The sound of magic? Bells in Roman Britain

Bells are recorded in many published excavation reports from Roman sites, but there has been no previous study of the British material. This paper explores the significance of bells in the Roman world from both a ritual and functional perspective. We create a first typology of Romano-British bells, provide an understanding of their chronology and examine any spatial and social differences in their use. Special attention is paid to bells from funerary or ritual contexts in order to explore the symbolic significance of these small objects. Bells from other parts of the Roman world are considered to provide comparisons with those from Roman Britain. The paper demonstrates that small bells were used as protective charms and may have been preferentially placed into the graves of children and young women. The paper identifies a new, probably Roman type of bell that has no parallels within the Empire, although similar pieces occur in first- and second-century graves in the Black Sea region

What was a mortarium used for? Organic residues and cultural change in Iron Age and Roman Britain.

The Romans brought the mortarium to Britain in the first century AD, and there has long been speculation on its actual purpose. Using analysis of the residues trapped in the walls of these ‘kitchen blenders’ and comparing them with Iron Age and Roman cooking pots, the authors show that it wasn't the diet that changed — just the method of preparing certain products: plants were being ground in the mortarium as well as cooked in the pot. As well as plants, the mortars contained animal fats, including dairy products. The question that remains, however, is why these natural products were being mixed together in mortaria. Were they for food, pharmaceuticals or face creams?</jats:p

Britannia in numbers: 50 years of the journal of Romano-British and kindred studies

This paper reviews contributions to the journal Britannia over the last 50 years, and considers future directions. Papers are examined in relation to topic and the gender and professional associations of authors

The late Roman field army in Northern Britain? Mobility, material culture and multi-isotope analysis at Scorton (N. Yorks)

At Hollow Banks Quarry, Scorton, located just north of Catterick (N Yorks.), a highly unusual group of 15 late Roman burials was excavated between 1998 and 2000. The small cemetery consists of almost exclusively male burials, dated to the fourth century. An unusually large proportion of these individuals was buried with crossbow brooches and belt fittings, suggesting that they may have been serving in the late Roman army or administration and may have come to Scorton from the Continent. Multi-isotope analyses (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium) of nine sufficiently well-preserved individuals indicate that seven males, all equipped with crossbow brooches and/or belt fittings, were not local to the Catterick area and that at least six of them probably came from the European mainland. Dietary (carbon and nitrogen isotope) analysis only of a tenth individual also suggests a non-local origin. At Scorton it appears that the presence of crossbow brooches and belts in the grave was more important for suggesting non-British origins than whether or not they were worn. This paper argues that cultural and social factors played a crucial part in the creation of funerary identities and highlights the need for both multi-proxy analyses and the careful contextual study of artefacts

Reinventing 'The Invention of Tradition'? Indigenous Pasts and the Roman Present

Thirty years ago Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger introduced The invention of tradition as a concept to explain the creation and rise of certain traditions in times of profound cultural change. Taking stock of current theoretical understandings and focusing on the Roman world, this volume explores the concept of 'inventing traditions' as a means to understand processes of continuity, change and cultural innovation. The notion has been highly influential among studies concerned with the Greek and Roman eastern Mediterranean. Elsewhere in the Roman world and traditions other than Greek, however, have been neglected. This volume aims to evaluate critically the usefulness of the idea of 'inventing traditions' for the successor culture that was Rome. It focuses on the western part of the Roman Empire, which has been virtually ignored by such studies, and on non-Greek traditions. Why, in the Roman present, were some (indigenous) traditions forgotten while others invented or maintained? Using the past for reasons of legitimation in a highly volatile present is a cultural strategy that (also) characterises our present-day, globalized world. Can 'inventing traditions' be regarded as a common human characteristic occurring throughout world history

Writing and power in the Roman world: literacies and material culture

At the heart of this book lies the nature of the relationship between the material culture of writing and socio-cultural identities in the Roman period. Literacy was an important skill in the ancient world, and power could be exercised over and through texts. Writing equipment was displayed on monuments and placed into burials to display status as well as age and gender. This book offers a new angle on Roman literacies by examining a previously neglected object, metal inkwells. It explores their forms, chronology and distribution across the Roman Empire and analyses social and economic meanings through the funerary data. Men, women, adults and children were buried with writing equipment but practices varied over time and in different parts of the Empire. The book reviews recent work on ancient literacies and adds a distinctive material turn to our understanding of this crucial skill and the embodied practices of its use

Styling the body in Roman Britain

Online database and downloadable csv files containing 1347 entries on Roman / Late Iron Age British toilet instruments