Understanding Late Iron Age Transitional Rural Settlement and Society in South Shropshire
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Beyond the Hinterland: Understanding late Iron Age transitional rural settlement and society in South Shropshire By Michael John Greene A thesis re-submitted to the University of Birmingham for the Degree of Master of Arts by Research Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham, B15 2TT March 2015 i University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Declaration I declare that no part of this thesis has been submitted for a degree or any qualification of The University of Birmingham or any other University or institution; and, this work submitted has been prepared by me. ii Abstract The aim of this thesis is to study the extent and effect Roman culture and economy had on rural Cornovian society from the perspective of the development of the new relationships determined by the Roman administration in terms of the provincial infrastructure, the establishment of urban centres and civil and military socio-economic relationships in order to identify and explain the processes that facilitated cultural and socio-economic changes in Cornovian society as indicative of Romanization. The basic premise of the thesis is that Roman administration and the development of the region as a part of the developing province had little, if any, effect on the native Cornovian society, in the very marginal and relatively isolated area of the south Shropshire Hills; and that the rural native population lived in a state of indifferent cultural and social separation rather than a conscious communal rejection of Roman culture. On this, we must consider a separation of the elite from the general rural community, due to the foundation of the civitas capital of Viroconium Cornoviorum, and that it is this latter population, who must be assumed to be the majority, are the subject of this research. Therefore, implicit is the Cornovii as an identifiable regional grouping and specifically the population of the south Shropshire Hills. iii Dedication To Teri and the Muglies iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all those who assisted in providing me with their time, support and advice in the research for this thesis with particular thanks to Teri, Dr. R.White, my supervisor, Prof. J. Gaffney, Dr. A. Wigley, Mr. I.Bapty, Prof. S. Ainsworth, the members of the Lydbury Field Group who made the excavations of the enclosures at Down Farm possible, the Stiperstones and Corndon Landscape Partneship Scheme for use of the LiDaR data in assisting the survey of the Linear Earthworks on Stapley Hill and the teaching staff at the University of Birmingham for the patience in teaching me the latest advances in GIS and GPS. v Beyond the Hinterland: Understanding late Iron Age transitional rural settlement and society in South Shropshire Contents i. Declaration-----------ii ii. Abstract--------------iii iii. Dedication-----------iv iv. Acknowledgments--v v. List of Figures--------x vi. List of Tables-------xiv vii. Abbreviations-------xv Chapter 1 Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------1 1.1 Introduction of the Thesis-----------------------------------------------------------------1 1.2 Aims------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 1.3 Geography-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 1.4 Methods--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 1.5 Methodologies: Theoretical Approaches to Rural Settlement ------------------------7 1.6 The Pattern and Form of Settlements-----------------------------------------------------7 1.7 Settlements and their relationship to the landscape-------------------------------------9 1.8 The agricultural landscape; the use and exploitation of the land--------------------10 1.9 Cognitive processes, the ritual landscape and the agrarian culture-----------------12 1.10 The extent and limits of the research----------------------------------------------------12 1.11 Thesis----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13 1.12 Structure of the thesis---------------------------------------------------------------------16 Chapter 2 Natural Environmental Determinants and Human Agency-------------21 2.1 Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------21 2.2 Landscape Characterization--------------------------------------------------------------22 2.3 Geology--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------24 2.4. Palaeoclimatology and the evidence of Palynology-----------------------------------25 2.4.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------25 2.4.2 Environmental Context------------------------------------------------------------------27 2.4.3 Analysis-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------29 2.5 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------32 Chapter 3 Theoretical Approaches to Romanization-----------------------------------36 3.1 Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------36 3.2 Modelling Iron Age Communities-------------------------------------------------------37 3.3 Anthropological and Archaeological Approaches to Imperialism and Colonialism----------------------------------------------------------------------------41 vi 3.4 Romanization-------------------------------------------------------------------------------47 3.5 The problems with current archaeological theory-------------------------------------55 3.6 Reception of the Colonial Culture-------------------------------------------------------57 3.7 Colonialism and the Cornovii------------------------------------------------------------58 3.8 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------62 Chapter 4 Transition and the Urban Effect----------------------------------------------64 4.1 Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------------64 4.2 Iron Age to Romano-British Transitional changes------------------------------------65 4.3 The Urban Effect – Viroconium Cornoviorum-----------------------------------------68 4.4 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------83 Chapter 5 Rural Settlement, Pattern, Form and Landscape-------------------------85 5.1 Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------85 5.2 The Development of the Settled Landscape in the First Millennium BC----------88 5.3 Linear Earthworks and Cross Ridge Dykes, their significance in the development of the Iron Age Landscape -----------------------------------------------96 5.4 Pit Alignments-----------------------------------------------------------------------------105 5.5 Typology of Settlements-----------------------------------------------------------------108 5.6 Morphology of Enclosures and Lineation---------------------------------------------110 5.7 Area of Enclosures and Settlements----------------------------------------------------114 5.8 Locations and Spatial Distributions: Patterns in the Landscape--------------------115 5.9 Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------------118 Chapter 6 Agriculture, The Purpose and Function of Enclosures, their Cultural and Social Significance--------------------------------------119 6.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------119 6.2 Arable--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------121 6.3 Iron Age Pastoral and Husbandry Practice -------------------------------------------127 6.4 Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------------136 Chapter 7 Material Culture and Identity------------------------------------------------138 7.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------138 7.2 Finds from the Cornovian Territory----------------------------------------------------144 7.2.1 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------144 7.2.2 Coins--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------144 7.2.3 Metal artefacts---------------------------------------------------------------------------148 7.2.4 Pottery------------------------------------------------------------------------------------151 7.2.5 Glass--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------156 7.2.6 Ritual--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------156 7.3 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------157 vii Chapter 8 The Characterization of Settlement: