Internet Archaeol 3. Snyder. Introduction to the Gazetteer

Introduction to the Gazetteer

The Gazetteer covers the entire Romanized zone in Britain, extending as far north as the Firth of Forth.FN1 Focusing on Britannia has resulted in a bias toward "British" settlements; i.e. those settlements (both urban and rural) of the Roman period (and, in some cases, the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age) which show a continuity of occupation into the sub-Roman period. Future expansion of the database should include new settlements of groups from the Continent as well as Pictish and Scottish settlements in Scotland. I invite scholars working in these areas to participate in such an expansion.

How to Use the Gazetteer

There are three ways to use the electronic version of the Gazetteer:

You can search an area by clicking on the Map
You can search for information about sites by Name, Settlement Type, Date, Dating Evidence, Structures, or Burial by using the Classified Index.
You can simply scroll through the Gazetteer (Caution: this is a very large file which will take time to download).

Individual sites in the Gazetteer are listed by their English names (along with Roman and/or Celtic nomenclature, if known) and are ordered alphabetically by region. After the name of the site, a designation of "Definite," "Probable," or "Possible" is assigned to each site in accord with the strength of its dating evidence. "Definite" indicates the presence of inhabitable structures associated with one or more examples of the following types of dating evidence: Roman coins (or copies) minted in the fifth or sixth centuries; imported pottery widely recognized as belonging to the fifth or sixth centuries; recent scientifically-tested samples yielding fifth- or sixth-century dates. FN2 "Probable" indicates the presence of one or more of the aforementioned evidence types not associated with structures, and/or some evidence of structures associated with one or more of the following: Roman coin issues of the late fourth century; locally-made pottery of the late fourth or fifth centuries; broad-ranging scientific estimates; glass, metalwork, or jewelry datable stylistically to the fifth or sixth centuries. "Possible" indicates the presence of undatable structures or occupation at a late Roman site, stray finds of objects dating to the fifth or sixth centuries, or the testimony of sub-Roman activity in early medieval written sources.

Below the name and rank of the site is a brief description of Settlement Type. These are of the following general catagories:

Diocesan capital. London was the adminstrative capital of the Diocese of the Britains.
Colonia. One of the four former veterans' colonies in Roman Britain.
Civitas capital. A former Roman town which had served as the administrative center of the surrounding civitas.
Roman town. Any urban center which does not fall into one of the three catagories above.
Roman fort. Any Roman coastal or interior military fortification.
Vicus. A semi-urban civilian settlement which grew up around a Roman military installation.
Villa. A Roman rural estate.
Hillfort. A rural settlement, often on a hill or promontory and usually protected by natural banks or palisades.
Christian. A settlement which shows some strong evidence of Christianity (e.g. a church, inscribed tombstones).
Cemetery. A large, organized collection of inhumations.
Temple. A structure identified as a Romano-Celtic temple.
Other. There are single instances of other settlement types; e.g. Port, Trading Post, Mansio, Round, Crannog, Hut group, and Bank and cave settlement.

Following the Description is a list of datable artifacts or other dating evidence. These fall into six categories:

Coins
Metal (i.e. jewelry and other metal items datable by type)
Ceramic
Glass
Epigraphic (inscriptions datable by style)
¹⁴C (i.e. scientific dating evidence including radiocarbon and archaeomagnetic testing).

Following this is a bibliography of excavation reports and commentaries pertaining specifically to that site (archaeological and historical sources are listed in the Bibliography which follows the Gazetteer). Finally, a brief narrative is included to provide some background to the site, an overview of its evolution, and a sampling of current interpretations.