Glass, alcohol and power in Roman Iron Age Scotland - a study of the Roman vessel glass from non-Roman/native sites in north Northumberland and Scotland

Abstract: This thesis is based on a study of Roman glass vessels found on non-Roman/native sites - chiefly of Roman Iron Age date (AD 0-400) - beyond Hadrian’s Wall in northern Britain. Roman glass vessels have been discovered on 60 sites in total, the majority of which are settlements of various types, and only a minor part are graves. As a consequence of this, the greater part of the material is strongly fragmented, and the number of intact objects scant. In order to shed light on this material, which would otherwise be difficult to understand, Free Germany with its rich and intact grave material is used as an analogy. Compared to the fairly broad range of glass vessels typically found on Roman sites, the material uncovered on native sites beyond Hadrian’s Wall is clearly a selection of goods with an emphasis on types employed for the serving and drinking of wine in their original Roman context. Also with regard to the quality of the vessels the material manifestly constitutes a selection. There is much to suggest that these objects were obtained through some form of peaceful exchange, and that the underlying motivation for this import was political rather than commercial. By utilising material culture of foreign derivation the elites in the Iron Age societies were able to secure their influence as well as legitimate their power. Thus these vessels were not merely status symbols, but instruments of power in themselves, and we may speak of a kind of prestige goods system. The tripartite model presented in this dissertation is designed to give a notion of how the elites may have employed these imported objects in their struggle for power: a) Material culture functioned as an instrument of power, and by taking full advantage of their greater economic resources, the elites could pursue exchange in order to obtain goods of particular symbolic significance or high value within the indigenous society. b) The cup or its alcoholic contents — mead, wine or beer — was a symbol of power, and embodied the generosity of the king or chieftain, and the bonds of loyalty between him and his warriors. A significant proportion of the imported glass vessels are drinking vessels: cups, beakers and small bowls. c) There is much to suggest that the glass vessels found on some Iron Age sites formed parts of Roman drinking sets, and that a basic knowledge of Roman drinking customs may have existed on these. Hence the elites did not only strive to procure goods of foreign derivation, but also to acquire knowledge of how they were to be employed in a correct manner. The lack of knowledge of proper use would have been humiliating, and thus functioned as a social barrier against those of lower standing.