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Researchers have examined a sediment core from the Roman town and metal production center of Aldborough in Yorkshire, revealing metal production did not collapse immediately after the Romans left Britain.

What have the Romans ever done for us? Alongside their architecture, sanitation systems and road networks, they have been credited with bringing industry to Britain in the form of large-scale lead and iron production.

However, little is known about what happened to the metal industry once the Romans left around AD 400. It was generally assumed that industrial-scale production declined, as no epigraphic evidence for lead exploitation after the 3rd century exists.

"Not all industrial commodity production ended in the early 5th century though," states lead author of the research, Professor Christopher Loveluck from the University of Nottingham. "At Aldborough, it is possible metal production expanded steadily using the ores and coal-fuel of the Roman period."

To test this hypothesis, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Nottingham and several other UK institutions analyzed a five-meter-long sediment core from Aldborough in Yorkshire: the Roman tribal town of the Brigantes and a major metal producing center. are published in the journal Antiquity.

"This core has provided the first unbroken continuous record and timeline of metal pollution and metal economic history in Britain, from the 5th century to the present day, at the heart of a major metal-producing region," says Professor Loveluck.

Their findings indicate metal production in Britain continued long after the end of the Roman period c. AD 400, not declining until a sudden crash c. AD 550-600.

While there is no definitive evidence for why this collapse occurred, historical sources and DNA evidence suggest Europe was ravaged by bubonic plague during this period, which would have had a significant impact on economic activity.

Importantly, these findings prove that there was not a total economic collapse after the Romans left, meaning, contrary to popular belief, post-Roman Britain was not a "Dark Age" where production regressed to pre-Roman levels.

Furthermore, following the post-Roman period, the core displays many fluctuations in metal production over time associated with several historical events, such as Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.

"It became uneconomical to make fresh metal because it was ripped off all the monasteries, abbeys and religious houses," Professor Loveluck explains. "Large-scale production resumed in the later 16th century to resource Elizabeth I's Spanish and French wars."

Overall, these findings show the early economic history of Britain is much more complex than previously assumed. For the first time, we can examine long-term changes in British metal production in relation to major historical events.

"The results offer a revolutionary new insight into the economic history of Britain, which contradicts previous thought that all industrial-scale commodity production collapsed at the end of the Roman period," concludes Professor Loveluck.