Landscapes of Continued Deposition: A reinterpretation of the burial of Romano- British and Anglo-Saxon/Early Medieval lead tanks in Britain

Abstract

Lead tanks from the Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon periods have become some of the most distinctive classes of artefact in Britain from those times. This thesis will be focussing on these artefacts at the time of the late fourth century to the late tenth century for evidence of continuity and change in depositional patterns between these periods.
Their findspots range from Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Kent, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Su olk, Sussex and Yorkshire as well as examples in Scotland at Stidriggs and Whithorn in Dumfries and Galloway.
As of 2022, there is a total of 63 discovered from both periods at these locations across Britain. There are currently 38 from the Roman period and a further 25 of their later Anglo-Saxon counterparts. The main feature of this thesis will be the concept of landscapes of continued deposition. In this case, I searched for evidence of continued artefact deposition practices across both sets of discoveries regarding their state upon burial and the environment this occurred within. I assessed these alongside similar acts of deposition with Bronze and Iron Age cauldrons regarding choice in landscape, artefact buried and its state upon discovery to demonstrate evidence of landscapes of continued deposition. I also examined the abandonment of the tanks in their respective environments, comparing them with other patterns of artefact burial within these areas. I analysed them on a site to site basis as well as comparing evidence between sites. That created the opportunity to contextualise the burying of the tanks within broader depositional practices occurring in Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain.