Overview

This study brings together the numismatic, textual, and archaeological evidence required to discuss potential economic collaboration between the powerful Roman client-kingdom of Catuvellaunia in southeastern Britain and the growing Roman military presence in northern Gaul during the decades before the Claudian conquest of Britain in AD 43 and the inevitable full annexation of Catuvellaunia by Rome as Britannia, a strategic asset. The main theme of the study centres on the grain-wealth of intensively cultivated productive chalk-land in southern Britain and the potential for its ready export to fulfil the growing needs of the military in northern Gaul, a damaged war-zone already limited in its agricultural productivity, during the decades BC-AD. Context for the study is provided by a series of related case-studies: - discussion of climatic conditions, agrarian systems, and models of grain production-consumption set the basic agri-economic parameters; - the logistics and problems of managing land-based, riverine, and maritime supply-lines servicing the northwestern frontier are discussed, with added context on contemporary settlement and shipping; - the position of Camulodunon in the context of other oppida, of Greater Catuvellaunia within the tribal structures in southern Britain, and of its role as an agent of cross-Channel trade, located nearest to Gaul, reflect its wider controlling regional power; - evidence from Celtic coinage, stylistic and inscriptional, provide a major source for essential discussion of tribal structures and lineages; - questions of military supply are outlined in detailed case-studies of two developing near-contemporary frontier-zones: the Tayside Militarised Zone [Scotland], and the Rhine frontier; - political aspects of clientship and annexation by Rome across the wider Empire provide interesting parallels.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alistair Marshall
Publisher:   Archaeopress
Imprint:   Archaeopress Archaeology
ISBN:  

9781805832492

ISBN 10:   1805832492
Pages:   518
Publication Date:   19 March 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Contents Preliminary notes for readers Keynote evidence Summary Section 1: Arable systems Celtic fields: nature, distribution, and environmental background Extensive arable blocs (EABs): a model for larger scale early agri-management Division of the land: linear boundaries, and their field-systems The agronomics of grain production during the Iron Age: a model-system Section 2: Climatic considerations Section 3: Hillforts from southern Britain: assessment of basic properties and distribution Section 4: Tribal lineage and interaction Section 5: Greater Catuvellaunia Section 6: Tribal emblems on Celtic coinage from southern Britain Section 7: Personal portraiture on Celtic coinage from southern Britain Section 8: Kingship: the evidence from Celtic coins in southern Britain Section 9: Militarism: changing projection: the evidence from Celtic coins in southern Britain Section 10: Camulodunum: capital and major port of the Catuvellauni Section 11: Oppida: Britain Section 12: Oppida: Gaul Section 13: Roman grain-consumption Section 14: Southeastern Britain: Continental imports to southern Britain during the final Iron Age Section 15: Ships and boats of later Iron Age, and earlier Roman date: evidence from northwestern Europe, and the Atlantic seaboard Section 16: The northwestern coastal Atlantic: topography, navigation, and early resource-led voyaging Section 17: Resources: trade in metals as motivation for development of major sea-routes from the Mediterranean to the northwestern Atlantic Section 18: The Tayside Militarised Zone [TMZ]: logistics of bulk-supply to the Flavian salient in southeastern-coastal Caledonia Section 19: The northern frontier-zone of Gaul along the Rhine: its initial development, and military requirements Section 20: Grain-supply: problems and solutions Section 21: Political considerations Section 22: Cunobelinos: surviving the historical narrative Section 23: Celtic coinage: Britain and Gaul: examples Section 24: Literary sources Section 25: Bibliography

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Author Information

Alistair Marshall has carried out extensive excavation and prospection on prehistoric sites in southern Britain, with a strong interest in the latest Iron Age and early development of the Roman province.

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