Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:27:02.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Design of the Antonine Wall

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2020

W.S. Hanson
W.S. Hanson*
Affiliation:
Archaeology, School of Humanities, University of Glasgowwilliam.hanson@glasgow.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper assesses the alternative models currently proposed for the original design of the Antonine Wall. It argues that there is sufficient evidence of a pattern in the structural relationships between the Wall and its various garrison posts to confirm that there was a major change of plan during the construction process. This resulted in the addition of a series of secondary forts, several of which can now be shown to have replaced primary fortlets, and a concomitant delay in the construction programme. An explanation is offered for this rapid change of design, which resulted in one of the most intensively garrisoned linear frontiers in the Roman Empire.

Keywords

Antonine WallRoman frontier designprimary and secondary fortsspacing of fortsfortlets
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 51 , November 2020 , pp. 203 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © The Author, 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bailey, G.B. 2010: ‘An early Antonine fort at Mumrills’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 140, 93–103Google Scholar
Bailey, G.B. forthcoming: The Antonine Wall in the Falkirk District: Excavation and Observation 1991–2017, FalkirkGoogle Scholar
Bailey, G.B., and Cannel, J. 1996: ‘Excavations at Kinneil fortlet on the Antonine Wall, 1980–1’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 126, 303–46Google Scholar
Bogdan Cătăniciu, I. 1997: Muntenia în sistemul defensive al imperiului Roman sec. I–III p. Chr., AlexandriaGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 2006: The Antonine Wall, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 2016: Bearsden: A Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J., and Dobson, B. 2000: Hadrian's Wall (4th edn), LondonGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J., and Hanson, W.S. (eds) 2020: The Antonine Wall: Papers in Honour of Professor Lawrence Keppie, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J., Jones, R.H., and Oltean, I.A. (eds) 2015: Understanding Roman Frontiers: A Celebration for Professor Bill Hanson, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, M., Christison, D., and Anderson, J. 1905: ‘Report on the Society's excavation of Rough Castle on the Antonine vallum’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 39 (1904–05), 442–99Google Scholar
Christison, D., Buchanan, M., and Anderson, J. 1903: ‘ Excavation of Castlecary fort on the Antonine vallum’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 37 (1902–03), 271–346Google Scholar
Clarke, J. 1933: The Roman Fort at Cadder, GlasgowGoogle Scholar
Dunwell, A., and Ralston, I. 1995: ‘Excavations at Inveravon on the Antonine Wall, 1991’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 125, 521–76Google Scholar
Gillam, J.P. 1975: ‘Possible changes in plan in the course of the construction of the Antonine Wall’, Scottish Archaeological Forum 7, 51–6Google Scholar
Graafstal, E.P. 2012: ‘Hadrian's haste: a priority programme for the Wall’, Archaeologia Aeliana 41 (5th series), 123–84Google Scholar
Graafstal, E. 2020: ‘Wing-walls and waterworks: on the planning and purpose of the Antonine Wall’, in Breeze and Hanson 2020, 142–85Google Scholar
Graafstal, E., Breeze, D.J., Jones, R.H., and Symonds, M.F.A. 2015: ‘Sacred cows in the landscape: rethinking the planning of the Antonine Wall’, in Breeze et al. 2015, 54–69Google Scholar
Hannon, N., Wilson, L., and Rohl, D.J. 2020: ‘Planning the Antonine Wall: an archaeometric reassessment of installation spacing’, in Breeze and Hanson 2020, 67–85Google Scholar
Hanson, W.S. 1977: ‘Corbridge and Croy Hill: recent work on Agricola's third and fourth campaigns’, in Fitz, J. (ed), Limes: Akten des XI Internationalen Limeskongresses, Budapest, 1–12Google Scholar
Hanson, W.S. forthcoming: Excavations outside the Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall at Croy Hill, 1975–78, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Hanson, W.S., and Jones, R.E. 2020: ‘The Roman fort and fortlet at Castlehill on the Antonine Wall: the geophysical, LiDAR and early map evidence’, in Breeze and Hanson 2020, 218–32Google Scholar
Hanson, W.S., and Keppie, L.J.F. 1978: ‘Recent discoveries on the Antonine Wall’, Current Archaeology 62, 91–4Google Scholar
Hanson, W.S., and Maxwell, G.S. 1986: The Antonine Wall: Rome's North-West Frontier (revised edn), EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Hanson, W.S., and Oltean, I.A. 2012: ‘The “Valu lui Traian”: a Roman frontier rehabilitated’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 25, 297–31810.1017/S1047759400001227CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, F. (ed.) 2005: ‘Roman Britain in 2004 I. Sites explored 2: Scotland’, Britannia 36, 393–402Google Scholar
Hunter, F. 2007: ‘Artefacts, regions and identities in the northern British Iron Age’, in Haselgrove, C. and Moore, T. (eds), The Later Iron Age in Britain and Beyond, Oxford, 286–96Google Scholar
Hunter, F. (ed.) 2019: ‘Roman Britain in 2018 I. Sites explored 2: Scotland’, Britannia 50, 412–1510.1017/S0068113X19000369CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, R.E. 2016: Geophysical Survey of the Roman Fort at Golden Hill, Duntocher: Progress Report 2016, unpub. report, University of Glasgow (Archaeology)Google Scholar
Jones, R.E., and Leslie, A. 2015: ‘The contribution of geophysical surveys to the understanding of Roman frontiers’, in Breeze et al. 2015, 312–27Google Scholar
Jones, R.E., Leslie, A., and Johnson, P. 2006: ‘Recent geophysical surveys at Roman forts in central Scotland’, in Jones, R.E. and Sharpe, L. (eds), Going over Old Ground: Perspectives on Archaeological Geophysical and Geochemical Survey in Scotland, BAR British Series 416, Oxford, 8–28Google Scholar
