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The Wentlooge Level: a Romano-British saltmarsh reclamation in southeast Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

J.R.L. Allen  and
M.G. Fulford
J.R.L. Allen
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Reading
M.G. Fulford
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Reading
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Extract

The large tracts of estuarine alluvium which border the Severn Estuary (FIG. I) and inner Bristol Channel have never been the subject of systematic archaeological enquiry. Now largely reclaimed and known as levels, the greatest of these tracts are the Somerset Levels, on the English side, and the Wentlooge and Caldicot levels between Cardiff and R. Wye on the Welsh shore. Smaller areas of reclaimed wetland range upriver as far as Gloucester. The manner and extent to which these wetlands entered into the economy particularly in the Roman period has hitherto been assessed only in the form of speculations or inferences from circumstantial evidence, in contrast to the firmness of our understanding, based on buildings as well as artefacts, concerning military activities, settlement, and daily life on the surrounding slopes and hills beyond tidal influence.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 17 , November 1986 , pp. 91 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © J.R.L. Allen and M.G. Fulford 1986. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

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