This thesis investigates the role which Roman artefacts played within rural settlements in North Britain during the Romano-British period. The possibility that Roman artefacts were used by native Britons as markers of prestige is explored through the presence or absence of Roman artefact types. The more prestigious the occupants of the rural settlements were, the more likely they were to have access to a variety of exotic trade items. The methodology employed in this study has been adapted from previous studies on pottery types and settlement remains from Scotland. This thesis examines an area that centres on Hadrian's Wall, which at various times in its history acted as the frontier for the Roman Empire, as well as being a staging post for troops and a means of controlling the local population's movement. The study region includes land up to 50 kilometres either side of Hadrian's Wall, and examines rural settlements located within one or two days travel from the Wall. The excavation reports of rural settlements were examined, and include settlement types such as homesteads, hillforts and villas. From these sites, Roman artefact types were quantified and used to generate data for analysis. The results agree with the hypothesis that social hierarchy can be detected through the comparative presence or absence of Roman artefact types. It is also apparent that the settlements on either side of Hadrian's Wall, and either side of the Pennines mountain chain, were not part of a simple, homogenous culture. This thesis begins with an outline of the geographic and environmental nature of the region (Chapter 2), and an examination of settlement and society in North Britain during the preceding Bronze and Iron Ages (Chapter 3). An essay on Romano-British society and settlement is included (Chapter 4), and is followed by a brief discussion of post- Roman Britain (Chapter 5). Following an outline of the methodology used (Chapter 6), the results of analysis are presented in detail (Chapter 7). The Discussion chapter explores how the results of analysis meet existing theories of rural settlement and society, and compares North Britain with continental data from Germany and North Gaul (Chapter 8).

This thesis utilises the evidence from mortuary archaeology to explore the identity of the inhabitants of Britain during the period of Roman rule. It assimilates burial evidence from diverse sources both published and unpublished and integrates it with other material and literary evidence to investigate the people of the province and examine aspects of their lives. By assessing the extent and reliability of the mortuary evidence and by combining this evidence from major cemeteries, smaller burial sites and individual or isolated burials it has been possible to determine aspects of their lives from a different perspective than that previously employed. The thesis has been divided into five parts. Part 1 (chapters 1 to 3) serves as an introduction. Part 2 (chapters 4 and 5) considers the evidence available while Part 3 (chapters 6 to 8) focuses on specific groups within the population. Part 4 (chapter 9) looks at instances of death and burial that differ from the norm and Part 5 (chapters 10-12) presents a picture of the daily life of these people. The study concludes with a summing up of the evidence and a look at the future of mortuary studies of Roman Britain. The introductory chapters set out the objectives of the dissertation, look at the work that has already been done in this area and evaluates the need for a synthesis of the available evidence. The scope of the project, both temporally and geographically is outlined in chapter 2. The third chapter takes a look at the contemporary written evidence available, in the form of literary and epigraphic contributions, and assesses its reliability as an indicator of the appearance and lives of the Romano-Britons. This survey looks not only at the Roman view of the natives of the province but extends beyond the Roman period to examine the literary evidence that is available from the subsequent centuries. Chapters 4 and 5 take an in-depth look at the evidence available on the people of Roman Britain. The extent of the burial evidence is reviewed in chapter 4 while chapter 5 deals specifically and in depth with how this evidence can be utilised. The skeletal evidence is assessed for its extent and reliability. Factors affecting the survival of the remains is appraised and the effects of the biases created by such differential survival considered. Grave-goods and the organisation of the cemeteries are brought into the evaluation and the strengths and weaknesses of all of the evidence evaluated. The following chapters (6 to 11) focus on discrete aspects of the population. Chapters 6 to 8 look at the representation of specific groups within the community - the young, the elderly and those who arrived from other parts of the empire. With the aim of providing an indication of the diversity of both the composition of the population, the communities they represent and the associated burial rites, chapter 9 examines some of the more distinctive burials from Britain during this period. An area of intense interest, decapitation burials provides the focal point of this chapter. What may appear to be more mundane aspects of the lives of these people occupy chapters 10 to 12. What kept them busy, their occupations and their pastimes is viewed from the perspective of the burial evidence in chapters 10 and 11, while chapter 12 examines the mortuary evidence, in the form of funerary art and the remains of clothing, hair and accessories for their appearance.

No description available.

