Roman Britain (Classics)

Introduction

Both geographically and culturally, the province of Britain was a long way from the city of Rome and has often been characterized as a “failed province.” First invaded by Julius Caesar, its conquest by Claudius in 43 CE brought most of the island under the control of Rome. This instigated a series of social, cultural, and economic transformations, which have been the source of much academic debate over the centuries. A key feature of this has been the absence of cultural unity; this was the case in the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age and continued into the Roman period. Most visible was the contrast between the conquered and the nonconquered areas, with Scotland only partly conquered for a short period. This cultural variability goes further, with important differences between the various regions and between town and country. An important characteristic of the province was its role as a frontier province, with the construction of the Hadrianic and the Antonine Walls and the garrisoning of, generally, three legions and a vast quantity of auxiliary troops. This created military zones to the north and the west of the province. In contrast, the south and the east saw the development of a more familiar Roman settlement structure, with urban centers and villas. There were also temporal differences, with the 3rd century arguably a time of prosperity in contrast to crises elsewhere. This prosperity continued into the first half of the 4th century. However, from the second half of the 4th century, the evidence is contradictory, with the perception of a decline until the withdrawal of Roman forces in the early 5th century. The province has lived on in academic and popular imagination, and the romantic image of Roman Britain has largely withstood developments in academic debates.

Overviews and Histories

Writing a history of Britain as such is problematic because the province flits in and out of the textual sources (leaving aside issues of source generation, bias, etc., as discussed in Braund 1994). Consequently, overviews tend to represent a combination of processes of change over the 400 years from conquest to abandonment, punctuated by key moments for which we have some form of narrative, such as the conquest and the Boudican revolt. This causes a somewhat fraught relationship among history and archaeology, dramatic events, and a long-term anonymous process. Nevertheless, this has not stopped the flow of a prodigious number of histories of the province. The best chronological overviews are Frere 1999 and Southern 2011. Other books deal with specific historical points, such as Creighton 2006 and Casey 1994, and a specialist literature focuses on the final century of the province (see the section the End of Roman Britain). The alternative type of overview takes a thematic approach, often beginning with an account of the conquest, and then developing around topics such as towns, the countryside, religion, art, trade, etc. (see Potter and Johns 1992, Todd 2004, and Mattingly 2006) or the very personal view of the archaeology of the province (see Reece 1988). A completely thematic agenda is developed in James and Millett 2001.

Braund, D. 1994. Ruling Roman Britain: Kings, queens, governors and emperors from Julius Caesar to Agricola. London: Routledge.
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Sets the textual sources for early Roman Britain into their Roman literary context; provides examples of a detailed deconstruction of narrative topoi. Argues that it is important to understand the Roman ideological context and the political motivation of the author in order to understand the text.
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Casey, P. J. 1994. Carausius and Allectus: The British usurpers. London: Batsford.
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Explores the often-neglected period of the split of Britain from the Roman Empire under Carausius and Allectus (argued to be mid-286 to 296 CE). Integrates the textual, numismatic, and archaeological evidence.
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Creighton, J. 2006. Britannia: The creation of a Roman province. London: Routledge.
DOI: 10.4324/9780203412749Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Argues that the Roman impact on Britain starts with the Caesarian invasion and develops through a group of client kings; also that different processes are at play in the development of Romano-British towns, including the memorialization of the late Iron Age kings.
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Frere, S. S. 1999. Britannia: A history of Roman Britain. 3d ed. London: Pimlico.
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Probably still the classic narrative history of the province, interspersed with chapters dealing with thematic topics.
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James, S., and M. Millett, eds. 2001. Britons and Romans: Advancing an archaeological agenda. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 125. York, UK: Council for British Archaeology.
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A series of papers looking in depth at the state of play within specific topics such as urbanism, material culture, gender, and identity.
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Mattingly, D. 2006. Britain: An imperial possession. London: Allen Lane.
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Part of the Penguin History of Britain series, this takes a thematic approach of exploring the impact of occupation through themes of military, urban, and countryside. These are bookended with narrative sections outlining the events at the beginning and the end of the provincial history.
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Potter, T. W., and C. Johns. 1992. Roman Britain. London: British Museum Press.
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Overview of the archaeology of Roman Britain through a series of themes.
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Reece, R. 1988. My Roman Britain. Cirencester, UK: Cotswolds Studies.
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A highly individual view of the archaeology of Roman Britain from one of the most influential specialists on the topic.
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Southern, P. 2011. Roman Britain. Stroud, UK: Amberley.
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Uses textual and archaeological evidence to produce a chronological narrative of the conquest and development of the province from 55 BCE to 450 CE.
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Todd, M., ed. 2004. A companion to Roman Britain. Oxford: Blackwell.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470998861Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A selection of papers by established specialists arranged into thematic chapters.
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Resources

Arguably, Roman Britain is one of the better-served provinces of the Roman Empire in terms of published corpora and online reference collections. This documentation of the material from the province began in the 19th century with publication of multivolume, international corpora, such as Neal and Cosh 2002–2010, and the multiauthored Roman Inscriptions of Britain (Collingwood, et al. 1965–) and Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani (Arnold, et al. 1975–. This work is still ongoing, with the recent publication of new fascicules and others in the pipeline. Other forms of material have been collected in single works, such as the textual sources in Rathbone and Rathbone 2012 and Rivet and Smith 1979; important distribution maps of particular materials are presented in Jones and Mattingly 2002. The major innovation over the last twenty years has been the ability to publish these corpora online, whether by the digitization of existing resources or their inception within a digital format. The growth in archaeological evidence has been particularly well served and has allowed various resources to be gathered together within a single platform (such as the Archaeology Data Service, Heritage Gateway, and Potsherd).

