Post on 26-Feb-2021
The Rural Settlement of Roman
England: from regional perspectives
to national synthesis: Summing up
Professor Michael Fulford
Creation of regional
landscapes for analysis
Eight new regions
created for the
purposes of broadly
assessing rural
settlement regionality
Creation of regional
landscapes for analysis
New regions ‘created’
using project data,
Natural England
regions & Welsh
topography
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
M-LIA LIA AD50 -
100
AD100 -
150
AD150 -
200
AD200 -
250
AD250 -
300
AD300 -
350
AD350 -
400
AD 400+
Rural farming settlements in use over time (no.
settlements)
villas
Farms (all)
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
LIA (1st C BC-mid
1st C AD)
LIA/ER (1st C
BC/AD)
ER (1st-2ndC AD) MR (2nd-3rdC
AD)
LR (3rd-4thC AD)
Me
an
pe
rce
nta
ge
cattle >100NISP cattle >200NISP cattle >400NISP
ovicaprid >100NISP ovicaprid >200NISP ovicaprid >400NISP
pig >100NISP pig >200NISP pig >400NISP
National trends in livestock frequency through time
• Relative frequency of cattle and
sheep/goats remains similar from
the late Iron Age until the 2ndC AD
• Cattle remains become significantly
more common from the 2ndC AD
through to the 4thC AD
No. assemblages >100 NISP = 689
No. assemblages >200 NISP = 516
No. assemblages >400 NISP = 334
47.2%
23.3%
38.9%
48.9%
41.1%
56.7%
52.2%
58.9%
40.0%
36.1%
46.1%
40.6%
58.3%
50.6%
67.2%
76.7%
91.7%
66.7%
59.4%
58.9%
63.3%
29.2%
18.8%
29.2%
39.6%
35.4%
43.8%
43.8%
54.2%
31.3%
31.3%
41.7%
39.6%
52.1%
50.0%
66.7%
79.2%
91.7%
77.1%
72.9%
68.8%
72.9%
24.9%
10.8%
22.3%
26.0%
29.0%
37.2%
29.7%
37.9%
31.2%
26.4%
39.8%
29.7%
49.1%
40.1%
56.1%
58.4%
85.9%
39.8%
50.2%
43.5%
58.7%
5.8%
1.8%
5.4%
11.1%
7.0%
17.1%
20.4%
15.9%
10.5%
10.4%
10.6%
13.6%
17.2%
15.5%
22.3%
39.3%
47.6%
48.7%
23.6%
33.1%
37.1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Religion
Lighting
Writing
Military/Weaponry
Recreation
Other dress
Hobnails
Toilet/cosmetics
Transport
Weighing
Security
Agriculture
Hairpins
Finger rings
Household
Brooches
Coins
Food
Bracelets
Textiles
Tools
Roadside Settlements/Vici (180 sites)
Villages (48 sites)
Villas (269 sites)
Farms (1312 sites)
Presence/absence of 21
classes of object across
rural domestic sites
29.0%
10.8%
24.9%
39.8%
22.3%
49.1%
31.2%
56.1%
40.1%
37.9%
85.9%
29.7%
26.4%
26.0%
50.2%
37.2%
58.4%
58.7%
43.5%
29.7%
39.8%
8.5%
6.5%
15.0%
20.5%
12.0%
32.5%
21.5%
39.5%
36.0%
38.0%
72.5%
27.0%
27.5%
20.0%
47.0%
34.0%
65.5%
59.5%
49.0%
47.0%
71.0%
8.5%
1.2%
2.6%
8.2%
4.7%
11.1%
10.5%
20.5%
11.7%
9.4%
35.7%
11.7%
7.6%
14.0%
20.8%
17.5%
33.6%
42.4%
38.6%
14.3%
50.9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Recreation
Lighting
Religion
Security
Writing
Hairpins
Transport
Household
Finger rings
Toilet/cosmetics
Coins
Agriculture
Weighing
Military/Weaponry
Bracelets
Other dress
Brooches
Tools
Textiles
Hobnails
Food
Villas (269 sites)
Complex Farms (200 sites)
Enclosed Farms (342 sites)
Presence/absence of
21 classes of object
across villas and
farms
All excavated and
recorded Roman
rural settlements up
to end 2014
2523 individual
settlements
Programme to April 2017
• 4th Nov 2015: Rural settlement in Roman Wales Conference, Cardiff
• Production of five monographs:
– Vol. 1: A Geography of Rural Settlement in Roman Britain
– Vol. 2: The Rural Economy of Roman Britain: Agriculture, Industry, Transport and Markets
– Vol. 3: The Peoples of the Romano-British Countryside
– Vol. 4: Ritual and Religion in the Romano-British Countryside
– Vol. 5: The Small Towns of Roman Britain
• Journal paper on methodological aspects of the project
• Final website Launch, end 2016
Feedback
April 2015 – December 2016
Project online resource:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1030449