Andy Spencer

Dealing with cultural and physical dislocation: The use of the prehistoric past as a means of identity retention in Roman Britain.

Supervisor: Dr. Joshua Pollard

Abstract:

Momentous events like the imposition of Roman rule in Britain often have a profound effect on the people who experience them. Places of past significance are important, as they can be employed as an anchor, allowing an individual or social group to retain a perceived cultural identity. This paper discusses the problems associated with assessment of excavation data and uses an example of an excavation at Sherncote, to show how visible or intangible connections to landscape features were retained or forgotten, during the period when material culture stemming from the Mediterranean world, came to dominate Britain’s cultural consciousness.

email: ajs1d10@soton.ac.uk