03-25-2011, 02:30 PM
I think the word 'system' is important here. Organised road systems are associated with political organisations, i.e. the bigger and the better organised the polity, the bigger and better organised the road system.
As pre-Roman Britain had some pretty large and reasonably complex tribal polities (let's not overstate that too much, though...) it stands to reason they could, and did, build road systems. I expect them to be very localised though, like those roads in the old Mycenaean kingdoms of mainland Greece.
What I find interesting is that every time we are confronted with the fact that our pre-Roman Iron Age ancestors weren't mere hairy savages, there's a tendency for the pendulum to swing (perhaps a bit too much) the other way. Especially with some people :neutral:
As pre-Roman Britain had some pretty large and reasonably complex tribal polities (let's not overstate that too much, though...) it stands to reason they could, and did, build road systems. I expect them to be very localised though, like those roads in the old Mycenaean kingdoms of mainland Greece.
What I find interesting is that every time we are confronted with the fact that our pre-Roman Iron Age ancestors weren't mere hairy savages, there's a tendency for the pendulum to swing (perhaps a bit too much) the other way. Especially with some people :neutral:
Andreas Baede
