of the supposed invasion route of the Roman forces
into Britain in A D 43. 41
2.3 Plan of the possible pre-Claudian features excavated at
Fishbourne. 43
2.4 Map of the locations of the main towns of Roman Britain. 52
3.1 Map of the conventional interpretation of tribal boundaries
of late Iron Age Britain. 65
3.2 Photograph of the tombstone of Regina, Arbeia Museum. 77
3.3 Photograph of the remains of the fort at Vindolanda with
reconstructions of a timber-phase and stone-phase gateway. 83
3.4 Plans of the 1–7 Thomas Street site in Southwark, London:
(a) northwestern part; (b) southeastern part. 85
3.5 Photograph of the Neolithic henge monument of Maumbury
Rings in Dorset outside the Roman town at Dorchester
( Durnovaria ) which became the site of the amphitheatre. 89
3.6 Plan of the Moor House site in London. 95
3.7 Plan of the excavated areas of the Hambleden villa,
Buckinghamshire. 97
4.1 Plan of one of the longhouses analysed in Fokke Gerritsen’s
volume Local Identities . 102
4.2 Plan of the villa at Lullingstone, Kent. 105
4.3 Plan of the villa at Holme House/Piercebridge,
County Durham. 112
4.4 Plans of the excavated areas of the Pegswood Moor
settlement, Northumberland: (a) later Iron Age; (b) first to
second century A D. 116
4.5 Plan of Middle Gunnar Peak, Northumberland, excavated
by George Jobey (1981). 118