Archaeology Data Service.
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A repository for archaeological research and commercial archives. Although multiperiod and international, it contains some important resources for Roman Britain, including downloadable project databases and digitization of some hard-to-access literature. It includes the database from the Rural Settlement of Roman Britain project (cited under the Countryside).
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Arnold, B. J., R. J. Brewer, J. C. Coulston, et al. 1975–. Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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The British fascicules comprise part of an international project to publish Roman sculpture, whether by province or by modern collection. The sculpture found in Britain (as opposed to those in British museums and collections) is published as Volume 1. Ten regional catalogues have now been published.
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Collingwood, R. G., and R. P. Wright, et al. 1965–. Roman inscriptions of Britain. Oxford: Clarendon.
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Published by various authors and various publishers, this long-term project publishes inscriptions on most media from the province. Inscriptions on stone were initially published in Volume 1 and have since been updated in Volume 3. The instrumenta domestica occupy the eight fascicules of Volume 2. This series has replaced Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1862–). New finds and revisions are published annually by the Roman Society in the journal Britannia.
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Heritage Gateway.
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A searchable database of records for archaeological, architectural, and maritime sites from England. It provides access to a range of regional and national databases, such as the Local Authority and the Historic Environment Record. Multiperiod, but can be searched by period.
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Jones, B., and D. Mattingly. 2002. An atlas of Roman Britain. Oxford: Oxbow.
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A compendium of distribution maps, site place and photographs illustrating the physical and sociopolitical geography of the province, and the distribution of key forms of archaeological materials.
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Neal, D. S., and S. Cosh. 2002–2010. Roman mosaics of Britain. London: Society of Antiquaries.
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Five volumes grouped by region publishing all known mosaics found in Britain, including color images and house plans for many.
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Portable Antiquities Scheme.
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Online searchable database of archaeological material (generally over 300 years old) found by the public in Britain since 1999, the majority of which are metal-detecting finds. A multiperiod resource, but a substantial quantity is from the Roman period. An annual summary of highlights is published in the journal Britannia.
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Potsherd.
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This online resource to accompany P. Tyer’s Roman Pottery in Britain (London: Batsford, 1996) describes individual ceramic wares from Britain and northern Europe. It includes links to related online resources such as the National Roman Fabric Reference Collection, the Pottery Kilns from Roman Britain, and the Roman Amphorae digital project.
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Rathbone, Y., and D. W. Rathbone. 2012. Literary sources for Roman Britain. 4th ed. London: London Association of Classical Teachers.
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Translates all the major references by Greek and Roman authors to Britain, with the exception of Tacitus’s Agricola.
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Rivet, A. L. F., and C. Smith. 1979. The place-names of Roman Britain. London: Batsford.
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Gazetteer of all recorded place-names recorded in the classical sources. Includes a discussion of the various sources and problems with reconstructing the list.
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Tacitus. 1999. Agricola and Germany. Translated by Anthony Birley. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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The one substantial textual work from the Roman period that deals with the province. It is a biography of Gnaeus Iulius Agricola and concentrates on the events of his governorship of Britain, although the accuracy of the depiction of the province has been much debated.
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Cultural Change

The models through which we judge cultural change have been extensively discussed through the medium of the archaeology of Roman Britain, and consequently, it is an important topic in the literature of the province. The classic early formulation of the process was that of Francis Haverfield and relied on the idea of two discrete opposing cultures, one superior to the other with the inevitable replacement of the weaker Celtic culture. This model was more or less followed for the subsequent seventy years, until the publication of Millett 1990, which argued for a process of acculturation, or bottom-up cultural change. Criticism of his thesis has argued that it leaves the traditional categories of “Roman” and “native” intact and has led to the development of alternative perspectives, based on theories of agency such as Barrett 1997, Gardner 2013, Hill 1997, and Revell 1999, as well as postcolonial theories such as Hingley 1997 and Webster 2001. A leading proponent of these alternative approaches has been Mattingly 2004 with his thesis developed fully for Britain in Mattingly 2006 (cited under Overviews and Histories). A further strand of research, represented by Freeman 1997, has examined the origins of the imperial model and how it was the product of contemporary attitudes to Western empires. Cultural change within the province is still a topic of academic debate, with no resolution over even whether to retain the term itself, and a series of overlapping alternatives.

