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On Contrasts in the Charcoal Assemblage of a Late Iron Age and Romano-British Roadside Settlement

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On Contrasts in the Charcoal Assemblage of a Late Iron Age and Romano-British Roadside Settlement SAGVNTVM (P.L.A.V.) 51, 2019: 133 - 150 ISSN: 0210-3729 Texto recibido el 12/06/2019 ISSN online: 2174-517X Texto aceptado el 04/09/2019 DOI: 10.7203/SAGVNTVM.51.15380 ON CONTRASTS IN THE CHARCOAL ASSEMBLAGE OF A LATE IRON AGE AND ROMANO-BRITISH ROADSIDE SETTLEMENT Comparación entre el registro antracológico de las ocupaciones de la Edad del Hierro Final y del período romano-britano en un yacimiento junto a una vía JONATHAN ADAM BAINES Dpt. of Post Excavation. Northern Archaeological Associates. [email protected] ABSTRACT: This article examines the similarities and differences in the charcoal assemblage recovered from indigenous (pre-contact) roadside settlements, the Roman arrival and their subsequent occupation of the region. Samples taken from various archaeological features which form part of the surrounding system of strip fields, structures bordering a road junction, an industrial quarter and a vicus are investigated for remnants of fuel, craft and construction. Temporal and spatial changes in composition are interpreted as the result of pressure on firewood supply due to settlement developments and reorganisation. The recovered charcoal assemblage is mostly the product of deposition of those taxa that are most numerous on site – due to their usefulness as fuel or in construction. The distinct proportion of less common taxa in mature stands – lime, elm and maple – evince opportunistic foraging of fuel from beyond the usual firewood collection range as well as local manufacture of tools and use in carpentry. Key words: anthracology, Roman Britain, wood exploitation, roadside settlement. RESUMEN: En este artículo se analizan las similitudes y diferencias en el registro antracológico entre los niveles indígenas (pre-contacto) y aquellos resultantes a partir de la presencia romana en un yacimiento situado junto a una vía de comunicación. Las muestras, vinculadas a su uso como combustible, trabajos artesanales y constructivos, se han tomado de diferentes espacios arqueológicos, que formaban parte del sistema de campos circundantes, de las estructuras que limitaban el cruce de caminos, de un área industrial y de un vicus. Los cambios espaciales y temporales identificados en el registro se interpretan en relación a la presión para la obtención de leña, provocada por el desarrollo del asentamiento y su reorganización. El conjunto de carbones recuperado es resultado, mayoritariamente, de la deposición de aquellos taxa más abundantes debido a su uso como leña y en la construcción. La distinta proporción de aquellos taxa menos comunes –tilo, olmo y arce– evidencian prácticas oportunísticas de obtención de leña, así como su uso para la fabricación de utensilios y en labores de carpintería. Palabras clave: antracología, Britania romana, explotación de madera, asentamiento junto a una vía. Copyright: © 2019 Jonathan A. Baines. This is an open access paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 133 JONATHAN ADAM BAINES INTRODUCTION distinctions could be taken one step further and differen- tiate between the class of people living at these locales During the A1 motorway widening scheme between according to their disposal of spent fuel and from refur- Leeming and Barton, north-eastern England, in 2014- bishment of their buildings and roofing. 2017, archaeological excavations revealed various Late Despite the slight differences in the effort and travel Iron Age and Romano-British roadside settlements range for the urban inhabitants, those living on the pe- (Speed and Holst 2019; Fell 2019; Ross and Ross forth- riphery or on roadside farmsteads to acquire their wood, coming). Subsequent investigation of the sediment sam- the tree cover across this research area was comparable. ples by the author at Northern Archaeological Associates Ample riparian woodlands were within a kilometre of the revealed a substantial and varied charcoal assemblage. sites along becks or the river Swale. Clay and loamy Although over 2652 contexts, from this 18 km long freely draining soils as well as riverine gravel terraces transect, were examined, this article presents a synopsis provided various habitats interspersed by fertile arable of the data to discuss what wood people exploited during fields and meadows. Though hypothetical, the climate the transition from the native Late Iron Age to the was slightly warmer and moister in the late 1st century BC, Romanised era. 1st and 2nd centuries AD than afterwards (McCormick Though trade across the North Sea had connected et al. 2012). Peculiarities in the charcoal assemblage re- Britain to