POTS AND PITS: DRINKING AND DEPOSITION IN LATE IRON AGE SOUTH-EAST BRITAIN

Summary. This paper considers the role of pottery in the Late Iron Age to Roman transition in south-east Britain. Traditional concern with the significance of Continental imports is rejected in favour of a more holistic and bottom-up approach giving equal emphasis to locally made forms and imports in complete assemblages. Several stages of inter-site correspondence analysis are conducted on a range of sites and assemblages in the region. Patterning pertaining to the use and deposition of both imported and local pottery vessels can be seen to contradict simplistic models for 'Romanization before conquest'. The main conclusions include evidence for the selective disposal of drinking vessels and table wares in pits, the likely widespread consumption of beer as opposed to wine, and the implied importance of indigenous social practices such as feasting and communal drinking.     

POTTED HISTORIES – CREMATION, CERAMICS AND SOCIAL MEMORY IN EARLY ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary.   Archaeologists have identified the adoption of new forms of cremation ritual during the early Roman period in south-east Britain. Cremation may have been widely used by communities in the Iron Age, but the distinctive nature of these new rites was their frequent placing of the dead within, and associated with, ceramic vessels. This paper suggests an interpretation for the social meaning of these cremation burial rites that involved the burial of ashes with and within pots as a means of commemoration. In this light, the link between cremation and pottery in early Roman Britain can be seen as a means of promoting the selective remembering and forgetting of the dead.     

Evidence of early medieval trade and migration between Wales and the Mediterranean Sea region

Imported Mediterranean pottery recovered from 5th–7th century settlement sites along the south Wales coast indicates that trade and contact between Wales and Byzantium continued following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the early-5th century. It is hypothesised that people as well as pottery continued to travel to Wales from Byzantium, some of whom subsequently settled amongst the local communities. Strontium and oxygen isotope analysis was undertaken on human remains (n = 33 individuals) from four early medieval cemeteries from south Wales. The study identified individuals who may not have been local to the British Isles, thus demonstrating that the isotopic analysis of human remains from Wales can further our understanding of migration to Britain during the early medieval period.     

ECONOMIC ‘LONG WAVES’IN the ROMAN PERIOD? A RECONNAISSANCE of the ROMANO-BRITISH CERAMIC EVIDENCE

Summary: This paper explores some problems of Romano British ceramic chronology and puts forward the suggestion that pottery production in Roman Britain rose and fell in a series of cyclical phases. the pattern matches that of Samian production and also the increases and decreases in the speed (velocity) with which silver coinage circulated in the 1st to early 3rd centuries AD and after. It is suggested that these data can be used to trace the progress of a multisecular cycle the effects of which may also be detectable across the Roman world-economy as a whole. the archaeological and historical implications of this pattern - which may be perceived in the Iron Age and the Post Roman periods, are discussed and a possible explanation is advanced for it. Some quantification methods which would help support or refute the hypothesis are considered and a way of reconciling pottery and context dates is presented.     

AN EXAMPLE OF THE PROCESS OF ACCULTURATION IN THE EARLY ROMAN FRONTIER

Summary. This paper looks at how the process of acculturation can be detected in the archaeological record. It considers the specific case of acculturation in the Upper Rhine during the early Roman period and attempts to demonstrate how archaeological material can be used to evaluate social changes. Various aspects of the pottery assemblage, which relate to different aspects of pottery production and use, are considered such as production technology, style, and form. Many of the changes result from cultural changes which occurred as a result of interaction between the Roman and local peoples. Other works concerning acculturation are reviewed to determine what types of factors are involved in the process. These factors are considered, in relation to the Upper Rhine, in a discussion of the changes in the pottery and how they relate to social changes. Various explanatory models are proposed.     

Roman Urbanism: A View from the Countryside

The towns of Roman Britain have been subject to a long tradition of empirical research and discussion, but far less attention has been paid to the landscape context in which they developed. This paper considers the implications of this caveat for our understanding of Roman urbanism and suggests that most previous approaches have internalized the study of towns as social institutions and have failed to give due weight to the role of local rural agency in influencing the character of urban development. In so doing, it is suggested that the potential role of other important and competing nodes of economic, political and religious life, such as forts, fortresses, vici and small towns as well as rural sanctuaries and other settlements, is also not given due consideration in discussing the distinctive character of urbanism in Roman Britain.     