Barrett, J. C. 1997. Romanization: A critical comment. In Dialogues in Roman Imperialism: Power, discourse and discrepant experience in the Roman Empire. Edited by D. Mattingly, 51–64. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 23. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
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Questions whether the concepts of “Roman” and “native” are of use and argues for abandoning them as defining the process of cultural transformation. Argues for an alternative approach of exploring how people lived within the Roman Empire and forms of knowledge.
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Freeman, P. W. M. 1997. Mommsen through to Haverfield: The origins of Romanization in late 19th-century Britain. In Dialogues in Roman imperialism: Power, discourse and discrepant experience in the Roman Empire. Edited by D. Mattingly, 27–50. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 23. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
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Explores the contemporary political and academic influences of two of the most significant theorists of Romanization, Mommsen and Haverfield, to demonstrate how Romanization was grounded in 19th- and early-20th-century European attitudes toward their own empires.
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Gardner, A. 2013. Thinking about Roman imperialism: Postcolonialism, globalisation and beyond? Britannia 44:1–25.
DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X13000172Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An evaluation of the impact of postcolonial theories and globalization on understanding cultural change; argues for an examination of the institutions of Roman imperialism, such as the military, as an added dimension.
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Hill, J. D. 1997. “The end of one kind of body and the beginning of another kind of body?” Toilet instruments and “Romanization” in southern England during the first century CE. In Reconstructing Iron Age Societies. Edited by A. Gwilt and C. C. Haselgrove, 96–107. Oxford: Oxbow.
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Argues that Romanization represents a reposition of ideologies; uses the example of the relationship between grooming implements and ideas of bodily presentation.
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Hingley, R. 1997. Resistance and domination: Social change in Roman Britain. In Dialogues in Roman imperialism: Power, discourse, and discrepant experience in the Roman Empire. Edited by D. Mattingly, 81–100. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 23. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
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Proposes a postcolonial nativist reading, foregrounding the evidence of the nonelites culturally resisting Roman imperialism through development of small towns as an alternative to imposed civitas capitals and the continuity of round-houses.
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Mattingly, D. 2004. Being Roman: Expressing identity in a provincial setting. Journal of Roman Archaeology 17:5–25.
DOI: 10.1017/S104775940000814XSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An outline of Mattingly’s thesis of discrepant identities, as applied to Roman Britain. Argues that there are multiple modes of being Roman, varying according to the intersection of ethnicity with other aspects of personal identity and according to whether the context is urban, rural, or military.
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Millett, M. 1990. The Romanization of Britain: An essay in archaeological interpretation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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Focuses on the changes in the archaeological record from immediate preconquest period through to the end of Roman Britain. Synthesis of wide-ranging archaeological data focusing specifically on settlement (including urbanism) and economy.
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Revell, L. 1999. Constructing Romanitas: Roman public architecture and the archaeology of practice. In TRAC 98: Proceedings of the eighth annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference held at the University of Leicester April 1998. Edited by P. Baker, C. Forcey, S. Jundi, and R. Witcher, 52–58. Oxford: Oxbow.
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Argues that Romanization is embedded in daily routines of living, and new forms of material culture are drawn into these practices.
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Webster, J. 2001. Creolizing the Roman provinces. American Journal of Archaeology 105.2: 209–225.
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Uses postcolonial theory to argue for cultural change as a bottom-up negotiation; uses the iconography of Epona as a case study.
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The Administration of the Province

Little work is dedicated specifically to the administration of Britain; instead, it is generally covered in works that consider the administrative structure of the empire as a whole or as part of more general overviews of the province (see Overviews and Histories). The province as a geographical construct is discussed in Laurence 2001, whereas Millett 1998 addresses the question of the provincial capital. Very little discussion is devoted to the division into first two and then four provinces, but White 2007 provides a clear introduction to the problems with identifying their territories and provincial capitals. The lists of the various administrative and military officials have been collected in Birley 2005, and the evidence for the Late Roman administrative structure is assessed in Hassall 1976. Most of this is drawn from historical and epigraphic sources, although Black 1995 attempts to use the archaeological evidence to discuss the impact of the administration on the settlement systems.

Birley, A. R. 2005. The Roman government of Britain. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199252374.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An updated version of Birley’s earlier The Fasti of Roman Britain (Oxford: Clarendon, 1981), this represents the prosopography of all senior officials who served in Britain. Divided into four periods, with entries organized by the official’s position; each section begins with a discussion of the administrative structure for that period.
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Black, E. W. 1995. Cursus publicus: The infrastructure of government in Roman Britain. British Archaeology Reports 241. Oxford: Tempus Reparatum.
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Discussion of the archaeological evidence for mansiones and roadside settlements in order to reconstruct the administrative infrastructure of Britain.
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Hassall, M. W. C. 1976. Britain in the Notitia. In Aspects of the Notitia dignitatum: Papers presented to the conference in Oxford, December 13–15, 1974. Edited by R. Goodburn and P. Bartholomew, 103–117. British Archaeological Reports Supplementary Series 15. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
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Provides a summary of the structure of military and civilian commands in the diocese of Britain in the 4th and 5th centuries as laid out in the Notitia.
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Laurence, R. 2001. The creation of geography: An interpretation of Roman Britain. In Travel and geography in the Roman empire. Edited by C. Adams and R. Laurence, 67–94. London: Routledge.
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Examination of Ptolemy’s Geography and the Antonine Itineraries, comparing Britain with Italy and other provinces, to argue for mobility as a driver of cultural change through the creation of long-distance routes.
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Millett, M. 1998. London as capital? In Roman London: Recent archaeological work; Including papers given at a seminar held at the Museum of London on 6 November, 1966. Edited by B. Watson, 7–12. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 24. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
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Considers the concept of the provincial capital and whether Britain had a single capital or multiple ones.
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White, R. 2007. Britannia Prima: Britain’s last Roman province. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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The only monograph to cover one of the four Diocletianic provinces. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the formation and administration of the province.
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Urbanism

