Roman Frontier Archaeology – in Britain and Beyond

Roman Frontier Archaeology – in Britain and Beyond
Author: Nick Hodgson
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2022-11-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1803273453

Contributions by leading archaeologists and historians pay tribute to Paul Bidwell, admired for his ground-breaking work both in the south-west and the military north of Roman Britain. This collection will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in either the civil or military aspects of Roman Britain, or the frontiers of the Roman empire.

Rome and the Worlds beyond its Frontiers

Rome and the Worlds beyond its Frontiers
Author: Daniëlle Slootjes
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2016-10-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004326758

Rome and the Worlds Beyond Its Frontiers examines interactions between those within and those beyond the boundaries of Rome, with an eye to the question of contested identities and identity formations.

Hadrian's Wall and the End of Empire

Hadrian's Wall and the End of Empire
Author: Rob Collins
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2012-08-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136291415

There is no synthetic or comprehensive treatment of any late Roman frontier in the English language to date, despite the political and economic significance of the frontiers in the late antique period. Examining Hadrian’s Wall and the Roman frontier of northern England from the fourth century into the Early Medieval period, this book investigates a late frontier in transition from an imperial border zone to incorporation into Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, using both archaeological and documentary evidence. With an emphasis on the late Roman occupation and Roman military, it places the frontier in the broader imperial context. In contrast to other works, Hadrian’s Wall and the End of Empire challenges existing ideas of decline, collapse, and transformation in the Roman period, as well as its impact on local frontier communities. Author Rob Collins analyzes in detail the limitanei, the frontier soldiers of the late empire essential for the successful maintenance of the frontiers, and the relationship between imperial authorities and local frontier dynamics. Finally, the impact of the end of the Roman period in Britain is assessed, as well as the influence that the frontier had on the development of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria.

Rethinking Colonialism

Rethinking Colonialism
Author: Craig N. Cipolla
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2020-01-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 081306533X

Historical archaeology studies once relied upon a binary view of colonialism: colonizers and colonized, the colonial period and the postcolonial period. The contributors to this volume scrutinize imperialism and expansionism through an alternative lens that rejects simple dualities and explores the variously gendered, racialized, and occupied peoples of a multitude of faiths, desires, associations, and constraints. Colonialism is not a phase in the chronology of a people but a continuous phenomenon that spans the Old and New Worlds. Most important, the contributors argue that its impacts—and, in some instances, even the same processes set in place by the likes of Columbus—are ongoing. Inciting a critical examination of the lasting consequences of ancient and modern colonialism on descendant communities, this wide-ranging volume includes essays on Roman Britain, slavery in Brazil, and contemporary Native Americans. In its efforts to define the scope of colonialism and the comparability of its features, this collection challenges the field to go beyond familiar geographical and historical boundaries and draws attention to unfolding colonial futures.

Fabric of the Frontier

Fabric of the Frontier
Author: Rob Collins
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2023-07-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789259517

What is Hadrian’s Wall made of, where did this material come from and how has it been reused in other buildings in the communities that emerged in the centuries after the Roman Empire? By studying the fabric of Hadrian’s Wall using a geological approach combined with archaeological methods, is it possible to refine our answers to these questions? This study describes how the relationship between the geology of the Wall’s landscape and its fabric may be used to further understand the Wall and presents a significant set of new geological and archaeological data on the Wall’s stones from across the length of the Wall. This data set has been collected in two complementary ways. First as a citizen-science project, where volunteers from local communities were trained to visually characterize sandstones and resulting in data collecting on large numbers of the Wall’s stones along the length of the Wall. Secondly, analytical research was used to gather in scientific data for a selected sets of rocks and stones. Geochemical data was captured using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, and petrographic observations made using a petrographic microscope and thin sections. The combined methods provide a framework for geological analysis of the Wall supported by robust data. It builds on earlier work on Roman quarrying and stone preparation highlighting not only stone sources, but the criteria for choosing stone, stone preparation methods, and the implied routes to the Wall. At the heart of this study lies the ability to uniquely identify different sandstone types. Geological methods used to achieve this are explored, as are the ways in which the sandstones form. This highlights both the possibilities and limits of this approach.

Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Hadrian's Wall

Frontiers of the Roman Empire: Hadrian's Wall
Author: David J. Breeze
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2023-09-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1803274174

This highly illustrated book offers an accessible summary of Hadrian’s Wall, and an overview of the wider context of the Roman frontiers.

The Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain

The Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain
Author: Martin Millett
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1064
Release: 2016-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0191002534

This book provides a twenty-first century perspective on Roman Britain, combining current approaches with the wealth of archaeological material from the province. This volume introduces the history of research into the province and the cultural changes at the beginning and end of the Roman period. The majority of the chapters are thematic, dealing with issues relating to the people of the province, their identities and ways of life. Further chapters consider the characteristics of the province they lived in, such as the economy, and settlement patterns. This Handbook reflects the new approaches being developed in Roman archaeology, and demonstrates why the study of Roman Britain has become one of the most dynamic areas of archaeology. The book will be useful for academics and students interested in Roman Britain.

Exeter: A Roman Legionary Fortress and Civitas Capital

Exeter: A Roman Legionary Fortress and Civitas Capital
Author: John Pamment Salvatore
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2024-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1803276290

This accessible summary of the archaeological evidence from Roman Exeter reveals its origins as a legionary fortress garrisoned by the Second Augustan Legion. After the legion departed to Wales, Exeter became a Roman regional capital and continued to flourish on the very western edge of the Empire before its ultimate demise in the late 4th century.

Excavations Along Hadrian’s Wall 2019–2021

Excavations Along Hadrian’s Wall 2019–2021
Author: Rob Collins
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2024-04-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789259460

This study focuses on the fabric, construction and preservation of stretches of Hadrian's Wall in its more remote locations, providing significant insights into the places between the mile castles and important forts and associated settlements. The Hadrian’s Wall Community Archaeology Project (WallCAP) conducted a series of fieldwork projects along the Hadrian’s Wall corridor between 2019 and 2021. The work focused on sites that were poorly understood or under particular threat and aimed to improve understanding of them so they could be better managed in future. At several sites excavation was followed by conservation and consolidation work. This volume brings together the final reports of these excavations, at six Roman sites in the Wall corridor. As the sites were spread along the length of the Wall the character and afterlife of the Wall in very different landscape locations could be compared. An assessment of the Vallum at Heddon on the Wall identified how earthwork archaeology survived in a sloped, heavily ploughed landscape. Three excavations investigated the condition of the stone Wall curtain: at Port Carlisle, Walltown Crags, and Steel Rigg and Cats Stairs. At each site the Wall builders had responded to the demands of the local terrain and made use of local resources. At each site the Wall had a different post-Roman history. Excavations at the bridging point of the Cam Beck revealed for the first time how the Wall was carried over a ‘minor’ watercourse, and discovered traces of the Turf Wall. Small buildings were also identified just south of the Wall as it approached the bridge. At Corbridge Roman town, excavations on the northern periphery of the settlement demonstrated that from early in its history the most northerly town in Europe was of considerable extent. The area investigated showed that, even at the edge of town, shops lined the roads alongside well-appointed houses with bustling yards. Later on in the Roman period the town contracted behind walls and cremation burials were inserted by the road. Each site is reported on independently, presenting the primary data for each investigation. The volume concludes with a synthetic analysis of what the results of these excavations together reveal about Hadrian’s Wall, considering, amongst other things, construction details and the decay and destruction of the monument in the centuries following Roman occupation.

An Imperial Possession

An Imperial Possession
Author: David Mattingly
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 709
Release: 2008-05-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1101160403

Part of the Penguin History of Britain series, An Imperial Possession is the first major narrative history of Roman Britain for a generation. David Mattingly draws on a wealth of new findings and knowledge to cut through the myths and misunderstandings that so commonly surround our beliefs about this period. From the rebellious chiefs and druids who led native British resistance, to the experiences of the Roman military leaders in this remote, dangerous outpost of Europe, this book explores the reality of life in occupied Britain within the context of the shifting fortunes of the Roman Empire.