Pub Date : 2022-09-28DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X2200037X
K. Hayward, Christiane Meckseper
ABSTRACT The retention of 2.6 metric tonnes of building material from three rural masonry buildings from Bottisham, south-east Cambridgeshire, provided a rare opportunity for a thorough investigation into their fabric, form, construction style and function. A double-apsidal building may have been a bath-house and another building had evidence for an extensive box-flue tile heating system. Both buildings showed signs of either being unfinished or the heating element having never been used. A third building was a later construction that used rare red-slipped tegulae and imbrices. This article goes beyond suggesting the existence of a villa or villa-type complex at Bottisham to offer a detailed case study of the use of ceramic building materials
{"title":"Crystal Park, Bottisham: The Construction Materials of a Roman Villa Complex – A Cambridgeshire Case Study","authors":"K. Hayward, Christiane Meckseper","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X2200037X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X2200037X","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The retention of 2.6 metric tonnes of building material from three rural masonry buildings from Bottisham, south-east Cambridgeshire, provided a rare opportunity for a thorough investigation into their fabric, form, construction style and function. A double-apsidal building may have been a bath-house and another building had evidence for an extensive box-flue tile heating system. Both buildings showed signs of either being unfinished or the heating element having never been used. A third building was a later construction that used rare red-slipped tegulae and imbrices. This article goes beyond suggesting the existence of a villa or villa-type complex at Bottisham to offer a detailed case study of the use of ceramic building materials","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47645870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-27DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X2200023X
P. Bidwell
Abstract The structural relationships of the forts, Wall curtain and Vallum are reviewed and a revised sequence of construction for Hadrian's Wall is proposed. The original plan (Stage 1) incorporated much of the earlier Trajanic frontier (the Stanegate) and probably included the Devil's Causeway which ran north-eastwards from Corbridge. Forts were then added to the line of the Wall as a result of three modifications of the plan (Stages 2–4), continuing until late in Hadrian's reign. The Vallum was added in Stage 3. Hadrian probably conceived the original plan for the Wall, but the modifications that followed seem to have been consequences of shifting focuses of loyalty, resistance and outright warfare, beyond and behind the frontier.
{"title":"Hadrian's Frontiers in Northern Britain","authors":"P. Bidwell","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X2200023X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X2200023X","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The structural relationships of the forts, Wall curtain and Vallum are reviewed and a revised sequence of construction for Hadrian's Wall is proposed. The original plan (Stage 1) incorporated much of the earlier Trajanic frontier (the Stanegate) and probably included the Devil's Causeway which ran north-eastwards from Corbridge. Forts were then added to the line of the Wall as a result of three modifications of the plan (Stages 2–4), continuing until late in Hadrian's reign. The Vallum was added in Stage 3. Hadrian probably conceived the original plan for the Wall, but the modifications that followed seem to have been consequences of shifting focuses of loyalty, resistance and outright warfare, beyond and behind the frontier.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48082101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-27DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X22000216
Michel Reddé, A. Mees
ABSTRACT This paper assesses the effects which the building of Hadrian's Wall had on the patterns of supply and communication from the continent. Existing systems were strengthened rather than altered, and Hadrian's reign saw the full development of ports and military installations on the North Sea and Channel coasts. Navigation to Britain and sailing conditions on various routes are discussed, comparing their importance in the transport of wine, oil, exotic plants and samian ware and the movement of military personnel. Use of the Rhône–Rhine axis is emphasised for the movement of goods from Central Gaul and the Mediterranean, but other rivers in western and north-western Gaul were of some importance, as the details of samian distribution demonstrate. Finally, non-state organisation of the acquisition and distribution of commodities supplied to the army on Hadrian's Wall is strongly favoured.
