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Focusing on a period of social shift, from the Late Iron Age to the early Roman period (100 b.c.e.–c.e. 200), this paper examines how the value of juvenile (under 13-year-old) bodies changed. In exploring the fluctuation in burial numbers alongside the altering forms of juvenile graves, the paper details the ways in which children (1- to 12-year-olds) and infants (younger than 1 year in age) were identified in death, as well as the longevity of these identifications. It is argued that juveniles are less common than they should be in the funerary record. Given that this relative absence of juvenile burial was clearly socially mandated, the emphasis here is on better contextualising and interrogating the sporadic presence and deposition of such burials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document provides a summary of archaeological findings in various locations in the southern counties of England. In Bedfordshire, a trial trench evaluation revealed an Iron Age/Roman settlement and agricultural activity. In East Sussex, fieldwork uncovered an extensive farmstead and ladder-type settlement from the Iron Age to Roman period. In Kent, evaluations and excavations uncovered evidence of Iron Age/Roman settlements, ritualistic enclosures, and agricultural and industrial activities. In Surrey, excavations revealed late Iron Age/early Roman features, including a large enclosure, roundhouses, and evidence of metalworking. The document provides a brief overview of each site's findings and ongoing post-excavation work. [Extracted from the article]

This article provides a summary of archaeological excavations in various locations in the South-Western counties of England. In Gloucestershire, excavations near Whitminster Roman villa revealed Roman features such as enclosures, trackways, and graves. In Gloucester, remains from the early Roman occupation were found, including a wall footing and a cobbled surface. In South Gloucestershire, remnants of a Roman road and limestone quarrying were discovered. In Somerset, a trial-trench evaluation uncovered evidence of Iron Age, Roman, and post-medieval agricultural and settlement activity. In Devon, the existence of a previously unknown section of a Roman road was identified through LiDAR and Google Earth imagery. Finally, in Cornwall, a Roman camp and a possible fortlet were discovered through geophysical survey and excavation. [Extracted from the article]

This document summarizes archaeological excavations conducted in various locations in the Midlands region of England. The findings include Iron Age and Roman enclosures and settlements in Bedfordshire, a Roman farmstead and field system in Buckinghamshire, late Iron Age and early Roman ditches and enclosures in Cambridgeshire, and the tracing of a Roman road in Hertfordshire using LiDAR imagery. In Leicestershire, late Roman activity and enclosure boundaries were discovered, as well as a Roman cellar beneath Leicester Cathedral. The document also highlights other archaeological evaluations and excavations in different locations in the UK, revealing a reception room in Northamptonshire, late Iron Age/Roman activity in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, a Roman villa complex in Rutland with a mosaic depicting scenes from the Trojan War, and evidence of prehistoric and Roman settlements in Warwickshire. These findings provide valuable insights into the history and cultural practices of these regions. [Extracted from the article]

This document summarizes archaeological evaluations and excavations conducted in East Anglia, specifically Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk. In Essex, evidence of Iron Age and early Roman occupation was found, including enclosures, industrial areas, graves, and a Roman road. In Norfolk, excavations confirmed the presence of agricultural plots near a Roman settlement. In Suffolk, the excavations revealed evidence of rural scatter, farmsteads, and agricultural activity during different periods, including the Middle Iron Age, early Roman period, and medieval/post-medieval periods. These findings contribute to our understanding of settlement patterns and land use during the Roman period in East Anglia and provide valuable insights into the history of the region. [Extracted from the article]

This article provides a summary of archaeological sites explored in various regions of Wales. In Blaenau Gwent, excavations of an oval platform revealed evidence of Roman charcoal-burning activity. In Carmarthenshire, an excavation in Carmarthen uncovered the remains of buildings and other features dating from the first to fourth centuries AD. In Ceredigion, a geophysical survey identified a possible Roman fortlet or late Iron Age/Roman defended settlement. In Conwy, a coin hoard was discovered near an apsidal structure, and in Monmouthshire, Roman coins were found in two distinct groups. Finally, in Powys, aerial reconnaissance revealed the presence of forts, camps, and a Roman street grid. Supplementary material is available for further information on each region. [Extracted from the article]

