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This article outlines a new method for comparing proxy data for the health and well-being of Late Roman populations through the statistical analysis of skeletal remains and material culture. A multistage statistical approach is applied to a sample of published Late Romano-British cemeteries. A battery of health indicators are compared using multidimensional scaling, and patterns in the provision of grave inclusions are analyzed using the Gini coefficient of inequality. The results of these analyses yield two principal findings. First, patterns are often strongly conditioned by settlement type, with individuals in cemeteries from urban locations exhibiting better health than their nonurban counterparts, contrary to historical models stressing the disadvantages of urban environments. Second, urban cemeteries feature both higher levels of grave furnishings and greater equality in their intracemetery distributions than nonurban cemeteries. Such findings suggest entrenched differences in the quality of living conditions and social relations between urban and rural communities in Late Roman Britain, potentially mirroring the observed modern relationship between high levels of social inequality and poor health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact between Latin and British, the Brittonic Celtic language, in Roman and post-Roman Britain has received considerable attention in the last few years as part of a more general discussion of linguistic contact phenomena in early Britain. Much of the discussion has focused on phonological aspects, although morphological features have sometimes been invoked without discussion. The aim of this paper is to consider some of the morphological features which have been claimed to reflect Latin influence on Brittonic Celtic languages, such as loss of a case system, loss of the neuter gender, the development of compound prepositions, and the acquisition of a pluperfect tense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews published work which draws on various kinds of evidence to assess the linguistic situation in Roman Britain. Having reached some interim conclusions about the state of scholarship, it proceeds to examine the particular contribution that place-names can make to the debate on how far Latin may have taken hold in the province at the expense of the native British Celtic. While there is rather more evidence of Latin here than has often been allowed, the widespread continuity of British across much, at least, of Lowland Britain is reaffirmed, in the face of a recent suggestion to the contrary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some time about the year A. D. 117, the Ninth Legion…marched north to deal with a rising among the Caledonian tribes, and was never heard of again.During the excavations at Silchester nearly eighteen hundred years later, there was dug up…a wingless Roman Eagle, a cast of which can be seen to this day in Reading Museum. Different people have had different ideas as to how it came to be there, but no one knows, just as no one knows what happened to the Ninth Legion after it marched into the northern mists.It is from these two mysteries, brought together, that I have made the story of ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Archaeology, and in particular the study of ceramics, lies at the heart of the interpretive schemes that underpin Framing the Early Middle Ages. While this is to be welcomed, it is proposed that even more extensive use of archaeological evidence - especially that generated through the excavation of prehistoric burial-mounds and rural settlements, as well as the study of early medieval coins - would have produced a rather more dynamic and nuanced picture of the transformations in social and political structures that marked the passage from late Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous anthropological investigations at Trentholme Drive, in Roman York identified an unusual amount of cranial variation amongst the inhabitants, with some individuals suggested as having originated from the Middle East or North Africa. The current study investigates the validity of this assessment using modern anthropological methods to assess cranial variation in two groups: The Railway and Trentholme Drive. Strontium and oxygen isotope evidence derived from the dentition of 43 of these individuals was combined with the craniometric data to provide information on possible levels of migration and the range of homelands that may be represented. The results of the craniometric analysis indicated that the majority of the York population had European origins, but that 11% of the Trentholme Drive and 12% of The Railway study samples were likely of African decent. Oxygen analysis identified four incomers, three from areas warmer than the UK and one from a cooler or more continental climate. Although based on a relatively small sample of the overall population at York, this multidisciplinary approach made it possible to identify incomers, both men and women, from across the Empire. Evidence for possible second generation migrants was also suggested. The results confirm the presence of a heterogeneous population resident in York and highlight the diversity, rather than the uniformity, of the population in Roman Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economy of post-Roman Britain entered a phase of abatement in which pastoralism played an important part. Common pasture and access to it underlay small regions within which the form of dominance practised by an emerging elite was neither antique nor feudal but akin to that of chieftains over clans. The mid-Saxon emphasis on arable farming, which demanded heavier and more concentrated inputs of labour and capital, led to a more direct appropriation of peasant surplus and labour, the basis of the feudal mode of production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship has claimed that the history of Roman Britain has been discussed in terms of 'Romanization' since the beginning of the seventeenth century. In fact, it is wrong to think that there is a single tradition in the understanding of Roman Britain. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Camden and his followers were primarily interested in the bringing of 'civility' to England, with only a minimal consciousness of material culture (coins, inscriptions and sites). Discussion of Roman Britain was already overshadowed by an emphasis on military identity, viewing Roman soldiers and civilian subjects as essentially separate, the latter little influenced by the former. Only in the later nineteenth century, and particularly in the work of Francis Haverfield, did an idea of cultural 'Romanization' find its way to the centre of scholarly discussions. Far from there being a single scholarly understanding of the history of Roman Britain, accounts have been continually rewritten to reflect the nature of the relationship between the English and their empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first detailed review of all archaeobotanical records from Roman Britain. It reveals that some 50 new plants food (mostly fruits, herbs and vegetables) were introduced into this country during the Roman period. These introductions represent a major diversification of the plant component of the British diet at this time, adding important nutrients, variety of flavours, ways of expressing cultural identity, as well as social status. The geographical, chronological and social dispersal of these foods is analysed and three dispersal patterns and at least four consumer groups are identified. Methodological issues are discussed and gaps in the data highlighted. The role of these foods in expressions of cultural identity is briefly discussed, as is the impact of their introduction on the productive capacity of the agricultural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how disputes were resolved in some parts of Great Britain during the time it was under Roman administration AD43 to cAD400. As there is no direct evidence in the case of Britannia, the article resorted to analogy and comparison based on what is available information. It discusses a compromissum or a binding arbitration agreement, a bonus vir or a good man whose function was to bring the dispute to a satisfactory conclusion, and the presence in Britannia of an authority on the Roman law on arbitration.

The coastal siting of Romano-British villas is generally discussed and attention is particularly focused on the Channel seaboard of Britain. Here, comparison is made with the distribution of those natural harbours and offshore anchorages that have been traditionally favoured by sailing craft. These are clearly described in the first edition of Hobb's British Channel Pilot Of 1859. A relationship is proposed between the rare incidence of leeward anchorages and the siting of villas at Folkestone, Eastbourne, Sidlesham, Weymouth and Honeyditches. Other villas with significant maritime settings are identified at Southwick, Fishbourne, Emsworth, and Brading all of which adjoin harbours or 'roads' identified by Hobbs. In the Eastern Solent, anchorages at Spithead, Mother Bank and Cowes Roads are equated with the Magnus Portus described by Ptolemy. At this location some supportive evidence is offered by Roman ceramics recently recovered from the seabed. Attention is also drawn to maritime themes in the mosaics at Fishbourne, Brading and Low Ham where the chosen mythological scenes appear to be an overt expression of contemporary nautical preoccupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay extends the historical issues and the balance of texts and material culture in Roman British History. The author adds the figure and legend of Boadicea, which expresses the contradictions of Roman Britain. He addresses the revival of interest in the period. Shifting from texts to artifacts, from words to things from monuments to ruins, Hellenic classicism also turned the Roman heroic and militaristic tradition to an erotic one.

Presents an outline of the history of England. Roman occupation of England in 43 A.D.; Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901.

Examines the methodologies used by historians in the study of Gaius activities on the Channel Coast of in 40 A.D. Scrutiny on the elaboration of the actions and arguments of Gauis; Assessment on the chronological accounts of the historians; Overview of the episodes and interpretations of historians.

A silted-up palaeochannel in the postglacial estuarine alluvium exposed at Oldbury Flats on the south-eastern shore of the Severn Estuary has yielded a considerable variety of Romano-British occupation debris, and constitutes a major primary source for the substantial quantities of previously recorded archaeological material transposed into the present-day intertidal zone. The disposition of the abandoned tidal channels, the pattern of medieval fields, and the configuration and relationships of the surviving seabank to early finds in the area point to substantial landscape and coastal changes from the Roman period onward. Considerable losses of alluvial land appear to have occurred, and these may have forced the inland dispersal of the Romano-British settlement. Perhaps because of its location, close to the shore of the estuary, and near major creeks, the settlement is the richest so far detected on the Severn Levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a background of the marches and the early Roman campaigns in the border country of England and Wales. The two great plains of Shropshire and Herefordshire are considered the dominant physical features of the marches. It is noted that the Roman invasion of A.D. 43 and the creation of the new province of Britannia had little impact on the tribes of Wales. Rome demonstrated a skillful act of diplomacy in securing the services of Queen Cartimandua, who ruled over the large territories of Brigantes.

The article discusses the declining political power of the Roman Empire in Western Europe during the reign of Roman emperor Honorius. Correspondence between Honorius and British cities is analyzed, the history of British bureaucracy is described, and information is offered on Honorius' diplomatic relations with the British Goths.

The article discusses the excavation of Roman artifacts and architecture in England. The author discusses the history of Roman society in England, including the invasion of Britain by Roman ruler Julius Caesar and the settlement of Britain by Roman emperor Claudius. Roman walls made from stone and vallum were constructed in Britain to repel enemies and included structures to house soldiers and guards. A road system to connect Roman-built towns and settlements in Britain is described. Excavations have suggested that iron, lead and tin mining was conducted in Britain during the Roman occupation. Artifacts discovered during excavations include bronze objects such as surgical tools and brooches, as well as Roman coins.

The article focuses on the region around the present town of Montgomery (Trefaldwyn) as a classic area for the study of settlement history. Within a radius of less than two miles from the town, archaeologist can found major monuments dating from all periods between the Iron Age and medieval times. The two valley routes wherein the area is situated include one that was formed by the Severn and the Camlad and the valley of the Severn leading into the foothills of Wales. The crossing at Rhydwhyman was controlled by the Romans by means of a fort constructed on the valley bottom.

• Deficiency lesions in 7.5% of nonadults and 5.7% of adults. • Lesions indicate deficiency in infancy and adolescence, but not older adulthood. • Deficiency through the life course; important links between children and adults. • Adolescent susceptibility correlates with period of social transition. Taking the innovative step of considering individuals of all age groups and disease states via aspects of a life course perspective, this study aims to shed light on biocultural factors contributing to vitamin D deficiency in the Roman period assemblage from Isola Sacra, Italy (1st–3rd century AD) comprising 678 individuals (307 nonadults, 371 adults). Active and healed deficiency were identified in nonadults (<20 years) and adults (20 years and older) using standard paleopathological criteria based on macroscopic, radiographic, and histological evidence. The overall prevalence of skeletal evidence for vitamin D deficiency was 7.5% in nonadults (23/307 individuals) and 5.7% in adults (21/371 individuals); the age distribution of lesions indicates the importance of deficiency in infancy and adolescence, but not in older adulthood. Biocultural factors, including dense occupation, multi-storey buildings, and Roman childcare practices, probably influenced the development of vitamin D deficiency. Patterning of lesions suggests important biological and social links between infants and young children and their adult caretakers, highlights adolescence as a period of social transition and rapid growth that may affect susceptibility to deficiency, and reveals resilience in older adulthood that may relate to differential resource access in this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]