THE ORIENTATION OF ROMAN CAMPS AND FORTS

Summary.   The angles of orientation of 67 Roman camps were determined from their published plans. There was a marked tendency for them to be aligned close to the cardinal points but they were offset from those points by only 28 of a possible 45 angles and of these six occurred in 29 camps, probably because they were set out by making right-angled triangles whose non-hypotenuse sides were in whole number ratios. Twenty-seven forts on the British frontier walls were similarly orientated by only 12 angles, one of which occurred six times. The apparent accuracy of the layouts suggested that the directions of the meridian and latitude were first carefully determined. The use of a limited number of offset angles was probably due to a religious regard for celestial geometry.     

ON THE ORIENTATION OF ROMAN TOWNS IN ITALY

Summary.   Several Roman writers report on the existence of a town foundation ritual, inherited from the Etruscans, which allegedly included astronomical references. However, the possible existence of astronomical orientations in the layout of Roman towns has never been considered in a systematic way. As a first step in this direction, the orientation of 38 Roman towns in Italy is studied here. Non-random orientation patterns emerge from these data, calling for further research in this field.     

Space and Manpower in Roman Camps

Summary.   Certain aspects of space and manpower use in Roman camps were investigated using a previously published spreadsheet model. Over half the camp area was not needed for the men's tents and this was probably enough to cope with patches of unsuitable ground within the rampart. The relationship between the camp area and perimeter was such that the bigger the camp, the relatively fewer men were needed to make and defend it. Small camps, which required relatively greater effort from the men, could be made quickly. Data from the Polybian and Hyginian models suggested that the basic determinant of camp design and numerical structure of the army lay in the requirement for a man to labour upon and defend no more than five feet of perimeter. Compared with the Polybian model, the Hyginian model greatly reduced the area and perimeter length for any given force, thus enabling the army to adopt a more aggressive posture.     

Notice of New Publications

The Roman earthworks at Burnswark, Dumfries and Galloway, have long been the subject of different interpretations. Were the Roman camps on either side of the hill-fort erected as part of a siege or as a training ground for the Roman army? This paper reviews the evidence, quoting extensively from the excavation reports and surveys of the site in the hope that one interpretation might predominate.     

SOLDIER, CIVILIAN AND MILITARY BRICK PRODUCTION

Summary.   Occasional claims have been made that some of the names on Roman military brick stamps could be those of civilian entrepreneurs tiling for the Roman army, most recently in the case of a stamp of Legio XX Valeria Victrix from Tarbock (Liverpool). This paper analyses these claims and investigates the evidence for interaction between the Roman army and civilians in brick production. The texts of the stamps and the archaeological context of the bricks and literary sources, which give information about the role of the army and civilian bodies in Roman provincial building, are taken into consideration.     

FIXED-POINT RETAIL LOCATION IN THE MAJOR TOWNS OF ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary.   Although it has not generally been recognized, tabernae (shops and workshops) were an important part of the process of urbanization and the urban form of the towns of Roman Britain. The objective of this paper is to examine the location of fixed-point retailing establishments within the urban landscape. Workshops (also known as officinae ) and retail activity probably constitute the largest and perhaps one of the most distinct aspects of any urban settlement. Based upon the discussion presented below, this paper will seek to show that there were important contests for retail space in the major settlements of Roman Britain. This paper also considers some of the factors that influence retail location to show that the towns of Roman Britain were complex socio-economic environments.     

ROMANO-BRITISH PEOPLE AND THE LANGUAGE OF SOCIOLOGY

Summary.   Despite the vast amount of work and the huge database for Roman Britain, the people of the province remain very difficult to discern. There are many reasons for this, but one is that we have not yet learned to look behind the disjecta membra of archaeology in order to understand the structure and nature of society, and how the Roman Conquest may have impacted upon it. The language of sociology offers scope for thought, especially when combined with examples drawn from historically documented societies in later periods. Whilst models drawn from the classical world are important, attention also needs to be focused on the local, and on the factors that determined the shape of people's lives and influenced their daily activities. Not all these are archaeologically detectable; nevertheless an appreciation of their existence is an important pre-requisite in attempting explanations of patterns in the data.     

