History

The Romano-British Peasant

Name: The Romano-British Peasant
Author: Mike McCarthy
ISBN: 9781905119479

by Mike McCarthy

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Synopsis

This important and significant volume examines, for the first time, the ordinary people of Roman Britain. This overlooked group – the farmers, shopkeepers, laborers and others – fed the country, made the clothes, mined the ores, built the villas and towns and got their hands dirty in the fields and at the potter’s wheel. The book aims to rebalance our view of Roman Britain from its current preoccupation with – archaeologically visible – elite social classes and the institutions of power, towards a recognition that the ordinary person mattered. It looks at how people earned a living, family size and structure, social behavior, customs and taboos and the impact of the presence of non-locals and foreigners, using archaeology, texts and ethnography. It also explores how the natural forces which underlay the use of agricultural land and regional variation in agricultural practice impacted upon the size, health and nutrition of the population. The Romano-British Peasant leads the way towards a greater understanding of ordinary men and women and their role in the history and landscape of Roman Britain.
This title was nominated for the 2014 Current Archaeology Best Book Award.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.
2. Beyond control?
3. The People of Roman Britain.
4. Employment – farming.
5. Non-agricultural employment.
6. Society.
7. Envoi.