The Romans in Worcester a Town and Its Hinterland Education Pack

The Romans in Worcester

A Town and its Hinterland

Education Pack

Education Pack

Welcome

Th e R oman s i n W orceste rresourceisintendedtoalignwiththenationalcurriculum

in England, with the focus on Worcester and its hinterland bringing the wider understanding of Roman Britain closer to home. The resource book provides information for teachers of Key Stage 2 learners, along with accompanying PowerPoint presentations, suggested activities and other resources. There is an accompanying loan box incorporating replica items as well as archaeological

ﬁnds from the Mab’s Orchard excavation at Warndon, Worcester. The book is

laid out with information for teachers shown alongside the relevant PowerPoint slides, to help you explore a variety of themes with your learners.

At the start of each chapter and before each activity, we provide a listing of relevant points in the Key Stage 2 programme of study.

The understanding of historical concepts, such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, is a key aim within the national curriculum for history, while the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain (including

‘Romanisation’ of Britain: sites such as Caerwent and the impact of technology, culture and beliefs, including early Christianity) is a required part of the Key Stage

2 curriculum. Therefore we have highlighted key changes and new introductions that took place in the Roman period by marking the text in bold.

We hope that you will ﬁnd this a useful and inspiring resource for bringing

archaeology and the Romans into your classroom.

There were glaciers in the Scottish
Highlands until around 10,000 years ago

Timeline of Archaeological Periods in England

Last Ice Age
500,000 BC

Hunting and gathering ꢆse of flint tools

Palaeolithic

Spear point

People being to move from hunting and gathering towards food production i.e. farming

10,000 BC
4000 BC

ꢀesolithic

Antler harpoon

Farming economy ꢀonumental constructions e.g. Stonehenge

Neolithic

ꢀegalithic architecture

Devlopment of metalworking technologies
ꢁncreasing use of bronze

2600 BC 800 BC

Bronze Age

Bronze leaf-shaped spearhead

ꢁronworking technologies ꢀonumental architecture e.g. hillforts, oppida

ꢁron Age

Engraved mirror

Amphora

AD 43

Prehistory ends with the arrival of the
Romans in AD 43

Roman

AD 410

Anglo-Saxons 5th-11th centuries AD

Early ꢀedieval

Sutton Hoo Helmet

Vikings 8th-11th centuries AD

Decorated bone comb

The Norman ꢁnvasion (AD 1066ꢄ marks the beginning of the
ꢀedieval period

AD 1066 AD 1540

ꢀedieval

Face jug

The ꢀedieval period ends with the dissolution of the monasteries in AD 1540

Post-ꢀedieval

1485-1603 Tudor
1558-1604 Elizabethan
1603-1714 Stuart

Tudor crown

1603-1625 Jacobean 1714-1837 Hanoverian 1714-1830 Georgian 1837-1ꢅ01Victorian

AD 1901

ꢀodern

PPT 1: Life Before Vertis

Key Stage 2 Curriculum Links

History: changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age Geography: human geography: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including

trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water

Slide 2: reconstruction image of Iron Age village

The Iron Age (c. 800 BC to AD 43) is so called because of the adoption of iron working technologies. Iron was more complex to make

than its precursor, bronze, but the ﬁnished result was more durable. Other metals such

as gold and silver were also used at this time, and bronze was still widely used for the manufacture of weapons and tools.

Settlement was usually more dispersed in the preceding Bronze Age. In the Iron Age, we begin to see more evidence of communal living. Ramparts and ditches were used to create enclosures on

slopes, summits and promontories. Iron Age homes were round in plan. These roundhouses were

made from a combination of materials including wood, stone and turf, with low walls and conical thatched roofs. Roundhouses vary in size but each one was probably home to an extended family

group. Iron Age people were predominantly farmers, growing crops and rearing animals, but hunting, ﬁshing and gathering played a small part in their economy too.

Crops

Wild Resources
•••••
Emmer wheat Barley
••••••
Honey Deer

Spelt

Nuts

Oats

Berries (e.g. raspberries, blackberries)

Celtic beans

Crabapples

Animals

Fish

••••
Sheep/goats

Cattle

Pigs Horses

Slide 3: mapping Iron Age tribes in Britain

Iron Age Britain was home to tribal peoples:

much of what we now know as Worcestershire

was occupied by the Dobunni while the Cornovii

inhabited the northern part, and the southwestern portion was home to the Silures. We can trace the territories of these peoples through

coin evidence: there were eight coin-issuing

tribes, one of which was the Dobunni. Each tribe
1had a distinctive material culture – their own styles of pottery or personal ornaments, for example – which helps us to understand where their territories lay. Tribes were led by a chief, and society is generally believed to have been patriarchal. However, there are examples of female leaders including Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes, and Boudica of the Iceni, the latter famous for having led an uprising against the Romans in around AD 60.

