Roman Britain Research Articles

A New Corpus of Roman Coins from England and Wales. An Overview of the Evidence and Analysis of the Data

Abstract This paper considers a new corpus of 490,154 Roman coins (site finds) which have been recorded from England and Wales. The corpus provides British and regional means to aid in the preparation of coin reports in line with Historic England guidelines, along with spatial data providing new opportunities for research. The methods of data collection will be detailed and some of the possibilities this dataset can provide presented through a number of case studies. Through the consideration of applied numismatic analyses, the social distribution of the material and, crucially, the spatial distribution of Roman coinage, we can identify new trends and patterns. Case studies evaluating the fourth century will emphasise the changing importance of settlements in Roman Britain and identify those linked with the late Roman state. Furthermore, the retraction of coinage distributions in the second half of the fourth century will be explored. Building on the national and site type means explored within the paper, the full dataset has been made available in a range of forms on the Archaeology Data Service and in an interactive map developed by Maploom.

Intestinal Parasitic Infection in Roman Britain: Integrating New Evidence from Roman London

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to estimate the minimum prevalence of intestinal parasites in the population of Roman London through analysis of pelvic sediment from 29 third- to fourth-century burials from the 1989 excavations of the western cemetery at 24–30 West Smithfield, 18–20 Cock Lane and 1–4 Giltspur Street (WES89). Microscopy was used to identify roundworm eggs in 10.3 per cent of burials. We integrate these results with past palaeoparasitological work in the province of Britannia to explore disease, hygiene and diet. The most commonly found parasites (whipworm and roundworm) were spread by poor sanitation, but other species caught from animals were also present (fish tapeworm, beef/pork tapeworm and liver flukes). Parasite diversity was highest in urban sites. The health impacts of these infections range from asymptomatic to severe.

Representations of Music and the Dance in Late Roman Art

Music and the dance are an important theme represented in various artistic media of the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods, including mosaic pavements and decorative arts such as silver metalwork, woven textiles, and carved ivories. A popular aspect of this theme is imagery of the Dionysiac thiasos, with members of the wine god’s entourage making merry by dancing and sounding crotala or cymbal tongs, as we see in a fragmentary mosaic from the House of the Dionysiac Thiasos at Augusta Traiana – Beroe. A similar effect occurs in either an expanded or a somewhat reduced format in pavements from Argos and Madaba. Besides mosaics, this subject also appears on Late Antique silver plate made for display, such as objects in the Mildenhall Treasure from Roman Britain and related works. Coptic textiles used to ornament private houses as colorful wall hangings feature lively dancers and musicians, and these figures may or may not have a mythological identity. Other non-mythological representations of music and the dance appeared in domestic and public settings. An outstanding example is the well-preserved Mosaic of Female Musicians that decorated a house in Mariamin, Syria, and that assembles an impressive group of instrumentalists and a dancer. One observes a pipe organ (hydraulis) along with a cithara, an aulos, and an acetabulum, consisting of a series of metal bowls struck with a baton. Elsewhere there are depicted a pantomime performance with an organ accompaniment, visible in a mosaic from Noheda, Spain, as well as music-making and dancing in the context of the circus. The latter subject appears on a consular diptych, and on the base of the Obelisk of Theodosius in Constantinople. We finally note that the pipe organ was later adopted for use in the church liturgy, reflected in an illustration in the Utrecht Psalter of 9th-century date. If the latter work of art is a copy of a Late Antique manuscript, as some scholars believe, then the pipe organ’s adoption for Christian ceremonial practice should be dated earlier than originally thought.

Experiencing the divine? Museum presentations of religion in Roman Britain

Religious practice in the Roman world involved diverse rituals and knowledge. Scholarly studies of ancient religion increasingly emphasise the experiential aspects of these practices, highlighting multisensory and embodied approaches to material culture and the dynamic construction of religious experiences and identities. In contrast, museum displays typically frame religious material culture around its iconographic or epigraphic significance. The author analyses 23 UK museum displays to assess how religion in Roman Britain is presented and discusses how museums might use research on ‘lived ancient religion’ to offer more varied and engaging narratives of religious practices that challenge visitors’ perceptions of the period.

