A 15.2-ha Roman marching camp has been identified at the northern end of the Lune gorge where the Roman road northwards from Ribchester emerges into the Eden valley and the Cumbrian plain. The road runs here on an alignment that has not been determined before. The camp lies astride the road and faced east. The remains of the camp and the road are described and discussed.

Archaeological evidence has emerged over the last half century which helps shed light on the British expedition (a.d. 208–11) of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons, famously but meagrely reported by the historians Cassius Dio and Herodian. Excavation at the Severan supply-base at South Shields, full publication of excavations of the 1960s and 1970s at the fortress of Carpow on the Tay, and more recently at Cramond, and recent work on the indigenous societies encountered by the Romans, all offer new perspectives. The archaeological evidence is reviewed in conjunction with the historical. A critical assessment is made of: (1) the widespread belief that personal or political considerations brought Severus to Britain rather than actual need for military intervention; (2) recent claims that the fortress at Carpow was founded earlier under Commodus (a.d. 180s) and abandoned even before the Severan expedition; (3) the widespread assumption that Severus wished to occupy Scotland permanently and thus be the first conqueror of the whole of Britain; (4) the prevailing view that Carpow and Cramond were abandoned and that all Roman activity in Scotland ceased abruptly on Severus’ death in February 211, and that the campaigns brought about a period of peace in third-century Britain.

Roman military bases were once regarded as strictly male domains with the only women living there being the senior officers’ wives. This view was challenged by studies that used material culture to identify women in Roman forts and interpret the roles they played. The best of this work considers both the multiple identities expressed through objects and the complexities of depositional and recovery processes. The article presented here fits into this recent development, as it investigates the presence of women in the Augustan military base and the Flavio-Trajanic fortress on the Hunerberg in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, by examining the spatial distribution of brooches (fibulae) associated with women. The distribution of female brooches is compared to that of military (male) brooches in order to highlight and interpret any significant patterns. While numbers are small, the quality of the contextual information allows for the examination of depositional and recovery practices. The paper also raises wider questions about the possibility of ‘gendering’ brooches.

In 1964 Chester suffered one of its worst archaeological catastrophes when extensive and well-preserved elements of the intramural fortress thermae were exposed and then destroyed within the brief space of a few months in order to facilitate the construction of an underground service bay for a new shopping precinct. Although some archaeological examination of the site was conducted before redevelopment works commenced, this was restricted by circumstances to those areas free of standing buildings. This effectively limited investigations to the area beyond and to the east of the thermae, where barrack accommodation sufficient to house a cohort occupied the corner insula in the sinistrai half of the praetentura (FIG. 1). Over the remainder of this enormous site, no facility for formal excavation was given as construction work by the contractor was timed to begin immediately following demolition of existing buildings. Although, in the event, the contractor did re-arrange his programme of works on several occasions to allow some time for archaeological investigation, and intercession by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate won several weeks stay of execution for one part of the baths complex, most of the affected sections of the thermae were recorded merely in the form of observations made during mass mechanical excavation by the contractor.

The Roman auxiliary fort at Doncaster, the Danum of the Antonine Itinery, lies roughly half way between Lincoln and York (FIG. I). Over the past ten years, the centre of the modern town has been largely redeveloped and the Doncaster Museum, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, has carried out extensive rescue excavations. The rectangular fort, which could be denned from modern property boundaries, was defended by a stone wall, 2 m thick, which enclosed an area of c. 237 ha (5.85 acres); it was found to be of Antonine and later date. Beneath this and extending further to south and east, was a Flavian to Hadrianic fort, covering an area in excess of 2-6 ha (642 acres). Two phases were recognised in the earlier fort, separated by widespread evidence of burning. The charcoal and burnt daub of the fires, however, were concentrated into clearly defined bonfires, implying an orderly demolition. The constructiontrenches of the buildings of the second phase were dug through the remains of the bonfires in such a way as to show that reoccupation was immediate. From these construction-trenches three asses of Vespasian were recovered and an as of Domitian, minted in 86-87, was found in an associated clay floor; asses of 86-87 are the commonest first- or second-century coins from the site. The available evidence would seem to suggest that the fort was remodelled after a period of neglect perhaps while the main body of troops was fighting in Scotland under Agricola and the fort itself may have had a caretaker garrison. Historical and archaeological evidence combine to suggest a partial withdrawal from Scotland in or shortly after 87 (Hartley, 1972) and it is at this time that some lowland forts would again be required to house full garrisons. The fort at Doncaster, in common with others on the edge of the Highland Zone, was abandoned under Hadrian; the smaller stone-walled fort,situated in the north-west corner of its predecessor, is one of a Pennine and circum-Pennine group initially constructed in the late 150s or early 160s.

The two camps at Dullatur (FIG. 1), near Cumbernauld, lie on a north-facing slope, some 400 m south of the Antonine Wall, between Westerwood and Croy Hill. The excavation was undertaken in 1998 by Headland Archaeology in advance of the development of the site for housing. The work was conducted in accordance with the detailed specification prepared by the West of Scotland Archaeology Service (WoSAS) on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council. The area of the development comprised two zones: one coincident with the site of the two camps and a smaller area (not illustrated) to the north-west.