{"title":"Hadrian's Wall and its Continental Hinterland","authors":"Michel Reddé, A. Mees","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X22000216","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X22000216","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper assesses the effects which the building of Hadrian's Wall had on the patterns of supply and communication from the continent. Existing systems were strengthened rather than altered, and Hadrian's reign saw the full development of ports and military installations on the North Sea and Channel coasts. Navigation to Britain and sailing conditions on various routes are discussed, comparing their importance in the transport of wine, oil, exotic plants and samian ware and the movement of military personnel. Use of the Rhône–Rhine axis is emphasised for the movement of goods from Central Gaul and the Mediterranean, but other rivers in western and north-western Gaul were of some importance, as the details of samian distribution demonstrate. Finally, non-state organisation of the acquisition and distribution of commodities supplied to the army on Hadrian's Wall is strongly favoured.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44172518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-27DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X22000198
E. Wolfram Thill
Abstract Discovered in the Forum Romanum, the Anaglypha Panels have traditionally been viewed as a monument concerned exclusively with the capital city. A new interpretation presented here argues that instead the panels represent a direct Senatorial response to Hadrianic provincial policy. This response drew on a recent more traditional monument, the Column of Trajan. By employing specific visual references from that military monument, the Anaglypha Panels plastered over the ideological gap left by Hadrian's reliance on peaceful consolidation. Rather than an obsequious paean to the emperor, the Anaglypha Panels can be seen as a Senatorial reminder of their expectations of their emperor, and even a rebuke to the emperor who turned his eyes from Rome.
{"title":"Dispatches from the Home Front: The Anaglypha Panels in Rome","authors":"E. Wolfram Thill","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X22000198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X22000198","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Discovered in the Forum Romanum, the Anaglypha Panels have traditionally been viewed as a monument concerned exclusively with the capital city. A new interpretation presented here argues that instead the panels represent a direct Senatorial response to Hadrianic provincial policy. This response drew on a recent more traditional monument, the Column of Trajan. By employing specific visual references from that military monument, the Anaglypha Panels plastered over the ideological gap left by Hadrian's reliance on peaceful consolidation. Rather than an obsequious paean to the emperor, the Anaglypha Panels can be seen as a Senatorial reminder of their expectations of their emperor, and even a rebuke to the emperor who turned his eyes from Rome.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41336120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-26DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X22000228
M. Fulford
Abstract The lack of written sources and the difficulties of establishing close chronologies from archaeological material mean that it is difficult to identify initiatives other than the commissioning of Hadrian's Wall that can confidently be attributed either to the emperor's visit to Britain in 122 or to his reign more generally. However, the early second century presents several archaeological proxies which point to a quickening of economic activity integrating the frontiers of Wales and the north of Britain with the civil zone of the south. Developments in the countryside hint at the growth of larger estates, including the emergence of larger, ‘complex’ farms, villages and better communications, together assuring the province's sustained ability to feed both military and civilian populations. At the same time there is evidence for public building across the towns of the south, especially of forum basilicas, which may be linked to administrative reforms including the establishment of new civitates.
{"title":"Hadrian and Britain: The Civil Zone","authors":"M. Fulford","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X22000228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X22000228","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The lack of written sources and the difficulties of establishing close chronologies from archaeological material mean that it is difficult to identify initiatives other than the commissioning of Hadrian's Wall that can confidently be attributed either to the emperor's visit to Britain in 122 or to his reign more generally. However, the early second century presents several archaeological proxies which point to a quickening of economic activity integrating the frontiers of Wales and the north of Britain with the civil zone of the south. Developments in the countryside hint at the growth of larger estates, including the emergence of larger, ‘complex’ farms, villages and better communications, together assuring the province's sustained ability to feed both military and civilian populations. At the same time there is evidence for public building across the towns of the south, especially of forum basilicas, which may be linked to administrative reforms including the establishment of new civitates.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45108323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-26DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X22000241
J. Bruhn, N. Hodgson
ABSTRACT Recent research projects, publications, and above all the results of developer-funded archaeology provide materials for a re-assessment of the impact of Hadrian's Wall on the indigenous peoples whose lands it transected. Previous analysis has been concerned with the greater or lesser degree of ‘Romanisation’ of an Iron Age society perceived as little changed under Roman rule, with the Wall seen as a bureaucratic border running through an homogeneous frontier zone, as described by C.R. Whittaker. Although the local settlement pattern survived the original Flavian conquest of the region intact, it is now apparent that the building of the Wall under Hadrian had profound and far from benign consequences for local people. To the north of the barrier the traditional settlement pattern was largely abandoned and new social authorities emerged, while to the south there is evidence for new economic structures imposed from outside and the settlement of immigrants. The paper considers the extent to which these developments were the outcome of conscious policies by the Roman authorities.
