Britons and Romans: advancing an archaeological agenda (Research Report / Council for British Archaeology)

Enjoins those with an interest in this subject to think broadly and to engage actively in shaping the future priorities of research into Roman Britain.The volume brings together leading specialists in the field, who provide up-to-date syntheses of significant new knowledge and suggest what we still need to know on themes as diverse as: the Iron Age/Roman and Roman/Medieval transitions; Romanisation; material culture and identity; rural society; urbanism; zooarchaeology; and soldiers and civilians. Within these themes, the contributors seek to break down the relative insularity of Romano-British studies, to open it up to new external perspectives, and to promote the value of its outstandingly rich archaeological evidence to archaeologists working in other field and on other territories. The book will be of value to field-workers, researchers, artefact and environmental specialists, curators, heritage managers, the voluntary sector, and anyone with an active interest in advancing our understanding of Britain's Roman past. "This challenging book encourages those with an interest in the subject to think broadly, and to engage actively in shaping the future priorities of research into Roman Britain." "The volume brings together leading specialists in the field whose chapters develop the themes of the English Heritage-sponsored session 'Romano-British Research Agendas' at the Roman Archaeology Conference at Durham. The contributors provide up-to-date syntheses of significant new knowledge, and suggest what we still need to know on themes as diverse as: the Iron Age/Roman and Roman/Medieval transitions; Romanisation; material culture and identity; the identification of different Romano-British site types; rural society; urbanism; zooarchaeology; and soldiers and civilians." "Within these themes, the contributors seek to break down the relative insularity of Romano-British studies, to open it up to new external perspectives, and to promote the value of its outstandingly rich archaeological evidence to archaeologists working in other fields, and on other territories. It is hoped these papers will help to integrate academic research with the opportunities provided by continued intense archaeological activity in Britain, especially in developer-funded archaeology." "The book will be of value to field-workers, researchers, artefact and environmental specialists, curators, heritage managers, the voluntary sector, and anyone with an active interest in advancing our understanding of Britain's Roman past. Book jacket."--Jacket Introduction / Simon James and Martin Millett (pp. 1-3) The Iron Age-Roman transition / John Creighton (pp. 4-11) Romanisation, gender and class: recent approaches to identity in Britain and their consequences / J. D. Hill (pp. 12-18) Material culture and identity / Lindsay Allason-Jones (pp. 19-25) Material approaches to the identification of different Romano-British site types / Jeremy Evans (pp. 26-35) A place at the table: the role of vertebrate zooarchaeology within a Roman research agenda / Keith Dobney (pp. 36-45) Rural society in Roman Britain / Jeremy Taylor (pp. 46-59) Approaches to urban societies / Martin Millett (pp. 60-66) Themes for urban research, c. 100 BC to AD 200 / Barry C. Burnham, John Collis, Colin Dobinson, Colin Haselgrove and Michael Jones (pp. 67-76) Soldiers and civilians: identity and interaction in Roman Britain / Simon James (pp. 77-89) The Roman to medieval transition / Simon Esmonde Cleary (pp. 90-97) Bibliography (pp. 98-111) Index / Peter Gunn (pp. 112) Arising from the English Heritage-sponsored session 'Romano-British Research Agendas' at the Roman Archaeology Conference, Durham 1999, this volume seeks to encourage those with an interest in the subject to think broadly, and to engage actively in shaping the future priorities of research into Roman Britain - it is not designed to dictate them. The volume includes revised and expanded versions on the papers presented and discussed on: the Iron Age to Roman transition; Romanisation, gender and class; material culture and identity; material approaches to the identification of different Romano-British site types; the role of vertebrate zooarchaeology; rural society; urbanism; soldiers and civilians; and the Roman to medieval transition, together with an additional contribution on urban research. This challenging book encourages those with an interest in Roman Britain to think broadly and to engage actively in shaping the future priorities of research into the subject. The volume reconsiders many assumptions about relations between Romans and the indigenous population and the authors explore themes as diverse as: the Iron Age/Roman and Roman/Medieval transitions; Romanisation; material culture and identity; rural society; urbanism; zooarchaeology; and soldiers and civilians. Within these themes the contributors seek to break down the relative insularity of Romano-British studies, and to open it up to new external perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches.