Belonging and Belongings: Portable artefacts and identity in the civitas of the Iceni

Description

The Late Iron Age in northern East Anglia ended with the Boudican rebellion in 60/61 CE, after which the people known to classical writers as the Iceni were subsumed into the Roman empire. This volume presents new research which tests the archaeological evidence for the Iceni as a defined group, through analysis of the region’s distinctive material culture, particularly highlighting the impact of metal-detector finds on the available dataset for research. It evaluates the validity of the theory that the Iceni were slow to adopt Roman imports and luxury goods, either as a form of deliberate resistance or due to cultural conservatism following the failed revolt. The interpretive narrative of the Iceni as ‘Other’, in both classical and modern sources, is also investigated. Cover Title page Copyright page Subseries page Also in the Subseries Other titles of Related Interest Acknowledgements Dedication Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Naming Conventions and Source Material Abstract 1. The Land of the Iceni 1.1. Introduction 1.2. The Iceni in the Late Iron Age and Early Roman Periods 1.3. The Boudican ‘War of Independence’ 1.4. The Civitas Icenorum 1.5. The Civitas Capital: Venta Icenorum 1.6. ‘Igni atque ferro vastatum’: Harried with Fire and Sword 1.7. How has the Icenian ‘Other’ been defined? 1.7.1. Creating the Iceni 1.7.2. Mapping ‘Tribal Territories’ 1.7.3. Neophiles and Neophobes 1.8. Summary 2. Understanding Change and Looking for Difference 2.1. Introduction 2.2. How do we understand cultural contact and change? 2.2.1. Persistent Identities: Resistance and Discrepancy 2.2.2. Globalisation and Connectivity 2.2.3. What is the power of the dispossessed? 2.3. How does identity relate to material culture? 2.3.1. Personhood and Adornment 2.3.2. Social Boundaries and Identity 2.3.3. The Material Elite Paradigm 2.3.4. Craft Specialisation 2.3.5. Coins and Identity 2.3.6. Hoarding and Deposition 2.3.7. Similar but Different: Iron Age and Roman Aesthetics 2.3.8. Hybridity and Creolisation 2.4. Research Methods 2.4.1. Function and Praxis 2.4.2. Inclusions and Exclusions 2.4.3. Looking for Difference 2.4.4. Working with Surface Finds 2.4.5. Potential Constraints and Bias 2.5. Summary 3. Badges of Belonging: Brooches 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Late Iron Age and Early Roman brooches 3.2.1. The Fibula Event Horizon 3.2.2. The Fibula Abandonment Horizon 3.3. Badges of Belonging? 3.3.1. Colchester Derivatives: Harlow and Rearhook 3.4. Brooch Manufacture 3.5. Brooch Moulds and Patterns 3.5.1. Felmingham 3.5.2. Brancaster 3.5.3. Old Buckenham 3.5.4. Venta Icenorum 3.5.5. Chediston 3.6. Hybrids and Failed Castings 3.7. ‘A souvenir or a bleak survival’? 3.8. What is the evidence for cultural contact? 3.8.1. One-piece (La Tène) Brooches 3.8.2. Continental Imports 3.8.3. Drahtfibel, Nauheim and Derivatives 3.8.4. Langton Down 3.8.5. Colchester 3.8.6. Rosette/Thistle 3.9. What is the evidence for the Boudican revolt and military occupation? 3.9.1. Aucissa and Hod Hill 3.9.2. Knee 3.9.3. Discussion 3.10. Itinerant Metalworkers and the Icenian ‘Other’ 3.11. What is the evidence for change and hybridity? 3.11.1. Aesica 3.11.2. Colchester Derivative: Polden Hill 3.11.3. Colchester Derivative: Hinged 3.11.4. Headstud and Trumpet Brooches 3.11.5. Zoomorphic 3.11.6. Horse-and-Rider 3.12. What is the evidence for cultural resistance? 3.12.1. Plate Brooches 3.12.2. Disc Brooches 3.12.3. Dragonesque 3.12.4. Skeuomorphic 3.12.5. Discussion 3.13. What is the evidence for the ‘Fibula Abandonment Horizon’? 