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Life of an ancient monument: Hadrian's Wall in history

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Richard Hingley ,
Robert Witcher  and
Claire Nesbitt
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Extract

The Romans are Britain's favourite invaders, and Hadrian's Wall is among the largest and finest of the relics they left behind on the island. However, as our authors urge, we should demand more intellectual depth from our monuments today. Not simply a cultural asset anchored in the Roman empire, Hadrian's Wall had a busy afterlife, a material history reflecting the uses, attitudes and emotions of later centuries. Its ‘biography’ not only captures new information about the last two millennia, it offers a story that the modern visitor deserves to hear.

Keywords

Britainfirst and second millennia ADRoman empiremedieval bordersHanoverianJacobitereconstructiondeconstructionmonumentalityheritage
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 333 , September 2012 , pp. 760 - 771
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012 

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