house dark age

[duhamel]

hello,
I need help. does anyone know what he looks like a typical house british romano . I know what it is like the Saxon houses, but not the british with certainty.
a little help would be welcome. thank you

[Red Orc]

I'm an archaeologist, Duhamael, and this is one of my main areas of interest, so please believe me when I say, I'd love to know what a typical Romano-British house looks like too. There are very few excavated settlements of the period 400-800AD in western Britain, and little evidence as to what the houses looked like, beyond the ground plan.

What we do know is: mostly they were rectangular, even though for most of the 2,500 years before this British houses were round. The latest British roundhouses were built in North Wales around 500AD, and I think they were stone-built; most examples of roundhouses you will see in archaeology textbooks will be wooden, but in the north and west of Britain they are mostly stone. But rectangular Roman-style houses were generally wooden.

You might want to have a look at http://www.englishheritageimages.com/pictures_1066965/wroxeter-roman-city-j900036.html and http://www.englishheritageimages.com/pictures_1066969/wroxeter-roman-city-j900404.html?PHPSESSID=8b6a69343dc8fc082b1af52da600e914 for pictures of Wroxeter, which survived into the C6th and later. There they seem to have had a very 'Roman' style of architecture even though they weren't using Roman building materials any more.

There are some interesting reconstructions of the settlement at Tintagel, but I haven't been able to find them on the web I'm afraid, nor suitable results for the houses at the fort of Binchester. My google-fu is weak today.

Things you need to ask yourself are: is this house in a town or in the country districts? Is it in the north/west, or in the southern or central area of Britain? Is it in the C5th or C8th? These might all make a difference to what is 'typical'.

[Ruarigh]

Isn't the period 400-800 post-Roman/Anglo-Saxon? I have always understood RB to be the Britons under Roman occupation. Cetainly once you are up to the eighth century, you are solidly into the Saxon period. With that in mind, I would suggest that Duhamel should be considering round-houses rather than rectangular ones, although I am willing to be corrected as this period falls outwith my own specialism, and it has been a while since I dug up an RB site. Of course, as you write, the location of the house has a bearing on how it will look too, so that needs to be considered.

Regards,
Ruarigh

[duhamel]

for isolated houses, I'll choose the Celtic round houses.
for urban centers, I would choose the rectangular Roman houses.
so I'm half and half.

[Red Orc]

OK, you've posted in the meantime... but here goes anyway.

Isn't the period 400-800 post-Roman/Anglo-Saxon? I have always understood RB to be the Britons under Roman occupation...

Yes, 'Romano-British' refers to the British at the time of the Imperial administration... but, culturally, these communities seem quite conservative, and up to 600AD in general there is little real evidence for big changes in how they looked. So, administratively, 410AD is a great dividing line in the history (political and miltary history) of Britain; in terms of archaeology, it's invisible, and therefore pretty much irrelevant. In the 500s, the British looked 'Romano-British' as far as we can tell, dressing similarly and in many cases living similarly to their ancestors in the 300s. So, if there's no noticeable difference in material culture, it's equally 'Romano-British'.

... Cetainly once you are up to the eighth century, you are solidly into the Saxon period...

Not in western Britain you're not. Certainly in eastern and central Britain, but Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall still haven't had an 'Anglo-Saxon' period. Which is why the questions I asked in my first reply are so important - where is this building, when, and in what context?

...
With that in mind, I would suggest that Duhamel should be considering round-houses rather than rectangular ones, although I am willing to be corrected as this period falls outwith my own specialism, and it has been a while since I dug up an RB site...

Honestly, there are very few known (if any?) roundhouses from the former provinces of Britain occupied after about 600AD; and these late examples are mostly from the mountains of North Wales. Almost everywhere else in the area south of the Antonine Wall, roundhouses were out of fashion before 500AD and usually before 400AD.

Excavated 'Dark Age' hillforts or other similar fortifications (eg Castle Dore, Dynas Powys, South Cadbury, Tintagel, Mote of Mark) show no signs of post-Roman roundhouses, even though these are in some ways a return to 'Iron Age' settlements - they have long 'hall' structures instead; there are no excavated roundhouses in cities (London, Wroxeter, Silchester, York, Canturbury) - where good evidence exists as at Wroxeter building-forms are rectilinear; there are no roundhouses in smaller towns, at Poundbury or Dorchester in Dorset or Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire (?); no known villa site is succeeded by roundhouses, though many are succeeded by 'hall' type structures; no known Roman forts (eg Binchester) have roundhouses, most if they are occupied after 410AD have 'halls' too...

There seem to be roundhouses at Cadbury-Congresbury (Somerset), dating between 400-600AD (roughly) - certainly post-Roman. But here there were also rectilinear features, suggesting that the settlement had both round and rectangular houses. There may of course be others. But they must be fairly rare in these areas, or we'd probably have found more examples

There is an illustration by Peter Froste, of a 'Romano-British small town' in a book I have called 'Britain and the End of the Roman Empire' by Ken Dark; it's suggested that though it represents a small town in the Roman period, it's equally applicable to the C5th and 6th for western Britain. It shows houses that wouldn't look out of place in the C11th or even later - high thatched roofs, small square windows, wooden-framed construction with plaster between. But again, I can't find it on google. Sorry.

[duhamel]

All this is very obscure, I understand better why you English, you call this period "dark age".
from my side, I'll keep looking but I suppose that in England, it's like in France. there must be very Romanized regions and other almost none.

[Red Orc]

Yes, that's true. I think 'the Dark Ages' sounds so much more romantic and dramatic than 'the Very Confusing Ages', don't you?

[Ruarigh]

Not in western Britain you're not. Certainly in eastern and central Britain, but Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall still haven't had an 'Anglo-Saxon' period. Which is why the questions I asked in my first reply are so important - where is this building, when, and in what context?

The important issue here is really that Duhamel is asking for a simple generic answer for the period of the Roman occupation, and not an academically satisfying one. Therefore the exceptions of the areas you mention is less relevant, particularly since they refer to the later period. I fully recognise their importance in actually studying the period from an academic standpoint, but the key really is in identifying what might be considered iconic for the period under discussion. As I understand Duhamel's post, that is the period from roughly 43AD to 410AD. Perhaps he might correct me if I am wrong.

I do understand how frustrating it is when you study a period and want to give an accurate and academically robust answer but the answer also needs to be tailored to the audience. I know I struggled with that when filming for the upcoming Time Team Special on Vikings. All they really wanted was sound bites and generic information. Hard work. I suspect I shall wind up on the cutting room floor as a result!

Out of curiousity, where are you based? I have worked throughout the UK for a wide variety of field units and consultancies and am always interested in hearing other people's experiences.

Cheers,
Ruarigh

[cataphractarius]

Interesting topic!

The important issue here is really that Duhamel is asking for a simple generic answer for the period of the Roman occupation, and not an academically satisfying one. Therefore the exceptions of the areas you mention is less relevant, particularly since they refer to the later period. I fully recognise their importance in actually studying the period from an academic standpoint, but the key really is in identifying what might be considered iconic for the period under discussion. As I understand Duhamel's post, that is the period from roughly 43AD to 410AD. Perhaps he might correct me if I am wrong.

Perhaps I got it wrong, but I thought the question was how "dark age" settlements looked like.

Now - I'm not an archaeologist but only an ancient historian, so sadly my knowledge of stuff that you can put your hands on is quite limited - but I'd say for the sub-/post-/whatever-Roman period it depends a lot on where (and probably when as well) your setting is. If it's the West and Wales, then there is probably at least some level of Roman urbanization surviving.

Gildas may be a maddening source, at least for us historians, but the world he lived in seems to have been about as Romanized as, let's say, the sub-Roman communities in Northern Gaul. So for those fighting Saxons, I'd probably use something looking typically Roman.

Hmmm, I always wanted to build a horrea-turned-post-Roman-warlord-HQ ... 

[Ruarigh]

The title says 'dark age' but the text of the post said 'Romano-British'. I assumed that the text was what really mattered. I'll shut up now and leave things as is.

[cataphractarius]

Sorry if I came across somewhat - well, crossly; I was actually a little bit unsure. It's a topic that I find generally highly interesting, so the last thing I wanted was stifling a discussion.

[carlos marighela]

Judging by the episodes of Time Team I've seen, most if not all Dark Age and Romano-British houses consisted of a selection of burnt, or rotted/decayed and largely invisble wooden piles set amongst some discoloured earth (well at least to the trained eye).  Often the remains of a retaining wall/ highly sophisticated method of central heating,  plumbing or just a 20th century ditch dug by Farmer Giles would run slap bang through the structure.

These humble dwellings were then scattered with miniscule pieces of dun coloured pottery that may have been of the age suggested or anytime withing 500 years either side, give or take. Occasionally a coin, often from a much later period would be placed somewhere within a 500 metre radius of the home, presumably to ward off metal detectors.

Luckily for the gamer this description equally applies to almost any structure found by Time team from an ancient barrow to an ECW starfort. Makes terrain modelling a breeze.  Finding suitable half figures of chaps in anoraks beanies and a 28mm Worzel Gummidge is the hard part

[Ruarigh]

Sorry if I came across somewhat - well, crossly; I was actually a little bit unsure. It's a topic that I find generally highly interesting, so the last thing I wanted was stifling a discussion.

Not a problem. I have said what I wanted to say about RB houses based on what the OP wrote in the text of their message. I realise that he wrote Dark Age in the title, which is different from the main text of his message and that is what Red Orc based his comments on. Red Orc's comments are interesting in their own right and I get the feeling that his main interest lies in the west of Britain, based on them. If people have questions about this then great and we can add whatever we can to the answers but I have given my opinion and don't feel I have anything more to add at the moment to that part of the discussion.

Cheers,
Ruarigh

[Ruarigh]

Judging by the episodes of Time Team I've seen, most if not all Dark Age and Romano-British houses consisted of a selection of burnt, or rotted/decayed and largely invisble wooden piles set amongst some discoloured earth (well at least to the trained eye).

And, of course, they all lived in holes in the ground. How else did these houses come to be buried? No one is sure how they survived without roofs though!

Occasionally a coin, often from a much later period would be placed somewhere within a 500 metre radius of the home, presumably to ward off metal detectors.

[Gluteus Maximus]

'the Very Confusing Ages'

That's where I live