ABSTRACT
The principal difference between prehistoric and Roman Britain is the degree of anonymity which cloaks the former period. The Roman army was a considerable source of migrants to Britain, since the first units to arrive had all been recruited in other provinces. The new colonia founded at Colchester in AD 49 is an admirable example of what was happening; it could well have contained up to 2,000 discharged legionary veterans, but unfortunately we know no personal details of the individuals who became its first inhabitants. There is scarcely more information from the other military coloniae at Gloucester and Lincoln, although the latter has produced the tombstone of Julius Galenus, a native of Lyons and a veteran of Legio VI, but he cannot have been among the original colonists and presumably settled there later. Lincoln was also the place chosen for retirement by a nameless decurion of a cavalry regiment of Asturians.