The survey of prehistoric and Roman monuments of Lanarkshire undertaken by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland during the preparation of the county Inventory naturally included a re-examination of the Antonine Wall between Kirkintilloch and the River Kelvin. Regrettably, as that survey recorded, the past fifty years have seen considerable erosion and destruction of this section of the Roman limes: for example, gravel-quarrying has destroyed the fort at Cadder, together with about 400 m of the Wall itself to the N of Wilderness Plantation, and elsewhere road-widening operations, pipe-laying, and the remorseless process of arable farming have worn down or encroached upon the fugitive traces of the Imperial frontier. In the case of large-scale disturbance, the opportunity has generally been taken to ascertain by excavation the nature of what was destined to be lost forever, but it was perhaps inevitable that, in the process, significant structural evidence should also have been removed unrecognized. Amongst the structures thus destroyed was the easternmost of the minor enclosures which are attached to the Wall to the north of Wilderness Plantation and which form the subject of this paper. It is not surprising, however, that neither it nor its companions were noticed earlier, for it must be many years, possibly centuries, since they were visible as upstanding earthworks, and their identification in modern times resulted from the inspection of aerial photographs, undertaken as part of the Inventory survey-programme.

The figures of Sarapis and the Tutela from Calleva, both of superhuman scale, were of a quality seldom met in Roman Britain. The head of Sarapis was found by J. B. P. Karslake in the garden of his house about 1 km from the walls, and without doubt had come from the ancient site on some remote occasion, when it was put to use as the weight in a cheese-press, an iron bar being let into the top of the head, perhaps in the very hole which had once taken a dowel to affix the vanished modius. The head measures some 32 cm from chin to crown of head; the beard of the chin, which would have parted in two luxuriant rolls to left and right, and the nose, have gone; and there is damage and abrasion elsewhere. The identification, however, is not in doubt, for the locks falling on to the forehead are an especial characteristic of portraits of Sarapis belonging to the Roman age. From what survives elsewhere, we can see that the artist cut well and deeply, and made great use of the drill. There are points of comparison with the splendid marble head from the Walbrook Mithraeum, and Professor Toynbee has gone so far as to describe our head as ‘very sensitively carved’ and the work of a ‘first-rate continental sculptor’ possibly of Mediterranean origin (PLS. XVII-XVIII).

Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the significance of the mosaic designs employed in Roman houses. Studies have concentrated on establishing the mythological sources of the images chosen, and on describing the social and architectural contexts within which such art was used. It has long been noted that some of the subjects preferred in fourth-century Britain suggest allegorical references to the hereafter, although it has also been observed that the ‘search for profound and coherent allegories may exaggerate the significance which the wealthy British patrons imparted to the floors of the great halls or dining-rooms of their villas’. Ling, in particular, has cautioned against reading exaggerated meanings into ambivalent images that may simply have been chosen to vaunt erudite taste.

As a result of recent road improvements, two examples of a hitherto unknown type of iron-working furnace have been found in Northamptonshire. These are at Laxton Lodge (SP068971) and Byfield (SP505515), at different ends of the county (FIG. I). Most Romano-British furnaces belong to the shaft type which has a maximum diameter of 0–5 m. The more recently found furnaces are between 1–1.4 m in internal diameter which means that the method of working them must have been quite different from the smaller shaft furnaces.

The following pages consider the stone torso of a seated quadruped which was found in a well on the axis of the Roman temple at Pagans Hill (the name is coincidental) in north Somerset, excavated in 1951 by Mr (now Professor) P.A. Rahtz. The sculpture is worked in a limestone of the Inferior Oolite now somewhat denatured, according to Professor D.T. Donovan, by the percolation of water during burial. It is probably of Doulting stone. The piece now consists of four conjoining fragments, 63 cm overall. No others were found in the well or the area of about 70 sq.m opened around its mouth (FIG. 1). What is left (PLS. VII-IXA. FIGS. 3–4) shows that the work had been competently and naturalistically rendered.

Geophysical survey at Llanfor, near Bala, revealed two temporary camps and a large wooden fort in exceptional detail. The camps are assumed to be evidence of an early Flavian invasion force. The fort, which contained a garrison that probably comprised a complete ala of auxiliary cavalry and a cohort of legionaries, is interpreted as a short-lived campaign base that existed during the transition between invasion and consolidated occupation. Parallels are drawn between Llanfor and similar forts in Britain and Germany.

Excavation at Alchester in 2003 revealed an almost complete tombstone of a veteran of the Second Augustan Legion. This provides the first known biography of any person living in pre-medieval Oxfordshire. He is arguably also the earliest legionary veteran attested in Britain. All other tombstones of legionary veterans in Britain come from the main base of their legion or a veterans' colony. Since there is nothing to suggest that Alchester ever became a colony, it must have been the main base of the legio II Augusta and thus Vespasian's base (a case supported by other indications, notably the fortress's foundation date of a.d. 43/44), unless it is the only known exception to the rule.

When the fifth edition of the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain was published in March 2001, the distributions of individual classes of site raised questions about the character of Roman Britain. In particular, apparent differences between the response to Rome of the peoples of the South and East and of those of the North and West of Britain were highlighted. These issues are discussed here in the context of the key monument class distributions depicted on the Map.

A large number of hoards of silver coins are known from late fourth-century Britain, and every year still more come to light. These hoards usually contain more or less the same sorts of coin and it may be helpful to give a summary of the main issues, as they are not presented very clearly in the standard reference book for the period, RIC IX.

The Roman villa at Brantingham in East Yorkshire was discovered in 1941, when two mosaic pavements were found in a stone quarry, the ‘Cockle Pits’ (SE 932287), on the west side of the main road (A63) from Hull to Leeds and a little over a mile north-north-west of Brough (Petuaria) (FIG. I). The pavements were first uncovered and recorded, and then protected and re-buried; but in 1948 it was decided to move them to the Hull Museum. This operation gave rise to one of the mysteries of Yorkshire archaeology, for one of the floors disappeared overnight and has never been recovered. The second pavement was successfully re-housed at Hull.