It is necessary to depart from the more conventional linear route to an analysis of towns in the later Roman period by turning to an earlier period in the use of these sites. The processes that created urbanisation in Roman Britain occurred in the context of pre-existing places and became part of them, as well as bringing new aspects of land use and organisation; the sequence of activity at these places continued into the late Roman period and sometimes beyond. It has been emphasised that ways of understanding land would have been different in the past and factors such as religious belief would have played a much more significant role in this experience than they do today. This chapter examines some of the evidence reflecting the meanings of the places prior to Roman urban development.
Many of the locations in which the Roman towns were placed were already socially important. Even if there was no direct link between them and the Roman towns through to the later Roman period, they form an important analogy of ways of conceptualising late urbanism differently. According to Lemaire (1997: 7), 'in non-Western and pre-modern cultures there is a mythical space in which places are qualitatively different and meaningful referring to a sacred cosmos in which the human world is participating’ (cf. Moore 2007: 90). Antiquarianism, and then archaeology with its interest in the context of finds through excavation, also played its part in the rationalisation and modernisation of land (Lemaire 1997: i6; Schnapp 1996: 179-219). Bruck (2007: 244) has pointed out that antiquarianism was one of a range of pursuits dominated by the aristocracy during the eighteenth century (travelling, gardening, painting, and drawing were others), which influenced and created perceptions of landscape. An example of this has been explored in Gibbon’s work with his use of antiquarian studies of Roman remains and his attitudes towards pre-conquest Britain, which were reflected in his reading of classical texts. Space and place should ideally be studied by exploring how they were structured from the perspective and way of life of the people that dwelt within them.
Drawing on discussions in Chapter 3, this chapter devises a number of criteria for assessing the nature, significance, and conceptualisation of sites in the pre-Roman period that were later used for Roman towns. Although the more practicable elements of Roman town foundation and development, such as strategic and economic considerations, would also have been issues, they would not have been in isolation of many other factors. The criteria of analysis are as follows. First, there is site location, with an emphasis on interpreting landscape and the religious and mythical significance that may have derived from 'natural’ features. Watery contexts (including rivers and their flood plains, confluences, marshland, crossing points, springs, and freshwater-seawater interfaces) are
The main example, although other features such as hills, wooded areas, and rocks may also have been important. Second, there is the presence of structural remains, which might indicate the special use of the sites. Third, there is the presence of industrial activity, especially metalworking and coin production, which may have had religious and social significance (cf. Creighton 20oo; Giles 2007). Fourth, there is the nature of the finds assemblages.
It must be acknowledged that these criteria are devised as part of a modern agenda to study the sites, because we cannot place ourselves in the minds of pre-Roman and Roman Britons, but they do provide us with an important tool to help us understand the sites from new angles. A further difficulty that we must bear in mind could be projecting the known importance of these sites during the Roman period back into the Iron Age, but the purpose here is to attempt to examine them through pre-existing meaning.
World History