The costs of transporting goods by different modes: A case study of pottery movement in late Roman Britain

There is a long-standing view that, in the Roman world, transport by sea and river was very much cheaper than by land. Previous analyses of transport costs have relied primarily on a few surviving historical records, notably the Edict on Maximum Prices issued by Diocletian in 301 CE. Here we outline an alternative method for deriving relative costs of transportation by different modes using materials recovered in archaeological excavations. We apply this to the distribution of Late Romano-British pottery (c. 250–400 CE) to calculate the cost ratios of transportation by road, river and sea to rural settlements and towns in lowland Britannia. The analysis suggests a best fit cost ratio of road to rivers and sea of 1:3:4 (i.e. transport by road was three times as costly as by river and four times that by sea), with 95% confidence interval of roads to rivers 1:1–5 and roads to sea of 1:1–9. These values are broadly consistent with transport cost ratios of 1:4:8 in England in the first half of the fourteenth century, when the country's transport network had reached a degree of integration comparable with late Roman Britain.

Birth defects in a rural province in Papua New Guinea

BackgroundGlobally, birth defects are the fourth most common cause of neonatal mortality. They cause substantial morbidity, and often long-term disability. Despite this, the impact of birth defects on public health...

Identification and measurement of intensive economic growth in a Roman imperial province.

A key question in economic history is the degree to which preindustrial economies could generate sustained increases in per capita productivity. Previous studies suggest that, in many preindustrial contexts, growth was primarily a consequence of agglomeration. Here, we examine evidence for three different socioeconomic rates that are available from the archaeological record for Roman Britain. We find that all three measures show increasing returns to scale with settlement population, with a common elasticity that is consistent with the expectation from settlement scaling theory. We also identify a pattern of increase in baseline rates, similar to that observed in contemporary societies, suggesting that this economy did generate modest levels of per capita productivity growth over a four-century period. Last, we suggest that the observed growth is attributable to changes in transportation costs and to institutions and technologies related to socioeconomic interchange. These findings reinforce the view that differences between ancient and contemporary economies are more a matter of degree than kind.

How does taking a praxis-based decolonising approach to primary history education impact pupils’ perceptions of Romans and Roman Britain?

ABSTRACT This study presents findings from an action research project that I completed in my own year 3 classroom. Using the frameworks of praxis (Freire, P. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin Books.) and sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, L. S. 1978. Mind in Society The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Edited by M. Cole et al. Translated by M. Cole. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.), I studied the relationship between praxis-based, decolonised history teaching and year 3 students’ perceptions of Romans and Roman Britain. Student-participants’ work and classroom observations were used as data collection methods. An inductive approach to thematic analysis produced 5 themes, namely: Knowledge of locations across the Roman Empire, People’s physical actions, Characteristics of people that lived in Roman Britain, Migration in the Roman Empire and Students’ disciplinary knowledge.

London's Roman Tools: Craft, Agriculture and Experience in an Ancient City. By Owen Humphreys. BAR British series 663/Archaeology of Roman Britain Volume 3, BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2021 Pp. 492, illus. Price: £102.00. isbn 9781407357386.

London's Roman Tools: Craft, Agriculture and Experience in an Ancient City. By Owen Humphreys. BAR British series 663/Archaeology of Roman Britain Volume 3, BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2021 Pp. 492, illus. Price: £102.00. <scp>isbn</scp> 9781407357386.

‘Critically disruptive’ museum interpretation as a methodology for challenging popular perceptions of Roman Britain

ABSTRACT Scholarly perceptions of Roman Britain and the wider Roman world have changed significantly in recent years, increasingly exploring more nuanced understandings of lived experiences and cultural interactions. Yet, despite the influence the ancient world continues to exert on modern identities and political discourse, it is debatable to what extent these academic shifts have influenced public perceptions. Museums have a central role to play in challenging outdated presumptions of Rome as a homogenised and civilising cultural force, and this article argues for the application of ‘critically disruptive’ interpretative methodologies to achieve this ambition. Case studies of creative prose, poetry and interactivity are explored for the opportunities they offer to reinvigorate museum narratives of Roman Britain.