This document provides an overview of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) in England and Wales, which records archaeological objects found by the public. It includes information on the number and types of Roman objects documented by the PAS in 2022, with a focus on eastern and central southern England. The article also describes specific artifacts found in different regions, providing details on their materials, dimensions, and decorative elements. The text discusses the historical and cultural significance of these artifacts and their connections to similar objects found in other parts of the Roman Empire. Additionally, the document describes and analyzes several archaeological artifacts found in different regions of England, providing insights into their typology, decoration, and cultural significance in Iron Age and Roman contexts. [Extracted from the article]

This article provides a summary of archaeological excavations and surveys conducted in various locations in Scotland. In Aberdeenshire, evidence of a major Roman Iron Age phase was found, including Roman pottery. In Perth and Kinross, a watching brief revealed no internal features in a temporary camp, but two ditch sections showed a U-shaped profile. In Falkirk, geophysical and gradiometer surveys identified likely structures, a possible fortlet, and industrial activity near the Antonine Wall. In West Lothian, a geophysical survey identified conjoined buildings and a possible oven within a fortlet. The article includes supplementary material for further exploration. [Extracted from the article]

"A Biography of Power: Research and Excavations at the Iron Age Oppidum of Bagendon, Gloucestershire (1979–2017)" by T. Moore is a comprehensive study that aims to shed light on the lesser-known Iron Age site of Bagendon in Gloucestershire. The book combines the results of new excavations, geophysical surveys, and previously unpublished work to provide a detailed understanding of the site's chronology, phasing, and significance. The research reveals a complex settlement system and trade network in southern Britain during the Iron Age, highlighting the evolving nature of cultural identity and elite power. The book is a valuable resource for researchers interested in this critical period of history. [Extracted from the article]

