Page - 135 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

8 Water andDecentringUrbanism in theRomanPeriod 135 Fig. 4: Lincoln (Lindum), drawing of theBrayfordPool area in thePre- RomanandEarly Romanperiodswith a larger River Withamand islands whichhavenow been lost due to reclamation. movement, towards thewatery area, defining religious space and framing the ceremonial.63 It mayevenhave controlledaccess to this site. There have been suggestions that therewas some kind of IronAge enclosure beneath the Roman fortress.64 But apart fromawellwhichmayhavehadpre-Romanorigins, andwas later incorporated into the site of the forum-basilica, there is still limited evidence for this. Further excavation would be needed beneath the fortress, but chance finds from the wider area do indicate that there wasmore settlement in the area. Part of the fortress was constructed over the ‘JurassicWay’, an ancient routewaywhich follows the line of the Jurassic limestone ridge throughNorthamptonshire toLincolnshire,65whichmightsupport the ideaofapre-existingsite here and the desire tomake a physical and symbolic impact in the conquest. Importantly, the city archaeologist for Lincoln hasmade the observation that the area of the Roman townhad manydisadvantages from the point of viewof establishing settlement, including flooding and difficulties of drainage and supply.66 This supports the idea that the fortress, and then town, wasplacedhere for reasons relatingmore to thedominationofpre-existingsitesof importance, oftenwithsymbolicandreligiousmeanings. It ispossible that theRomansrecognisedthehighly charged religious nature of the site and thepower attached to it and soplaced a fortress here. Itmayalsorelate todesires tocontrol thewater,ashadalsooccurredinRome.After foundation, 63 Jones–Stocker 2003, 30f. 64 Gilmour 2007, 231. 65 Gilmour 2007, 231. 66 Jones 2002, 25.