Slide 4: beautiful objects, skilled craftspeople

The material culture of the Iron Age includes

some beautiful objects made by highly skilled craftspeople. Elaborately decorated jewellery is

among the most impressive Iron Age metalwork.

Theserareandexpensivehigh-statusitemswould have belonged to the wealthiest members of society.

The necklace shown is known as the Perdiswell Torc. It was discovered in Perdiswell, Worcester, in

1840 by workers who were digging for gravel. This one is made of copper alloy beads threaded onto an iron bar, but some are made of intricately twisted strands of gold. The Perdiswell Torc likely

dates to the 2nd century AD, but torcs like this are characteristic of the Iron Age, and are rare but exciting ﬁnds. This style of torc is more commonly found in the north of England so it’s not clear how

it came to be in Worcestershire – perhaps through trade links.

The comb was found by a metal detectorist in Warwickshire, who had no idea how old it was! It has intricate decoration including basketweave pattern with an ‘armadillo’ motif. It may have been for personal use but some people believe it was in fact intended for use on horses’ manes and tails.

The ﬁve coins of the Dobunni, discovered in the Droitwich area, date to around AD 20- AD 50. They

feature a rearing horse, a motif which appears frequently on Iron Age coins. On the other side (not shown) is a tree/branch.

It is clear that the Roman town of Vertis grew on a site that had previously been occupied: the Roman material overlies material relating to Iron Age occupation of the site, with Roman ramparts running along the same course (or, in fact, the same earthwork) as an earlier rampart, an Iron Age

precursor. Some researchers have suggested that the number of coins found could suggest that this may have been an oppidum, an enclosed community a bit like a walled town. For much of the

Slide 5: Activity | Trade & Exchange

Number – number and place value Number – addition and subtraction Number – multiplication and division

For much of the Iron Age, trade was done using

a bartering system rather than coinage. This activity enables your learners to explore ideas of trade and exchange. Photocopiable trading cards and instructions are found on the following two pages.

2

1 cow

1 sheep

Iron Age, however, the economy was based on

trade.

5 pots

1 bag of grain

Tribal Trade & Exchange

For much of the ꢀron Age, trade was done using a bartering system rather than coinage. Wealth was measured in terms of resources - food, animals and other goods - rather than money.

1. Split into groups to represent different ꢀron Age tribes. Give your tribe a name.
2. Trade with your neighbouring tribes, swapping resources. Remember that everyone needs to eat – try to avoid trading away all of your food!
3. At the end of each round, compare resources. Which community has the most food and which has the least? Which community would survive longest? ꢀs one team now wealthier than the others? The wealthiest tribe wins the game!

Round One

ꢀtꢁs been a good yearꢂ thereꢁs been a plentiful harvest, and there are lots of cattle and sheep for meat and dairy products. Food is not scarce, so prices are fairly low.

1 cow ꢀ 3 sheep OR 15 bags of grain OR ꢁ5 pots
1 sheep ꢀ 3 bags of grain OR 15 pots
1 bag of grain ꢀ 5 pots

Round Two

There has been a bad harvest and the value of grain has gone up. Grain is now worth more than it was before, because there is less available. All communities need grain to make bread, so a shortage could cause problems.
No-one wants to go hungry, so those without much grain simply have to pay the new, higher price!

1 cow ꢀ 3 sheep OR 10 bags of grain OR ꢁ5 pots
1 sheep ꢀ 2 bags of grain OR 15 pots
1 bag of grain ꢀ 10 pots

Round Three: ꢂaggle ꢃour Way to Wealth!

Haggling is bargaining or making a deal. Decide what you think your goods are worth and trade with your classmates. Do you need food more than pots? Would your community prefer to eat beef or lamb/mutton? How much do you need or want grain?

Write the goods’ values (below) up on the board. Photocopy lots of trading cards and the instructions (previous pages), and distribute them among your learners, split into teams or tribes. Every tribe

should have at least one food item i.e. sheep, cow or grain. Take a note of which items each tribe has at the beginning.

