An Archaeology of Identity by Andrew Gardner

Author:Andrew Gardner [Gardner, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Archaeology
ISBN: 9781315435084
Google: _q8YDQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-09-16T03:23:51+00:00

Figure 4.25. Plan of Caerleon: activity density (plan after Boon 1972: 114; Knight 1988: endpiece; data from Gardner 2001a).

We can compare these legionary fortresses with a couple of auxiliary fort sites. Housesteads (Fig. 4.27) presents a more consistent pattern of activity, with the distribution of finds suggesting rubbish deposition both inside living quarters and up against the northern defences (from the 2nd century). Unfortunately, deficiencies in the detail of the available data affect some of the excavations here, and these are a problem in a small site. Nonetheless, it seems that life was continuing in the fort, with some important changes in the planning of space but little change in the practices of rubbish disposal. A more complex example is Portchester Castle (Fig. 4.28). Disposal methods at this site included both pit digging and rampart-back dumping, and although the former has been associated more with a ‘civilian’ phase in the settlement’s occupation (Cunliffe 1975: 427–8; Reece 1997: 6–7), it is unlikely that such a simple link can be made (see above). It is true that the use of pits in this part of Portchester is relatively limited chronologically, to the period AD 325–45 (although coin dates are lacking for many pits), and it may follow that there was a greater density of occupation at this time—or different arrangements of structures—necessitating the burial of rubbish away from activity areas. The subsequent period, to AD 364, was interpreted by the excavator as more ‘ordered’, partly on the basis of a relative dearth of coins (Cunliffe 1975: 425), although this pattern compares with coin deposition at other forts in the region. Indeed, dumping continued, seemingly spreading to cover a road surface. This does suggest a major shift of spatial practices, significantly affecting aspects of mobility and regionalisation within the enclosure. Overall, though, it seems that the changing spatial patterns of rubbish disposal in the fort cannot reliably be associated with either ‘military’ or ‘civilian’ identity groups; rather, fluctuating local priorities in the organisation of space generated comparable changes in sites of all kinds. Changes in the character of occupation might be indicated if certain key buildings were transformed in function, but even this was a widespread phenomenon that need not be associated with the withdrawal of official or military presence. We must remember that these institutions were themselves susceptible to change.

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