Page - 133 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

8 Water andDecentringUrbanism in theRomanPeriod 133 Many of the towns that developed in Britain in the Roman period were associated with landscapes that we can already see were important andmeaningful as reflected in evidence relating to water. Evidence for Iron Age settlement associated with water that appears to go beyondwhatwould be considered today practicalmotives is at the site of the Roman townof Verulamium (nearmodern StAlbans), established at the endof theAD40s. An IronAge oppi- dumand thenRomantownwasclosely integratedwith thewaterysettinghere.Thereweremon- umental earthworks which appear to have deliberately focused on and incorporated the River Ver and its floodplain. The earthworks datemainly to the 1st century BC and early 1st century AD,44but theremaywellhavebeenanearlier focusofactivityhere,perhapsasameetingplace, before theywere constructed.45 A large enclosurewith evidence for coin productionmayhave beenapolitical focus and itwas locatedwithin the floodplainnext to the river.46 This location would seem to suggest that the religiousmeaningattached to thewaterwas an important part of thepower of the site and the contributionof facets of identity of those residing there. There was a timber causeway across the river, fromwhich objects appear to have been deposited.47 Thisalso leduptoanareaofprobableeliteburialatFollyLanerepresentedbyburialmounds,48 suggesting that this site was of high status, despite its close associationwithmarshland. The Roman townwas placed over the central enclosure within the floodplain, so it continued to incorporate thiswateryarea inaprominentway.Placingthetownheremayhavebeenadeliber- ate act relating to thepower and control of thismeaning-ladenplace.49Alternatively, the local elitemayhave contributed towards thedevelopment of the townhere, because it continued to addmeaning toandvenerate the site. Tacitus50mentions that the townwasamunicipiumatan earlydate,and if thiswas indeedthecase, itwasclearlyofgreat importance,perhaps reflecting the power and significance attached to the area before the conquest. The construction of the townwouldhave led to thenegotiationofnew identities andpower relations. Wetlands also saw religious veneration and appear to have played an important part in local identities and power relations.Wetlands, neither water nor land, were the interface be- tween land andwater and theworld and the underworld. Excavated sites in Britain, such as Flag Fen in Peterborough51 and Fiskerton in Lincolnshire,52 have demonstrated that wetlands were foci for ritual deposition. One useful example of a large wetland area is the Fenland in EastAnglia.Analysisof thequantitiesofobjects rituallydeposited in theFenlandofprehistoric andRomandate show that therewasa veryhigh concentrationhere comparedwith surround- ingareas.53Over 200hoardsandsingle itemsofRomandatehavebeendocumentedashaving been deposited here. Bronze items included statuettes and other religious regalia, as well as bronze vessel hoards.54 Therewere alsohoards of pewter vessels and coins.55 TheRomandate deposits seem tohave been continuing a tradition fromprehistory andmost of the itemswere depositedwithin rivers, streamsandmarshes.Therewasalsoahighconcentrationofdeposited items around the fen-edge,56 suggesting that thewhole fenland landscapewas recognised as special and bounded through religious activity. A number of Roman period shrines were also 44 Thompson2005, 27–32. 45 Haselgrove 2007, 509. 46 Haselgrove–Millett 1997, 284. 47 Anthony 1970;Niblett 2005, 64f. 48 Niblett 1999. 49 Cf.Millett 1990. 50 Tac. ann. 14, 33 (translationby Jackson 1937). 51 Coombs 1992; Pryor 2001. 52 Field–ParkerPearson 2003. 53 Rogers 2007. 54 E.g. Babington 1883; Taylor 1985, 31. 55 E.g. Liversidge 1959, 7; Poulton–Scott 1993;Denhamet al. 1995, 178. 56 Babington 1883, 87; Evans 1984;Gurney 1986, 92; Evans–Hodder 2006.