Martin Pitts

The Making of Britain's First Urban Landscapes: The Case of Late Iron Age and Roman Essex

This paper presents preliminary research into the social and economic impact of early urban settlement in Britain, focusing on the case-study area of Late Iron Age to Roman Essex. Through fresh analysis of ceramic assemblages from Colchester and Heybridge, we describe hitherto unrecognised socio-cultural groupings and identities through subtle differences in the deposition of pottery in the generations before and after conquest. The concluding discussion concentrates on problems that we still have to address in describing the economic basis of early urban society in Britain.

Re-thinking the southern British oppida: networks, kingdoms and material culture

AbstractThis article examines the role of a range of large settlements in late Iron Age and early Roman southern Britain (c. 100 BC–AD 70) conventionally described as oppida. After reviewing current perspectives on the function and chronology of British oppida, new insights are provided through the statistical analysis of assemblages of brooches and imported ceramics at a broad sample of sites. Analysis of material culture reveals distinct similarities and differences between several groups of sites, often transcending regional traditions and supposed tribal boundaries. This patterning is primarily explained by the emergence of new forms of political organization prior to Roman annexation, particularly the creation of the Southern and Eastern Kingdoms.

Reconsidering Britain's first urban communities

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Christmas Feasting and Social Class

Abstract This paper examines the role of Christmas meals in Britain, with particular focus on the construction of social class identities through feasting and the consumption of food and drink. Analysis is based on quantitative data from the National Food Survey in the period 1975–2000, sampled at five-year intervals, comparing food shopping data from the month of December with that for the rest of the year. Whilst expenditure on food in December is shown to be consistently higher than for the rest of the year in all social groups, significant social class differences remain, not least in the consumption of healthy food and alcohol. At the same time, as expenditure on the constituents of the traditional Victorian-style Christmas has declined rapidly in the festive season over recent decades, there has been increased emphasis among all social classes on modern convenience food and ready meals.

Margaret Darling & Barbara Precious with Joanna Bird, Brenda Dickinson & Katherine Hartley. A corpus of Roman pottery from Lincoln (Lincoln Archaeological Studies 6). xi+392 pages, numerous colour and b&w illustrations. 2014. Oxford & Oakville (CT): Oxbow, 978-1-84217-487-6 hardback £35.

This substantial volume deals with a corpus of over 150 000 Roman pottery sherds from excavations in Lincoln, England, between 1972 and 1987. Given the quantity of pottery involved, this publication presents an exciting opportunity to list and analyse a valuable body of material from an important regional centre in Roman Britain. Both the dataset and its discussion allow for the spatial distinction between the original upper city, comprising the fortress and succeeding upper colonia, the lower city, defined by the lower colonia, and extra-mural settlement at Wigford. The data, discussed in seven core chapters dealing with different classes of fineand coarse-ware fabrics and an extensive synthetic chapter, are generally biased towards the mid–late Roman period, with a relative paucity of material from the formative years of the fortress and the early phases of the colonia. In terms of pottery supply, Lincoln is not an exceptional site for Roman Britain, although this does not diminish the richly varied narrative of consumption that is presented here. This point is encapsulated by an impressive map of pottery sources from the wider Roman world illustrated with the various shapes and styles of vessels imported (fig. 247, p. 313). One interesting discussion among many concerns the evidence for substantial local supplies of Iron Age pottery to the fortress, which is unusual for legionary fortresses in Britain. This finding is mirrored at the site of Longthorpe to the south, also previously used by Legio IX Hispana, highlighting the capacity of Roman military units to engage in distinctive cultural practices, diverging from commonly held notions of a homogeneous military culture across the north-western provinces.