Town and Country in Roman Britain

This course aims to look at the archaeology of various types of urban centres in the province of Britannia Roman Britain and the settlements in the rural areas around them. In particular we will examine the inter-dependence and possible relationships of towns and countryside. We cannot ignore the fact that Britain was only one small province of an Empire which stretched from Asia Minor to Scotland and the Sahara Desert to the rivers Rhine and Danube. We may therefore occasionally have to consider analogies and evidence from outside Britain. There is also a small amount of written evidence, largely in the form of inscriptions which we shall have to take into account.