INTRODUCTION

The previous chapter showed some of the different patterns of eating and drinking that can be identified during the first to second centuries. This chapter continues the story into the later second and third centuries, by which time much of Britain had been part of the empire for a century or more. It is during this period that the impact of belonging to this wider world can start to be seen more regularly on the rural sites where many of the native British population would have continued to live. Here we will explore first how the habits of the native population were changing, before going on to look at the evidence from particular types of activities being engaged in by both native and immigrant communities.

LEICESTER: A BRITISH TOWN

The lifestyles of the two urban communities described in the previous chapter were those of immigrants. The excavations at Causeway Lane, Leicester, provide an opportunity to look at how the British adapted to town life. Leicester (Ratae Corieltavorum) was the civitas capital of the Corieltavi. It had been a tribal centre prior to the conquest but did not acquire the formal trappings of a city such as a planned street layout and a forum until the second century. Causeway Lane is situated in the north-west of the town, and the remains recovered included structures facing onto the road and backyards with rubbish pits and wells.