How the Romans brought ‘mega industries’ to Britain

Goods like olive oil and wine were imported to Britain using large ceramic jars known as amphora, but Romano-Britons “produced their own big jars which could rival this pottery”, said Mr Biddulph.

A 2021 excavation at Horningsea, next to the River Cam in Cambridgeshire, revealed it was a major pottery production area.

Mr Biddulph said: “Its most distinctive aspect was the production of very large jars.

“These may have been a specialist line, but it is unclear whether they were associated with a specific commodity, as transport containers, perhaps for flour, or whether they were simply a particularly successful form of all-purpose storage jar.”

What he does believe is the pottery was producing the jars were most likely to have been used in the vicinity, unlike the imported amphora.

And what about the people who toiled in these industries?

“It’s a tricky question because we don’t have the evidence, but it was probably not just the enslaved, but a range of people,” said Mr Biddulph.

“And it was a pretty tough life, not particularly pleasant, where ever you were on the social scale.”