Digging up ancient graves looking for pots to cook in​…

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tiompan T
tiompan Nov 24, 2015 12:55:09
Replying to Robot Emperor

Robot Emperor wrote:
Reading a book that claims that Britain after the Roman Occupation became aceramic for centuries, that the populace were reduced to scavenging for funerary urns to cook in.

This may be common knowledge amongst those of a archaeological bent yet I was astonished. To claim that even in ancient(ish) times the link between the populace as a whole and those with knowledge of a relatively straightforward technology was vast, similar to me being told to get down to my local nuclear power station and get it going.

I was wondering if I had (yet again) fallen for a seductive yet flawed interpretation of our past? Has the claim validity? Since it concerns the post Roman world the evidence could only be archaeological. And if the populace were "scavenging" for pottery where would they look other than yet more ancient tombs and burial chambers, those dating to before the Roman invasion that seems to have infantilised British society? Is there proof of such desperate and sad vandalism?

(The book is good btw... The Real Lives Of Roman Britain by Guy de la Bedoyere).

You might find the introduction ,and possibly more , of Mark Whyman's Phd interesting .Google "Late Roman Britain in transition AD 300 -500 " .

Yes , the technology is straightforward ,particularly without a wheel .

Dunno about the evidence for the scavenging ,doesn't Guy provide it ?

R Robot Emperor
Robot Emperor Nov 24, 2015 13:50:07
Replying to tiompan

tiompan wrote:
You might find the introduction ,and possibly more , of Mark Whyman's Phd interesting .Google "Late Roman Britain in transition AD 300 -500 " .

Yes , the technology is straightforward ,particularly without a wheel .

Dunno about the evidence for the scavenging ,doesn't Guy provide it ?

More of an aside in a relatively dense book. You know the kind of thing, a lot of research behind a non-descript paragraph. The issue is just outside what are the concerns of the book - how, despite the existence of writing from the Roman Occupation, we are still largely ignorant of the day-to-day lives of those in Roman Britain.

What fascinated me were potential issues of a technocracy and the impact of imperialism. If evidence of an aceramic Post-Roman Britain was anything more than informed extrapolation? Obvious to me now (post in haste etc) that we can never expect anything else from archaeology. Looking at the link you provided (thanks) and others leading from it then it is a tantalising possibility.