This paper assesses the effects which the building of Hadrian's Wall had on the patterns of supply and communication from the continent. Existing systems were strengthened rather than altered, and Hadrian's reign saw the full development of ports and military installations on the North Sea and Channel coasts. Navigation to Britain and sailing conditions on various routes are discussed, comparing their importance in the transport of wine, oil, exotic plants and samian ware and the movement of military personnel. Use of the Rhône–Rhine axis is emphasised for the movement of goods from Central Gaul and the Mediterranean, but other rivers in western and north-western Gaul were of some importance, as the details of samian distribution demonstrate. Finally, non-state organisation of the acquisition and distribution of commodities supplied to the army on Hadrian's Wall is strongly favoured.

This paper argues that material culture should be brought even more to the forefront in post-colonial archaeology. At present, post-colonial analyses start from a baseline of pinned-down, delineated things as processed through artefact analysis, to proceed to interpretations of how these things were used in fluid, multidirectional, ambivalent social and cultural interactions. But what if things themselves can be fluid rather than bounded? Can we look into the various ways in which things were defined in the past, and the various relations they enabled? Such a change of perspective can also help redress the imbalance within post-colonial studies between, on the one hand, consumption as the field in which meaning is negotiated and, on the other hand, production as offering merely a template for the inscription of that meaning. A case study of so-called pre-sigillata production in southern Gaul articulates the benefit to be gained from considering these issues.

The traditional explanation for the presence of Roman artefacts beyond the Roman Empire's frontiers is that these were objects of trade, but this view has been modified in two studies published around the same time. Although they both referred to areas north of the Rhine, each was based on different theoretical premises and presented a different explanation for the presence of Roman artefacts in these areas. One study, based on the concept of world systems theory, concluded that there were uninterrupted and mutually beneficial trade relations across the frontier. The other study was based on a linear culture-historical approach, and it concluded that there were no trade relations between the Empire and the ‘barbarians’, but that Roman artefacts were the result of specific historical events of brief duration. The present article analyses these apparently conflicting outcomes. It focuses on Roman artefacts from the Netherlands, specifically those from the modern province of Friesland, about 150 km north of the Rhine/the Limes.