The Carvetii (Archaeology) [Hardcover]

N. J. Higham (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Pub Ltd (November 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862990882
• ISBN-13: 978-0862990886
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,312,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent scholarship....., August 2, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Carvetii (Peoples of Roman Britain) (Paperback)

I read the paperback copy of THE CARVETTII by Nicholas Higham and Barri Jones. I assume the paperback and hardcover books are similar. The maps, photographs, and illustrations in the paperback are quite good.

Higham and Jones have summarized the archeological work extant in 1985 concerning the area of Britain inhabited by the Carvettii who once populated modern Cumbria. Most of the material the authors discuss relates to 100-400 C.E. or the period of the Roman occupation. The authors systematically work through the various types of analyses archeologists employ to reconstruct the past. Coins, pottery, timber, stone, pasture walls, soil analyses and other material tell of another world of long ago.

Beginning with numerous aerial photographs of the countryside north of the Lake District, the authors describe the probable distribution of settlements and farms around the Solway Firth during the prehistoric and Roman periods. Because the archeological evidence is more readily available, the authors focus on material from old Carlisle and Penrith.

Roman settlements in Britain, particularly along the frontier, were organized around a network of forts or fortlets. The Romans constructed part of Hadrian's wall just north of Cumbria near the Solway Firth, at the edge of what is modern Scotland and, directly across the sea from Northern Ireland.

The Romans had penetrated further north, but hostile natives drove them South again. Hadrian's wall was constructed to hold the enemy, although the authors point out it did not go up all at once. The archeological record indicates the forts and fortlets that comprised the northern defenses including Hadrian's Wall were constructed over time. Old Carlisle, probably a tribal center in the prehistoric era, became a major fortification and command center somewhat south of the wall.

Higham and Jones surmise that over time the Roman soldiers occupying the forts became part of the local population know as the "limitanei" or people of the frontier. Some of the soldiers intermarried with the local population. Some of the soldiers were German mercenaries brought to Carlisle by the Romans. Others were Frisian Cavalry. In the end, when Rome withdrew it's protection, the soldiers who remained were integrated with the Carvetii.