Wiggins, ML; (2014) Roman Households: Space, Status and Identity. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis seeks to contextualize detailed studies of a number of domestic sites from the Later Iron Age through the entirety of the Roman period within the broader pattern of rural settlement in the modern counties of Oxfordshire, Sussex and Yorkshire. The primary aim is to examine the record of diverse rural settlements for evidence revealing the dynamics of cultural change in such areas. A secondary aim is to illustrate that, although large bodies of work incorporating general data can show sweeping trends, adding to this a more thorough investigation on a site-by-site basis can further illuminate materialities of practice in the past, leading to new ways of considering social interaction and local perspectives. In this way, comparing data at different scales of resolution can fill gaps in knowledge and lead us to a better understanding of group identity and social change. This study is primarily concerned with domestic occupation in a rural context, though of course in such a context agricultural activities (which in some cases are ‘invisible’ in the archaeological record) feature strongly among the daily routines which structure the record. Nonetheless, the complexity and multi-dimensionality of both domestic and other everyday activities can be revealed through detailed material studies couched within the interpretive framework of practice-theory. The different scales of research utilized in this thesis range from unpublished site reports to broad regional compendia, and each level of specification has a role in furnishing exploration of the dynamic role of different types of material culture, use of space, and daily practice. Exploiting evidence from rural sites to its full potential, the indepth comparison of sites within and between different regions offered in this thesis furnishes a novel range of perspectives on the construction and maintenance of local and regional social identities, both prior to and throughout the Roman period.

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