J Social Archaeol 6 (3)

Article reviewing the mapping of Roman Britain, from Roman antiquity to the contemporary age. By reviewing the classical mapping of the British Isles and three particular examples of cartographic representation produced during early modern and modern times, it is argued that the Roman past of Britain has been made to perform particular roles with regard to the creation of early modern and modern imperial discourse, and that, by generating a Roman ancestry for English civilization, the evidence derived from the classical past was used to provide intellectual justification for the colonization of territories abroad, in Ireland, Scotland and the New World. The author contends that recent examples of mapping do not challenge the terms through which these ideas of imperial inheritance were defined, but that alternative approaches to mapping in the future may seek to communicate different ideas about the relevance and character of Britannia.

An approach to the interpretation of microscopic residues on stone artefacts is proposed that draws on notions of narrative, scale, action and agency as one means of expanding the theoretical scope and application of residue studies. It is suggested that the individual resonance of the findings of residue analyses with people in the present day can be used to provide a more nuanced understanding of past actions, which in turn allows both better integration and communication of those findings within and outside the archaeological community, and begins to overcome the problems associated with the typically small sample sizes analysed in stone-tool residue studies.