A recent paper in Britannia explored some of the potential factors which might have led to potters in the Silchester area continuing the production of flint-tempered pottery, already established in the Iron Age, into the start of the Roman period. This paper attempts to expand the discussion by considering the viewpoint of the potters' customers and what they might have been looking for when purchasing their pots, with particular emphasis on the characteristics required of cookwares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research projects, publications, and above all the results of developer-funded archaeology provide materials for a re-assessment of the impact of Hadrian's Wall on the indigenous peoples whose lands it transected. Previous analysis has been concerned with the greater or lesser degree of 'Romanisation' of an Iron Age society perceived as little changed under Roman rule, with the Wall seen as a bureaucratic border running through an homogeneous frontier zone, as described by C.R. Whittaker. Although the local settlement pattern survived the original Flavian conquest of the region intact, it is now apparent that the building of the Wall under Hadrian had profound and far from benign consequences for local people. To the north of the barrier the traditional settlement pattern was largely abandoned and new social authorities emerged, while to the south there is evidence for new economic structures imposed from outside and the settlement of immigrants. The paper considers the extent to which these developments were the outcome of conscious policies by the Roman authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavation of the Roman tilery at Little London, Pamber, Hampshire, has prompted a reassessment of the dating of relief-patterned tile, assigning the bulk of production to the Claudio-Neronian period rather than the late first to mid-/late second century. This material has been privileged for retention in excavation archives but can now be seen as a proxy for the manufacture of a much wider range of ceramic building material, typically discarded on site, which, in the case of products from Little London and pre-Flavian Minety (Wiltshire), travelled distances of up to 100 km. Redating implies more extensive public and private building in town and country south and east of the Fosse Way before the Flavian period than has previously been envisaged. While private building included the construction of bath-houses, heated rooms and the provision of roofing materials, public building, we suggest, provided tabernas et praetoria along the principal roads of the province. In the private sphere such building provides a possible context for Dio Cassius' mention of the recall and confiscation of large loans made to Britons before the Boudican rebellion. Finally, consideration of fabric needs to be added to the criteria for retaining ceramic building material in excavation archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Querns and millstones were central to the Roman agricultural economy, but are still relatively poorly understood. Using an exceptionally detailed dataset from the Roman town of Silchester as its main case study, this paper explores the supply of querns and the supply of flour in Romano-British urban sites and their rural hinterlands. The first part of the paper focuses on the assemblage of 715 querns and millstones from Silchester as commodities in their own right. It describes the stone types used for querns in the region, how the use of these changed over time, within and outside the town, and how the supply of querns to the town differed to that of the hinterland. These patterns of exploitation are used to make inferences about social and economic behaviour. Querns and millstones are also evidence for the preparation of flour and can be used to help us understand food-supply mechanisms, especially when considered together with archaeobotanical evidence. Analysis of the querns and millstones from closely dated contexts demonstrates that use of hand-powered rotary querns peaked in the town during the latest Iron Age and earliest Roman period. The use of rotary querns decreased significantly thereafter until, by the third century, the use of hand-operated rotary querns within the town was probably confined to a very basic household level in a domestic setting. At the same time, during the second or third century, powered millstones were introduced, with the archaeobotanical evidence suggesting a mill at an out-of-town location. Analysis of querns and millstones from a 20 km hinterland around Silchester suggests that household-level grinding was common, but that centralised milling was operating at a very low level and only to the north-west of the town. It is suggested that some flour was produced at centralised locations further afield and brought into the town ready ground. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X21000040) and comprises detailed information on the lithologies of the querns and millstones from Silchester (including photographs), publication details of the sites in the town's hinterland and a spreadsheet recording the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the emergence and development of Romano-British glass bangles in southern Britain by providing a fresh analysis of finds that also considers recent theoretical and historical advances in interpreting the transition from the late Iron Age to the Roman period. By analysing the emergence of bangles in terms of technological and stylistic transfer, it suggests that the technology used in their production and their visual elements have continental lineage. It also situates bangles amid indigenous developments in bodily adornments in southern Britain before a.d. 43. By reconnecting British bangles with their continental European counterparts and contextualising them within political, social and cultural processes in south-western England during the late pre-Roman Iron Age, the article argues that the emergence of bangles in Britain did not occur in a vacuum after the Claudian invasion in a.d. 43 but formed an integral part of globalising networks of cross-Channel trade and connections with the European mainland in the early first century a.d. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the basic sequence of innovations that characterise ceramic production in southern Britain during the first centuries b.c. and a.d. is well-established, our understanding of resistance to these innovations remains in its infancy. Led by the theoretical principles of social constructionism, this paper presents a detailed technological characterisation of Silchester ware, a hand-built ceramic type common in late Iron Age and early Roman Berkshire and northern Hampshire, and a conspicuous example of technological and stylistic anachronism when compared to contemporary wheel-made pottery. Multi-period analyses using radiography, petrography and typology indicate that Silchester ware was not merely a technological 'hangover', but a traditional form of material culture with its own role in changing socio-economic structures. Contextualisation of the findings within the local archaeological background further suggests that Silchester ware may have been instrumental in the maintenance of local community and identity at a time when these aspects of social life were under threat. Supplementary material available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000355) comprises a characterisation of the chaînes opératoires of Silchester ware and its middle Iron Age antecedents, and a summarised version of the data, interpretations and the original radiographs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scarcity of Romano-British human remains from north-west England has hindered understanding of burial practice in this region. Here, we report on the excavation of human and non-human animal remains and material culture from Dog Hole Cave, Haverbrack. Foetal and neonatal infants had been interred alongside a horse burial and puppies, lambs, calves and piglets in the very latest Iron Age to early Romano-British period, while the mid- to late Roman period is characterised by burials of older individuals with copper-alloy jewellery and beads. This material culture is more characteristic of urban sites, while isotope analysis indicates that the later individuals were largely from the local area. We discuss these results in terms of burial ritual in Cumbria and rural acculturation. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000136), and contains further information about the site and excavations, small finds, zooarchaeology, human osteology, site taphonomy, the palaeoenvironment, isotope methods and analysis, and finds listed in Benson and Bland 1963. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developer-funded excavation in Easton, Suffolk, investigated part of a long-lived Iron Age settlement and Roman farmstead. One late Iron Age pit contained an unusual bronze handle, most likely from a jug, the form of which appears to be unique in Britain. The closest parallels are products of Italian workshops in the late first century b.c. This paper describes the likely form of the vessel and discusses the significance of its presence at a rural settlement on the 'border' of the Iceni and Trinovantes/Catuvellauni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Silchester Revealed: The Iron Age and Roman Town of Calleva" by M. Fulford is a concise and well-illustrated urban history of the ancient town of Calleva. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the town's development over six centuries, highlighting the influence of kings, emperors, and local residents. The author's research, conducted since 1974, is integrated with previous scholarship to reveal the depth of the town's history and challenge previous assumptions. The book also explores the lives of the town's inhabitants, including their access to food resources and household rituals. Overall, "Silchester Revealed" is a valuable resource for both specialists and non-specialists interested in Roman urbanism and Britannia. [Extracted from the article]

