British Britannia Under the Boot

Roman Britain is traditionally divided into a northern 'military' zone and a southern 'civil' zone with little intersection between them. This volume uses finds recovered from excavations and recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme from across Southern and South East England to argue that the Roman army maintained a continuous and visible presence within the 'civil' zone. The interaction between Rome's occupying army and the British population is here framed in more exploitative and controlling terms. This study also critically analyses several object types, often considered military in origin. It particularly challenges the assumption that horse harness fittings can be reliably attributed to the army, instead presenting them as part of a continuous pattern of horse use with origins in the Later Iron Age. This study seeks to break down the artificial division of Britannia into military and civilian zones, preferring instead to see it all as an occupied province.