3.13.1. Penannulars 3.14. Parish Case Studies 3.14.1. Thetford 3.14.2. Hockwold-cum-Wilton 3.14.3. Charsfield 3.14.4. Wicklewood 3.14.5. Walsingham/Wighton 3.14.6. Hacheston 3.14.7. Wenhaston 3.14.8. Coddenham 3.14.9. Wimblington 3.14.10. Saham Toney 3.14.11. Caistor St Edmund 3.15. Summary 4. Ornamenting the Person: Wealth you could Wear 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Fasteners 4.2.1. ‘Sitting awkwardly on the cultural fence’? 4.3. A Common Visual Repertoire 4.4. Wide-Cuff Bracelets (Armillae) 4.5. Snake Jewellery 4.6. Torcs 4.7. Case Study: Snettisham 4.7.1. Torc Hoards from Ken Hill 4.7.2. The Snettisham Jeweller’s Hoard 4.7.3. Discussion 4.8. Summary 5. Personal Grooming: Display of the Self 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Public or Private Grooming? 5.3. Cosmetic Grinders 5.3.1. ‘Woad-stained Britons’? Tattooing and Body Art 5.3.2. Zoomorphic and Phallic Terminals 5.3.3. Loop Types 5.3.4. Manufacture 5.3.5. Cosmetic Palettes 5.3.6. Discussion 5.4. Nail Cleaners 5.4.1. Loop Types 5.4.2. Châtelaine Brooches 5.4.3. Negotiated Identities and Creolisation 5.5. Iron Age Mirrors 5.6. Romano-British mirrors 5.6.1. Stanley Avenue, Norwich 5.7. Summary 6. Making an Offering: Votive Miniatures and Figurines 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Magical and Ritual Practices 6.3. Ritualisation as Power and Practice 6.4. Deposition and Intentionality 6.5. Religious Regalia 6.6. Votive Jewellery 6.7. Votive Miniatures 6.7.1. Weapons and Tools 6.7.2. Axes 6.7.3. Wheels 6.7.4. Leaf/Feather Plaques 6.7.5. Anatomical Models 6.7.6. Phallic Amulets 6.8. Pipeclay Figurines 6.8.1. Venus and the Mother-Goddess 6.8.2. Mercury 6.8.3. Apollo and the Thorn-Puller ‘Spinario’ 6.8.4. Zoomorphics 6.8.5. Arrington 6.8.6. Godmanchester 6.8.7. Discussion 6.9. Summary 7. Writing and Sealing: A New Lexicon of Power 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Writing Power 7.3. Magical Literacy 7.3.1. The Billingford Lamella 7.3.2. Curse Tablets 7.4. Minerva Wax Spatula Handles 7.5. Seal-boxes 7.5.1. Distribution and Chronology 7.5.2. What did Seal-boxes do? 7.5.3. What do Seal-boxes want? 7.6. Case Study: Venta Icenorum 7.6.1. Seal-boxes 7.6.2. Intaglios and Seal-rings 7.7. Case Study: Walsingham 7.8. Comparative Material from the Netherlands 7.9. Summary 8. Icenia: The Kingdom of the Horse 8.1. Introduction 8.2. The Ancient Horse 8.3. The Symbolic Horse 8.4. Breeding and Training 8.5. Horse and Chariot Equipment 8.6. Terret Rings 8.6.1. Simple Terrets 8.6.2. Knobbed and Lipped Terrets 8.6.3. Flat-Ring Terrets 8.6.4. Platform-Decorated Terrets 8.6.5. Parallel-Wing and Transverse-Wing Terrets 8.6.6. Dropped-Bar and Protected-Loop Terrets 8.6.7. Discussion 8.7. Bridle-Bits and Cheekpieces 8.8. Linch-pins 8.9. Miniature Terrets 8.10. Harness Hoards and Production 8.10.1. Westhall and Waldringfield 8.10.2. Santon 8.10.3. Saham Toney 8.10.4. Colne Fen 8.10.5. Discussion 8.11. Summary 9. Conclusions and Future Research 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Is there a distinctive material culture which can be identified with ‘the Iceni’? 9.3. Were personal belongings used to show resistance to Roman influence? 9.4. What evidence is there for the post-rebellion famine, depopulation and reallocation of land? 9.5. The Object Abandonment Horizon 9.6. The Iceni Menagerie: Zoomorphics 9.7. How do metal-detector finds impact on the archaeological interpretation of the region? 9.8. The Great Estuary 9.9. Summary Bibliography Classical Sources Online Sources Modern Sources Appendices Appendix A. Methodology and Data Collection Historic Environment Records The Portable Antiquities Scheme Variability in Recording Locational Information Grey Literature and the Roman Rural Settlement Project Excavated Sites Appendix B. Morphological Bias: A Response to Cool and Baxter Interviews with Metal-Detectorists Morphological Bias in Metal-Detector Finds Research Implications Appendix C. Brooch Date Ranges Appendix D. Harness Date Ranges Index Back cover