Archeological sources - Northumbria 7th Century

[Billybadass]

I've been working on a Northumbrian divergence point, sometime before 642, that incorporates much Ioanian & Dal Riata influence. I'm hoping to establish a grounded timeline that reflects population and resource reserves for a Northumbrian overlordship or at least a continued subjugation of Mercia.

My immediate wants would be to understand post-Roman roads, earthworks, and harbors in Northern England that would be readily available for rehabilitation or of continued use. Where were the main routes, and of how many were still in use so many centuries past occupation? Accurate maps would be great. I would also want to know of evidence of how much off-shore navigation occurred with Clinker (not currach) type ships.

Does anyone have any good sources, backed up with archeological studies? I really want to know what could have been available more so than what was recounted by early historians. Any help is appreciated.

 

[perdu42]

I've been working on a Northumbrian divergence point, sometime before 642, that incorporates much Ioanian & Dal Riata influence. I'm hoping to establish a grounded timeline that reflects population and resource reserves for a Northumbrian overlordship or at least a continued subjugation of Mercia.

My immediate wants would be to understand post-Roman roads, earthworks, and harbors in Northern England that would be readily available for rehabilitation or of continued use. Where were the main routes, and of how many were still in use so many centuries past occupation? Accurate maps would be great. I would also want to know of evidence of how much off-shore navigation occurred with Clinker (not currach) type ships.

Does anyone have any good sources, backed up with archeological studies? I really want to know what could have been available more so than what was recounted by early historians. Any help is appreciated.

A POD sometime before 642? To set up a different result at an alt-Battle of Maserfield?

The best source on Roman roads, if you can find a copy, is Margary’s Roman Roads in Britain. It probably won’t tell you what routes were still in use but knowing what road was where will be useful.

This is an interesting paper on post-Roman ‘remains’ and the development of Northumbria. It may give you pointers to further sources. If not, a deeper dive into Academia.edu may turn up something more useful.

Looking forward to seeing what you produce.

 

[Kerney]

I often use r/ask historians for questions like this. They will point you to an academic paper or something relatively obscure like that.

 

[Count of Crisco]

I have a book knocking about somewhere called the age of Arthur, some of the themes of the book are called into question now, but its a fairly well researched book with loads of good sources, maps, and diagrams talking about roughly that period. If I can find it and it has anything you may have use for I can share pictures.

 

[FriendlyGhost]

I can highly recommend Northumbria - the Lost Kingdom by Edoardo Albert & Paul Gething for a very good overview of Northumbria in this period. I don't recall there being any maps of roads, etc but there was a chapter on Trade I think. They're both archaeologists and there's a bibliography too, so there might be something there to help you locate more information.

Edit: there's a basic map of the Roman roads in the area here: https://romanobritain.org/7-maps/map_counties_roads_towns_northumberland.php
and if you are prepared to delve into academic papers on Northumbrian archaeology, try these two:

• Households, Settlements, and Landscapes in Iron Age, Roman, and Early Medieval Northumbria: A Spatial Analysis of North-East England, c. 100 BC-AD 800, available at: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10939/1/B_...ge,_Roman,_and_Early_Medieval_Northumbria.pdf
• Early Medieval Northumbria - Kingdoms and Communities, AD 450–1100 Edited by David Petts and Sam Turner, available at: https://dokumen.pub/qdownload/early...ties-ad-4501100-2503528228-9782503528229.html

Hope that's of some use.

 

[Billybadass]

@perdu42 - Interesting sources. I've downloaded that paper you linked and will read up. Not sure I want to drop a small fortune on Margary's book, but I'll see if I can find an alternate source.

@Kerney - I'll give that a shot, thank you.

@Count of Crisco - I'll see if I can find anything on it, thanks!

@FriendlyGhost - Lost Kingdom is actually one of the first I read. It's a very nice dive into the history. Romanobritain is also another great source I've found. Now the last two papers... Wow, okay, those look VERY interesting. I will give them a good read! Thank you!