Discovering Roman Britain

Synopsis: Three short programmes tell an archaeological detective story of discovery, excavation and interpretation of evidence, to reveal the workings of a great farming estate of the Roman period.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of production: 1981
Uses: Ages 15 and up. Students of the classical world and students of archaeology.
Subjects: Archaeology
Keywords: archaeological investigation; England; farming; Roman Empire; Roman villas

Director

John Webster

Producer

John Webster

Writer

K Branigan

Contributor

Michael Harvey; Steve Collier

Cast

K Branigan
Peter Bell

Title: Discovery and Excavation
Synopsis: Describes how a Roman settlement was discovered and excavated; the build-up of stratigraphy; the types of evidence recovered; and the historical interpretation. The viewer learns how the site suddenly expanded from a native farmstead into a huge 18-acre centre defended by the biggest wall in Roman Britain can witness a reconstruction of the entire settlement.
Duration: 14 mins
Title: Questions and Answers
Synopsis: What was the nature and purpose of the settlement? This second programme in the series asks these questions and uses the evidence to pinpoint the likely answer - the centre of a great villla estate. The purpose of individual buildings is identified - a mill, bakery, slaughterhouse, cold-store, smithy, storehouses - and the evidence for the villa building itself is examined.
Duration: 16 mins
Title: Villa Estate at Work, The
Synopsis: The probable boundaries and size of the estate are established and its various resources of land, stone and minerals are identified. From the excavated evidence its farm products and economy is reconstructed, revealing that it was able to generate a large surplus for sale in the market place. From the proceeds, the estate owner was able to buy products from all over southern Britain and western Europe. In the late fourth century these trade links broke down and the villa estate itself was abandoned.
Duration: 15 mins

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Notes: NB. As of 1 September 2016, the Jisc MediaHub subscription service is no longer available. However, all the multimedia content that Jisc has licensed for use by higher and further education institutions, which is currently accessed via the MediaHub subscription, is available through a new service, MediaPlus, at http://mediaplus.alexanderstreet.com.

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Web: http://onlineshop.shef.ac.uk/browse/category.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=114 External site opens in new window
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United Kingdom
Notes: LeTS holds a back catalogue of high quality educational video programmes it has produced, all of which are available in DVD format. The 100+ titles cover most academic subject areas and contain valuable sequences in the form of animations and demonstrations. The DVDs are available to purchse from the university’s online store.

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