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