{"title":"The Social and Economic Impact of Hadrian's Wall on the Frontier Zone in Britain","authors":"J. Bruhn, N. Hodgson","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X22000241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X22000241","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Recent research projects, publications, and above all the results of developer-funded archaeology provide materials for a re-assessment of the impact of Hadrian's Wall on the indigenous peoples whose lands it transected. Previous analysis has been concerned with the greater or lesser degree of ‘Romanisation’ of an Iron Age society perceived as little changed under Roman rule, with the Wall seen as a bureaucratic border running through an homogeneous frontier zone, as described by C.R. Whittaker. Although the local settlement pattern survived the original Flavian conquest of the region intact, it is now apparent that the building of the Wall under Hadrian had profound and far from benign consequences for local people. To the north of the barrier the traditional settlement pattern was largely abandoned and new social authorities emerged, while to the south there is evidence for new economic structures imposed from outside and the settlement of immigrants. The paper considers the extent to which these developments were the outcome of conscious policies by the Roman authorities.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44672853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-23DOI: 10.1017/s0068113x22000034
B. Cunliffe
{"title":"The Sanctuary of Bath in the Roman Empire. By E.H. Cousins. Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. x + 228, illus. Price £85.00. ISBN 9781108493192 (bound); 9781108637398 (ebook).","authors":"B. Cunliffe","doi":"10.1017/s0068113x22000034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0068113x22000034","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44802382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-18DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X22000319
John Reid, Regine Müller, S. Klein
Abstract Roman lead sling bullets (glandes) have been found at Windridge Farm near St Albans in Hertfordshire since the 1970s. A previous study suggested these missiles could have originated from a plough-disturbed hoard of Roman lead objects. More recent discoveries of glandes from other sites throughout Europe have enhanced our understanding of depositional characteristics, morphology and lead sources for Roman sling bullets and this paper offers an alternative explanation for their loss. Their atypical form (for Britain), and the prospect of a continental origin of the lead ore for their manufacture, suggest an early date of deposition. We also argue that the number of bullets and the pattern of their dispersal are indicative of an episode of conflict. After review of attested early military engagements that could have taken place in the vicinity, we propose that the projectiles may relate to one of two events: Claudius's invasion under the auspices of Aulus Plautius in a.d. 43 or Caesar's second incursion of 54 b.c.
{"title":"The Windridge Farm Glandes Revisited: Clues to Conquest?","authors":"John Reid, Regine Müller, S. Klein","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X22000319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X22000319","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Roman lead sling bullets (glandes) have been found at Windridge Farm near St Albans in Hertfordshire since the 1970s. A previous study suggested these missiles could have originated from a plough-disturbed hoard of Roman lead objects. More recent discoveries of glandes from other sites throughout Europe have enhanced our understanding of depositional characteristics, morphology and lead sources for Roman sling bullets and this paper offers an alternative explanation for their loss. Their atypical form (for Britain), and the prospect of a continental origin of the lead ore for their manufacture, suggest an early date of deposition. We also argue that the number of bullets and the pattern of their dispersal are indicative of an episode of conflict. After review of attested early military engagements that could have taken place in the vicinity, we propose that the projectiles may relate to one of two events: Claudius's invasion under the auspices of Aulus Plautius in a.d. 43 or Caesar's second incursion of 54 b.c.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48605980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-18DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X22000320
Richard Hobbs, L. Perucchetti
Abstract Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have been found in British treasures including Mildenhall and Traprain Law. This paper discusses how these beaded rims provide insights into the production of silver plate, adding to what little is known of silver plate workshops. Vessels in the Mildenhall treasure provide a case study, after which measurements from beaded rims on other treasures from Roman Britain and the western Roman Empire are compared and discussed.
