The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
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• 166 • Simon Esmonde Cleary<br />
Other rural settlements<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the many benefits <strong>of</strong> aerial<br />
and other survey techniques has been<br />
to end dependence on villas for our<br />
view <strong>of</strong> the Romano-British<br />
countryside and its society. Instead <strong>of</strong><br />
a number <strong>of</strong> isolated sites,<br />
archaeologists <strong>ca</strong>n now discern a<br />
lands<strong>ca</strong>pe articulated into fieldsystems,<br />
and crossed by tracks and<br />
boundaries (Fulford 1990). It is now<br />
clear that the great majority <strong>of</strong><br />
settlements were <strong>of</strong> the ‘native<br />
farmstead’ type, that is enclosed<br />
groups <strong>of</strong> structures, usually <strong>of</strong> the<br />
prehistoric roundhouse tradition and<br />
yielding relatively little Romanized<br />
artefactual material (Hingley 1989).<br />
Alongside these dispersed, small<br />
settlements, perhaps the homes <strong>of</strong><br />
extended family groups, there are also<br />
nucleated linear settlements,<br />
somewhat reminiscent <strong>of</strong> medieval<br />
village plans. <strong>The</strong>se are best known<br />
in Somerset (Catsgore), Wiltshire<br />
(Chisenbury Warren, Nook) and<br />
Hampshire (Chalton) (Figure 9.6).<br />
Many non-villa settlements continue<br />
on the same site <strong>from</strong> the Late Iron<br />
Age, but there is increasing evidence<br />
Figure 9.6 Settlement and lands<strong>ca</strong>pe <strong>of</strong> the Roman period in the vicinity that through the 400 years <strong>of</strong> Roman<br />
<strong>of</strong> Chalton, Hampshire.<br />
<strong>Britain</strong>, there was much settlement<br />
Source: Cunliffe, B.W., 1976, ‘A Romano-British village at Chalton, Hants’,<br />
shift, boundary redrawing and the<br />
Proceedings <strong>of</strong> the Hampshire Field Club 33.<br />
creation <strong>of</strong> new field-systems, so that<br />
the agrarian lands<strong>ca</strong>pe <strong>of</strong> the fourth century would <strong>of</strong>ten have been markedly different <strong>from</strong> that<br />
<strong>of</strong> the first. Large-s<strong>ca</strong>le modern ex<strong>ca</strong>vations in advance <strong>of</strong> gravel-extraction in the river valleys<br />
<strong>of</strong> lowland <strong>Britain</strong> at sites in the upper Thames Valley such as Claydon Pike, Lechlade<br />
(Gloucestershire), the Warwickshire Avon at Beckford (Hereford and Worcestershire) and<br />
Wasperton (Warwickshire) have enabled detailed studies <strong>of</strong> the shifting pattern <strong>of</strong> settlements<br />
within their contemporary lands<strong>ca</strong>pes.<br />
It <strong>ca</strong>n seem at first sight that the majority <strong>of</strong> the rural population was little touched by the<br />
Roman way <strong>of</strong> doing things, though archaeologists should not slide too easily into thinking that<br />
there was no contact. Towns ‘large’ and ‘small’ would make available new products and new ideas.<br />
Links up the social hierarchy to Romanized landowners would also introduce new ways. Moreover,<br />
the ubiquitous demands <strong>of</strong> taxation, military supply and possibly military service would make<br />
these people aware <strong>of</strong> the imperial system. Though in their day-to-day lives there might be little<br />
direct evidence <strong>of</strong> Rome, the social, economic and mental frameworks within which those lives<br />
were conducted would have changed.