Continuity and change in the British-Roman Lifescape of east Dorset. Circa AD 350-650

The study was devised to consider archaeological remains for an understanding of continuity and change in the late Roman and early medieval period in Dorset. Conventional thinking has dismissed this period as archaeologically invisible. Yet, there are increasing opportunities to reconsider the evidence for interpreting social developments in this period from recent discoveries, more radiocarbon dating and a changing paradigm An area of investigation around the Badbury Rings hillfort was chosen to include an original study site in the village of Witchampton. A time limit was placed from the last half of the 4th century to the annexation of Dorset into Saxon Wessex, around the mid-7 th century. The study argues for an inclusive descriptor for this period, the ‘British-Roman’ period, as it is argued that the foundations for the ‘post-Roman’ period were already evident in the Roman archaeology. The study considers the lived landscape. The term ‘Lifescape’ was adopted to signify landscape and lifeways are intricately linked. It is argued that Lifescape cannot be generalised and are intrinsically related to the local circumstances of regions, or ‘small worlds’. The evidence for Lifescape needs to be characterised for analysis. The concept of imageability was the means of achieving this. The lived landscape is understood as a mental image which is formed of Elements. Although, with time, places will change form - an Elemental quality, and therefore meaning, which structures Lifescape will endure. These Elements are Nodes, Landmarks, Paths, Districts and Edges. Late Roman Nodes and Landmarks are assessed for evidence of Elemental change through ‘activity’. The primary evidence for this is the archaeological record and landscape of the study area with comparative data from sites in Dorset. This is then suggested as enabling an understanding of continuity and change in Lifescape for the British-Roman period