On the Border of the Celtic and Roman Worlds: A Regional GIS Analysis of Votadini Hillforts in Northumberland, United Kingdom

This project seeks to analyze regional Votadini hillfort re-settlement in the Roman Iron Age/Romano-British Period in Northumberland, UK, north of Hadrian's Wall. Archaeologists have applied a "long Iron Age" model to the tribes of this region, often downplaying both social change within the tribe and Roman impact without. Combining prior recorded field work with my own LiDAR, spatial, and movement analyses in ArcGIS, I examine regional Votadini settlement patterns from the Iron Age through the Roman Iron Age, noting significant cultural changes. Any evident shifts in hillfort settlement patterns can reflect a changing socio-political landscape as the Votadini became a border territory to the Celtic-speaking and Roman worlds. In the Roman Iron Age emerges: amalgamated village-like communities, disrepair of defensive structures, abandonment of population centers, differing familial units, differing landscape movement, and rectilinear barriers and walls delineating public from private space. Through evidenced Roman Iron Age hillfort settlement changes I argue for the generational impact on native lifeways from Roman occupation and proximity.