"Roman County Durham: The Eastern Hinterland of Hadrian's Wall" by D.J.P. Mason is a comprehensive and lavishly illustrated book that provides a wealth of information on the Roman archaeology of County Durham. The book covers both military and rural settlements, including traditional Iron Age settlements, villas, small towns, and agricultural and pottery production sites. It also explores the interactions between diverse frontier communities and the lasting legacy of the Roman sites in the region. While the book has some editing oversights and relies on concepts like 'Romanization' that may be problematic for some readers, it is a valuable resource for archaeologists, academics, and the general public interested in the Roman heritage of County Durham. [Extracted from the article]

The Canterbury Hinterland Project (CHP) has combined aerial photographic and LiDAR analysis, synthesis of HER and other data across east Kent with targeted survey south and east of Canterbury. We present possible hillforts, temples, large enclosures, a major trackway, linking paths, burials and high-status Roman-period complexes and argue that people organised the landscape to communicate meaning in two main ways: a 'public' face oriented towards the Dover–Canterbury road and expressions of ritual and remembrance for local groups. The character of this rural population has traditionally been understood in terms of its relationship to the civitas capital and villas; we look beyond this to examine a more detailed vision of possible social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, a complete upper stone of a rotary quern with a projecting lug for a vertical handle was found at Hinkley Point in Somerset, south-western England. It is the first late Iron Age to early Roman period quern of this form to be found in England. This note describes its form in detail and discusses its closest parallels in north-eastern Ireland, south-western Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Spain. It shows how thin-section analysis demonstrates the quern to have been locally made in Somerset and discusses the movement of ideas about quern design during the late Iron Age to early Roman period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Iron Age and Roman periods are often defined against each other through the establishment of dualities, such as barbarity–civilisation, or spiritual–rational. Despite criticisms, dualities remain prevalent in the National Curriculum for schools, television, museum displays and academic research. Recent scientific studies on human origins, for example, have communicated the idea of an 'indigenous' Iron Age, setting this against a mobile and diverse Roman-period population. There is also evidence for citizens leveraging dualities to uphold different positions on contemporary issues of mobility, in the UK and internationally. This paper discusses values and limitations of such binary thinking, and considers how ideas of ambiguity and temporal distancing can serve to challenge attempts to use such dualities to map the past too directly onto the present, reflecting on recent social media debates about Britain and the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The longitudinal nature of the study removes a tendency to silo data and therefore discussion into "Iron Age" and "Roman", allowing for a more fluid interpretation of change. The later Iron Age and early Roman periods in the "Land of the Iceni" are rarely considered without reference to the Boudican rebellion. Folding the patterns she observes together, Harlow is able to suggest that there is no set of material culture that can easily be ascribed to a homogenous group called the Iceni; instead her research strengthens the growing body of evidence for intra-regional patterning. [Extracted from the article]