When Britain became part of the Roman Empire, writing was introduced for the first time. Before then, the people living in Britain only had oral history. Knowledge was passed down through the generations by word of mouth. Past events were remembered in stories and songs.

Oral history was not enough for the Roman Empire. Written records needed to be kept so that the huge Empire could be governed. For example, laws had to be written down, and records were needed of who had paid taxes. Writing was very important to the administration of Roman Britain to keep things running.

The native language of Britain before the Roman conquest was a 'Celtic' language, similar to modern Welsh, but the Roman invaders spoke Latin. After the conquest many Britons learned to speak, read and write Latin. This helped them get by in the Roman world, and meant that they could play a part in the administration of the Empire. However, many other native people probably could not speak Latin properly, and could not read or write. These people would have been disadvantaged. They would not have had the same access to knowledge that educated, literate people did.

At Earith, writing has been found stamped on pottery and coins that had been brought to the area from elsewhere. Of course, the people at Earith did not need to be able to read to use these coins and pots. However, a writing stylus and some graffiti on a pot shows that at least some people at Earith could read and write for themselves. Reading and writing would have been helped by lighting from lamps found at the sites.

Writing Tablets

Wooden tablets were often used for writing in the Roman world. One side of the tablet had a raised border that was filled with wax. Writing was scratched into the wax using a sharp-pointed tool called a stylus. These wooden tablets are occasionally found by archaeologists. The wax does not survive, but sometimes the writer pressed so hard into the wax with the stylus that the writing was scratched into the wood behind as well. This means that we can read the writing today. Some tablets were used for keeping official records, while others were sent as letters.

A stylus was found at Earith, showing that someone here was using writing tablets. The stylus is made of bone, and has a sharp end for writing, and a flat end for rubbing out mistakes. It was found near one of the main buildings of the Langdale Hale farm. Pieces of expensive glass and pewter vessels were also found near the same building. Together, this suggests that a special person lived here - someone wealthy and literate. Perhaps this person had a job that meant they needed to keep written records.

The only example that has been found of writing actually by someone from Earith is some graffiti on a broken pot from the Camp Ground. The writing had been scratched on to the surface of the pot after firing. It seems to read: ...VVVIVXT

Unfortunately, the start of the graffiti is missing where the pot has broken. This makes it difficult to understand what the writing means.

In fact, as the graffiti does not seem to make much sense, it was perhaps made by someone only semi-literate - someone only able to read and write quite badly. Semi-literate people would sometimes try to copy writing without properly understanding it.

Most examples of graffiti found on Roman pots show the name of the owner of the pot. There are various reasons why people would have wanted to mark their name on the pots that they owned. They may have been worried about theft. They may also have needed to take pots to carry goods to or from markets, or to take them to festivals or celebrations. Marking your name would help to make sure that you got the right pot back at the end.

We are sometimes lucky enough to find the name of someone who lived in the Roman period. At Earith, some of the pots found were stamped with the name of the potter who made it. One fragment of a small cup from the Camp Ground was stamped on the base with the phrase: TANCONVS F. The 'F' is short for 'Fecit' which in Latin means 'made'. So, the meaning of the stamp is 'Tanconus made (this)'. The Romans often used abbreviations like this in their writing, a bit like people using text messaging today.

Roman potters would stamp their name on their pots so that they could be told apart from those of other potters working in the same workshop. Stamps might also act as 'adverts' for the potter. It was especially the finer, more elegant pots that would be stamped. We can tell from the style of the stamped cup from Earith that Tanconus worked as a potter in central France during the second century AD.

To light their homes after dark, and carry out tasks such as reading and writing, people used candles or oil-burning lamps. Most Roman lamps are made of pottery, though some were made of bronze. Lamps could either be hung from the ceiling or placed on a table or stand.

The lamp shown is from Langdale Hale. It was made at the Nene Valley pottery kilns near Peterborough. The lamp is hollow with a small handle at one end and a spout at the other. It would have worked in a similar way to a candle. It would be filled with olive oil or vegetable oil, and a cloth or rope wick would be placed in the spout so that one end was in the oil. The other end would be lit, and the oil that had soaked into the wick would burn with a steady flame. As the oil at the top of the wick was used up, more would be drawn up the wick - just like the wax in a candle - until the oil was finished.