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“we are still largely ignorant of the day-to-day lives of those in Roman Britain.”
Part of the problem of the peasant experience being almost silent until the 18th C .


“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. “

Without the written record , which can be mistaken or wilfully inaccurate (victors etc ) archaeology is often the only recourse we have for retrieving info . Often the archaeological evidence is contrary to the earlier written record .
When there are extrapolations /over-interpretations , they are due to individuals not the discipline , in this case the dissenting voice ,complete with evidence ,was also an archaeologist.

tiompan wrote:
“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. “

When there are extrapolations /over-interpretations , they are due to individuals not the discipline , in this case the dissenting voice ,complete with evidence ,was also an archaeologist.

Nah. Nothing wrong with extrapolation, just ask palaeontologists. I'd argue that, given the relative paucity of archaeological data for vast swathes of human prehistory, that it is inevitable. Individual finds still open up whole worlds of new possibilities, the Stonehenge archer for example, that are strictly speaking beyond their existence as just artefacts.

As in science, historical speculation taken from archaeology is changed one discovery at a time. I intended no slur on the noble pursuit.

Missed your dissenting voice and evidence. From sources related to the link you provided (thanks again, fascinating) regions of Britain do seem to have been aceramic for a surprising amount of time after the occupation and pots from earlier periods were reused. I think I agree with Thesweetcheat that loot a more likely motive for digging stuff up, pots a welcome bonus.

Hopeless dilettante that I am, I'll flit on to something else to interest me for a day or so now.