Round One: over a deﬁned period – perhaps a ten minute window, or over break-time, or even

during the course of a whole day – let your tribes trade their resources. Group together again

and discuss how many resources each tribe has now. If everyone traded according to the values

assignedabove, notribeshouldhaveendedupanyricherorpoorerthantheywereatthebeginning,

although some may have traded away their food (i.e. grain, animals and the milk they produce)

and ended up with nothing but pots.

Round Two: tell your learners that there has been a bad harvest and the value of grain has gone up;

it is worth more because there is less available.

Round One

Round Two

1 cow = 3 sheep / 15 bags of grain / 75 pots
1 sheep = 3 bags of grain / 15 pots
1 bag of grain = 5 pots
1 cow = 3 sheep / 10 bags of grain / 75 pots
1 sheep = 2 bags of grain / 15 pots
1 bag of grain = 10 pots

Let your learners trade again. This time, those with plenty of grain should end up richer because their peers will need to give more in return for their grain. Anyone who has traded away all their grain in

return for other items might ﬁnd it harder to rid get hold of grain now that it is more valuable.

Gather together again and note down who has what. Discuss the results. Did people who formed groups have greater trading power because they had more items to trade? Did anyone end up with no food items at the end? What would the consequences have been in real life?

Round Three: depending on the age of your learners, you might like to add another round of trading, this time allowing them the freedom to haggle and set prices themselves. The balance will likely shift so that some enterprising individuals end up with many more resources than the others! Again, discuss the likely consequences of an imbalance of resources and what this might have meant for

Iron Age communities.

Slide 6: Iron Age Britain through Roman Eyes

Greek geographer, philosopher and historian

Strabo wrote about Britain, “Most of the island is ﬂat and overgrown with forests, although many of its districts are hilly. It bears grain, cattle, gold,

silver, and iron. These things, accordingly, are exported from the island, as also hides, and

slaves, and dogs” (Strabo’s Geography, written in the late ﬁrst century BC).

The Iron Age in Britain is generally considered to end in AD 43, with the Romans invading England through Colchester. This is also seen as the end of

prehistory, which ends with the emergence of written documents and the rise of literacy. However, the date AD 43 is really no more than a line in the sand, a convenient marker for archaeologists and historians. Some parts of Britain were never even occupied by the Romans. Rather, the events of AD 43 mark one stage in a much longer process of parts of Britain becoming integrated into a wider European world.

By the time of the Roman invasion, Rome already played an important part in the lives of the

people of south-eastern Britain. Consumption of Roman goods was an indicator of power and status

5among Britons, but this does not mean that all British leaders were keen on the idea of their lands being taken over by Rome. Those who resisted were subject to ruthless force, and many thousands of people were killed in the process. As the Romans pushed onwards, some leaders would have

opted for negotiation rather than conﬂict, and several were permitted to maintain their power and

status, albeit within certain constraints under Roman rule.

It is thought that the Romans reached the West Midlands in around AD 47. This phase of their campaign (AD 43-AD 47) saw around 30 battles taking place, with the Romans taking control of the

entire south-east of England, as far north as the Humber and as far west as modern-day Dorset and

Somerset. Current research suggests that most Iron Age settlement sites in Worcester area had fallen out of use by around the early second century AD.

Activity | Interpretation Stations

Reading: word reading Reading: comprehension Art and design: mastery of art and design

techniques

Slides 7-10: excerpts from classical texts, and drawing prompts

Written texts help us understand life in the Roman period. Some of these, like the Vindolanda tablets, are largely fact-based and provide information on day-to-day

matters. Others offer a version of events

rather than necessarily being 100% accurate. For this reason, we can use some Roman sources to

explore the concept of bias. Mediterranean classical texts frequently refer to Britons as barbarians and savages, but their descriptions were inﬂuenced by a desire to depict the peoples of Britain as backwards, in doing so conﬁrming the Roman notion of their own superiority over those that they conquered. It was important for the people of the empire to believe that the lands beyond Roman reach were uncivilised; it was essentially propaganda rather than fact. Archaeological evidence disproves much of what was written about Iron Age Britons.

• Read some excerpts from classical texts with your learners, to ﬁnd out how the Romans described the Britons Islides 7 and 8). Discuss the images that these descriptions bring up. Your learners could draw what they think an Iron Age person might have looked like (slide 9).

