The Romano-british Peasant: Towards a Study of People, Landscapes and Work During the Roman Occupation of Britain

Unlike many other volumes on Roman Britain, this book focuses on the ordinary people - the farmers, shopkeepers, labourers and others - who are rarely given centre-stage. It was they who fed the country in large measure, who turned wool into cloth, mined the ores, quarried and transported the stone for the walls of villas and towns, and who got their hands dirty in the fields and at the potters wheel. Using evidence from archaeology, texts and ethnography, it aims to rebalance our view of Roman Britain away from elite institutions and social classes, which are generally more archaeologically visible, towards the common man. Natural forces underlying the use of land for agriculture and regional variations in agricultural practice are considered as an underlying theme for discussion of the size, health and nutrition of the population. How people earned a living is addressed through selected examples, as are questions of family size and structure, rules of social behaviour, customs and taboos, the presence and role of foreigners and non-locals. A number of major themes for future consideration are identified.