Second Century Defences around Small Towns in Roman Britain Structured by Road Network Connectivity

Abstract

The large-scale provision of defences around small towns in Roman Britain during the second century is without parallel in the Roman Empire. Whilst the relationship between defended small towns and the Roman road network has been noted previously, provincial-level patterns remain to be explored. Using network analysis and spatial inference methods, this paper shows that defended small towns in the second century are on average better integrated within the road network, as well as located on road segments important for controlling the flow of information, than small towns at random. This research suggests that the fortification of small towns in the second century was structured by the connectivity of the Roman road network and the functioning of the cursus publicus