From the End of Roman Britain to The’‘celtic West'

Abstract

This paper suggests that the end of Roman Britain would have been an event noticeable, even to the peasant labouring in his j e l d s , by a sudden collapse in the trading economy. It suggests that this was, perhaps, triggered by a 'tax revolt' amongst the elite. It then seeks to trace possible lines of continuity and transformations in various key features ofRomano-British life in the fifth to seventh centuries. Many of the transformations are seen as resulting JACKSON. K. 1953: Language and History in Early Britain (Edinburgh).

Livestock Changes at the Beginning and End of the Roman Period in Britain: Issues of Acculturation, Adaptation, and ‘Improvement’

“…Scale: 3 cm. (Evans, 1990 and references therein). The urban character of Wroxeter may have also caused an underestimation of potential livestock improvements under the Romans (for a discussion on settlement types and biometry, see Albarella et al, 2008).…”

“…In part, this is the result of the dearth of non-urban sites showing continuity of occupation between the fourth and the fifth–sixth centuries ad ; discontinuity is indeed a topic frequently associated with the establishment of Anglo-Saxon communities and is often reflected in the material culture recovered from their settlements and cemeteries (e.g. Reece, 1989; Evans, 1990; Hamerow, 2012). Early Anglo-Saxon animal husbandry has mainly been investigated in settlements that were established after the fall of Roman Britain.…”

Understanding the Romano-British–Early Medieval Transition: A Zooarchaeological Perspective from Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum)

“…In some respects, Britain's Roman heritage survived longer than in other North-Western provinces, hence the ability of the establishment to promote Christianity in Ireland. 6 3 Bassett 1989;Brooks 1986;Casey 1979;Esmonde Cleary 1989;2001. 4 Dixon 1996;Faulkner 2000;Laycock 2008;Liebeschuetz 1996;Reece 1980; 5 Evans 1990;Higham 1992;White 2007. 6 Dark 1994;2000a;2000b. UNDERSTANDING THE ROMANO-BRITISH-EARLY MEDIEVAL TRANSITION A ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACH All these perspectives have their limitations, principally because of the datasets they are based upon, as previously outlined.…”

Europe Between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Recent archaeological and historical research in Western and Southern Europe

“…The current consensus would hold rather that the material expressions of Romanized Britain, like the social, economic and political structures which they reflect, were victims of economic trauma and political fragmentation following the military and administrative break with the Western Empire, and subsequent social and economic realignments. The subsistence economy need not have suffered major disruption, but the Romanized superstructure which it supported, and which served the needs of elites and the state, collapsed (Esmond-deary, 1989;Evans, 1990;Mille«, 1990).…”

“…Throughout the Migration Period, Germanic societies belonged to a wider cultural and ideological province, whereas post-Roman British society would increasingly have been cut off both from the inspiration of the elite value systems of Late Roman Britain and the means to express and articulate them. New formulations of ideology and material expression emerge in western Britain (Evans, 1990), but the ideology and symbolism of a system which had failed may have held little attraction for native populations in eastern Britain.…”