Recent investigations centred on Burnswark, an imposing hillfort near Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, have revealed the presence of more than 130 previously unknown settlements that were inhabited by indigenous communities during the Roman occupation of Britain.
The northern extent of conquered territories was initially marked by Hadrian’s Wall, which was built c.AD 122 (see CA 388 for more about its date and the possible motivations behind its construction). These fortifications run 73 miles coast- to-coast, from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to just beyond Bowness fort on the Solway Firth in the west. Around AD 142, though, the border was pushed about 100 miles to the north, establishing a new frontier in Scotland that ran c.37 miles from modern Bo’ness on the Firth of Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the River Clyde. It was marked by the Antonine Wall. Rome never managed to establish full control over Scotland, however, and was only able to maintain their extended position for a short period, withdrawing back to Hadrian’s Wall c.AD 162.
What was life like for the people who lived within this fluctuating militarised area? Written sources for the period are scarce, and indigenous voices even more so, but archaeological remains can provide glimpses of contact and confrontation taking place between peoples. With notable exceptions (see box opposite), studies of the Roman frontier zone have tended to focus on the infrastructure of occupation – not just the monumental fortifications of Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall, but the roads, temporary camps, and forts that were built to help secure imperial control of the area. Now, though, a wide-ranging project is working to tell the other side of the story, refocusing attention on the experiences of those who had settled these lands long before the legions arrived, and on the evidence of the places where they lived.
Tales from ‘the Bone Room’