Camps and forts of units and formations of the Roman army

A previously outlined paradigm for laying out Roman camps was used to fit particular auxiliary units to certain small camps. A spreadsheet for estimating the numbers of cavalry and infantry within camps is described and illustrated by reference to the putative camps of a two-legion army group, a one-legion group and two subdivisions of a legionary army group. The same paradigm with different constants applied to forts and legionary fortresses with, on average, the intervallum 1/16th of the sq. root of the area it enclosed in the fort and 1/32nd in the fortress. In the forts of both auxiliary units and legionary vexillations, each notional cohort (480 infantry or 240 cavalry) was almost certainly intended to have eight actus quadrati (a.q.) within the intervallum. This allowed the forts later to contain larger auxiliary units. Dividing a fort's acreage by 3.25 indicates the number of notional cohorts for which it was probably first made. The vexillation fort at Longthorpe was probably intended for half a legion and the reduced fort built for two auxiliary units. In legionary fortresses each notional cohort had 12 a.q. The paradigm applied to the Heidenheim fort suggested that an ala milliaria comprised 24 turmae of 42 men. The fortress at York was probably first built as a legionary fort.     

The Numerical Basis of Roman Camps

Roman camps are based on rectangles with sides in whole number ratios and their areas are proportional to the size of the force encamped. The data given by Polybius and Hyginus suggests the area was surveyed in actus and indicates that it was calculated by simply adding up the space required by each unit from a standard allocation and then increasing that sum by a certain factor to allow for roads and other quarters. This gave the area within the intervallum , which was then added to define the inner face of the rampart. The paradigm can be simplified to the rule that two actus quadrati were allowed per cohort, with a turma counting as 1/8th cohort. The intervallum width was 1/8th the sq. root of the area it enclosed. Permanent forts also seem to have been laid out with the actus of the unit of measurement. The paradigm enabled use of a computer spreadsheet to investigate the possible composition of the forces associated with particular camps. This suggested that in the Mons Graupius campaign Agricola had two legions and built the 63-acre camps in NE Scotland.     

FORM AND FUNCTION: THE EXPERIMENTAL USE OF ROMAN SAMIAN WARE CUPS

Summary.   Wear-patterns inside Roman samian ware vessels provide a clue as to how the pots were used. The wear repeatedly seen in the cups, Dragendorff 27 and Dragendorff 33, is particularly distinctive. This paper reports the results of using reproduction cups to replicate the patterns in order to discover how these may have been formed. The results suggest that Dragendorff 27 was used in the kitchen as a mortar, while Dragendorff 33 was a wine-drinking vessel. Evidence from historical sources and graffiti supports this view, and suggests that the inhabitants of Roman Britain were conversant with Roman ways of cooking and dining.     

On Ancient Chinese Vases

Abstract

Historic and place-name evidence suggests that a Roman road ran along the south-west flank of the Pennines from North Staffordshire to the Tame valley on the Lancashire–Yorkshire border. Place-names also suggest a series of camps or fort sites along the route. The hypothesis is supported by the context of a find of a coin of Augustus and by the probable remains of a camp rampart on Werneth Low at the entrance to Longdendale. It is proposed that the road was constructed for the pacification of Brigantia and afterwards was of little importance other than as a boundary which gave rise to the ‘lyme’ place-name elements found along the south-west Pennine edge.     

ROMAN AMPHORA TRADE ACROSS THE STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR: AN ANCIENT ‘ANTI‐ECONOMIC PRACTICE’?

Summary.   Olive oil and fish products from the south of Hispania and North Africa played an important role in the Roman economy. The authors call attention to the asymmetrical distribution of archaeological data available on this subject, in particular the location of amphora kilns, and try to give an explanation, based on the evolution of European archaeology in the twentieth century.     

