Redefining Romanization: Material Culture and the Question of Social Continuity in Roman Britain

Grahame, Mark

doi:10.16995/trac1997_1_10

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…2 While the rôle of the locals of later generations was acknowledged in this narrative, the impetus for urbanism was seen as state-driven, top-down and interventionist. 3 As usefully summarised by Grahame 1998. He believed Rome to have been less interventionist than did Frere and Wacher.…”

Section: Britain's First Towns: Scholarship and Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities

Pitts¹

2014

J. Roman archaeol.

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Questions about the foundation and cultural make-up of Britain's first towns have been long debated. The creation of new cities was a crucial element in the economic and cultural assimilation of a new province, having ramifications for the trajectories of later generations as well as the immediate situation following the conquest. A dominant feature of the debate about urban origins in Britain is the interpretation of evidence relating to buildings and urban morphology, whereas the contribution of the evidence from finds has arguably been minimal. My intent here is to review the historical scenario of the foundation of Britain's first towns in light of artefactual evidence. I will focus on the evidence of Claudio-Neronian brooches and imported finewares (and their predecessors), which have already contributed to the debate as chronological indicators but perhaps offer more potential for new insights into cultural connectivity and social practice. 11 Creighton 2006, 130-35. 12 Creighton 2006, 94 and 125; cf. Millett 1994, 433. 13 Perring 2011, 250-51. The basis for Perring's theory is the discovery of an enclosure of c.24.5 ha defined by V-shaped double-ditches, rapidly constructed and dismantled in the late Claudian period, as well as dendrochronological dates for bridge structures on the Cornhill site of no later than A.D. 48, where a rectangular street grid was established before the revolt of A.D. 60/61. 14 Wallace 2013 presents a detailed counter-argument. 15 Aldhouse-Green 2007, 381; cf. Burnham et al. 2001, 71. 16 Goldsworthy and Haynes 1999.Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities 135 Artefactual perspectivesTo address the question of who lived in Britain's first towns, a rather different perspective comes when attention is shifted from structures to artefacts. Admittedly, this is a story that is less easy to tell or visualise, requiring no small amount of work to produce clear narratives from the detailed specialist analyses conducted on different categories of finds. Nevertheless, progress is being made. For example, comparative analysis of Claudio-Neronian material from the colonia at Colchester and the pre-existing Sheepen site revealed new insights into the cultural geography of the landscape around Colchester. 17 Here, a marked difference in assemblages between the two contemporary locations implies entrenched discrepancies in pottery supply and use after the conquest, 18 highlighting the likelihood of two culturally-distinct communities at Colchester. This observation is further reinforced by the integration of faunal and brooch data, with contextually defined 'suites' of material emerging, one relating to the veteran colonists, the other linked to the indigenous population. 19 To complicate matters, a fuller consideration of the finds suggests the spatial segregation of military/colonial and pre-existing communities within Claudio-Neronian Sheepen itself (between compounds 1 and 2, respectively, of R. Niblett's excavations). 20 The implications of this research are twofold. In the first pl...

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Section: Britain's First Towns: Scholarship and Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities

Pitts¹

2014

J. Roman archaeol.

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“…1. Parallel to the colonising ethos of the international politics of the nineteenth and earlytwentieth century, romanisation was in the early years pictured as a deliberate civilising mission (Grahame 1998;Webster 2001). Contrastingly, Millett now proposed aemulatio, self-romanisation of indigenous elites.…”

Section: The Romanisation Debate In Shortmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many objects are not appreciated because they are Roman, but because they are new, modern, or tasty (Freeman 1993: 443-444;Wells 1999: 127-128;Hingley 1996: 42). Moreover, objects that may originate from the Mediterranean, could have been used later in a different way, even to stress opposite meanings (Willis 1996;Grahame 1998;Webster 2001: 215-218;Mattingly 2004: 7). As a last point concerning material culture, many objects labelled 'Roman' do in fact precede the Roman conquest of Britain, and it is doubtful whether they were seen as Roman.…”

Section: The Romanisation Debate In Shortmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Material Culture of Small Rural Settlements in the Batavian Area: A Case Study on Discrepant Experience, Creolisation, Romanisation or Globalisation?

Heeren

2014

Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal

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“…However, the impact of these new study approaches has been rather dichotomised and poorly understood in terms of reciprocal feedback. Theory and material studies have generally developed on separate pathways, although their dialogue has recently started to produce new research trajectories and insightful debates on the practice of theory (Grahame 1998;Hawthorne 1998;Lucas 2002;Gardner 2003;Pitts 2004). As far as London is concerned, the fundamental study on samian ware carried out by Monteil (2005) has been a cornerstone and a vital piece in the reconstruction of the economic and socio-cultural development of the city.…”

Section: Theory and Practice: Grounding Paradigms Through Materials Evmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pompeian Red Ware in Roman London: Insights on Pottery Consumption in Colonial Environments

Podavitte

2014

Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal

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Redefining Romanization: Material Culture and the Question of Social Continuity in Roman Britain

Abstract: The debate over the nature of 'Romanization' co ntinues to be centra l to the deliberations of Roman archaeology, as the burgeoning number of publications on the subject amp ly demonstrate (e,g

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities

Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities

The Material Culture of Small Rural Settlements in the Batavian Area: A Case Study on Discrepant Experience, Creolisation, Romanisation or Globalisation?

Pompeian Red Ware in Roman London: Insights on Pottery Consumption in Colonial Environments

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