A complete understanding of the past requires that we rely on three sciences: archeology, anthropology, and history.  Archeologists study human history by examining and analyzing the remains of humans, their settlements, and their creations.  Anthropologists seek to understand how ancient people behaved, their biology, culture, society, and language.  Historians evaluate human events from numerous sources, including the work of archeologists and anthropologists and the written record of the past five thousand years.

History allows us to know about and understand past events — and how our ancestors reacted to those events.  We want to know this because, in understanding who we were, we gain a better understanding of who we’ve become.

Without written records, there is no history — only conjecture.  Archeological evidence may offer suggestions about what happened over several hundred years, but whatever their findings, it is only speculation.  When we consider prehistory (that is, before written records), we know that no matter how perceptive our conclusions may be, they are, at best, only educated guesses — which is why historians have frequent disagreements.

In 2011, Stephen Morris, a reporter at The Guardian, suggested that Roman roads in Great Britain may not be “quite as Roman” as we think. 

Morris wrote:

“The long-held belief that the Romans introduced ‘proper’ roads to the UK has been thrown into doubt after the discovery of a thoroughfare engineered by Iron Age Britons.  Archaeologists working at a quarry in Shropshire have found a metaled and cambered road dated to the first century BC — around 100 years before the Roman invasion.

“The discovery shows that Iron Age Britons were better and more imaginative engineers than they are generally given credit for.  It may also give an insight into the relationship between the tribes that lived in the region, as the road was almost certainly created to support heavy traffic, suggesting a thriving trade route.

“The road, which is 1.5 meters high and six meters wide, was unearthed at Bayston Hill quarry, near Shrewsbury, which fittingly is owned by the modern-day roadbuilders Tarmac.  It was initially assumed that this metal road was built after the Roman invasion, but it did not quite fit in with the known Roman road network.

“The road was found to include brushwood, a deep clay foundation, and cobbles taken from the River Severn.  Archaeologists sent off samples of the brushwood and the sediment found in the road and were hugely excited when the results showed it was built in several phases, the latest of which was the century before the Roman invasion of A.D. 43.

“There are other, older-established paths, such as the Jurassic Way, that links Oxfordshire and Lincolnshire, but they are not engineered as beaten down by use.  There is also evidence of hard surfaces being laid within Iron Age settlements.

“But Tim Malim, who directed the archaeological team that worked on the find, said this was believed to be the first British-engineered road in a rural location.

“He said: ‘It’s a very exciting discovery – a road like this has never been identified before.  Obviously, major routes were used throughout prehistory, and we know where some of these ran, but they were not constructed roads — they were just routes.  The traditional view currently is that the Romans came over to Britain, built the roads, and civilized the people.  But we have found that this road was built before the Romans invaded.’

“So far, 400 meters of road has been found, and ruts in it add to the idea that it could have been a trade route.  Malim believes that in the Iron Age, the route could have connected the Wrekin Hill, thought to be the ‘capital’ of the Cornovian tribe, to the Ordovices further west.  It could also suggest that farm produce was being moved from the Midlands into Wales, with perhaps minerals being transported the other way.

“Evidence of animal dung and dung beetles has also been found, indicating that before the construction of the road, it had been used in earlier times as a livestock drove way.  The discovery will likely encourage archaeologists in other parts of Britain to re-examine other roads that have long been thought to be Roman to see if they too may have been built by Britons.”

Here, we have an excellent example of a historical investigation that followed the archeological discovery of a road thought to pre-date the Roman invasion of 43 A.D.  There is no written record to explain why the Bretons constructed the road, when they completed the project, or which tribe did the planning and the work.  Archeologists must ask: if the early Romans didn’t build that road, then who did?  How did those non-Roman people develop the technology for such an accomplishment?

There are all kinds of possible answers to these questions, but none can be validated.  Whatever answers might arise can only be hypotheses — ideas without corroboration.  They are suppositions or partial explanations based on limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.  But sometimes, there can be no further investigation.  Why?  Because we don’t know who built the road.  Whoever it was didn’t keep written records, and without records, there can be no history.  The questions posed by investigators are good ones; we simply don’t know the answers.

Sources:

1. Morris, Stephen.  “Britannia Superior: Why Roman roads may not be quite as Roman as we think: The discovery of a metaled and cambered road dated to the first century B.C. in Shropshire has raised the possibility that iron age Britons were the first to build ‘proper’ roads.”  The Guardian.  15 March 2011.

Notes:

Shropshire is twenty miles from my wife’s hometown, Worcester.