An interpretation of indigenous populations asserts that ‘non-state societies typically have fluid territorial and political boundaries, only weakly developed political hierarchies and a less formalized sense of identity as a group.’ This... more
An interpretation of indigenous populations asserts that ‘non-state societies typically have fluid territorial and political boundaries, only weakly developed political hierarchies and a less formalized sense of identity as a group.’ This characterisation illustrates well a decentralised society in which groups live in part independently, yet are connected to other nearby populations through a shared culture, perpetuated by similar social, material and settlement structures. It is likely that the Silures occupying south Wales in the Iron Age lived in such a society. Focusing predominantly on defended enclosures, but also exploring other aspects of the material record, this paper suggests a decentralised socio-political structure indicating that the inhabitants of south Wales maintained independent, local groups, yet shared many common social, material and settlement practices that united these communities under a single culture. This shared culture then became unifying when the entire region came under threat by the Roman invasion.
