Blind to Chains? The Potential of Bioarchaeology for Identifying the Enslaved of Roman Britain

Abstract

This research explores the contribution bioarchaeology can make to the study of slavery in Roman Britain, responding to the calls by Webster and colleagues for the greater use of osteological and scientific techniques in this endeavour. It reviews the evidence for the bodies of the enslaved in the primary sources and bioarchaeological evidence from the New World and the Roman Empire. The paper aims to establish patterns of physiological stress and disease, which could be used to reconstruct osteobiographies of these individuals, and applies these findings to bioarchaeological evidence from Britain. It concludes that at the present time, it may not be possible for us to successfully separate out the enslaved from the poor or bonded labourers, because their life experiences were very similar. Nevertheless, these people are overlooked in the archaeological record, so unless we attempt to search for them in the extant evidence, the life experiences of the majority of the Romano-British population who were vital to its economy will remain lost to us.

Iron Age ‘Predatory Landscapes’: A Bioarchaeological and Funerary Exploration of Captivity and Enslavement in Britain

“…Their osteobiographies and data reveal the complex ways in which different forms of violence were created and utilized by IA communities. Furthermore, by learning more about enslavement in this period, we can become more adept at understanding how it was practised after the Roman conquest of AD 43 (Redfern 2018).…”

“…33.These are not consistently given in human bone reports (particularly those published before the 2000s) and if included, often the method used to score them is not provided. For their use as an indicator of enslavement, see discussion in Redfern (2018). …”

A new method for investigating the relationship between diet and mortality: hazard analysis using dietary isotopes

“…people came from a variety of sources: natal slaves, within the Empire, those captured from surrounding territories or newly conquered provinces, and transported across the Empirea process which would have caused immense physiological and psychological distress (Redfern, 2018). Enslavement in this period was a diverse experience, with roles and occupations ranging from mine-workers to doctors (Joshel, 2010), but it is reasonable to suggest that for some people, the protein stress does indeed reflect a reality of inadequate nutrition, illness and physiological stress due to their restricted diet and the work they were expected to do, such as this description of workers in a bakery, "These emaciated men… they were hideous with jaundice, and their eyelids were so gnawed away by the dark smoke… they could hardly see" (Apuleius, Metamorphoses).…”

‘Written in Bone’: New Discoveries about the Lives and Burials of Four Roman Londoners

“… 115 For example, the presence of rickets, enamel hypoplastic defects and young age-at-death, see Redfern forthcoming.…”