Abstracts

David J Breeze: Introduction to the conference

Roman Scotland in the late first century was a dynamic area subject to great upheaval. Roman armies pushed northwards, meeting and overcoming strong opposition. A legion was brought north to be based at Inchtuthil on the River Tay and forts, fortlets and towers were constructed in eastern Scotland north of the Forth. Yet, 3 or 4 seasons after the Roman’s victory at Mons Graupius, all was abandoned and the army retreated to the area of the Cheviots. Today’s archaeologists are presented with a series of problems. These include the interpretation of the Roman literary sources, including Tacitus’ hagiographical account of the life of his father, the governor Agricola, as well as the difficulty of dating so many sites within a short period and relating the various phases to our current versions of the events. Such interpretations have to be undertaken within a general Roman imperial context, but without specific knowledge of Roman intentions. In short, we are trying to reconstruct a jigsaw with many pieces missing and no idea of the overall picture which we are seeking to create. Do the known forts reflect a Roman intention to hold a line at the Highlands, or are they springboards for an advance up the glens? Do the Gask Ridge towers and fortlets form a frontier, or merely help to enforce control over a particular area? Traditional views have recently been challenged and the purpose of this conference is to review the literary and archaeological evidence for the Romans in Scotland, testing existing theories and offering new interpretations.

Pete Wilson: Pushing North? The Humber frontier and the expansion into Yorkshire reconsidered:

The historical framework within which the Roman conquest of Yorkshire is understood is largely derived from Tacitus, but even the much-cited foundation of York in AD 71 is no more than a ‘best guess’. There is some evidence that the Roman military occupation of East Yorkshire could start somewhat earlier and this paper will explore that material and the implications that could flow from it. The results of recent fieldwork will be reviewed against the traditional interpretative background and the evidence for the conventional dating of the Humber ‘frontier’ of circa AD 47-71 will be considered.

David Shotter: When did the Romans invade Scotland?

In the last quarter-century, long-accepted ideas on the Roman conquest of northern Britain have changed considerably; no longer are the statements and implications to be found in Tacitus’ Life of Agricola accepted without question. Although the most dramatic revisions have come through the dendrochronological input into the dating of Roman Carlisle, this ‘new dating’ has provided us with an opportunity to revise our understanding of the contribution that can be made to such discussions through the numismatic evidence. In its turn, this allows us to look again at sites in Scotland to see whether any of them can confirm the statement, made by the Elder Pliny, and the implication of the poet, Statius, that Roman armies were operating north of the Forth as early as the governorship of Marcus Vettius Bolanus (AD 69-71).

Rebecca Jones: Chasing the Army: the problems of dating temporary camps

Since the first recognition of Roman marching camps by antiquarians, attempts have been made to fit these into neat chronological frameworks proposed by the literary sources. The expansion of our knowledge of the remains through aerial survey has led to further refinements. However, a reassessment of the data suggests that such absolute pronouncements on the dating of sites cannot always be supported from the archaeological evidence, whether gathered from the air or through excavations. This paper will discuss some of the issues of the dating of camps in Scotland, focusing on those traditionally attributed to the campaigns of Agricola.

Birgitta Hoffman: Cardean – The changing face of a Flavian fort in Scotland

Following the excavations in 1967-75 and further work in 2001 it is now possible to present an overall picture of the Roman fort at Cardean. The most important realization is that it had two phases of occupation. These can be recognised in most of the internal structures as well as in the defences. The finds, however, make it very clear that both phases belong to the Flavian period. This paper will review the evidence as well as discuss the possible reason for the unexpected occupation history.

David Woolliscroft: 79AD and all that: when did the Romans reach Perthshire?

Excavations by the Roman Gask Project and others over the last decade have found multiple re-builds at a number of 1st century Roman sites to the north of the Forth and Clyde. This suggests a longer occupation that we had expected, and a mix of finds evidence and ancient literary references may provide hints that the occupation began before the time of the famous Governor Agricola, who has always been believed to be the first Roman general to operate in Scotland.

Gordon Maxwell: Agricola and sons: text and transformation

The marriage between the written record and archaeology which ushers Scotland into the pages of history has for some time been seen as a union between two increasingly ill-matched partners. This paper explores the preliminary stages of the marriage-guidance process by re-examining firstly the richly-detailed dowry of Tacitus’ account of Rome’s earliest invasion and conquest of North Britain; it considers the useful information to be gleaned from apparently minor details of this text and ponders the authorial motives lying behind the literary form. Secondly, the paper examines the character of the archaeological evidence, particularly that relating to structures, and enquires how far it has been modified, not only by the processes of data-collection, but also by the susceptibilities of the collectors; it further explores the degree of transformation the evidence should be expected to undergo before winning general acceptance, and closes with an attempt to chart the future trajectory of the two disciplines’ conjugal relationship.

Prof W. Hanson: The fort at Elginhaugh and its implications for Agricola's role in the conquest of Scotland

In recent years there has been an increasing tendency to downplay the role of Gnaeus Julius Agricola in the conquest of the Scotland and an attempt to attribute that process to the governorship of one of his predecessors, Petillius Cerealis. This proposed re-assessment is based on the identification of more than one phase of activity recorded at a number of military installations, even as far north as Cardean in Perthshire, and on assumptions about the chronological significance of early Flavian artefacts (notably coins, pottery and glass) from a number of these sites. This paper seeks to challenge the assumptions which underpin this re-assessment, drawing on detailed evidence from the extensively excavated and closely dated Flavian auxiliary fort at Elginhaugh, Midlothian.