Summary data for Romano-British settlements

Part of the Social Reactors Project datasets project

Creator(s): Scott Ortman

Year: 2024

Summary

A key question in economic history is the degree to which preindustrial economies could generate sustained increases in per capita productivity. Previous studies suggest that, in many preindustrial contexts, growth was primarily a consequence of agglomeration. Here, we examine evidence for three different socioeconomic rates that are available from the archaeological record for Roman Britain. We find that all three measures show increasing returns to scale with settlement population, with a common elasticity that is consistent with the expectation from settlement scaling theory. We also identify a pattern of increase in baseline rates, similar to that observed in contemporary societies, suggesting that this economy did generate modest levels of per capita productivity growth over a four-century period. Last, we suggest that the observed growth is attributable to changes in transportation costs and to institutions and technologies related to socioeconomic interchange. These findings reinforce the view that differences between ancient and contemporary economies are more a matter of degree than kind.

Cite this Record

Summary data for Romano-British settlements. Scott Ortman. Washington, DC: Science Advances. 2024 ( tDAR id: 500960) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8500960

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

URL: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk5517


Data Set Structure

Measurement Column
Count Column
Coded Column
Filename Column
Integration Column (has Ontology)

Table Information: qry rrb size data2

Column Name Data Type Type Category Coding Sheet Ontology Search
SumOfTotal_Building_Area DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfBuildings_With_Area BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_unid_3rd_4thc BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_unid_1st_2ndc BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad498_565 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad445_498 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad402_445 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad388_402 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad378_388 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad364_378 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad348_364 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad330_348 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad317_330 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad296_317 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad275_296 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad260_275 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad238_260 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad222_238 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad193_222 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad180_193 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad161_180 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad138_161 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad117_138 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad96_117 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad69_96 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad54_69 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_ad41_54 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_27bc_ad41 BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins_lia BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfFine DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfCoarse DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfAmphorae DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
AvgOfSTR/AREA DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfSTR/YR DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
AvgOfSTR/AREA/YR DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfAMPHORA BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfSAMIAN BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfHORSE/Yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfNISP/Yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfTOTAL_FRAGMENT BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
AvgOfD/N/yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfamphorae/yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfsamian/yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
TOTAL_AREA DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
AvgOfY_REF_MAP DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
AvgOfX_REF_MAP DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfvalue/yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfcoins/yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfkg/yr DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfTOTAL_BUILDINGS BIGINT  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SumOfAREA DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
SETTLEMENT_SIZE VARCHAR  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
RURAL_SETTLEMENT_FORM VARCHAR  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
AvgOfDURATION DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
Midpoint Phase VARCHAR  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
AvgOfDATE_END DOUBLE  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
Site VARCHAR  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
REGION VARCHAR  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true
COUNTY VARCHAR  Uncoded Value uncategorized none none true

Keywords

Culture
Roman Empire

Material
Metal

Site Name
BANES • Bedfordshire • Berkshire • Buckinghamshire • Cambridgeshire • Cheshire • City of York • Clwyd-Powys • Cornwall • Cumbria • Derbyshire • Devon • Dorset • Durham • Dyfed • East Riding • East Sussex • Essex • Glamorgan-Gwent • Gloucestershire • Greater London • Greater Manchester • Gwynedd • Hampshire • Herefordshire • Hertfordshire • Isle of Wight • Kent • Lancashire • Leicestershire • Lincolnshire • Merseyside • Norfolk • Northamptonshire • Northumberland • North Yorkshire • Nottinghamshire • Oxfordshire • Rutland • Shropshire • Somerset • South Yorkshire • Staffordshire • Suffolk • Surrey • Warwickshire • West Midlands • West Sussex • West Yorkshire • Wiltshire • Worcestershire Show More

Site Type
Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Settlements

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation • Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Excavation Results

Geographic Keywords
United Kingdom

Temporal Keywords
Roman Britain

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 50 to 400 (Roman Period)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -6.228; min lat: 49.94 ; max long: 1.835; max lat: 56.363 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Scott Ortman

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
qry-rrb-size-data2.csv 469.67kb Jul 18, 2024 2:35:06 PM Public
Site size, coinage, and pottery data analyzed in "Identification and Measurement of Intensive Economic Growth in a Roman Imperial Province," by Ortman et al., Science Advances.