Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-w7rtg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-28T03:34:13.095Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Consideration of the Sub-Fossil Remains of Vitis vinifera L. as Evidence for Viticulture in Roman Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

D. Williams
D. Williams
Affiliation:
Environmental Archaeology Unit, Department of Biology, University of York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It has generally been accepted that the Romans cultivated the vine in Britain although evidence for this, from either literary or archaeological sources, is limited. Information on crops cultivated in this country in early historical times must largely be obtained from sub-fossil remains, and the recent finding of mineralized grape-seeds from a mid second-century pit in the vicus at Doncaster resulted in a search of the literature for other records. The main purpose of this article is to evaluate these records as evidence for cultivation of the vine in Roman Britain. There are very few instances of this species being recovered from Roman archaeological deposits. The lack of detailed information in the early records not only renders them virtually worthless as proof of local viticulture but also prevents a reappraisal of the evidence in the light of present knowledge. These records have been listed previously in discussions on Roman viticulture but without much thought to the evidence they contain. It is apparent that this is partly due to a reliance on sources other than the original records, which is also suggested by errors noted in the quoting of these records.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 8 , November 1977 , pp. 327 - 334
Copyright
Copyright © D. Williams 1977. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Williams, D., (in prep.), ‘Report on the seed remains from Frenchgate, Doncaster’.

2 For example, Applebaum, S., ‘Roman Britain’ in The Agrarian History of England and Wales A.D. 43–1042 1, ii (ed. H. P. R. Finberg), 103, or Webster, D. & H., and Petch, D. F., ‘A possible Vineyard of the Romano-British period at North Thoresby, Lincolnshire’, Lincolnshire History and Archaeology ii (1967), 61 and n. 8Google Scholar.

3 The most serious error being in the case of the grape-seeds from Bermondsey (note 27). This site is often referred to as Southwark, resulting in a duplication of this find, see Webster, D., et. al., op. cit. (note 2), n. 8.

4 Applebaum, S., op. cit. (note 2), 117, suggests that the vine could possibly have been introduced by the Belgae, referring to such inconclusive corroborating evidence as the presence of a vine-leaf on the coinage of Verica. This may be no more than a reflection of Roman trade and influence in the region, Frere, S. S., Britannia, 3rd imp. (1969), 43.

5 Suetonius, Domitian, 7, 2.

6 Grenier, A., ‘La Gaule Romaine’ in Economic Survey of Ancient Rome iii (1937), 582 (ed. Frank, T.)Google Scholar.

7 S.H.A., Vita Probi, 18, 8. Reference is made to the doubtful nature of this literary evidence by Applebaum, S., op. cit. (note 2), 118, n. 1.

8 Grenier, A., op. cit. (note 6).

9 Hull, M. R., Roman Potter's Kilns of Colchester (1963), 93 and fig. 53, 13.

10 Applebaum, S., op. cit (note 2), 118.

11 Webster, D., et. al., op. cit. (note 2).

12 Lamb, H. H., ‘Our changing climate, past and present’ in The Changing Climate. Selected Papers (1972), 7.

13 Medland, M. H., ‘An account of Roman and Medieval remains found in the site of the Tolsey at Gloucester in 1893–94’, Transactions of the Bristol and Glouc. Arch. Soc. xix (1894–1895)155Google Scholar.

14 Collingwood, R. G., ‘Roman Britain’, op. cit. (note 6), 78 (ed. T. Frank).

15 The mention of grape-pips at this site, in Branigan, K., Town and Country (1973), 90. appears to be another example of faulty quotation of sources (see note 3).

16 See Frere, S. S., op. cit. (note 4), 293, n. 2, where it is suggested that the information was transmitted orally

17 Reid, C., The Origin of the British Flora (1899), 112.

18 Reid, C., Archaeologia lvii–lxi (1901–1909)Google Scholar.

19 Hill, D. S., ‘Wasps and figs’, New Scientist and Science Journal, 15 April 1971, 144–6.

20 Applebaum, S., op. cit. (note 2), 118.

21 Ibid.

22 Reid, C., Archaeologia lvii (2), (1901), 252–6Google Scholar.

23 Hopf, M., ‘Einige Bemerkkungen zu römerzeitlichen Fassern’, Jr. des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz, 14 (1967)Google Scholar.

24 Spencer, P. J., ‘St Thomas Street, Southwark Environmental work: interim report’, The London Archaeologist ii (11), (1975), 273–4Google Scholar.

25 Willcox, G., personal communication.

26 Willcox, G., personal communication.

27 Kennard, A. S., and Warren, S. H., Geological Magazine iv (10), (1903). 456CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Lyell, A. H., Reid, C., and Newton, E. T., Archaeologia lx (1), (1906), 216Google Scholar

29 Greig, J. R. A., ‘The plant remains’ in Buckland, P. C., ‘The Environmental Evidence from the Church Street Roman Sewer System’, The Archaeology of York 14, i (1976), 23–28Google Scholar.

30 Williams, D., op. cit. (note 1).

31 Buckland, P., personal communication.

33 Author's unpublished data.

34 Webster, D., et al., op. cit. (note 2).

34 L. Solimarius Secundinus negotiator Britannicianus died in Bordeaux, see Courteault, P., JRS xi (1921), 101–7Google Scholar.

35 Marcus Aurelius Lunaris a sevir of the colonae of York and Lincoln set u p an altar on arriving in Bordeaux in fulfilment of a vow for safe passage from York. Courteault, P., op. cit. (note 34).

36 Davies, R. W., ‘The Roman Military Diet’, Britannia ii (1971). 122–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

37 Author's unpublished data.

38 Davies, R. W., op. cit. (note 36).

39 Mitchell, G. F., ‘Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club xl (2), (1971), 235–36Google Scholar.

40 Dimbleby, G. W. in C. Platt and R. Coleman-Smith, Excavations in Medieval Southampton 1953-1969, 1, ‘The excavation reports’, iv, (1975), 344–46Google Scholar.

41 Lamb, H. H., ‘The Early Medieval warm epoch and its sequal’, Palaeogeog., Palaeoclimatol, Palaeoecol., 1, (1965), 13–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 Dimbleby, G. W., op. cit. (note 40).

43 Lamb, H. H., op. cit. (note 41), 31.

44 Applebaum, S., op. cit. (note 2), 118.

45 Applebaum, S., op. cit. (note 2), 118, n. 1.

46 Rahtz, P. A., Rescue Archaeology (1974), 65. Rahtz, P. A. and Greenfield, E. (in press), Excavations on the site of the Chew Valley Lake, near Bristol, H.M.S.O.

47 Biek, L., Archaeology and the Microscope, 2nd imp. (1975). Discoveries on the continent show that bucket-staves and writing-tablets were frequently made from conifer wood and there is increasing evidence for the importation of such articles to this country, Boon, G. C., Arch. Cambrensis, cxxiv (1975)Google Scholar.

48 Greig, J. R. A., personal communication.

49 Jones, A. K. G. (in press), in A. J. G. Rogerson, ‘Excavation at Scole 1973’, East Anglia Archaeology, 5.

50 Murphy, P. L., ‘Early Agriculture and Environment on the Hampshire Chalklands’, Unpublished M.Phil. Thesis, University of SouthamptonGoogle Scholar.