What can archaeological evidence tell us

about life in Roman Britain?

Key Stage 2: History

Learning Aims and Outcomes

• To select and record information about Roman ways of life
• To use the terms 'invade' and 'settle'
• To learn how evidence can tell you about Roman life
• To ask and answer questions about what survived from the Roman
settlement of Britain
• To present information to show an understanding of the impact of
Roman settlement on Britain
 We can find out lots about the Romans by
looking at archaeological evidence

It's an archaeologist’s job to look

at evidence, such as artefacts and
buildings, from the past and to try
and interpret them!

Could YOU be an archaeologist?

 Step 1:
Learn to speak ‘archaeologist’
To be an archaeologist you need to
learn some new words
Archaeology: The study of the lives of people in the past

Evidence: Information to support an idea/interpretation

Artefact: Any object made or changed by people

Interpret: To try and explain what something means

Excavate: To dig up and record archaeological remains

 Step 2: Rot or Not?
What would survive for
1000 years?

Food Metal
Wood
Pottery Glass

Leather
Fabric Bones
 Step 2: Rot or Not?

Rot Not

Pottery Metal
Food Wood

Fabric Leather Glass Bones

 Step 2: Rot or Not?
Extension Activity
The ‘Rubbish Bag Game’
All archaeologists are detectives – for the Rubbish Bag
Game select clean, safe pieces of ‘rubbish’ and place them
in a black bin bag.

Pupils take it in turns to pick out a piece of ‘rubbish’, then

the whole class have to work out what it is and who might
have used it/thrown it away.

Deliberately choose bits of ‘rubbish’ so that pupils can

build up a picture of the person/family that threw them
away.
 Step 2: Rot or Not?
Extension Activity
The ‘Rubbish Bag Game’
Once the rubbish bag is empty ask pupils to think about
which items would survive being buried in the ground for
1000s of years – would it Rot or Not?

Any items that they don’t think would survive get taken
away, so you now have a much smaller pile of ‘rubbish’.

Pupils then reassess the evidence and start to understand

that archaeologists can only work with what they’ve got –
there’s a lot that they don’t know, but have to make
‘educated guesses’ about.
 Step 3:
Find EVIDENCE from the past

Look at the pictures on the next 8 slides

They are all types of archaeological evidence

Choose 3 pictures that you think could be used as

evidence to answer the question

Did the Romans settle in Britain?

The remains of a Roman fort called
Housesteads in Northumberland
 The remains of a Roman fort
called Wallsend in Tyne & Wear
The remains of a Roman mosaic
at Fishbourne, West Sussex
The remains of a Roman villa in
Lullingstone, Kent
Gaming counters and dice from a
Roman site called Corbridge, in
Northumberland
 The Old Kent Road in London is built
on top of a Roman road - this is what it
looked like in 1900, many roads today
are built on top of Roman roads.
Remains of the hypocaust
(under- floor heating) at
Chedworth Roman villa, in
Gloucestershire
 Step 4:
Present your findings

An important part of being an archaeologist is

telling other people about what you have
discovered!

Use the accompanying worksheet to record your

findings or fill in your choices as a class in the
table on the next slide - you can copy and paste
the pictures above straight into the table
 Step 4:
Present your findings

An important part of being an archaeologist is

telling other people about what you have
discovered!

Use the accompanying worksheet to record your

findings or fill in your choices as a class in the
table on the next slide - you can copy and paste
the pictures above straight into the table
 We think that the Romans
settled in Britain because....

Evidence We chose this picture because…

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3
 Need some help thinking of
reasons?
Uncover the list below to get you started

REASONS:

• Villas were very expensive

? to build

• Forts made of stone took

? a long time to build

• Hypocaust (under floor heating) was an

?
expensive luxury

• Mosaics were very expensive

?

• Road building took a long

? time and a lot of skill
 Glossary
Archaeology: The study of the lives of people in the past

Artefact: Any object made or changed by people

Evidence: Information to support an idea/interpretation

Fort: A strong place and/or a permanent army post

Gaming Counters: Objects used to play games (like in draughts, backgammon etc.)

Hypocaust: Roman under floor heating system. The floor is supported on pillars and
hot air from a furnace is circulated underneath to heat a house or bath

Interpret: To try and explain what something means

Mosaic: A picture made from lots of small tiles, the Romans called these small tiles
tesserae

Reconstruction Drawing: A drawing formed by piecing together bits of evidence

Villa: A large country house built by wealthy Romans

Find more teaching resources at:

HistoricEngland.org.uk/Education