Towns have formed an important focus of archaeological excavation in Britain from the 19th century onward, with important excavations at St. Albans (Verulamium), Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), Colchester (Camulodunum), Wroxeter (Viroconium), and London (Londinium). The introduction of geophysics has further added to our knowledge of the layout and buildings of a Roman town. The amount of individual excavations within towns, particularly those still occupied, has increased because of heritage protection guidelines and because knowledge of a number of towns has been revolutionized in the past twenty years. However, lagging behind somewhat are the syntheses reflecting this new knowledge. Work on towns has traditionally tended to fall into one of two camps. The first of these is construction of a narrative of the town from development to decline, based largely on the evidence of buildings, with some supplementary evidence such as religious dedications and artworks. Good examples of these include Niblett 2001, White and Barker 2002, and Jones 2002. The second is more synthetic works, the most important of which is Wacher 1995, now in need of revision to reflect the latest archaeological evidence. Within this is the question of whether towns represent the failure of “Romanization”; alternative interpretations of the evidence are given in Millett 1990 (cited under Cultural Change) and Mattingly 2006 (cited under Overviews and Histories). Creighton 2006 (cited under Overviews and Histories) makes an innovative argument for the differences in the origins of towns and the urban experience. A related topic to the constituted towns is that of small towns; generally unchartered, these range in size from roadside settlements to substantial communities with an array of monumental buildings. There is no agreement over the definition of small towns; consequently, different authors include different examples, and there is inevitably an overlap with the literature on the countryside. An important attempt to list these small towns is Burnham and Wacher 1990, although lack of a clear definition of what constitutes a small town means the list is not necessarily authoritative. Issues over their interpretation are discussed in papers in Brown 1995.

Blagg, T. F. C. 1984. An examination of the connexions between military and civilian architecture in Roman Britain. In Military and civilian in Roman Britain: Cultural relationships in a frontier province. Edited by T. F. C. Blagg and A. C. King, 249–263. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
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Uses a detailed analysis of architectural decoration to argue against the theory that the military was responsible for much of the construction of public buildings in Roman towns.
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Blagg, T. F. C. 1990. Architectural munificence in Britain: The evidence of the inscriptions. Britannia 21:13–31.
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Analysis of the inscriptions indicating who was responsible for the construction of building in the province; concludes that there is limited evidence for elite euergetism seen in other western provinces.
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Brown, A. E., ed. 1995. Roman small towns in Eastern England and beyond. Oxford: Oxbow.
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Edited proceedings; majority of papers deal with the archaeology of specific case studies, whereas papers by Brown, Burnham, Millett, and Wacher raise questions about the definitions and approaches of the studies.
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Burnham, B. C., and J. S. Wacher. 1990. The “small towns” of Roman Britain. London: Batsford.
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Seven thematic chapters dealing with origin, morphology, and function of small towns. Remaining six chapters give an overview of the archaeological evidence for fifty-four examples grouped by size or specialist functions.
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Hurst, H., ed. 1999. The coloniae of Roman Britain: New studies and a review; Papers of the conference held at Gloucester on 5–6 July, 1997. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 36. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
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Studies of the monumental and material evidence from the four coloniae (Colchester, Gloucester, Lincoln, and York) and Silchester.
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Jones, M. J. 2002. Roman Lincoln: Conquest, colony and capital. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Detailed outline of the development of Lincoln from the archaeological evidence. An important example of the development from legionary fortress to veteran colonia and, finally, capital of one of the later four provinces.
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Niblett, R. 2001. Verulamium: The Roman city of St. Albans. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Detailed description of the history of Roman Verulamium from the wealth of archaeological evidence. Important discussion of how Verulamium has been used by leading archaeologists to write the history of urbanism in Roman Britain.
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Wacher, J. S. 1995. The towns of Roman Britain. 2d ed. London: Batsford.
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First two chapters introduce the character of urbanism in the province. Subsequent six chapters deal with the archaeology of groups of towns, divided by the period of their foundation to provide an underlying narrative of the development of the province as an imperial project.
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White, R., and P. Barker. 2002. Wroxeter: Life and death of a Roman city. Rev. ed. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Outline of the archaeological development of Wroxeter from its origins as a legionary fortress through to its continuity into the post-Roman period.
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The Countryside

Traditionally, work on the countryside has focused on villas, both in terms of excavation and the prominence they have played in interpretations of the nature of the countryside. Important works (such as Scott 1993) have focused on the layout of the villas and their distribution through the landscape; other works (such as Black 1987 and Branigan 1976) have focused on regional groups. More recent approaches have considered the social significance of the distribution of the villas in relationship to urban settlements (such as Gregson 1988), on their decoration as a signifier of elite status in relationship to elite status (such as Scott 2000, cited under Material Culture Studies), and their layout as a way to understand family relations (such as Hingley 1989 and Smith 1978). More recently, there has been a growth in studies of countryside and landscape more broadly (such as Dark and Dark 1997 and Hingley 1989). Taylor 2007 is an important compilation of the data and points to a more varied landscape than suggested by the focus on villa architecture and regional variability in settlement development. Much of the excavations of the last twenty years or so have not been fully published, and reports rest in archives (so-called grey literature). The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain reviews this material, and preliminary results suggest that it will revolutionize our understanding of rural settlement and society.