• Then you could look at photos of examples of Iron Age material culture (e.g. the British Museum’s
‘Celtic Life in Iron Age Britain’ gallery on Google Arts & Culture) which show that Iron Age people

were far from the savages that the Roman writers would have their readers believe. Would your

learners draw their Iron Age people differently, having seen additional evidence (slide 10)?

Discuss how likely it is that the descriptions are accurate, why the writers might have written things like this, and what impact it might have had on the people of the empire and their idea of the lands beyond imperial control.

There are lots of texts to choose from, and translations are freely available online, but the edited excerpts given in the PowerPoint presentation create vivid images, and are useful for illustrating

bias. It is worth noting that neither writer ever travelled to Britain.

6

PPT 2: Digging Roman Worcester

History: the Roman Empire and its impact on

Britain

Slide 2: Commercial Archaeology

Archaeologists study the evidence left behind by people in the past (not to be confused with palaeontologists, who study dinosaurs and

fossils). In the UK, archaeologists are working

to try to learn more about the period after the retreat of the last ice sheet, which occurred in England around 13,000 years ago.

Most of the archaeological work conducted in the UK today falls under the banner of commercial archaeology, either as part of a planning application, or when permission has been granted. If

a development is likely to affect archaeological remains, the council may require a desk-based

assessment (DBA), or potentially a ﬁeld evaluation. And if remains are found which cannot

be preserved during the development, archaeological recording may be needed (usually a

watching brief, sometimes detailed excavation). Most councils employ a planning archaeologist,

who oversees these matters and decides what sort of work should be carried out in advance of, or as mitigation for, a development. Developers will employ a commercial archaeological unit to

help them with this, and all the archaeological work in the planning system is at the developer’s

expense. • For a desk-based assessment, an archaeologist will look at old maps, written records and aerial

photographs to assess the likelihood of the development affecting any remains. The ﬁrst point of call for any research is the local Historic Environment Record (HER). There are over 80 HERs in

England, managed and maintained by local authorities. They hold - and make accessible - a wealth of information about heritage features and any work that might have been undertaken in the past.

• Where the archaeological potential is high, and a desk-based assessment wouldn’t provide enough information, a ﬁeld evaluation may be required. This usually consists of trial trenches, initially excavated by machine; the archaeologists will record and assess any remains found. Other techniques such as geophysical survey are also used.

• If the DBA or evaluation reveals that the likelihood of encountering archaeological remains

is quite high, the developer might have to employ an archaeologist to watch the groundbreaking works in case the remains are disturbed. This is called a watching brief. Should something be discovered during a watching brief, it will be excavated and the results recorded before any development can continue.

• Council planning ofﬁcers have to balance a lot of factors in making recommendations, and the beneﬁts of a development may outweigh the preservation of archaeological remains. In

such cases a full excavation programme may take place before the development starts.

• Very occasionally, discoveries made during a development are so signiﬁcant that the

developer might be instructed to change their plans - alter the route of a road, for example - so that the remains can be preserved. However, to make changes like this while a development is being built is extremely expensive. Adequate assessment and evaluation help to avoid this happening.

Some archaeological ﬁeldwork takes place to try to prevent or minimise the loss of information

7where archaeology cannot be preserved. For example, a site on the coast that is subject to erosion cannot necessarily be protected from the sea, but excavating it, recording what is found, publishing the results and learning as much as possible from the evidence will at least mean that we are able to learn about the site before it disappears.

Other excavations take place purely for research purposes, such as community archaeology projects or excavations undertaken by universities. In these cases, the site is being excavated purely

so that we can learn about people of the past.

Slide 3: Finding Archaeology

While excavations lead to many exciting discoveries, much archaeological work is noninvasive and is related to identifying and/or

recording archaeological sites. One question that

archaeologists are often asked is, “How do you

know where to dig?” Often, archaeological sites

have been known about for many years, even if they have never been excavated. HERs hold information on the many thousands of known

archaeological sites across the UK.
Since 1913, signiﬁcant known archaeological sites have been protected through scheduling. Scheduled monuments cannot be altered, damaged, removed or repaired (or, indeed, excavated) without written permission from the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. There

are around 20,000 scheduled monuments in England.

However, new sites are being identiﬁed all the time. We can look to aerial photographs (traditionally taken from light aircraft, but drones can now be used for low-level photography), historical documents and old maps to ﬁnd out more about archaeological and historical sites without doing

any digging. We can also undertake geophysical survey, which is a bit like X-raying the ground to identify hidden features such as walls and ditches.