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Date: 11 November 2010
A Bournemouth University (BU) Archaeology academic is behind a controversial publication dispelling the text book version of Roman Britain.
Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, Dr Miles Russell, collaborated with fellow Roman expert Stuart Laycock, to pen the book called 'UnRoman Britain: Exposing the Great Myth of Britannia'.
Miles said: "What did the Romans do for us? Well, as it happens, very little at all. UnRoman Britain aims to set the record straight. This book is intended to be the first to present Roman Britain from the Briton's point of view"
Evidence cited in the book comes from new excavations across Britain, including Sussex, Cornwall and BU's Big Dig site in Dorset, which saw hundreds of BU archaeology students involved in fieldwork in 2009 / 2010 , which featured heavily in the BBC TV series 'Digging for Britain'.
Miles and Stuart researched changes in settlements between the Iron Age and Roman period. They found very little difference in outlook, architectural style and function, suggesting rural farming communities were largely unaffected by Rome.
Dr Russell said: "People think that Britain was a land of togas and hypocausts with Britons happily going about their business under the benign gaze of Rome. It was not like this at all. Archaeology is increasingly demonstrating that Britannia was one of the least Romanised of provinces, with its inhabitants never fully embracing the Roman way of life".
He continued: "Roman culture was only ever thinly applied and poorly taken up across Britain. Many Britons remained stubbornly UnRoman throughout the occupation; an observation that may explain why Roman culture did not continue into the 5th century AD and why the language, customs and laws of the British, unlike their counterparts in France and Spain, do not have their origin in the world of Rome."
'UnRoman Britain: Exposing the Great Myth of Britannia' by Miles Russell and Stuart Laycock is available now. It is published by the History Press and should prove to be an essential read for anyone with an interest in British history
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