Hayton, East Yorkshire: Archaeological Studies of the Iron Age and Roman Landscapes

Abstract

purposes in a timber frame. I was a bit surprised, firstly, that the nails were not X-rayed, which experience tells me would have shown that some, at least, were not nails, and, secondly, that they were not, apparently, measured. A study of nail sizes might well have prompted thoughts about their use – or not – in the structure. One of the chalk blocks is illustrated (Illus 5.13) showing the stone tooling marks. MM suggests (148) that they had enhanced the appearance of the building (‘significant in the sunlight’), but I would have thought, again in light of chalk’s frailties, that they might well have been a key for external rendering which has not survived. In former times the Thwing building might have been classified as belonging to a ‘villa’, but a careful and considered analysis here provides one of the clearest illustrations I know of to show that we must take a more nuanced view of how people in rural areas engaged with Roman culture. The pottery, artefactual and faunal assemblages from Thwing would all be consistent with a native farmstead. Architectural pretension, on the one hand, does not necessarily, therefore, correlate directly either with new-found prosperity supposedly derived from changes in estate management (270) or with an ambition to acquire the material culture associated with a traditional Romanised life style. I could say much more about the subjects covered in this well-written volume, illustrated in an exemplary manner, but I will conclude by saying that for anyone interested in the landscape history of the Wolds, the interaction of native and Roman, and many other topics relevant to the study of Roman Britain there is much of interest here. Just one serious quibble: fair (in the sense of a market) is spelled ‘fair’ and not (270) ‘fayre’ (ugh!).