The ruin of Roman Britain : an archaeological perspective / James Gerrard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gerrard, James (James Frederick), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romans--Great Britain.

Romans.

Great Britain--History--Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Antiquities, Roman.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 348 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

How did Roman Britain end? This new study draws on fresh archaeological discoveries to argue that the end of Roman Britain was not the product of either a violent cataclysm or an economic collapse. Instead, the structure of late antique society, based on the civilian ideology of paideia, was forced to change by the disappearance of the Roman state. By the fifth century elite power had shifted to the warband and the edges of their swords. In this book Dr Gerrard describes and explains that process of transformation and explores the role of the 'Anglo-Saxons' in this time of change. This profound ideological shift returned Britain to a series of 'small worlds', the existence of which had been hidden by the globalizing structures of Roman imperialism. Highly illustrated, the book includes two appendices, which detail Roman cemetery sites and weapon trauma, and pottery assemblages from the period.

Contents:

Violence and warfare

Economic collapse

Elite display in the fourth century

Elite display in the fifth and sixth centuries

Civitates, kingdoms, estates and regions

The ruin of Roman Britain

Final thoughts.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-89283-5

1-107-42467-4

1-107-42267-1

1-316-62568-0

1-107-41957-3

1-139-83912-8

1-107-41695-7

1-107-42074-1

1-107-41824-0

OCLC:

859537364