Roman Rural Settlement in Wales and the Marches: Approaches to Settlement and Material Culture Through Big Data. By L. Reynolds. BAR British series B670: Archaeology of Roman Britain Vol. 6. BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2022. Pp. xix + 177, illus. Price £46 (pbk). isbn 9781407358963.

Roman Rural Settlement in Wales and the Marches: Approaches to Settlement and Material Culture Through Big Data. By L. Reynolds. BAR British series B670: Archaeology of Roman Britain Vol. 6. BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2022. Pp. xix + 177, illus. Price £46 (pbk). <scp>isbn</scp> 9781407358963.

The Disposition of Oil Palm Infrastructure

The Tzen oil palm plantation in the northwestern corner of Wide Bay in Pomio District, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea is a highly infrastructured space. Roads surround and order the oil palm plantings into a grid-like space and connect the main estate to the extensions of the plantation in the surrounding area. Not only is the plantation an area characterized by these ‘hard infrastructures’, but the plantation was established in 2008 as a part of a large combined logging and agriculture project aimed to bring income, employment and road infrastructure to the rural and remote Pomio District. In this essay, I examine these two infrastructural features of the Tzen oil palm plantation. I begin by examining the specific components of the wider infrastructural system of the plantation, such as the road network, the palm oil mill and the palm oil pipeline that connects to the mill. After this, I examine the logging and agriculture projects as a part of the plan which the plantation was established. I argure that while the provision of infrastructure is built into the plan of the logging and plantation project, so the extractive logic of this project is built into the infrastructural system being developed.

Decorative stone techniques of Italian masters

Italian mastery of decorative stones can be traced through a variety of techniques, from the period of the Roman Empire through to the nineteenth century at least. Roman mosaic work was found across the Roman Empire, and the remains of mosaics are widely admired. In Roman Britain, artisans adapted their classic stone palette through the use of local stones, delivering greys, green and browns. Post‐Roman artistry is seen through the reuse of broken stones known by Cosmati mosaicists; the Cosmati pavement in Westminster Abbey, London is one of the best known of its type. Hardstone work—Pietre Dure—employing many stones in intricate detail, was brought back from Italy by all those on the Grand Tour in eighteenth century Europe are to be found in many grand houses. Finally, the incredible ledger stones of the Knights of St John in Malta are yet another example of the high art and craft of the Italian masters of decorative stone.

In Search of the Romans: Sir Richard Colt Hoare in Wales

AbstractThe eighteenth century saw antiquaries taking an increased interest in evidence arising from the Roman occupation of Britain. Sir Richard Colt Hoare explored Wales. From 1793 to 1804, his tours follow in the footsteps of Giraldus de Barri. His journals describing the Welsh tours are known, except for the year 1804. These have recently been uncovered at Stourhead. The 1804 tour was taken ‘[…] with a view to […] exploring the Roman Roads and Stations through the Principality’. Colt Hoare's translation of the The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin Through Wales, a.d. MCLXXXVIII/by Giraldus de Barri; …, followed in 1806. Comparison of Colt Hoare's journals with his translation of Giraldus' Latin text, which is mostly silent on the Romans, shows how he uses the translation to privilege his observations on Roman Wales.

Roman Britain in Colour – Roman Altars from Hadrian's Wall Reimagined

Roman Britain in Colour is the title of an intervention in the Hadrian’s Wall Gallery of the Great North Museum: Hancock. This intervention makes use of projection mapping to interpret a series of seven Roman altars; using colour and animation to enhance the visitor experience in the gallery. This paper explores the decision to use projection mapping technology against the background of increased interest and research into the use of pigmentation on Roman sculpture. It outlines some of the benefits of projection mapping for the understanding of archaeological material in museums and discusses some potential drawbacks of the technique as an interpretative tool.