Black, E. W. 1987. The Roman villas of south-east England. British Archaeological Reports 171. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
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Chronological discussion of development of villa structures in Kent, Surry, Sussex, and eastern Hampshire. Raises questions of regional variability.
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Branigan, K. 1976. The Roman villa in South-West England. Bradford-on-Avon, UK: Moonraker.
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Overview of villa development in the south-west of the province, including the important Cotswolds region. Focuses on their development and economic aspects.
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Dark, K., and P. Dark. 1997. The landscape of Roman Britain. Stroud, UK: Sutton.
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Considers environmental evidence for the Roman period, as well as the human impact in terms of settlement types and agricultural methods.
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Gregson, M. 1988. The villa as private property. In Villa economies: Economic aspects of Romano-British villas. Edited by K. Branigan and D. Miles, 21–33. Sheffield, UK: Univ. of Sheffield.
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Statistical analysis of villa size and distribution in relation to towns to understand questions of land ownership.
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Hingley, R. 1989. Rural settlement in Roman Britain. London: Seaby.
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Innovative exploration of rural settlements focusing on family organization and differing patterns of wealth and poverty. Includes a consideration of regional difference in settlement patterns.
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The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain.
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Ongoing research project to write a new account of rural settlement from published and unpublished archaeological data, much from commercial archaeology. Although the final synthesis is still in progress, the website includes newsletters and PowerPoint presentations with regional summaries.
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Scott, E. 1993. A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain. Leicester, UK: Univ. of Leicester School of Archaeological Studies.
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Gazetteer of villa sites organized by county. Each entry includes a brief description and bibliography. Includes those revealed by aerial photography and field walking.
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Smith, J. T. 1978. Villas as a key to social structure. In Studies in the Romano-British villa. Edited by M. Todd, 149–186. Leicester, UK: Leicester Univ. Press.
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Argues that the plans of Roman villas suggest multiple units within individual units and that this is the result of the continuity of the extended family as the basis for property inheritance.
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Taylor, J. 2007. An atlas of Roman rural settlement in England. CBA Research Report 151. York, UK: Council for British Archaeology.
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Identification and discussion of rural settlement based on data from the whole of the country. Demonstrates a mixed landscape with small farmsteads, hamlets, and villages and increased settlement hierarchy over time. Also shows localized and complex patterns of development.
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Taylor, J. 2013. Encountering Romanitas: Characterising the role of agricultural communities in Roman Britain. Britannia 44:171–190.
DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X13000202Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Application of ideas of identity and agency to the evidence from the rural landscape, integrating multiple forms of evidence within two case study areas to argue for the complexity of the formation of identity within the countryside.
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The Army in Britain

Military installations, from marching camps to frontiers, form a large part of the archaeology of Roman Britain. Until the last decade, attention has focused on the infrastructure itself, such as Bidwell 2007 and Pearson 2002 on forts. Most attention has been focused on Hadrian’s Wall, and the work of the Durham School of archaeologists has been fundamental in developing the knowledge of this site. Much of this material has been published in the journal Archaeologia Aeliana, and key forts in this zone have included Vindolanda, South Shields, Housesteads, Birdoswald, and the problematic fortress/town at Corbridge. This material is synthesized in Breeze 2006b and Breeze and Dobson 2000. One of the most spectacular discoveries has been the documentary archive from Vindolanda, now mirrored to a lesser extent by the writing tablets from Carlisle. The other frontiers and the legionary fortresses have traditionally been less well served. Breeze 2006a deals with the Antonine Wall, and Burnham and Davies 2010 covers the military installations in Wales. More recently, James 2002 has questioned traditional approaches to the Roman military and proposed a new agenda, reflecting a new interest in the identity of the soldier (as explored in Gardner 2007), as well as the military in wider society (such as Allason-Jones 1999), covering the evidence for women and children in and around military camps.

Allason-Jones, L. 1999. Women and the Roman army in Britain. In The Roman army as a community: Including papers of a conference held at Birkbeck College, University of London, on 11–12 January 1997. Edited by A. Goldsworthy and I. Haynes, 41–51. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
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Outlines the evidence for women associated with the military units in Roman Britain and discusses their potential status. Argues that it indicates a far higher number than previously assumed, not only of wives and concubines but also of daughters, extended family, and slaves.
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Bidwell, P. 2007. Roman forts in Britain. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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A synthesis of the plan, layout, use of the forts of Britain (excluding the fortresses), and the daily lives of the soldiers. Covers settlements outside the forts (vici) and the supply of the fort communities.
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Bowman, A., and J. D. Thomas. 1983–2003. The Vindolanda writing-tablets. London: British Museum.
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Three volumes publishing the writing tablets from the auxiliary fort at Vindolanda in the north of Britain. This unique body of material includes strength-reports, inventories, and letters. A searchable database is available online.
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Breeze, D. 2006a. The Antonine Wall. Edinburgh: John Donald.
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A discussion of the archaeology of the Antonine Wall and its historical context within the reign of Antoninus Pius.
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Breeze, D. 2006b. J. Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall. 14th ed. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
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The most recent edition of the handbook of Hadrian’s Wall, covering the archaeology of the forts and fortlets of Hadrian’s Wall, the Stanegate forts, and the Cumbrian coast forts.
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Breeze, D., and B. Dobson. 2000. Hadrian’s Wall. 4th ed. London: Penguin.
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Most recent edition of an important synthesis of archaeological and epigraphic evidence for the frontier. As well as a discussion of the building and the development of the wall, chapters 5 and 6 include a consideration of the army of the wall and life on the wall.
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Burnham, B. C., and J. L. Davies. 2010. Roman frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.
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A survey of the evidence for military installations in Wales and the Marches. Part 1 contains a six thematic chapters synthesize the material; chapter 7 comprises a gazetteer of all known and possible military sites in the region.
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Collins, R., and L. Allason-Jones. 2010. Finds from the frontier: Material culture in the 4th–5th centuries. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 162. York, UK: Council for British Archaeology.
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A series of papers exploring the northern frontier during the later Roman period from the artifactual evidence.
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Gardner, A. 2007. An archaeology of identity. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast.
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Exploration of the military in 4th-century Britain from archaeological evidence. Ties military identity into wider social changes in the 4th century.
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James, S. 2002. Writing the legions: The development and future of Roman military studies in Britain. Archaeological Journal 159:1–58.
DOI: 10.1080/00665983.2002.11020514Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Critical examination of the history of Roman military studies in Britain. Proposed new directions for the field.
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Pearson, A. 2002. The Roman shore forts: Coastal defences of southern Britain. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Overview of the latest evidence for the so-called Saxon Shore forts, focusing on the 3rd century onward, with discussion of their buildings, the landscape around them, and their possible role.
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The Economy