Notice of the Annual Meeting,at Norwich

Excavations took place in 1969, in advance of housing development, on the site of a fourth-century Roman pottery workshop, two adjacent kilns, a well, a large pit and two burials. The workshop contained internal features linked with pottery production, including possible emplacements for potters' wheels. Two kilns, each constructed differently, were producing grey and colour-coated wares. A large pit was used for rubbish. A well, square in plan, was associated with the workshop and must have provided water for the potters. Of particular interest was a complete millstone, which appears to have been used as a flywheel fixed to a potter's wheel. Pottery production at the site may have continued into the early part of the fifth century and as such is one of the last known production centres of the Roman Nene valley pottery industry. The site is significant in that it probably represents a near complete and typical industrial pottery production unit within a major pottery production area of the province and represents an important aspect of the late Roman economy.     

Justice Unbound? Globalization,States and the Transformation of the Social Bond

Conventional accounts of justice suppose the presence of a stable political society, stable identities, and a Westphalian cartography of clear lines of authority–usually a state–where justice can be realized. They also assume a stable social bond. But what if, in an age of globalization, the territorial boundaries of politics unbundle and a stable social bond deteriorates? Can there be justice in a world where that bond is constantly being disrupted or transformed by globalization? This article thus argues that we need to think about the relationship between globalization, governance and justice. It does so in three stages: first, it explains how, under conditions of globalization, assumptions made about the social bond are changing; second, it demonstrates how strains on the social bond within states give rise to a search for newer forms of global political theory and organization, and the emergence of new global (non-state actors) which contest with states over the policy agendas emanating from globalization; and third, despite the new forms of activity identified in the second stage, the article concludes that the prospects for a satisfactory synthesis of a liberal economic theory of globalization, a normative political theory of the global public domain, and a new social bond are remote.     

Energy Colonialism and the Role of the Global in Local Responses to New Energy Infrastructures in the UK: A Critical and Exploratory Empirical Analysis

Governments, namely in the global North, are fostering the deployment of large‐scale low carbon and associated energy infrastructures (EIs), such as power lines, to mitigate climate change. However, when infrastructures are to be deployed, opposition is often found. Environmental justice—involving issues of distributive and procedural justice and recognition—and associated inter‐group relations, has been identified as a key aspect for local opposition. However, research has rarely examined local perceptions of environmental justice and associated practices, such as energy colonialism, within a global perspective. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, we examine if and how different‐level intergroup relations and collective narratives shape people's social‐psychological and geographical imaginaries and responses to EIs. Focus groups were conducted with community members affected by proposals to construct high‐voltage power lines in the UK. Analyses suggest that narratives around England's colonial history—within Britain and beyond Britain—shape responses to EIs.     

On Some Remains of the Work of William of Wykham,at Windsor Castle

Scholarly opinion on the character and timing of the end of Roman Britain remains deeply divided. The evidence presented by those favouring a ‘long chronology’ is seriously flawed. ‘Continuity’ or ‘survival’ of Roman Britain is claimed because early medieval activity is attested on some former Roman sites and some early medieval artefacts are of Roman type. But Roman Britain was part of a ‘world system’ with a distinctive and rich archaeological assemblage, and once terms are properly defined and material analysed quantitatively, the argument for fifth-century continuity collapses. The archaeological evidence shows that after a long process of decline beginning in the third century, Roman Britain had ended by c. A.D. 400.     