Teething Problems: Pierced tooth amulets and sensing pain in the Roman archaeological record

References in ancient literary texts refer to the use of pierced teeth as amulets used for the prevention and reduction of teething pains in infants. In this paper, I explore some of the sensory aspects of this phenomenon by centralising pain as a sensory experience. I draw on a dataset of these objects from Roman Britain in order to contextualise the types and use of these objects within the Roman world. These two facets, linking the sensory experiences of teething pain to real, material objects, allows for a discussion of the lived and embodied experience of wearing this amulet in the ancient world, through which a greater appreciation of its sensory importance is gained.&amp;nbsp;

The Pedagogical Benefits of Sensory Archaeology: A Case Study on Roman Britain

Archaeology, by its very nature, is a highly sensorial discipline. Teaching archaeology should be equally sensorially engaging. However, modern higher education prioritizes the visual and the auditory, and while handling sessions, laboratory work, and site visits are often part of a standard archaeology degree, they vary heavily based on departmental and student resources. At the same time, archaeology is in something of a crisis, tackling a lack of diversity, reduced funding, and a deep legacy of colonialism. This article demonstrates how the incorporation of the theories and methods of sensory archaeology into higher education curriculum can add sensorial density to a degree, enhance research, and at the same time help alleviate some of our current crises. As the first paper to explore the use of sensory archaeology in university education, it also makes an important contribution to the rather limited field of archaeological pedagogical research.

Variation in the bird-name lexicon in Qaqet (East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea)

Abstract Birds are of great cultural importance to the Qaqet-Baining people of East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. In this paper, we investigate whether there are differences in people’s ability to name common birds in the local environment, and focus primarily on the variables gender and location. We showed pictures of local birds to small groups of Qaqet speakers in two villages—one located in an area of significant deforestation—and asked them to name them. Overall, men were able to name more birds, as were people from the village associated with greater forest cover. Our results show that gender, environmental degradation and shift to the local lingua franca Tok Pisin may all be responsible for the variation in Qaqet people’s ethno-ornithological lexicon.

Experimental and Experiential approaches to the past – Reconstructing and understanding Roman domesticity through recreated places

Experiential, or sensory, studies of the past are often viewed in opposition to the ‘scientific’ nature of experimental archaeology, despite obvious overlaps between these two fields. However, recent research has argued for more humanistic experimental archaeology to better engage our present to the past. This study focuses on how we can, both theoretically and methodologically, utilise contemporary research into the experimental archaeology of Iron Age and Roman Britain to gain insights into the sensory experiences of past people. Focusing on the Empire's northern most frontier, this paper will explore how experiential approaches can be utilised within an open-air museum to provide a more agency driven and experience-based understanding of past archaeological sites across both time and space. This paper concludes by considering the methodological directions in which a broader experimental/experiential holistic approach could take in the future, incorporating digital technologies and differing viewpoints, both academics and non-academics alike.

An individual with Sarmatian-related ancestry in Roman Britain

In the second century CE the Roman Empire had increasing contact with Sarmatians, nomadic Iranian speakers occupying an area stretching from the Pontic-Caspian steppe to the Carpathian mountains, both in the Caucasus and in the Danubian borders of the empire.1,2,3 In 175 CE, following their defeat in the Marcomannic Wars, emperor Marcus Aurelius drafted Sarmatian cavalry into Roman legions and deployed 5,500 Sarmatian soldiers to Britain, as recorded by contemporary historian Cassius Dio.4,5 Little is known about where the Sarmatian cavalry were stationed, and no individuals connected with this historically attested event have been identified to date, leaving its impact on Britain largely unknown. Here we document Caucasus- and Sarmatian-related ancestry in the whole genome of a Roman-period individual (126-228 calibrated [cal.] CE)-an outlier without traceable ancestry related to local populations in Britain-recovered from a farmstead site in present-day Cambridgeshire, UK. Stable isotopes support a life history of mobility during childhood. Although several scenarios are possible, the historical deployment of Sarmatians to Britain provides a parsimonious explanation for this individual's extraordinary life history. Regardless of the factors behind his migrations, these results highlight how long-range mobility facilitated by the Roman Empire impacted provincial locations outside of urban centers.