Classical Archaeology and Ancient History

Archaeological Study Tour to Northern Roman Britain

At the end of March, an intrepid group of students studying the ancient world journeyed to the northern frontiers of Roman Britannia.

At Trimontium

During four action-packed days we covered 1110 miles (roughly the same distance as lies between Rome and London), visiting as many sites as possible and especially those otherwise unreachable without private transport and local knowledge.

Planning

We set off from Oxford early on Friday 28 March and headed north to Melrose, turning on to Dere Street (which follows the course of a Roman Road) at Scotch Corner. We paused at Piercebridge to admire the well-displayed remains of a third-century Roman fort and the nearby stone footings for a bridge of impressive size which had once spanned the River Tees. From Piercebridge, we proceeded on to two late seventh-century Saxon churches, the first at Escombe and the second at Corbridge, both of which incorporate in their fabric complete arches and other Roman masonry re-used from nearby forts. As we completed the final leg of our day’s journey, we enjoyed the low-glancing rays of the late afternoon sun which picked out in glorious detail the remains of Roman camps and other earthworks on either side of Dere Street.

Using Virtual Reality to visualise Trimontium

On the following day, we explored Roman Trimontium. This site now looks like a set of sleepy fields but the secrets beneath the surface (including the most northerly amphitheatre in the Empire) were brought to life through an informative guided tour and a chance meeting with a survey team who generously shared their latest findings with us. This was supplemented with a captivating Virtual Reality experience at the Trimontium Museum in Melrose where we also enjoyed a long, satisfying session handling artefacts recovered from the site (there is no substitute to holding an ancient broach, or bead, or coin, or pot-sherd for appreciating the weight and feel).

Object Handling at Trimontium

Sunday took us north of the Firth of Forth and first to Ardoch. Here, the fort from the Antonine Period (second century) has the best-preserved earth ramparts within the northern Roman Empire, but it partly overlies and is surrounded by several intersecting temporary camps of different dates and sizes which we enjoyed disentangling on the ground. After lunch, we stopped at Kaims Castle, a fortlet which forms part of a frontier system along the Gask Ridge dating to the 70s or 80s and claimed to be the earliest in the Empire.

Exploring Ardoch

The Gask Ridge frontier system is anchored to the north-east near Dunkeld by a massive fort at Inchtuthil, a site which is reached from the nearest parking place by a walk of nearly a mile down an obscure private road. This now forgotten field was picked by Agricola as the base from which to push deeper into Scotland and was designed to hold a legion; but troublesome Dacians drew resources elsewhere, ‘project Caledonia’ was cancelled, and the unfinished fort was abandoned. Strategic materials were either destroyed or buried on the spot, including over one million iron nails (many of which the excavator gave to museums or private individuals). Inchtuthil therefore has no overburden of later military or civil buildings and gives a rare glimpse into the architecture which accompanied the monumental machinery of conquest (and, in this case, its failure).

At Inchtuthil

On Monday, we travelled back to Oxford but not without taking the opportunity to pause at Hadrian’s Wall. Time was limited, but we were able to take in a few short sections, visit the rare temple of Mithras, the adjacent fort at Carrawborough, and, finally, Vindolanda. Here, we focused on the remarkable organic materials recovered from the site which range from the famous (the writing tablets) to the infamous (the only known Roman wooden toilet seat) to the intriguing (vast numbers of shoes, a sock, a wig, and much more). Tearing ourselves away, we eventually reached Oxford shortly before midnight, exhausted but enriched.

