Greenwood, E. 2021: Organisation of Roman Iron Production in the Weald. University of Exeter; supervisors: Juleff, G. and Morkot, R.. eg391@exeter.ac.uk

The Weald of Sussex was one of the major sources of iron in Britain. However, questions still remain regarding the organisation and control of such production sites in the Roman era. This thesis explores the social organisation of Roman-period iron production through the investigation, analysis and discussion of two case studies located at Chitcombe and Standen. The research identifies and interprets archaeological features, particularly deposits of technological waste, to look at the processes of iron production, the role of the sites within the wider landscape, their connectivity and level of influence. In summary, the scale of iron-production sites across the Weald was found to vary greatly. Chitcombe is identified as a large-scale industrial iron-production site most likely under military control, with evidence for high-level spatial planning with distinct areas for smelting activities and workshops. Standen, meanwhile, represents a small-scale site with evidence for a much lower intensity of smelting and no indication of control or organisation. Coupled with a programme of excavation, the application of a multi-faceted geo-prospection methodology, incorporating magnetometry, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), induced polarisation (IP) and electromagnetic surveys, offering both horizontal and vertical images of the sites, is shown to offer an understanding of waste deposits as a whole. The strategy designed for the investigations of these sites has created a system of repeatable and comparable datasets that can be built upon with further studies.

O'Donnell, K. 2021: Quarries of Hadrian's Wall: Materials and Logistics of a Large-scale Imperial Building Project. University of Edinburgh; supervisors: Russell, B. and Crow, J.. k.e.a.odonnell@hotmail.co.uk

This work examines the geo-archaeological landscape around Hadrian's Wall. Within the area surrounding Hadrian's Wall, over 500 sandstone, limestone and dolerite quarries are recorded in modern mapping (BRITPITS 2020), representing the complex and changing use of the surrounding landscape. Over the last two millennia, this region has seen Roman invasion and settlement, medieval monastic building, major agricultural land-use, military road construction and the growth of two cities. It was necessary to understand the entire history of the region in order to establish which of the many quarries may have been associated with the Roman Wall, due to very limited changes in quarrying techniques up to the modern era. Only seven of these quarries have been identified as Roman due to inscriptions left by the quarrymen. Looking at land-use, historical mapping and industrial and pre-industrial quarrying methods has allowed a categorisation of the quarries to suggest which of the undated sites are the most likely to be associated with the Roman Wall. A gazetteer of 152 quarries was produced. The research also attempted the largest-scale petrological testing programme ever completed along Hadrian's Wall. Ninety-three samples were taken in total: 37 samples from archaeological sites (including Chesters, Birdoswald, Housesteads, Corbridge and Carlisle) and 56 quarry samples. Samples have been taken from 13 quarries and five control locations. Loose powder XRF and thin-section microscopy were used to identify links between the archaeological sites and potential stone sources, and the results show promising results which align well with long-held historical expectations.

Derrick, T. 2021: Glass Containers and Fluid Identities: Unguentaria and Social Practice in Roman Britain. University of Leicester; supervisors: Allison, P., Harlow, M. and Shipley, G.. tjderrick@gmail.com

For the first time, this thesis presents a detailed study of Roman glass unguentaria from non-funerary contexts in Britain. Its purpose was to investigate Roman glass unguentaria systematically, to see what we might understand about their role in the construction of identities and the formation of social practices in Roman Britain. I used glass unguentaria as a proxy for the social practices implicit in their use, and it was possible to examine the emergence and extent of these behaviours in Britain. The dataset for this thesis is collated from published assemblages, mainly from the north-east and south-east of England. Its main finding is that the consumption of unguentaria in Roman Britain seems to be a time-limited phenomenon that was restricted mainly to c. a.d. 60–125/150. Before this period, unguentaria were limited to the large urban centres of Colchester and St Albans. Rather than see the decline of unguentaria as an indicator of ‘failed Romanisation’ in Britain, it seems more likely that they ceased to be a prominent part of the material culture ‘package’ which expressed urban and military identities in the second and third centuries a.d. Unguentaria were marginally more common at sites in the South than those in the North. The thesis has highlighted the potential for unguentaria and Roman glass more broadly to address important research questions and points the way to future lines of research.

Coombe, P. 2021: Figural Sculpture in Roman Britain and its continental relationships. University of Oxford; supervisor: Stewart, P.. pclcoombe@gmail.com

Roman sculpture was in many ways remarkably homogenous across the empire, but there was also significant local adaptation. The similarities between sculpture in the Roman provinces of Britannia, Germania Inferior and Germania Superior have been observed, but no comprehensive survey of the similarities and differences, and the reasons for them, has yet been conducted. This thesis undertakes this analysis and considers different geographies of art. Three case studies (rider relief tombstones, Mother Goddess dedications and imperial portraits) elucidate the variation in use and appearance of certain types of sculpture in military, religious and socio-political contexts. The conclusions show that sculpture in Britain and Germany looks similar but not the same, because local circumstances both required and allowed consistency and variance to different degrees over time. Specific interactions or movements of people, access to raw materials, technical tradition of makers and demand from consumers all affected the appearance of sculpture to different extents. The interplay of transmission of standard or universal form and local adaptation is the main theme of this work.