'ROMAN' OR 'NATIVE' BODIES IN BRITAIN: THE EVIDENCE OF LATE ROMAN NAIL-CLEANER STRAP-ENDS

Summary.   This paper reviews late Roman 'nail-cleaner strap-ends', a group of objects first discussed by Hawkes and Dunning (1961 ). The precise function of these objects is unclear as their shape suggests use as toilet instruments but the split socket suggests that they were part of belt-fittings. We suggest a detailed typology and discuss the dating evidence and the spatial distribution of the type. Regardless of their precise function, it is argued in this paper that nail-cleaner strap-ends of this type are unique to late Roman Britain and thus represent a distinct regional type. The use of nail-cleaner strap-ends can be viewed in the context of gender associations, military status and religious beliefs.     

POTTED HISTORIES – CREMATION, CERAMICS AND SOCIAL MEMORY IN EARLY ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary.   Archaeologists have identified the adoption of new forms of cremation ritual during the early Roman period in south-east Britain. Cremation may have been widely used by communities in the Iron Age, but the distinctive nature of these new rites was their frequent placing of the dead within, and associated with, ceramic vessels. This paper suggests an interpretation for the social meaning of these cremation burial rites that involved the burial of ashes with and within pots as a means of commemoration. In this light, the link between cremation and pottery in early Roman Britain can be seen as a means of promoting the selective remembering and forgetting of the dead.     

A THOUSAND AND ONE COLUMNS: OBSERVATIONS ON THE ROMAN GRANITE TRADE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA

Summary.   Provenancing and archaeological information on Roman granite columns in the Mediterranean area has been collated from a range of published papers by the author and others, together with new analyses for Rome, to produce an integrated dataset comprising 1176 columns. This dataset allows an overview of Roman granite trade in seven regions across the Mediterranean area. Examination of the data indicates that columns made from Troad (Turkish) granite are the most numerous observed overall (compatible with Lazzarini's earlier (2004) observation that this is the most widely distributed type), followed by Aswan, then Elba and Giglio, and Kozak Dağ ( Marmor Misium ). In the city of Rome, Mons Claudianus columns predominate. In geographically peripheral parts of the Roman world (Spain, Israel), granite columns are mainly from local sources, and are generally of smaller sizes than those seen in Rome and Tuscany. Analytical data can be used to suggest multiple extraction sites within some quarries, and have the potential for identification of specific intra-quarry provenance. Dating evidence for primary use of columns from the quarries considered is relatively sparse, but suggests early (first century BC) exploitation of Spanish and Elba granites, while column production at Aswan and Troad persisted into the fourth century followed by reuse within later antiquity, in the fifth and seventh centuries AD.     

BARBARIAN PIRACY AND THE SAXON SHORE: A REAPPRAISAL

Summary.   The tradition of Saxon and other Continental piracy is one of the longest standing tenets of Romano-British studies. It may also be one of its greatest myths, which owes more to its considerable antiquarian pedigree than to any firm basis in fact. This paper reassesses Roman military strategy around the British coast, and suggests that the 'Saxon Shore Forts' and other coastal installations played a more significant economic and logistical role than is often appreciated. Moreover, the idea that each monument fulfilled a single, dedicated function is argued to be too simplistic: instead it is proposed that individual forts served in various capacities during their operational lifetime, and quite possibly not those for which they were originally conceived.     

SOCIAL DYNAMICS ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER OF ROMAN BRITAIN

Summary.   Despite much work on the frontier of Roman Britain, major questions concerned with society and settlement archaeology remain underinvestigated. Salient details of two major urban sites, Carlisle and Corbridge, both of which may shed further light on processes of settlement growth and decline, and which may ultimately contribute to a greater understanding of how the frontier worked, are summarized. At Carlisle, and probably also at Corbridge, settlement growth associated with forts was rapid and multi-tracked, but from the later second century AD changes took place associated, perhaps, with enhanced status and a growing sense of community.