The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 170 • Simon Esmonde Cleary
range from one roundhouse, as at
Belling Law (Northumberland), to
multistructure complexes such as
Milking Gap (Northumberland) or
Walesland Rath (Pembrokeshire)
(Figure 9.9), usually interpreted as
the residence of either a single
nucleated family or, for the larger
sites, an extended family or kin
group.
Economy and environment
In overall plan, building-types and
artefacts, these settlements show
little Roman influence. Explaining
this phenomenon poses important
questions about the interaction of
Romans and Britons. In the past, the
explanation was often seen as
environmental determinism: the
north and west are agriculturally
poorer than the south and east, with
an emphasis on pastoralism; but the
north and west could sustain
elaborate and expensive displays of
Figure 9.9 Walesland Rath, Pembrokeshire, a settlement with Iron Age-style status through building, as the
layout and structures, but of the Roman period.
abbeys and castles of the Middle
Source: Wainwright, G.J., 1971. ‘The excavation of a fortified settlement at
Walesland Rath, Pembrokeshire’, Britannia 2
Ages show. Environmental factors
might thus help explain a relative
difference but not the more absolute difference that is apparent between the north and west
versus the south and east in the Roman period; social and economic factors must be adduced. An
obvious difference between the two areas is the long-term presence in the north and west of the
Roman army (Chapter 8). Though the army has often been seen as a principal instrument of
Romanization, this is in fact unlikely. The auxiliary units that formed the majority of the garrison
in the north and west were themselves of provincial extraction from all over the Empire, with a
veneer of military Roman-ness added, such as in the use of the Latin language and the observance
of the deities and religious festivals of the Roman state. They would give as reliable a guide to
Roman civilization as a soldier of the French Foreign Legion to contemporary France. So lack of
suitable role models may have been part of the explanation for the lack of Romanization.
Romanization and its impacts
Another important answer lies in the process of Romanization. This normally took place by the
conversion of the elite to Roman ways, with a consequent ‘trickle-down’ effect, as we have seen
in the south and east. But the archaeological evidence for the north and west does not show clear
evidence of a steep social hierarchy and the presence of an elite in later prehistory or in the
Roman period: no elite, no Romanization? Did the very presence of the army and the consequent
siphoning-off of ambitious young men inhibit the formation of an elite? There may also have
been ideological factors at work, promoting the continuance of traditional means of social