Creolised Bodies and Hybrid Identities

Oxbow says: To what extent did the indigenous population change their appearance and identity with the arrival of the Romans? Gillian Carr's revised thesis explores how we can detect shifts in modes of physical appearance and social identity by stuyding evidence from around 40 sites in Essex and Hertfordshire. Her study looks at artefacts traditionally symbolic of 'Romanisation', such as brooches, hairpins and other hair accoutrements, toilet instruments, and pigment and cosmetic pounders representing body tattooing and painting. Carr acknowledges that the link between artefacts and ethnicity or identity is somewhat problematic, especially with regard to differentiating between 'native' and Roman, although she does reach some interesting conclusions about the increased fluidity of identities in the late Iron Age, increased experimentation and attempts at social mobility through physical appearance.