Roman maritime activities: the evidence from Britain

Résumé

This paper presents a brief summary of the evidence from Britain for cross-Channel contact and maritime activities throughout the Roman era. The evidence from the coastal littoral and the intertidal zone around Britain is not as extensive as one might expect from an island nation. This is largely a result of coastal morphology rather than changes in relative sea level. This is illustrated both by the considerable number of Roman roads that head toward the coast whose destinations, owing to coastal morphology, are unclear, and by Roman finds in the inter-tidal zone.