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Building Britannia: Pre-Flavian Private and Public Construction across Southern Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2021

Michael Fulford  and
Sara Machin
Michael Fulford
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Reading m.g.fulford@reading.ac.uk s.l.machin@reading.ac.uk
Sara Machin
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Reading m.g.fulford@reading.ac.uk s.l.machin@reading.ac.uk
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Abstract

Excavation of the Roman tilery at Little London, Pamber, Hampshire, has prompted a reassessment of the dating of relief-patterned tile, assigning the bulk of production to the Claudio-Neronian period rather than the late first to mid-/late second century. This material has been privileged for retention in excavation archives but can now be seen as a proxy for the manufacture of a much wider range of ceramic building material, typically discarded on site, which, in the case of products from Little London and pre-Flavian Minety (Wiltshire), travelled distances of up to 100 km. Redating implies more extensive public and private building in town and country south and east of the Fosse Way before the Flavian period than has previously been envisaged. While private building included the construction of bath-houses, heated rooms and the provision of roofing materials, public building, we suggest, provided tabernas et praetoria along the principal roads of the province. In the private sphere such building provides a possible context for Dio Cassius’ mention of the recall and confiscation of large loans made to Britons before the Boudican rebellion. Finally, consideration of fabric needs to be added to the criteria for retaining ceramic building material in excavation archives.

Keywords

Boudicanceramic building material (CBM)Dio CassiusFosse WayLittle LondonMinetyNeropre-Flavianrelief-patterned tiletabernas et praetoriatilery
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 52 , November 2021 , pp. 207 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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