the Roman world prior to Julius Caesar’s ex- covered from the three settings are therefore more probably cursions in 55 and 54 BC, cultural, floral and faunal im- related to human circumstance or choice than constraints in, port gained momentum after the invasion under Claudius or derived from, their similar environment. in 43 AD. The Roman army quickly consolidated their Though another distinction in the character of the sites foothold in the SE and established the first governorship could be noted in the presence and absence of the Roman of their new province: Britannia; that same year. How- military, their impact on the exploitation of wood and ever, despite diplomatic missions and the establishment deposition/preservation of charcoal fragments can not be of client kingdoms (Fell 2019) insurgency plagued the tested per se. Whilst the charcoal record representing the spread of influence and control northwards throughout pre-contact era forms a point of comparison with the later the 50s and 60s AD. Not until repeated rebellions among period of occupation and military administration, this set- the Brigantes – the principal tribe in northern England at tlement phase was neither exclusively civil nor military. the time – were successfully put down in the 70s did gover- Thus, the impact of this foreign presence on the charcoal nor Agricola’s campaign bring calm to the region in the assemblage of the later roadside settlements stems from early 80s. Whilst these four decades constituted intermit- both. Whilst Romanisation of the indigenous population in tent phases of concord, conquest and consolidation, the the frontier provinces may be interpreted as assimilation or preceding century of low level exchange may be termed enforced integration for the purpose of display, gaining po- pre-contact (Fell 2019) and the succeeding three centuries litical influence, or establishing a trade network, it is hard as membership in an empire watched over by large garri- to trace this in charcoal. Though the ecofacts of environ- sons of auxiliaries and officials from the governor’s office. mental archaeology – bones, seeds, charcoal, starches, Numerous contexts will be collated to obtain a dis- phytoliths etc. – can be taken as objects to portray either tinct and comparable unit for contrasting the record from the implementation of new farming ideas and culinary tra- outlying strip field systems that backed onto a road, a ditions, or their rejection, they are unlike foreign structure settlement core at a road junction and a transect of a vicus designs and artefacts that inherently demonstrate accul- by a bridge. By examining these three types of roadside turation (van der Veen 2016a). What, for instance, would occupation, we can additionally compare the impact of distinguish indigenous from Romanised firewood collec- their different settlement character on the exploitation of tion? The native British did not live in the upland fringes wood. One group contains remains from farmsteads in a and inhospitable North alone; they were the province; the structured land arrangement on the quasi rural periphery villas and the native aristocracy were the diffuse margins of a central community. The second group covers the de- of society. In focussing on the latter sites, perhaps, a char- velopment of said community into a semi-urban village. coal assemblage could reveal signs of deviancy from na- The third group collates various structures and archaeo- tive customs and thereby highlight imports. However, logical features within an urban centre. Tentatively these these sites were not as busy as a roadside settlement 134 ON CONTRASTS IN CHARCOAL ASSEMBLAGE OF A LATE IRON AGE AND ROMANO-BRITISH ROADSIDE SETTLEMENT Fig. 1: Location of Scotch Corner, Ca- taractonium and the Bainesse roadside settlement. Adapted from Damien Ro- nan, NAA. (Monckton 2011; Rackham et al. 2013). By transecting a divided into three settings: pre-contact at Scotch Corner, community in which the military, local elite, labourers and the Roman occupation of Scotch Corner and the Roman peasants passed each other the record becomes mixed. Af- period at Cataractonium (Catterick) and Bainesse (see ter post-depositional activity truncated the record only the fig. 1). In order to approach its research question: what most frequently charred taxa were preserved. A particular wood did people exploit during the Late Iron Age and taxon may stand out or a distinct change in spatial and tem- Roman period? each setting covers a distinct character of poral proportion may be recognised but no longer whether roadside settlement and land usage in overlapping dates they were due to urbanity, nor romanisation. that range from the Late Iron Age, through the decennia Not only do the charcoal fragments disengage the of conquest and occupation
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