The mineralogy and petrography of Low Lands Ware 1 (Roman lower Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt basin; the Netherlands,Belgium, Germany)

Over the last 80 years Belgian, Dutch and German archaeologists working in the lower Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt basin have encountered a Roman pottery group that occurs in large quantities at most Roman sites in the region. Several researchers have separately tried to define this pottery, resulting in different names. Petrographic and geochemical analyses of 100 samples have now shown that the production of this ware predominantly made use of one source of raw material, divisible into three sub-groups on the basis of technological choices. The probable source lies in the early-Pleistocene Tegelen-formation, a clay rich in muscovite mica and garnet, which outcrops in the tertiary Scheldt escarpment (Nl) and the campine microcuesta (B). On the basis of geographical characteristics, Roman finds and the presence of a large Medieval pottery industry, production in the Bergen-op-Zoom area is suggested. In view of these new findings the name ‘Low Lands Ware 1’ is introduced to refer to this pottery group.     

THE BIRDS OF ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary. Wild birds were probably of little importance for food in Roman Britain, but there is some advantage, for ecology, conservation, archaeological reconstruction and education, in establishing a tolerably correct list of species present in Roman times. There are special problems for the recovery and identification of bird bones; on the other hand, historical and other sources are wanting for Roman Britain. There is no evidence for falconry in the Roman period; birds would be caught, for sport by lime-rods, and for food by a variety of methods. There is little definite evidence for religious use of wild birds in Roman Britain. The environment of Britain in the Roman period was, in many respects, quite similar to that of recent times, but the bird species recorded from Roman sites suggest that the landscape was rather varied, and favourable to wildlife. An up-to-date list of 94 wild species can be roughly quantified by the number of sites on which each has been found; both the more numerous species and the absentees offer some surprises, and the effect is to emphasize the Romanization of eating habits in the province.     

The ‘Semblance of Immortality'? Resinous Materials and Mortuary Rites in Roman Britain

There is increasing evidence for complexity in mortuary practices in Britain during the Roman period. One class of burials demonstrates an association between inhumation in stone sarcophagi or lead‐lined coffins, ‘plaster’ coatings, textile shrouds and natural resins. It has been suggested that this ‘package’ represents a deliberate attempt at body preservation. Fragments with a resinous appearance found in one such burial from Arrington, Cambridgeshire, UK were analysed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The triterpenic compounds identified are biomarkers for the genus Pistacia and provide the first chemical evidence for an exotic resin in a mortuary context in Roman Britain.     

地方发展变迁与居民地方感关系研究——以广州荔枝湾涌历史文化街区为例

本文以广州荔枝湾涌历史文化街区为例,运用扎根理论研究荔枝湾涌1940年代以来地方发展变迁与居民地方感的关系,进而挖掘居民地方感变化机制。研究发现：荔枝湾涌居民的地方感主要受生态环境、建筑与配套服务、集体记忆、活动类型、人际关系等因素的影响,其中生态环境起主导性作用;积极地方感主要来源于集体记忆的保留与延续;消极地方感主要来源于破旧的居住环境及落后的配套服务;此外,文章提出内向型地方感和外向型地方感的概念,认为随着城市发展,在地方发展变迁过程中,地方感由内向型地方感转变为内向型和外向型相结合的地方感。两种地方感相互作用,互相调节,更有利于地方稳定、开放、包容地发展。     

Dairying in antiquity. III. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Neolithic

Absorbed lipid residue analysis has previously demonstrated that dairying was a major component of animal husbandry in Britain during both the Iron Age and Bronze Age. As a continuation of this research into the antiquity of dairying, the incidence of dairy fats associated with pottery vessels from six Neolithic sites from Southern Britain is presented herein. A total of 438 potsherds from Windmill Hill, Abingdon Causewayed Enclosure, Hambledon Hill, Eton Rowing Lake, Runnymede Bridge and Yarnton Floodplain were submitted for organic residue analysis. To date, this constitutes the largest number of sherds investigated from one particular archaeological period. The compound-specific stable isotope values of the major fatty acid components in animal fats, namely C_16:0 and C_18:0, enable absorbed lipids in pottery vessels to be classified to commodity group, i.e. ruminant adipose, dairy and non-ruminant adipose fats can be distinguished. The lipid extracts were relatively well preserved, and dairy fats were observed in approximately 25% of all of the sherds, demonstrating that milk was a valued commodity in the British Neolithic. These results confirm that dairying was an established component of the agricultural practices that reached Britain in the 5^th Millennium BC.     

