The Use of Coal in Roman Britain

Abstract

and particularly Frere 1987, 288). Forty years ago Graham Webster reviewed the archaeological evidence for its use, and his account (Webster 1955) superseded earlier national and regional accounts (e.g. Cunnington 1932, 173; cf. Webster 1955, 199 n. 2). Since 1955, however, a considerable expansion in both excavation and publication, coupled with developments in recovery, recording and identification procedures, has resulted in a commensurate increase in the quantity and quality of the available evidence, which makes a detailed re-assessment of coal's significance overdue.The importance of the archaeological evidence is emphasized by the limited literary testimony of the use of coal in the ancient world in general. What references there are are difficult to interpret. Solinus (Collectaneae rerum memorabilium, cited in Haverfield 1906, 220-1) refers to a fuel that 'never whitens into ash but, as the flame fades, turns into rocky balls', which was used on the altar of Minerva in Britain, presumably at Bath. But this identifiable description is unique and, as Webster (1955, 199) noted, the fact that the word carbo was probably used to indicate both coal and charcoal makes other identifications in classical sources difficult. One or two other references may occur, by Theophrastus (De Lapidibus, 11,[12][13], possibly to denote the use of lignite in Thrace, Liguria and Elis (Eichholz 1965, 96-8), and by Pliny (Natural History, 34.20), recording the use of carbo for bronze working in areas of the provinces short of wood; but the problems are highlighted by the uncertain nature of the fuel noted in Pliny {Natural History, 2.111) and regarded by Webster (1955, 199) as natural gas, and by the probable variety of other inflammable substances known to authors such as Theophrastus (De Lapidibus, 11, 14 and 19), which Eichholz (1965, 96-8) interprets as references to pitchstone and palygorskite. In addition to the problems of interpretation, however, the almost complete silence of classical sources on the use of coal is not unduly significant, considering the limited degree to which they refer to non-political matters in north-western Europe.The nature and reliability of the evidence Some 200 Romano-British sites, ranging from small farmsteads to major towns are listed in the Appendix (see p. 00) as having yielded stratified coal. They represent a minimum of several hundred individual contexts, often reflecting temporally or functionally diverse aspects of the same site. Indeed in many instances far more coal-yielding contexts have been identified on sites than published accounts would lead one to believe, and this may well be equally true of other sites where it has been impossible to consult full archives. However, a number of points need to be made about the variety and consistency of this substantial body of evidence. Firstly, it should be noted that excavators' identifications of coal have been accepted at face value because confirmation has rarely been possible. Coal has been taken to include (where the differentiat...

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