Module overview
Iron Age Europe witnessed the divergence of a ‘classical' Mediterranean world, whose culture included such features as states, towns, coinage and literacy, from a ‘barbarian' world to the north, where these features developed only much later, if at all. This module will examine the evidence for this period in Britain and Ireland: the adoption of new technologies, especially iron; changes in agricultural production; the social significance of food and drink; the construction of hillforts such as Maiden Castle and the sort of society who lived in them; the growth of more specialised systems of production and exchange. One important theme is the connection between Britain and the continent and the expanding power of the Roman Empire. There were important social transformations in the Late Iron Age, especially in southern England: key questions include the relative importance of indigenous factors and connections with Rome, and the extent of social and political evolution before the Roman conquest: how urban were sites such as Colchester and Silchester, which became important towns after the Roman conquest.