The medieval economy was centred on a phenomenal growth in trade of all kinds of goods, yet few have studied the actual network of roads that was so vital to medieval trading. Starting with the basic concept of a 'road' in medieval times, and discussing the increasing need to travel, this book explores the evidence from documents and maps that provide clues as to where the roads of medieval Britain led, connecting the study of individual roads together to paint an image of the broader road network. The author also uses findings from archaeological surveys and bird's-eye-view photographs to...

The human skeleton, often ignored or even discarded by early archaeologists, has become of great interest and importance to their modern counterparts. Known as physical anthropology, the study of skeletons is a vital part of environmental archaeology. Human bones provide accurate evidence for the physical characteristics of a previous community, and are a major source of evidence for diseases that scar bone, such as tuberculosis, leprosy, and syphilis, and their subsequent evolution within populations. Ann Stirland describes human skeletons and their variations as a result of diet,...

Roman archaeological sites in Britain produced huge quantities of pottery providing vast amounts of information about technology, trade, wealth, industry and lifestyle.

To many people, villas symbolize the life of luxury in the countryside of Roman Britain: mosaics and wall paintings, dining rooms and sumptuous baths. As this book reveals, however, they were not simply the country houses of prosperous Britons who had learnt the ways of Rome; villas as farms were the most efficient means of producing both goods for market in the new towns and revenue for the tax collector. By exploring the villa estate, its management, fields, equipment, and outbuildings, Roman archaeological expert David E. Johnston differentiates those villas that may have been held by...