Page - 138 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

138 AdamRogers Conclusions:Water andRomanEraWorlds Thispaperexaminedwaterasacomponentofurbansettlement intheRomanperiod. Itexplored theway inwhichwater formed part of themateriality of the settlements and the implications andmeaning of thewater in these contexts. Rather than focusing on the conventional themes of economics, functionality and rationality, the chapter demonstrated that there ismorepoten- tial in the significance of the water. From a post-humanist perspective, it is possible to treat water asan integral componentof the settlements, onewhichhadan impactonhumanexperi- ence, aswell ashumansactingon thewater. Thepaper examined theway inwhichwater had an impact on the significance andmeaning on the sites inwhich townsdeveloped, howwater wasused in the townsandhow thewatery landscapesweredevelopedand transformedas the towns developed. The paper also emphasised thiswater can be used to develop newperspec- tives on urbanism and consider the way in which urban development in the Roman period canbeapproached fromadecentredperspective.As such, it emphasised thepotential of these settlements tohelp to access different experiences and identities across theRomanEmpire be- yondtheRomantop-downperspective.Theevidence relating towaterallowsus todecentreour understandingofurbanismandthedifferentexperiencespeoplehadofwaterallowsus to think in termsofRomaneraworlds rather than theRomanworld. IllustrationCredits Fig. 1: photobyAdamRogers. Fig. 2: photobyAdamRogers. Fig.3: photobyAdamRogers. Fig.4: drawingbyAdamRogers, after Steane et al. 2001, fig. 1, 3. Fig. 5: photobyAdamRogers. Bibliography Primary sources Jackson 1937: J. Jackson, Tacitus. Annales (London 1937). Secondary literature Aicher 1995: P. J. Aicher,Guide to theAqueducts of Ancient Rome (Wauconda 1995). Anthony 1970: I. E. Anthony, StMichael’s, St Albans, Excavations, 1966,HertfordshireArchaeology2, 1970, 51–61. Ashby 1935: T. Ashby, TheAqueducts of Ancient Rome (Oxford 1935). Babington 1883:C. C. Babington, Ancient Cambridgeshire (Cambridge 1883). Bender 2001:B.Bender, Introduction, in: B.Bender–M.Winer (eds.), Contested Landscapes.Movement, Exile andPlace (Oxford2001) 1–18. Bird 1996: J. Bird, Frogs from theWalbrook: a cult pot and its attribution, in: J. Bird–M.Hassell –H.Sheldon (eds.), InterpretingRomanLondon. Papers inMemoryofHughChapman,Oxbowmonograph58 (Oxford 1996) 119–127. Bradley2000:R.Bradley, AnArchaeologyofNatural Places (London2000). Brigham1998: T. Brigham, Theport of RomanLondon, in: B.Watson (ed.), RomanLondon. RecentArchaeological Work, JRA. Supplementary series 24, 1998, 23–24. Bromwich 1970: J. Bromwich, Freshwater Floodingalong the FenMargins southof the Isle of Ely during the RomanPeriod, in: C.W.Phillips (ed.), The Fenland inRomanTimes. Studiesof aMajor Areaof Peasant