{"title":"Beaded Rims on Silver Plate Vessels in Late Roman Britain and Beyond","authors":"Richard Hobbs, L. Perucchetti","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X22000320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X22000320","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have been found in British treasures including Mildenhall and Traprain Law. This paper discusses how these beaded rims provide insights into the production of silver plate, adding to what little is known of silver plate workshops. Vessels in the Mildenhall treasure provide a case study, after which measurements from beaded rims on other treasures from Roman Britain and the western Roman Empire are compared and discussed.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43710844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-18DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X22000277
J. Allen
Abstract A substantial database of published excavation and other reports has been used to map the character and distribution in Roman Britain of whetstones, those unprepossessing implements essential in the home, farmstead, workshop and barracks for the maintenance of edge-tools and weapons. The quality of the geological identifications in the reports varies considerably, but a wide range of lithologies are reported as put to use: granite, basalts-dolerites, lava, tuff, mica-schist, slates/phyllites, Brownstones, Pennant sandstone, micaceous sandstones, grey sandstones/siltstones, Millstone Grit, Coal Measures, red sandstones, ferruginous sandstones, sarsen, Weald Clay Formation sandstones, sandy limestones, shelly limestones, cementstones, and (Lower) Carboniferous Limestone. On distributional evidence, some of these categories are aliases for alternatively and more familiarly named lithologies. Bringing ‘high-end’ products to the market, the long-running industry based on sandstones from the Weald Clay Formation (Lower Cretaceous) emerges as a British economic feature, evidenced from the Channel coast to the Scottish Borders, and with a recently demonstrated, substantial representation on the Roman near-continent. The distribution maps point to another and more complete British industry, based on the Brownstones (Old Red Sandstone, Devonian) and Pennant sandstone (Upper Carboniferous), outcropping close together in the West Country. A more systematic and geology-based treatment of excavated whetstones in the future is likely to yield yet more insights into the role these artefacts played in the economy of Roman Britain.
{"title":"Whetstones in Roman Britain: Character, Distribution, Provenance and Industries","authors":"J. Allen","doi":"10.1017/S0068113X22000277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X22000277","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract A substantial database of published excavation and other reports has been used to map the character and distribution in Roman Britain of whetstones, those unprepossessing implements essential in the home, farmstead, workshop and barracks for the maintenance of edge-tools and weapons. The quality of the geological identifications in the reports varies considerably, but a wide range of lithologies are reported as put to use: granite, basalts-dolerites, lava, tuff, mica-schist, slates/phyllites, Brownstones, Pennant sandstone, micaceous sandstones, grey sandstones/siltstones, Millstone Grit, Coal Measures, red sandstones, ferruginous sandstones, sarsen, Weald Clay Formation sandstones, sandy limestones, shelly limestones, cementstones, and (Lower) Carboniferous Limestone. On distributional evidence, some of these categories are aliases for alternatively and more familiarly named lithologies. Bringing ‘high-end’ products to the market, the long-running industry based on sandstones from the Weald Clay Formation (Lower Cretaceous) emerges as a British economic feature, evidenced from the Channel coast to the Scottish Borders, and with a recently demonstrated, substantial representation on the Roman near-continent. The distribution maps point to another and more complete British industry, based on the Brownstones (Old Red Sandstone, Devonian) and Pennant sandstone (Upper Carboniferous), outcropping close together in the West Country. A more systematic and geology-based treatment of excavated whetstones in the future is likely to yield yet more insights into the role these artefacts played in the economy of Roman Britain.","PeriodicalId":44906,"journal":{"name":"Britannia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43711891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}