stonehenge - English Heritage

047-120 section 2.qxd 6/21/05 4:19 PM Page 75
Armorican tribe the Aulerci Cenomani from Lake, Wilsford
(Robinson 1991, 119); and a Carthaginian bronze coin found in
March 1956 north of the Boscombe to Amesbury Road.
By the first century AD the Stonehenge area lay on the
periphery of several major territorial units, perhaps tribal
lands or small kingdoms: the Durotriges to the southwest, the
Dobunni to the northwest, the Atrebates to the northeast, and
the Belgae to the southeast (Illustration 53). It also lay on the
boundary between the southeastern tribes which are
sometimes seen as occupying a core area having close contact
with the Roman world and the peripheral tribes who had much
less contact and were perhaps more traditional in their social
organization and lifestyles (Cunliffe 1991, figure 14.38).
ROMANO-BRITISH (AD 50–450)
The Roman invasion of AD 43 and the subsequent
annexation of southern Britain to the Roman Empire over the
ensuing decade or so have been extensively discussed with
reference to central southern counties and the west country
(Branigan 1973; Cunliffe 1973d; Manning 1976). The
Stonehenge area lies within the lands taken during the first
few years of the conquest, being well to the southeast of the
Fosse Way frontier believed to have been established by AD
47. Manning (1976, 19) noted, however, that in the area
north of Old Sarum, across what is now Salisbury Plain, there
are no known Roman forts and very little evidence for the
presence of the Roman army. The reason for this is probably
the peripheral position of the region relative to the centres of
the surrounding tribal territories which were the focus of
Roman attention (Illustration 54). Nonetheless, a substantial
Romano-British settlement developed around a junction of
four or five roads at Old Sarum just 5km south of the
Stonehenge Landscape (see RCHM 1981, 1; James 2002) and
this must naturally have influenced developments around
about. Map L shows the distribution of recorded Romano-
British sites and finds in the Stonehenge Landscape.
Within the Stonehenge Landscape it is clear that some
existing Iron Age settlements continued and perhaps
expanded. This is certainly the case at Boscombe Down
West where settlement drift is evident; Area P contained
late Iron Age and first- to second-century AD pits while Area
S saw occupation of the third and fourth centuries AD and
Area R contained contemporary burials (Richardson 1951,
136). Rather significant are the imported butt beakers and
St Remy ware found in Area P which perhaps arrived from
Gaul via Poole Harbour, and the imitation Terra Nigra
platters perhaps from eastern England (Richardson 1951,
149–53). Equally, at Figheldean/Netheravon, occupation of
the large multi-sided enclosure beside the River Avon
continued through into the second century AD with
unenclosed occupation, a Roman villa, and a cemetery of
the later Roman period (Graham and Newman 1993;
Illustration 54
Roman civitates in
southern Britain.
[Based on Frere 1967, 1.]
75