Magnetic detection of ship ballast deposits and anchorage sites in King Herod's Roman harbour,Caesarea Maritima,Israel

Ballast stone deposits are a common feature of sediments in ancient harbour basins but are often overlooked as a potential source of archaeological information. Recent geophysical investigations at Caesarea Maritima in Israel have discovered a thick, laterally extensive ballast layer in the area seaward of the 1st c. BC Roman harbour. The ballast deposits were identified by low-relief mounds on the seabed with elevated magnetic intensities. Jet probing and excavation of magnetic anomalies at several locations revealed a 20–60 cm thick rubble layer containing large quantities of Late Roman and Byzantine pottery, local sedimentary boulders (kurkar sandstone, limestone cobbles) and foreign igneous and metamorphic boulders (granite, schist, volcanics; ca. 50%). The foreign boulders and pottery identify the rubble layer as ballast and ships refuse jettisoned by merchant ships outside the harbour. The strong magnetic contrast between the ballast deposits and the natural seabed sediments is attributed to the high magnetic susceptibility (>10⁻³ SI) of crystalline boulders and pottery materials within the ballast rubble.     

Attempts at thermoluminescence dating of fired materials from the Przeworsk Culture settlements

The thermoluminescence (TL) dating method has a significant measurement error margin reaching almost 10%. Due to this fact it could be considered as little effective in case of such sites from the Roman period as burial grounds with many artefacts useful for archaeological dating. However, for many settlements from this period, where pottery is the only kind of artefacts, the TL method can give notable results. The main purpose of the study was to make an attempt at TL dating of pottery and clay daub samples from the Nieszawa Kolonia and Kręcieszki sites and to compare the obtained dates with the results of archaeological dating of selected features from the Przeworsk Culture settlements. In the Kręcieszki site the fragments of burnt clay daub were dated by the TL method for the first time in the Lublin laboratory. It turned out that clay daub is an equally good dating material as pottery. It can be found that the TL dating of pottery from Nieszawa Kolonia confirms two stages of settlement. The first settlement stage is related to the phases B2-B2/C1-C1a of the Roman period, i.e. from the beginning of the 2^nd to the beginning of the 3^rd century. The second group of TL dates corresponds to the phases C2D that is to the second stage of settlement, from the second half of the 3^rd century to the half of the 5^th century AD. The results of TL dating of pottery and clay daub in the Kręcieszki site are rather similar and correspond to the phase B1/B2 of the period of Roman influence, determined from pottery style, but can also indicate the phase B2/C1.     

THE PRE-DOSE TECHNIQUE: A NEW THERMO-LUMINESCENT DATING METHOD

A thermoluminescent (TL) glow-curve peak occurs around 110°C for the mineral quartz. Its sensitivity may be changed by application of a radiation dose (termed the pre-dose) followed by a heating of the quartz to 500°C: heating alone causes no sensitivity change. The enhancement observed (measured relative to the sensitivity of the peak prior to heating) is a measure of the magnitude of the pre-dose. For quartz extracted from pottery the sensitivity enhancement induced by laboratory heating records a natural pre-dose, i.e. the accumulated dose experienced during archaeological burial. The latter quantity is used in TL age-determination and a test programme is reported on the application of the pre-dose dating method to sites covering the Roman era in Britain forward to modern times.     

Fort Ancient-Mississippian Interaction and Shell-Tempered Pottery at SunWatch Village,Ohio

Abstract

The use of mussel shell for tempering pottery vessels by Fort Ancient societies is poorly understood. Suggestions have included both diffusion from neighboring Mississippian social groups and local developments, although no studies have investigated whether shell-tempered pottery is non-local or associated with Mississippian features and artifact types within Fort Ancient sites. This study begins to remedy this deficiency by examining the social and temporal contexts and petrographic composition of shell-tempered pottery at the Sun Watch site, a Fort Ancient village located in sw Ohio that was occupied during the height of neighboring Mississippian developments (ca.A.D. 1150–1450). Our findings indicate that shell tempered pottery was not produced locally and is linked with a village leader and Mississippian-inspired architecture.