A Bioarchaeological Investigation of Cultural Change in Dorset, England (Mid-to-Late Fourth Century B.C. to the End of the Fourth Century A.D.

Britannia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 161-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Redfern
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Dental Health ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Population Movement ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Late Iron Age

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses the results of the first regional and bioarchaeological analysis of health in late Iron Age and Roman Britain. This tested the hypothesis that cultural and environmental changes in Dorset would result in changes to demography, stature, dental health and infectious disease. The study observed change to all health variables, supporting environmental and archaeological evidence for the introduction of urban centres, changes in living conditions, greater population movement, and development of the agricultural economy. Importantly, the study demonstrated that these responses did not reflect changes observed in other areas of Britain or Gaul.

The Romano-British Shrines at Brigstock, Northants

1963 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Greenfield
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Polygonal Shape

SummaryTwo shrines of circular and polygonal shape, probably part of a larger group, were erected early in the second half of the third century A.D., and occupied until late in the fourth century. The shrines occur in an area of widespread settlement dating from the late Iron Age until the end of the fourth century. Many objects of bronze and iron of ritual significance, together with a large number of votive deposits and coins, were recovered from the circular shrine. Miss M. V. Taylor's discussion of the principal objects appears on pp. 264–8.

The Introduction of Roman Ceramic Styles and Techniques into Roman Britain: A Case Study from the King Harry Lane Cemetery, St. Albans, Hertfordshire

1988 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian C. Freestone ◽  
Val Rigby
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Surface Coating ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Firing Techniques

AbstractSpecialised ceramics from Gaul were imported into late Iron Age Britain, and their forms copied in native techniques. Roman technology was introduced after the Conquest, and involved changes in paste preparation, surface coating and firing techniques that allowed increases in the scale, standardisation and quality of the production.

scholarly journals The Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Narrative Approaches ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
The Rich

Roman Britain is a critical area of research within the provinces of the Roman empire. It has formed the context for many of the seminal publications on the nature of imperialism and cultural change. Roman rule had a profound impact culture of Iron Age Britain, with new forms of material culture, and new forms of knowledge. On the other hand, there is evidence that such impacts were not uniform, leading to questions of resistance and continuity of pre-existing cultural forms. Within the last 15-20 years, the study of Roman Britain has been transformed through an enormous amount of new and interesting work which is not reflected in the main stream literature. The new archaeological work by a young generation has moved away from the narrative historical approach towards one much more closely focused on the interpretation of material. It has produced new interpretations of the material and a new light on the archaeology of the province, grounded in a close reading of the material evidence as collected by previous scholars and exploiting the rich library of publications on Romano-British studies. For the first time, this volume draws together the various scholars working on new approaches to Roman Britain to produce a comprehensive study of the present state and future trajectory of the subject. Arranged thematically and focussed primarily on the archaeological evidence, the volume challenges more traditional narrative approaches and explores new theoretical perspectives in order to better understand the archaeology of the province and its place within the wider context of the Roman Empire.

scholarly journals REGES, REGULI, DUCES: SOME REMARKS ON THE INDIVIDUAL AND POWER IN LATE IRON AGE PRE-ROMAN BRITAIN

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-92
Author(s):  
ANTON BARYSHNIKOV
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
The Individual

The paper considers one of the most significant changes in late pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain—the emergence of individual power, usually labeled as kingship. The modern perception of this sociopolitical phenomenon has been largely determined according to texts from Greek and Roman authors. This paper argues that this image is distorted and says more about the ancient writers than it does about ancient political leaders, their status, or the essence of their power. Avoiding terms like king to prevent a general misunderstanding of the phenomenon is reasonable; nevertheless, coins from so-called dynasties and tribes as well as other material sources show the emergence of individual power from the first century B.C.E. to the first century C.E. This new phenomenon should be analyzed with new (and re-worked) theoretical frameworks. Additionally, comparative studies can play a significant role in exploring the nature of what is referred to as Iron Age kingship in Britain.

Cemeteries and Funerary Practice

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Weekes
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Spatial Separation ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Process Method

This chapter applies and attempts to contribute to the funerary process method of investigating late Iron Age and Roman period mortuary ritual in Britain. In this approach, evidence derived from archaeological contexts including tombstones and monuments, possible cemetery surfaces, cemetery boundaries, burials, pyre sites, and other features is reconsidered diachronically in relation to funerary schema. We therefore try to consider objects and actions in their correct funerary contexts, from the selectivity of death itself, through laying-out procedures, modification of the remains and other objects, degrees of spatial separation of the living and the dead, and types of deposition and commemorative acts. The development of tradition and diversity in funerary practice in Roman Britain is considered throughout, and the chapter concludes with a brief reconsideration of the multi-vocality of funerary symbolism.

The Movement of Ideas in Late Iron Age and Early Roman Britain: An Imported Rotary Quern Design in South-Western England

Britannia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 393-402
Author(s):  
Ruth Shaffrey
Keyword(s):  
Thin Section ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Isle Of Man ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Thin Section Analysis ◽  
Section Analysis ◽  
Made In

ABSTRACTIn 2012, a complete upper stone of a rotary quern with a projecting lug for a vertical handle was found at Hinkley Point in Somerset, south-western England. It is the first late Iron Age to early Roman period quern of this form to be found in England. This note describes its form in detail and discusses its closest parallels in north-eastern Ireland, south-western Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Spain. It shows how thin-section analysis demonstrates the quern to have been locally made in Somerset and discusses the movement of ideas about quern design during the late Iron Age to early Roman period.

scholarly journals Early human impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems: Multi-proxy geoarchaeological analyses from La Narse de la Sauvetat (France)

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1780-1800
Author(s):  
Alfredo Mayoral ◽  
Salomé Granai ◽  
Anne-Lise Develle ◽  
Jean-Luc Peiry ◽  
Yannick Miras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Middle Bronze Age

We analysed the late-Holocene pedo-sedimentary archives of La Narse de la Sauvetat, a hydromorphic depression in the southern Limagne plain (central France), where chronologically accurate studies are scarce. The multi-proxy geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental analysis of two cores from different areas of the basin was carried out through sedimentological, geochemical, micromorphological and malacological investigations. Integration of these datasets supported by a robust radiocarbon-based chronology allowed discussion of socio-environmental interactions and anthropogenic impacts from Late Neolithic to Early Middle Ages. Until the Middle Bronze Age, there was no clear evidence of anthropogenic impact on soils and hydro-sedimentary dynamics of the catchment, but two peaks of high alluvial activity probably related to the 4.2 and 3.5 kyr. BP climate events were first recorded in Limagne. Significant anthropogenic impacts started in the Late Bronze Age with increased erosion of the surrounding volcanic slopes. However, a major threshold was reached c. 2600 cal BP with a sharp increase in the catchment erosion interpreted as resulting from strong anthropogenic environmental changes related to agricultural activities and drainage. This implies an anthropogenic forcing on soils and hydro-sedimentary systems much earlier than was usually considered in Limagne. These impacts then gradually increased during Late Iron Age and Roman periods, but environmental effects were certainly contained by progress in agricultural management. Late Antiquity environmental changes are consistent with regional trend to drainage deterioration in lowlands, but marked asynchrony in this landscape change suggests that societal factors implying differential land management were certainly predominant here.

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