Uncovering Roman Carlisle: Where worlds met and Gladiators of Britain at Tullie, Carlisle
Two new exhibitions shed vivid light on different aspects of life within the most northerly Roman town on Hadrian’s Wall. Carly Hilts visited to learn more.
Hadrian's Wall
Section of Hadrian’s Wall discovered at Drumburgh
Excavations at Drumburgh, 10 miles (16km) from Carlisle, have unearthed a section of Hadrian’s Wall – the best-preserved part of the frontier fortification to be revealed west of the city. At the instigation of the landowners, who wanted to learn…
Fit for an emperor? Excavating a monumental building in Roman Carlisle
Excavations at Carlisle Cricket Club are uncovering the remains of the largest Roman building ever found on Hadrian’s Wall. Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Frank Giecco to find out more.
CA 409 Letters – March
Your thoughts on issues raised by CA.
A Cult Centre on Rome’s North-West Frontier: excavations at Maryport, Cumbria 1870-2015
Maryport is home to one of the largest and most-impressive collections of Roman altars in the world, with the role of religion at the site debated by academics and archaeologists over many years. Deliberately buried in pits, the altars –…
Commemorating Hadrian’s Wall: searching for signs of a 2nd-century celebration
This year marks the 1,900th anniversary of the visit of the emperor Hadrian to Britain where, according to his biographer writing more than 200 years after the event, ‘he put many things to right and was the first to build a wall 80 miles long to separate the Romans and the barbarians’. In 2022, the anniversary is being marked by events across Britain – but was there a ceremony in AD 122 to mark the building of Hadrian’s Wall? David Breeze, Christof Flügel, Erik Graafstal, and Andreas Thiel explore the possibilities.
This week: Elusive Sculptures
Very often, the stories we tell about archaeology are of objects being dug up, excavated, or otherwise unearthed. Sometimes, however, little actual digging is required, because the object being searched for has been there all along – right in front of the eye, hiding in plain sight, just waiting to be discovered.
Artistic obscurity: analysing Britain’s most elusive Roman sculptures
Research in the hinterland of Hadrian’s Wall has revealed remarkable examples of Romano-British artistry hidden in plain sight. Ian Haynes and Lindsay Allason-Jones explore some of the key examples identified by the Elusive Sculptures project, and how these carvings have evaded archaeological attention in the past.
‘Disappearing’ Hadrian’s Wall ditch marked in Cumbria
The ditch was not recorded on English Heritage’s 2010 Hadrian’s Wall map and was thus in danger of fading from written records.
Birdoswald: exploring a Roman town on Hadrian’s Wall
Birdoswald is one of the most-excavated Roman forts on Hadrian’s Wall, but the area beyond the fort walls has been investigated in much less detail. Following the launch of a new four-year project to explore its remains, Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts visited the excavation to hear the latest news from Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott.
Community spirit: Hadrian’s Wall, Cumbria
For Historic England, Hadrian’s Wall has always been a site needing active research – many questions about the frontier remain unanswered, and only by the kind of refreshed understanding that research brings, and by addressing the interests and concerns of the public, can the frontier remain relevant.
Roman writing on the Wall: recording inscriptions at a Hadrian’s Wall quarry
In the depths of a Cumbrian wood, intrepid archaeologists have been abseiling down the wall of a Roman quarry to document eroding inscriptions left by 3rd-century soldiers tasked with harvesting the sandstone to help repair Hadrian’s Wall. Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Jon Allison and Mike Collins to find out more.