The economy of Roman Britain, like the rest of the Roman Empire, was largely agriculturally based, and so there are inevitable overlaps between this section and the Countryside (in particular, the references to Dark and Dark 1997, Hingley 1989, and the Rural Settlement of Roman Britain project). The wider economic development of the province forms an important element of Millett 1990 (cited under Cultural Change). The evidence for both production and trade has traditionally been derived from pottery and coinage, and Tyers 1999 and Reece 2002 provide detailed overviews of this material. The development of new archaeological techniques has brought other forms of material to the fore, as represented in Maltby 2010 on the faunal remains and Sim and Ridge 2002 on iron extraction. The mapping of large quantities of material has produced new insights into the trading of goods, most especially specific ceramic industries in Allen and Fulford 1996.

Allen, J. R. L., and M. G. Fulford. 1996. The distribution of south-east Dorset black burnished Category 1 pottery in south-west Britain. Britannia 27:223–281.
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Reconstruction of the distribution of the products of a ceramic industry based in the south-west of the province as way to understand the mechanics of a province-wide industry.
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Maltby, M. 2010. Feeding a Roman town: Environmental evidence from excavations in Winchester, 1972–1985. Winchester, UK: Winchester Museums.
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Largely a study of the faunal and environmental remains from recent excavations in the town. Part 2.3 represents a substantial synthesis of the faunal evidence from a large number of Romano-British towns to understand how towns were supplied with meat and other animal products and the implications for our knowledge of the economy of the province.
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Reece, R. 2002. The coinage of Roman Britain. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Investigates the place of coins in the province as a whole, looking at changes in how they were produced, how they were used, and how Britain differed from other provinces in the empire.
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Sim, D., and I. Ridge. 2002. Iron for the eagles: The iron industry of Roman Britain. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Overview of the transformation in the scale of the iron-working industry in Britain from prospecting and extraction to distribution.
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Tyers, P. 1999. Roman pottery in Britain. London: Routledge.
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Authoritative outline of the study of pottery in Roman Britain. Although production and consumption are only discussed in chapter 3, the methods outlined underpin much of the work on the Romano-British economy.
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Religion

Work on religion has concentrated on its most immediate manifestations: the deities and temples. The evidence for each has been collected in important syntheses: Birley 1986 for the deities and Lewis 1966 on the temples, while Henig 1995 remains the most successful attempt to consider all forms of evidence. Haeussler and King 2008, Rodwell 1980, and Rudling 2008 all represent collections of papers that highlight some of the most important discoveries since these syntheses. There has been a particular interest in the evidence for a syncretism between the Roman and the indigenous traditional deities. Webster 1995 argued that the evidence shows a more complex process of associating the names of indigenous deities with Roman ones than often supposed (see also Webster 2001 cited under Cultural Change). More recently, questions of ritual deposition have been addressed, in particular pit deposits, as evidence for religious practice in Smith 2001 and Fulford 2001. The evidence for Christianity is diverse and has most recently been studied in Petts 2003 (cited under the End of Roman Britain).

Birley, E. 1986. The deities of Roman Britain. In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Edited by H. Temporini and W. Haase, II 18.1: 3–112. Berlin: de Gruyter.
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List of all deities known from Roman Britain, with discussion of the epigraphic evidence.
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Fulford, M. 2001. Links with the past: Pervasive “ritual” behaviour in Roman Britain. Britannia 32:199–218.
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An examination of structured deposition in towns and small towns using a series of case studies as a form of ritual behavior not necessarily associated with temple sites.
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Haeussler, R., and A. C. King, eds. 2008. Continuity and innovation in religion in the Roman West. 2 vols. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 67. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
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Two-volume conference proceedings on temples, ritual, and deities, which includes a number of papers relating to Britain.
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Henig, M. 1995. Religion in Roman Britain. London: Batsford.
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A synthesis of the cults of the province, the contexts of their worship, and the relationship between religion and politics. Includes a discussion of the Christian–pagan interaction in the 4th century.
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Lewis, M. J. T. 1966. Temples in Roman Britain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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Gazetteer and discussion of shrines and temples in Britain arranged by architectural type; concludes with a discussion of general trends from their study.
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Rodwell, W., ed. 1980. Temples, churches and religion: Recent research in Roman Britain; With a gazetteer of Romano-Celtic temples in continental Europe. British Archaeological Reports 77. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
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A series of papers on general themes and specific sites, generally dealing with temples, but also other evidence for cult activity. Volume 2 includes a revised gazetteer of temples in Roman Britain, updating Lewis 1966.
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Rudling, D., ed. 2008. Ritual landscapes of Roman south-east Britain. Oxford: Oxbow.
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Papers from a one-day conference held by the Council for British Archaeology South-East Region at the University of Sussex, November 2002, some dealing with specific sites or regions, whereas thematic papers discuss votive offerings and continuity into the Christian period and beyond.
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Smith, A. 2001. The differential use of constructed sacred space in southern Britain, from the Late Iron Age to the 4th century AD. British Archaeological Reports British Series 318. Oxford: Archaeopress.
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An examination of the development of sacred space, including an analysis of patterns of deposition within the temenos (temple enclosure).
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Webster, J. 1995. Interpretatio: Roman word power and the Celtic gods. Britannia 26:153–161.
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Examines the cases of double-naming of deities, discussing which deities are paired together and who is responsible for the dedications to them. Argues against the prevalent theory of pairing as a means of preserving the character of native deities.
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Material Culture Studies

With the exception of ceramics and coinage, material culture studies have traditionally been seen as the Cinderella branch of Romano-British archaeology, only of use when they can be used to date a site and relegated to the catalogue of the excavation report if lucky. However, since the 1990s, there has been a revolution in material culture studies, with more attention focused on what they can tell us about society. A broader range of ideas from postprocessual archaeology, such as identity, object biography, and consumption, have proved influential, whereas increasingly sophisticated databases, geographic information systems (GIS), and statistical packages have allowed large quantities of material to be analyzed and inter-and intra-site patterning identified. One key theme that has emerged is regional variability in typology and use patterns, as demonstrated by Eckardt and Crummy 2008 and Willis 2011. Other approaches have focused on the activities associated with the artifacts (such as Allason-Jones 2011 and Cool 2006), the significance of choice in their production (such as Bayley and Butcher 2004), and re-use (such as Swift 2012). Similarly, the art of Roman Britain has also been neglected and seen either as being substandard in comparison to that produced in the center of the empire or as wiping out a more dynamic Celtic art. The main synthesis of the material is Henig 1995, but more recent work has taken a more rigorous approach, judging the art on its own merits and exploring its social role, as illustrated in Morelli 2009, Scott 2000, and Scott and Webster 2003.

Allason-Jones, L., ed. 2011. Artefacts in Roman Britain: Their purpose and use. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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Edited volume of themed papers discussing artifacts in terms of their use, such as agriculture, writing, commerce, etc.
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Bayley, J., and S. Butcher. 2004. Roman brooches in Britain: A technological and typological study based on the Richborough Collection. London: Society of Antiquaries of London.
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Detailed metallurgical analysis demonstrates that the alloys used in the production of brooches correlates with type and decoration, suggesting the geographical location of workshops.
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Cool, H. E. M. 2006. Eating and drinking in Roman Britain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511489570Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An examination of practices of eating and drinking using evidence of storage vessels, dining vessels, and remains of food and drink consumed.
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Eckardt, H., and N. Crummy. 2008. Styling the body in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain: A contextual approach to toilet instruments. Montagnac, France: Editions Monique Mergoil.
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Contextual study of c. 1300 toilet instruments used in personal grooming. Authors argue that the contexts of their discovery point to a local, British understanding of grooming.
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Henig, M. 1995. The art of Roman Britain. London: Batsford.
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A wide-ranging examination of Romano-British art, focusing on how it was produced and what it might have meant.
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Morelli, Angela. 2009. Roman Britain and classical deities: Gender and sexuality in Roman art. British Archaeological Reports British Series 482. Oxford: Archaeopress.
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An examination of gender (masculinity and femininity) through the representation of deities in various media of Romano-British art.
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Scott, S. 2000. Art and society in fourth-century Britain: Villa mosaics in context. Oxford: Oxford Univ. School of Archaeology.
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An examination of Late Antique villa mosaics, reviewing the evidence for regional schools before analyzing them by context and by theme to understand their role in elite power.
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Scott, S., and J. Webster, eds. 2003. Roman imperialism and provincial art. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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An important volume considering the adoption of Roman artistic traditions within the provinces; chapters considering the art of Roman Britain include those by Scott, Johns, Rodgers, Aldhouse Green, and Henig.
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Swift, E. 2012. Object biography, re-use and recycling in the Late to Post-Roman transition period and beyond: Rings made from Romano-British bracelets. Britannia 43:167–215.
DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X12000281Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Applies the theoretical construct of object biography to copper alloy bracelets, focusing on the later stages of their use, their transformation into finger rings, and their deposition.
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Willis, S. 2011. Samian ware and society in Roman Britain and beyond. Britannia 42:167–242.
DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X11000602Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Uses the large collection of Samian ware from the province to examine the social context of its use and variability between regions and social groups.
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Society

There is a temptation in much of the literature on Roman Britain to see it either as completely unpeopled or, alternatively, to assume the adult, male, and generally elite inhabitant. A series of recent studies has readdressed this and focused on aspects of gender, age, and slavery. Some has been corrective and has looked at the evidence for the previously marginalized groups, such as Allason-Jones 2005, Moore 2010, and Webster 2005. Other work has adopted a more theoretical stance to look at questions of identity and social differentiation, such as Carroll 2013, Gowland 2001, and Moore 2009. A large part of this work has been based on the analysis of mortuary evidence, and Pearce 2013 provides a contextual examination of the treatment of the dead. There has also been a growing interest in the question of immigration into Roman Britain, with isotopic studies of skeletal data suggesting more movement into urban communities than previously assumed, as demonstrated in Eckardt 2010.

Allason-Jones, L. 2005. Women in Roman Britain. 2d ed. York, UK: Council for British Archaeology.
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Uses a range of material evidence to examine the lives of women, explicitly looking at differences between women from civilian and military zones and through a series of themes such as fashion, religion, and recreation.
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Carroll, M. 2013. “The insignia of women”: Dress, gender and identity on the Roman funerary monument of Regina from Arbeia. Archaeological Journal 169:281–311.
DOI: 10.1080/00665983.2012.11020916Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examination of the text and iconography of the epitaph to understand how it signals specific messages about her gender, ethnicity, and rank.
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Eckardt, H., ed. 2010. Roman diasporas: Archaeological approaches to mobility and diversity in the Roman empire. Journal of Archaeology Supplementary Series 78. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Archaeology.
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Series of papers discussing mobility using a range of evidence, including some using the latest osteological techniques. Majority of papers deal with Roman Britain.
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Gowland, R. 2001. Playing dead: Implications of mortuary evidence for the social construction of childhood in Roman Britain. In TRAC 2000: Proceedings of the tenth annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference; held at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London, 6th–7th April 2000. Edited by G. Davies, A. Gardner, and K. Lockyear, 152–168. London 2000. Oxford: Oxbow.
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Analyzes grave good provision for deceased individuals under 18 years old from the skeletal evidence to argue against a homogenous category of “children,” with an age-related shift in identity between the ages of four and seven years.
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Moore, A. 2009. Hearth and home: The burial of infants within Romano-British contexts. Childhood in the Past 2:33–54.
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Examines the contexts of the interment of neonatal and infant burials within rural settlements in Roman Britain to argue that these were transitional beings on the cusp of life and that this liminality allowed them to be used to negotiate ambiguous elements of life.
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Moore, A. 2010. Age and identity in funerary contexts: The elderly in southern Roman Britain. In TRAC 2009: Proceedings of the nineteenth annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference which took place at the University of Michigan 3–5 April 2009 and the University of Southampton 17–18 April 2009. Edited by Alison Moore, Geoff Taylor, Emily Harris, Peter Girdwood, and Lucy Shipley, 105–119. Oxford: Oxbow.
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Applies a life-course approach to adult burials to argue for a recognizable category of the elderly in Roman Britain.
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Pearce, J. 2013. Contextual archaeology of burial practice: Case studies from Roman Britain. British Archaeology Reports British Series 588. Oxford: Archaeopress.
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An examination of the funerary process from the initial treatment of the body to the commemorative display in a landscape. Adopts a contextual approach to tease out the geographies of display.
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Webster, J. 2005. Archaeologies of slavery and servitude: Bringing “New World” perspectives to Roman Britain. Journal of Roman Archaeology 18:161–179.
DOI: 10.1017/S1047759400007261Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Applies methods from New World archaeology to look for evidence of slavery in Britain; argues that round-houses in otherwise Romanized settlements were the quarters of enslaved Britons.
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The End of Roman Britain

The end of Roman Britain has caused something of a problem because of the lack of textual evidence and problems in dating artifact typologies, although better resolution of radio carbon dating offers some hope. The result is a vigorous debate over the ending of Roman Britain in a political and cultural sense. The debate has revolved around a number of key issues concerning the character of the change. The first issue is the date of this transformation, with arguments putting the collapse of Roman culture as early as the late 3rd century CE through to the 5th century or later, with Faulkner 2004 arguing for an early decline. The second is the nature of the transformation, whether it was a sudden collapse or a gradual change. The third is the nature of the relationship with mainland Europe, whether Britain represents a unique case or, in fact, mirrors wider transformations, as considered in Esmonde-Cleary 1989 and papers in Collins and Gerrard 2004. The roles of migrations and departing Roman troops and other specific factors also play a disputed part. The role of other social and cultural factors in the transformations of the 4th century is considered in Gerrard 2013 and Petts 2003. Some of these issues have been covered in other sections: the changing nature of military deployment in Collins and Allason-Jones 2010 (cited under the Army in Britain, changing forms of material culture in Gardner 2007 (cited under the Army in Britain) and Swift 2012 (cited under Material Culture Studies).

Collins, R., and J. Gerrard, eds. 2004. Debating late antiquity in Britain AD 300–700. British Archaeological Reports British Series 365. Oxford: Archaeopress.
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Series of papers from a conference at the University of York in 2003 seeking to consider the validity of the continental model of Late Antiquity for Roman Britain and how the period could be examined from the archaeological evidence. Papers represent the debates surrounding both issues.
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Dark, K. 2000. Britain and the end of the Roman empire. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Argues that Britain played a part in the mainstream of cultural development throughout the 5th and 6th centuries. Downplays the role of migration and argues for the importance of Christianity in shaping cultural change.
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Esmonde-Cleary, A. S. 1989. The ending of Roman Britain. London: Batsford.
DOI: 10.4324/9780203470046Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the end of Roman Britain in the light of the wider context of the Western Empire rather than as an insular phenomenon. Considers the nature of 4th-century society and post-Roman society from the archaeological evidence.
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Faulkner, N. 2004. The decline and fall of Roman Britain. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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Takes an explicitly Marxist approach to the end of Roman Britain and argues that the end of provincial rule was caused by structural factors set in place from the moment of its conquest, with its rule through a military-bureaucratic system. Identifies a decline in provincial fortunes during Late Antiquity as a super-rich elite siphon the wealth out of the province, leaving it unable to withstand a sequence of cataclysmic events in the late 4th and early 5th centuries.
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Gerrard, J. 2013. The ruin of Roman Britain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139839129Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Argues that the end of the province was, in fact, the product of a change in elite definition from one based in paideia to one governed by martial prowess. Similarly, horizons had shifted from a large-scale empire-wide worldview to a series of “small worlds.”
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Petts, D. 2003. Christianity in Roman Britain. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
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A discussion of the development of Christianity and Christian materials in Roman Britain, including a consideration of what it meant to be Christian in Britain. Argues that it was distinct from Christianity on the continent and varied according to region.
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