Jones, R.E., Leslie, A., Nelson, C., and Malcolm, J. 2008: Auchendavy Roman Fort and Environs: Geophysical Survey, unpub. report, University of Glasgow (Archaeology)Google Scholar
Jones, R.H. 2005: ‘Temporary camps on the Antonine Wall’, in Z. Visy (ed.), Limes XIX: Proceedings of the XIXth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Pecs, 551–60Google Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F. 1974: ‘The building of the Antonine Wall: archaeological and epigraphic evidence’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 105 (1973–74): 151–65Google Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F. 1979: Roman Distance Slabs from the Antonine Wall: A Brief Guide, GlasgowGoogle Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F. 1980: ‘The Roman fort(s) on Castlehill, Bearsden’, Glasgow Archaeological Journal 7, 80–410.3366/gas.1980.7.7.80CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F. 1985: ‘Excavations at the Roman fort on Bar Hill, 1978–82’, Glasgow Archaeological Journal 12, 49–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F. (ed.) 1996: ‘Roman Britain in 1995 I. Sites explored 2: Scotland’, Britannia 27, 396–405Google Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F. 2004: ‘A Roman bath-house at Duntocher on the Antonine Wall’, Britannia 35, 179–224CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keppie, L.J.F., Bailey, G.B., Dunwell, A.J., McBrien, J.H., and Speller, K. 1995: ‘Some excavations on the line of the Antonine Wall, 1985–93’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 125, 601–72Google Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F., and Breeze, D.J. 1981: ‘Some excavations on the line of the Antonine Wall, 1957–80’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 111, 229–47Google Scholar
Keppie, L.J.F., and Walker, J.J. 1981: ‘Fortlets on the Antonine Wall at Seabegs Wood, Kinneil and Cleddans’, Britannia 12, 143–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, G. 1932: ‘Notes on the Roman forts at Old Kilpatrick and Croy Hill, and on a relief of Jupiter Dolichenus’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 66 (1931–32), 219–76Google Scholar
Macdonald, G. 1933: ‘Notes on the Roman forts at Rough Castle and Westerwood, with a postscript’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 67 (1932–33), 243–96Google Scholar
Macdonald, G. 1934: The Roman Wall in Scotland, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, G., and Curle, A.O. 1929: ‘The Roman fort at Mumrills, near Falkirk’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 63 (1928–29), 396–575Google Scholar
Macdonald, G., and Park, A. 1906: The Roman Forts on the Bar Hill, GlasgowGoogle Scholar
Macinnes, L. 1984: ‘Brochs and the Roman occupation of Scotland’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 114, 235–49Google Scholar
Macinnes, L. 2018: Review of MacKie 2016, Scottish Archaeological Journal 40, 120–210.3366/saj.2018.0099CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 2016: Brochs and the Empire: The Impact of Rome on Iron Age Scotland as Seen in the Leckie Broch Excavations, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Mann, J.C., and Breeze, D.J. 1987: ‘Ptolemy, Tacitus and the tribes of north Britain’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 117, 85–91Google Scholar
Miller, S.N. 1922: The Roman Fort at Balmuildy, GlasgowGoogle Scholar
Poulter, J. 2009: Surveying Roman Military Landscapes across Northern Britain: The Planning of Dere Street, Hadrian's Wall and the Vallum, and the Antonine Wall in Scotland, BAR British Series 492, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Rankov, N.B. 2015: ‘Some observations on the proposed Roman date for the Valu lui Traian’, in Breeze et al. 2015, 70–81Google Scholar
Rivet, A.L.F., and Smith, C. 1979: The Place-Names of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A.S. 1957: An Antonine Fort, Golden Hill, Duntocher, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A.S. 1959: ‘Recent work on the Antonine Wall’, Glasgow Archaeological Journal 1, 37–4210.3366/gas.1969.1.1.37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A.S. 1960: The Antonine Wall: A Handbook to the Roman Wall between Forth and Clyde and a Guide to its Surviving Remains, GlasgowGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A.S. 2015: The Antonine Wall: A Handbook to Scotland's Roman Frontier (6th edn, rev. and ed. by Keppie, L.), GlasgowGoogle Scholar
St Joseph, J.K.S. 1951: ‘Air reconnaissance of north Britain’, Journal of Roman Studies 41, 52–6510.2307/298099CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steer, K.A. 1957: ‘The nature and purpose of the expansions on the Antonine Wall’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 90 (1956–57), 161–9Google Scholar
Steer, K.A. 1961: ‘Excavations at Mumrills Roman fort, 1958–60’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 94 (1960–61), 86–132Google Scholar
Swan, V.G. 1999 ‘The twentieth legion and the history of the Antonine Wall reconsidered’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 129, 399–480Google Scholar
Symonds, M. 2018: Protecting the Empire: Fortlets, Frontiers and the Quest for Post-Conquest Security, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Thiel, A. 2009: ‘The Oldenwald limes and its relation to the Antonine Wall’, in W.S. Hanson (ed), The Army and Frontiers of Rome: Papers Offered to David Breeze on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday and his Retirement from Historic Scotland, Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 74, Portsmouth, RI, 134–41Google Scholar
Tipping, R., and Tisdall, E. 2005: ‘The landscape context of the Antonine Wall: a review of the literature’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 135, 443–70Google Scholar
Wilkes, J.J. 1974: ‘The Antonine Wall fortlet at Wilderness Plantation, Lanarkshire’, Glasgow Archaeological Journal 3, 51–6510.3366/gas.1974.3.3.51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolliscroft, D.J. 1996: ‘Signalling and the design of the Antonine Wall’, Britannia 27, 153–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar