Rust Thomas C. Architecture, Economics, and Identity in Romano-British 'Small Towns'

BAR Publishing, 2006. — 291 p. — (BAR International Series 1547).After Rome conquered the western provinces, a major change in settlement patterns occurred. A network of chartered and unchartered settlements arose. In recent years study of one ill-defined group of settlements, often called “small towns,” has garnered significant attention. These settlements were important links between the urbanized parts of the north western provinces of the Roman Empire and the more rural inhabitants. Study of these settlements provides opportunities to examine the penetration of Roman culture into the indigenous countryside and how indigenous people responded to Rome’s presence. To date, scholars have somewhat neglected a remarkable phenomenon of small towns that has potentially significant implications, namely the change from predominantly timber construction to masonry.
The study of small towns therefore allows us to examine the link between the urban and rural inhabitants of the Empire and can be a barometer to measure cultural interaction between the indigenous population and the central imperial government. This does not mean there were no administrative functions carried out in small towns. Yet, due to their organic nature, investigating small towns will help us better understand the silent majority of the population in the provinces. In addition, a comparison between small towns in Roman Britain and on the continent is lacking (Burnham, et al. 1997). Examining the British examples alone provides a first step in this process. The 67 British sites in this study yielded over one thousand building samples, a substantial number for one study. A brief survey of continental comparisons at the conclusion of this study may provide directions for future research that could include a continental comparison.