The Roman mile-post at Vindolanda

What did we learn? We read in ancient texts about the campaigns of dead famous individuals such as Agricola, Hadrian, or Septimius Severus, and we view images or maps of the archaeological traces of their activities; but there is no substitute to experiencing the reality of the landscape in which real people—whether emperors or paupers—lived and died, and to seeing or handling the everyday objects with which Romans and Britons were intimately familiar. Such autopsy foregrounds many questions which otherwise flit past in footnotes: what was it like, as a legionary, to trudge up and down the crests and dips of Dere Street towards the snow-capped mountains of Caledonia, or to keep watch in the tiny exposed fortlet at Kaims Castle amidst a population with, at best, ambivalence to Roman intrusion? How was a garrison of 5000 men at remote Trimontium supplied while Roman expansionist ambitions ebbed and flowed, and what circumstances led to its dramatic abandonment on more than one occasion, including partial demolition and the dumping of unwanted trinkets, animals and humans in pits? At Vindolanda, who were the ordinary men, women and children who wore those many shoes?

The group at Kaims Castle

Of the many highlights on our tour for me, personally, in addition to the sheer pleasure of sharing with others the Roman archaeology of the Borders and southern Scotland with which I have been familiar since boyhood, I would single out Kaims Castle and the thrill of stepping for the first time onto a pristinely preserved site which I had not visited before.

We are enormously grateful, first and foremost to the kind generosity of the alumni who made our study tour possible, and to the support of Keble College. We are also grateful to Dr Anna Blomley, who acted as tour manager and therefore allowed me to concentrate fully on driving us there and back in safety, and to Dr Jack Hanson, who joined us in Scotland and gave many valuable insights into the archaeological sites on our itinerary.

Peter Haarer
Lecturer in Ancient History
Director of Studies in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History

From the Participants:

A first-year

“I learnt a lot more than I would have done from lectures and tutorials alone. The experience has deepened my understanding of material for my course and, beyond that, informed my longer-term aims for a possible career in archaeology.”

A second-year:

“The study tour has put the history of Roman Britain into context. I could see how the northern frontier changed over time, as well as the operation of systems used by the wider Roman empire. Equally, my appreciation of the archaeology of sites and their impact on the landscape has improved through our exploration of the various earthworks, for example, by witnessing ongoing geophysical surveying at Trimontium and handling finds from at the museum. The guidance of our tutors throughout the trip was invaluable, as well as discussions with other students. I am very grateful for the donations which made this trip possible.”

A third-year:

“Some things are difficult to understand just by reading books: I had never realised the complexity of the Roman use of the landscape at the frontier, with roads, forts, walls, marching camps, signal towers and other types of site, each placed carefully and connected to each other to be as effective as possible. I gained an appreciation for both the scale and methods of Roman occupation and for the resilience of the resistance which they met. I’m hoping to use this understanding in my landscape archaeology final exam in Trinity. I wouldn’t have got this understanding if I had just visited the major sites and museums on my own: some of my favourite parts of the trip were driving around with the tutors pointing out all the subtle earthworks signifying sites all around the landscape. I also really enjoyed walking around the sites themselves, with our tutors as guides, imagining some of the sites not just as military residences or fortifications but complex settlements with different moving parts (including civilians in the settlements or nearby). I found Inchtuthil particularly impressive, especially how huge and complex the fort was, despite being built in only a couple of years—it was well worth the long drive. At the moment, I’m studying a general archaeology course but I’d like to come back to Oxford to study a Master’s degree in Classical Archaeology and look forward to learning more about Roman Britain. Another great aspect of the study tour was that it was a fantastic opportunity to meet with other archaeologists. Thanks very much to Drs Haarer, Blomley, and Hanson, Keble College, and our donors for this highly useful and enjoyable trip which we could not have taken part in any other way—it will be a useful and treasured memory.”

A first-year Graduate:

“I am currently studying Early Iron Age Greece, so my familiarity with Roman material culture and history is relatively lacking. However, this study tour thoroughly outlined features of Roman archaeology and activity that will be valuable for me to be familiar with as I progress in my academic career (encounters with Roman material during fieldwork in Greece are inevitable). Had I been able to participate in a similar trip when I was still an undergraduate, I would probably have been inspired to become a Romanist! Beyond the academic aspect, as an international student I welcomed the opportunity to explore the several different parts of the U.K. that we visited, and I feel that I now have a much richer appreciation for my new home. I am very grateful to those who funded this trip.”