I've been struggling for a while to put the context of the battlesite into the geography of early Roman Britain. We had a discussion about the Iceni tribal boundaries a while back. Prompted by this I took a look at Chris Rudds 1998 map based on tribal coinage, this helped me pin tribes down geographically a bit more and whilst I know the boundaries were almost certainly fluid Rudds map is anchored on a few obvious features such as rivers that must surely have played a part boundary definition;
http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue...1-4-2.html
Consequently I have attempted to almost, but not quite, overlay the Rudd map on to a copy of Briggs' still fantastic Roman road/topography map. Here it is;
Church Stowe is the blue dot and occupies a very interesting position at the border of 3 tribal areas, I could easily wiggle Rudds Dobunni/Catevellauni boundry to land on CS, I think it probably hits around Borough Hill, Daventry at the moment. Although a line following the Cherwell valley Northwards would be a sound idea thus ending at Arbury Hill 6km West of the CS site.
This area has a number of supposed Iron Age forts, Hunsbury, Arbury, CS, Borough Hill all within sight of each other. Maybe this area had some tribal significance as a meeting point? maybe it is a wider landscape of significance as a rallying point?
Does this map throw up any observations for any of the other sites?
Where, as a relative novice, should I be looking to get a better handle on the tribal divisions of the time?
Thanks for any input.
http://coinproject.com/jan/volume1/issue...1-4-2.html
Consequently I have attempted to almost, but not quite, overlay the Rudd map on to a copy of Briggs' still fantastic Roman road/topography map. Here it is;
Church Stowe is the blue dot and occupies a very interesting position at the border of 3 tribal areas, I could easily wiggle Rudds Dobunni/Catevellauni boundry to land on CS, I think it probably hits around Borough Hill, Daventry at the moment. Although a line following the Cherwell valley Northwards would be a sound idea thus ending at Arbury Hill 6km West of the CS site.
This area has a number of supposed Iron Age forts, Hunsbury, Arbury, CS, Borough Hill all within sight of each other. Maybe this area had some tribal significance as a meeting point? maybe it is a wider landscape of significance as a rallying point?
Does this map throw up any observations for any of the other sites?
Where, as a relative novice, should I be looking to get a better handle on the tribal divisions of the time?
Thanks for any input.