Since the 1970s, the study of molecular organics preserved in archaeological ceramics, commonly referred to as organic residue analysis, has been used to infer vessel use and study dietary, economic, and ritual activities in the past. The purpose of this project is to analyse organic residues from a variety of ancient vessels and attempt to understand further the relationship between molecular organic preservation and vessel characteristics. It has been previously assumed that the absorption of these organics in the ceramic matrix is predominantly responsible for their preservation. The clarification of this or other preservative mechanisms and the further understanding of the relationships of vessels with their contents has a direct impact on the interpretation of organic residues and vessel use. The first section addresses the preservation of molecular organics in pottery vessels from Tel Kabri, Israel; Tel Megiddo, Israel; and Lefkandi, Greece. The one hundred and thirty-three samples from these three sites represent vessels used in domestic, burial, ritual, and elite contexts from the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean. The focus of the study is the quantification of residue yields and identification of potential links with vessel properties and characteristics of the ceramic samples. Sequential extractions using two methods, conventional chloroform/methanol solvent extraction and direct FAME extraction/derivatisation, were applied to the sherds to test the absorption and adsorption of organics into ceramic materials. The majority of samples were tested non-destructively, enabling the comparison of residue yields to certain vessel properties and characteristics displayed in the same sherds. Where available, data concerning vessel form, sampling location on the vessel profile, thickness measurements were recorded, and XRF measurements were taken, with this in mind. The second section investigates the question of whether bronze and copper alloy vessels have the capability to preserve molecular organics within their corrosion products. Twenty-two samples of corrosion and associated material from five Early Roman bronze vessels found in cremation burials during the A2 Pepperhill to Cobham project in County Kent, United Kingdom were studied for organic material. These samples provide some of the first evidence that the residues of original content are preserved in copper alloy vessels either through entrapment in or reactions with copper corrosion.

The thesis examines a number of questions concerning the design, construction, costs and use of Romano-British seagoing and inland waters shipping. In the first part the reasons for the methods of construction for seagoing and coastal vessels, such as the Blackfriars Ship 1, the St. Peter Port Ship and the Barland's Farm Boat, have been investigated. The constructional characteristics of the two ships are massive floors and frames, with the planking fastened only to the floors and frames with heavy clenched iron nails. There is no edge to edge fastening of the planks, with tenons inserted into mortises cut into the edges of the planks, as is normal in the Mediterranean tradition of ship construction in the Roman period. The Romano-British ships also differ from the Scandinavian tradition of clinker building with overlapping planks nailed to each other along their length. It has been concluded that a natural phenomenon, the large tidal range around the British Isles and the northern coasts of Gaul and Germany, had a dominant effect on the design of seagoing vessels. Deep water harbours, such as Portus, Caesar ea Maritima and Alexandria in the Mediterranean, where ships could lie afloat at all times, were neither practicable nor economic with the technology available. At the British ports, such as Dover, London and Chichester, ships had to come in with the high tide, moor to simple wharves at the high tide level, and then settle on the ground as the tide dropped. At the numerous small havens, inlets and estuaries around the British coasts, ships would come in with the tide, settle on a natural or man-made 'hard' as the tide fell, and discharge cargo over the side to carts, pack animals or people. This mode of operation required sturdy ships that could take the ground without damage, and also withstand a certain amount of 'bumping' on the bottom in the transition period from fully afloat to fully aground. The second part of the thesis investigates the cost of building, maintaining and operating various types of vessels. To do this, a new mode for measuring cost, the Basic Economic Unit, or BEU, has been developed. The probable volume of the various types of cargoes carried has been examined. It appears that grain was the dominant cargo in both coastal and overseas traffic. The total cost of building, maintaining and operating the seagoing and inland water shipping was less than one percent of the gross product of Britain, a small cost for an essential service.

The thesis examines a number of questions concerning the design, construction, costs and use of Romano-British seagoing and inland waters shipping. In the first part the reasons for the methods of construction for seagoing and coastal vessels, such as the Blackfriars Ship 1, the St. Peter Port Ship and the Barland's Farm Boat, have been investigated. The constructional characteristics of the two ships are massive floors and frames, with the planking fastened only to the floors and frames with heavy clenched iron nails. There is no edge to edge fastening of the planks, with tenons inserted into mortises cut into the edges of the planks, as is normal in the Mediterranean tradition of ship construction in the Roman period. The Romano-British ships also differ from the Scandinavian tradition of clinker building with overlapping planks nailed to each other along their length. It has been concluded that a natural phenomenon, the large tidal range around the British Isles and the northern coasts of Gaul and Germany, had a dominant effect on the design of seagoing vessels. Deep water harbours, such as Portus, Caesar ea Maritima and Alexandria in the Mediterranean, where ships could lie afloat at all times, were neither practicable nor economic with the technology available. At the British ports, such as Dover, London and Chichester, ships had to come in with the high tide, moor to simple wharves at the high tide level, and then settle on the ground as the tide dropped. At the numerous small havens, inlets and estuaries around the British coasts, ships would come in with the tide, settle on a natural or man-made 'hard' as the tide fell, and discharge cargo over the side to carts, pack animals or people. This mode of operation required sturdy ships that could take the ground without damage, and also withstand a certain amount of 'bumping' on the bottom in the transition period from fully afloat to fully aground. The second part of the thesis investigates the cost of building, maintaining and operating various types of vessels. To do this, a new mode for measuring cost, the Basic Economic Unit, or BEU, has been developed. The probable volume of the various types of cargoes carried has been examined. It appears that grain was the dominant cargo in both coastal and overseas traffic. The total cost of building, maintaining and operating the seagoing and inland water shipping was less than one percent of the gross product of Britain, a small cost for an essential service. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate