The Archaeology of Roman Britain Within the colonial history of the British Empire there are diffi culties in reconstructing the lives of people that came from very different traditions of experience. The Archaeology of Roman Britain argues that a similar criti- cal approach to the lives of people in Roman Britain needs to be developed, not only for the study of the local population but also for those coming into Britain from elsewhere in the Empire who developed distinctive colonial lives. This critical, biographical approach can be extended and applied to places, structures and things which developed in these provincial contexts as they were used and experienced over time. This book uniquely combines the study of all of these elements to access the character of Roman Britain and the lives, experiences and identities of people living there through four centuries of occupation. Drawing on the concept of the biography and using it as an analytical tool, author Adam Rogers situates the archaeological material of Roman Britain within the political, geographical and temporal context of the Roman Empire. This study will be of interest to scholars of Roman archaeology, as well as to those working in biographical themes, issues of colonialism, identity, ancient history and classics. Adam Rogers is a Research Associate in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, UK. He is author of Late Roman Towns in Britain (2011) and Water and Roman Urbanism (2013). Routledge Studies in Archaeology 1 An Archaeology of Materials 7 Materiality and Consumption in Substantial Transformations in the Bronze Age Mediterranean Early Prehistoric Europe Louise Steel Chantal Conneller 8 Archaeology in Environment 2 Roman Urban Street Networks and Technology Streets and the Organization of Intersections and Transformations Space in Four Cities Edited by David Frankel , Jennifer Alan Kaiser M . Webb and Susan Lawrence 3 Tracing Prehistoric Social 9 An Archaeology of Land Networks through Technology Ownership A Diachronic Perspective on Edited by Maria Relaki and the Aegean Despina Catapoti Edited by Ann Brysbaert 10 From Prehistoric Villages 4 Hadrian’s Wall and the End to Cities of Empire Settlement Aggregation and The Roman Frontier in the 4th Community Transformation and 5th Centuries Edited by Jennifer Birch Rob Collins 5 U.S. Cultural Diplomacy and 11 Space and Time in Archaeology Mediterranean Prehistory Soft Power, Hard Heritage Edited by Stella Souvatzi Christina Luke and Morag and Athena Hadji M. Kersel 12 Open-Air Rock-Art 6 The Prehistory of Iberia Conservation and Management Debating Early Social State of the Art and Future Stratifi cation and the State Perspectives Edited by Maria Cruz Berrocal , Edited by Timothy Darvill Leonardo García Sanjuán , and António Pedro Batarda and Antonio Gilman Fernandes 13 Knowledge Networks and Craft 15 The Archaeology of Roman Traditions in the Ancient World Britain Material Crossovers Biography and Identity Edited by Katharina Rebay- Adam Rogers Salisbury , Ann Brysbaert and Lin Foxhall 14 Sharing Archaeology Academe, Practice, and the Public Edited by Peter G Stone and Zhao Hui This page intentionally left blank The Archaeology of Roman Britain Biography and Identity Adam Rogers First published 2015 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Taylor & Francis The right of Adam Rogers to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: P roduct or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rogers, Adam, 1981– The archaeology of Roman Britain : biography and identity / Adam Rogers. pages cm — (Routledge studies in archaeology ; 15) 1. Great Britain—History—Roman period, 55 B.C.–449 A.D. 2. Great Britain—Antiquities, Roman. 3. Romans—Great Britain. I. Title. DA145.R7326 2014 936.2—dc23 2014022737 ISBN: 978-1-138-79674-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-75766-7 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of Figures ix Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction: Roman Britain, Biographies and Identities 1 2 Biographies of Knowledge 20 3 People in Roman Britain 56 4 Buildings, Settlements, Landscapes and Critical Identities 100 5 The Lives of Objects and Materials 159 6 Conclusion: Critical Biographies and Roman Britain 188 References 199 Index 225 This page intentionally left blank Figures 2.1 Photographing archaeological remains: creating the static and isolating image. 32 2.2 Map of the supposed invasion route of the Roman forces into Britain in A D 43. 41 2.3 Plan of the possible pre-Claudian features excavated at Fishbourne. 43 2.4 Map of the locations of the main towns of Roman Britain. 52 3.1 Map of the conventional interpretation of tribal boundaries of late Iron Age Britain. 65 3.2 Photograph of the tombstone of Regina, Arbeia Museum. 77 3.3 Photograph of the remains of the fort at Vindolanda with reconstructions of a timber-phase and stone-phase gateway. 83 3.4 Plans of the 1–7 Thomas Street site in Southwark, London: (a) northwestern part; (b) southeastern part. 85 3.5 Photograph of the Neolithic henge monument of Maumbury Rings in Dorset outside the Roman town at Dorchester ( Durnovaria ) which became the site of the amphitheatre. 89 3.6 Plan of the Moor House site in London. 95 3.7 Plan of the excavated areas of the Hambleden villa, Buckinghamshire. 97 4.1 Plan of one of the longhouses analysed in Fokke Gerritsen’s volume Local Identities . 102 4.2 Plan of the villa at Lullingstone, Kent. 105 4.3 Plan of the villa at Holme House/Piercebridge, County Durham. 112 4.4 Plans of the excavated areas of the Pegswood Moor settlement, Northumberland: (a) later Iron Age; (b) first to second century A D. 116 4.5 Plan of Middle Gunnar Peak, Northumberland, excavated by George Jobey (1981). 118