Poniros, S. 2021: The Biological Anthropology of Diversity: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration and Ancestry in Roman Britain. University of Sheffield; supervisors: Craig Atkins, E. and Carroll, M.. sponiros@fairfield.edu

This thesis explores different facets of diversity in Roman Britain within the context of conquest and imperialism. First, the concerns of using cranial phenotypic variation as a means of biological distance analysis are addressed by proposing an approach that is diversity-driven, rather than classification-driven. This model, which employs K-means cluster analysis based upon Euclidean distance, is used to explore the phenotypic diversity and, therefore, the visually recognisable diversity from late Roman cemeteries at Lankhills, Poundbury, Ancaster and Baldock. Next, previously collected stable migratory isotope data, namely oxygen, strontium and lead, from several studies are combined and re-evaluated to explore the extent of migration to Roman Britain, specifically from cemeteries at Lankhills and Gloucester (London Road), as well as several cemeteries in York, Catterick and London. Then, all known inscriptions throughout Roman Britain that denote people of foreign or indigenous origins are collated using data from volumes I and III of RIB. Finally, all of these strands of evidence are combined and put within the context of Roman primary sources and provincial responses to Roman conquest in order better to understand the experience of diversity for conquered people within the Roman Empire. Ultimately, it is clear that diversity is well attested both biologically and archaeologically in Roman Britain, and that diversity was displayed despite Roman discrimination against provincials.

Hughes, P. 2021: An Imperial Impression: Roman Engagement with Prehistoric Monuments in Wiltshire and the Peak District National Park. University of Leicester; supervisors: Mattingly, D. and Haselgrove, C. (University of Leicester), Bowden, W. (University of Nottingham). Phil.Hughes@suffolk.gov.uk

There is a growing body of evidence that prehistoric monuments were significant to later societies, yet such manifestations are largely neglected by orthodox models of cultural change examining Roman imperialism. Since the early 1990s, a consensus has emerged abandoning the linear, top-down imposition of Roman culture onto the people of the provinces, instead emphasising a varied picture of local acceptance, resistance and reworking of extant and incoming norms. Given this, there is a need to integrate the use of prehistoric monuments and our understanding of Roman Britain. To achieve this, this thesis analyses prehistoric monuments such as Palaeolithic and Mesolithic cave systems, Neolithic causewayed enclosures, long barrows, henges and stone/timber circle complexes, Bronze Age round barrows and Iron Age hillforts yielding evidence for Roman engagement in two case study areas focused upon Wiltshire and the Peak District National Park. Rather than perceiving prehistoric monument engagement to be merely representative of diverse identities in the Roman period, or idiosyncratic and unusual practices removed from the realm of the everyday, it posits that monuments of the past actively co-constituted Roman identities through their relationships with other local archaeological phenomena such as contemporary settlement, funerary practices and coin-loss patterns. This approach enables an understanding that extant prehistoric monuments were active material components of their Roman period landscapes.

Hardwick, I. 2021: Pushing the Boundaries of Roman Britain: Landscape, Frontier and Identity in Northern Britannia. University of York; supervisors: Roskams, S. and Walsh, K.. ian.hardwick@ed.ac.uk

This study uses both newly created and existing archaeological aerial-survey data (the latter accessed from Historic England), alongside other previously undertaken forms of archaeological evidence (published and unpublished excavations, surveys and palaeoenvironmental work) and a conceptual framework of landscape, frontier and identity theory, to examine the northern frontier of Roman Britannia. The project investigates wider regional variations in landscapes across the length of the frontier: north and south of the well-known borderland along Hadrian's Wall, from the legionary fortress at York in the south to the outposts beyond the edge of Roman control further north. It also assesses differences to either side of the major natural boundary dividing the region (the Pennine uplands). The aim is to show how aerial survey, rather than merely providing a contextual backdrop to site-based research, can be used to answer academic questions around the Iron Age and Roman periods. Discussion includes the nature of the existing indigenous landscape prior to Rome's occupation (cultural and natural), and the subsequent changes which occurred, assessing the impact of the Roman frontier's establishment and development on the region's landscapes, and the identities of the people living there (both native and newly arrived).

May Montana, D. 2021: A Study of Diverse Identities During the Roman Period in the Severn Valley: A Cultural Network Approach. University of Oxford; supervisors: MacDonald, A. and Smith, A.. daniel.maymontana@kellogg.ox.ac.uk

The traditional Romanisation model of Roman Britain has been supplanted by models of identity formation in which a number of heterogeneous collective identities coexisted (e.g. nativism, creolisation and discrepant experiences, among others). Evidence for this is based on heterogeneous archaeological remains found in a number of archaeological sites and from recent research on status, gender and mobility. However, little research has been developed to assess the coexistence of heterogeneous identities in rural areas. This thesis aims to add to the body of evidence by studying rural areas in Gloucestershire and Shropshire. For this purpose, a novel methodological approach was used, based on a mixed-method strategy employing a quantitative network phase followed by a phenomenological phase. Using this approach, it was found that the identity evolution in Shropshire is consistent with the nativist model of identity formation because it reflects a polarisation between Roman and native identities suggesting native resistance against Roman ways. In contrast, the results for Gloucester are more aligned to a process of creolisation because it reflects the emergence of hybrid/mixed culture in lower-order societies that may be attributed to differentials between post-conquest and non-egalitarian societies. This finding indicates that the dynamic of identity formation in Roman Britain was a complex social process that cannot be captured by the simpler Romanisation approach. On the contrary, it supports the discrepant experiences view suggesting that heterogeneous identities reflect different perceptions of history, culture and relations between coloniser and colonised societies.