- Celts and Romans -
trade in and after the later second century BC (Tchernia 1983). Similar changes have
been identified by Haselgrove (1982, 1984, 1987) in south-east Britain, involving
diplomatic links between known British rulers and the emperor, intensified trade
(particularly in prestige items) and the emergence of political centres (oppida) at key
sites for trade and exchange.
Such changes have traditionally been explained in terms of core-periphery models
and prestige goods economies in which native elites were progressively drawn into
the Roman orbit by virtue of their dependence on trade for prestige items (Roymans
1983; Haselgrove 1984; Cunliffe 1988). It is clearly not as simple as this, to judge
from recent criticisms by Fulford (1985a) and Fitzpatrick (1989), but that does not
deny the key point that interaction with the Roman world, directly or indirectly,
before the conquest, via diplomacy and trade, provided a vital infrastructure upon
which romanization could be built. It is also clear that the key to the process lay in
the attitude of the native elite in any given area.
All these factors have opened up new avenues for research into the development
of a 'Romano-Celtic' society, not just in Britain, but elsewhere in the north-west
provinces. In particular, the wider perspective has had the effect of (i) placing Roman
Britain firmly into a wider chronological perspective spanning the Iron-Age to
Anglo-Saxon periods; (ii) emphasizing the importance of the archaeological evidence
as a primary source for the study of interaction; (iii) seeing change as an intensifi-
cation of processes already under way within the native infrastructure; (iv) stressing
the importance of 'continuity' in many aspects of the substructure (agriculture,
economy, rural settlement) and the emergence of the romanized superstructure
(towns, villas) out of the existing framework. Romanization is seen to be about the
way in which the natives reacted to the Roman presence, not the way in which Rome
wrought cultural change.
A new perspective is thus beginning to develop, within which it is possible to
identify several strands. First is the existence in south-east Britain of a developed native
infrastructure already in contact with and influenced by romanized communities
across the Channel. Second is the increasing evidence for a well-developed agricultural
and economic substructure supporting the native communities of the south and east,
both articulated by a native elite whose habits were already 'romanized' through
diplomatic and trading activity. This native infrastructure was the basis for romaniza-
tion in the south and east; its absence or less well-developed character further north
and west made progress less easy, leaving aside the overwhelming military presence
in the north, which may have vitiated it altogether.
In considering how Romano-Celtic society emerged after AD 43, it is important
to stress that, at the level of agriculture and economy, Rome does not seem to have
brought any significant or dramatic changes. As far as farming techniques are
concerned, Jones (1981, 1982, 1989) has made it abundantly clear that the Roman
impact is very difficult to disentangle from broader trends spanning the later
first millennium BC and the early first millennium AD (Figure 8.6). In particular, he
could identify no specific innovations in crop production in the half-century or so
following the invasion, while the iron-age staple crops continued to predominate
with few, if any, significant new introductions. Iron tools certainly became more
widely available across the settlement spectrum, but without any major innovations
(^129)