SCIENCE & TECH: Roman Occupation Exposed Britons to Disease and Class Divides

The Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD brought with it dramatic social upheaval that fundamentally altered the health landscape of the island’s inhabitants. While the Romans claimed to deliver “civilization” to Britannia, a groundbreaking new study reveals that urbanization under Roman rule actually exposed people to novel diseases and created class divisions that severely restricted access to vital resources. The research, published in the journal Antiquity, confirms long-held theories that the population’s health declined sharply under Roman occupation, though this decline was limited almost exclusively to urban centers.

The Independent reports that archaeologists have discovered infant skeletons from the Roman period bearing significant “negative health markers,” pointing to widespread suffering among urban populations. What makes this finding particularly striking is that rural communities showed no such deterioration, suggesting that pre-Roman Iron Age traditions persisted in the countryside while city dwellers endured harsh, long-lasting health consequences that spanned multiple generations.