‘One of the difficulties facing the archaeologist when trying to use the evidence of ancient writers is to know when that writer (historian or otherwise) is relating fact, and when he is merely involved with “topoi” – the stock literary descriptions or situations inseparable from history as rhetoric’.

In defining this problem, J.C. Mann is thinking specifically about Tacitus' references to Britain. He presents a constructive warning to those who rely too confidently on literary sources, yet in one sense his statement is also misleading, for he elevates ‘fact’, regarding references that are ‘merely’ topoi as inferior, not to say deceptive. This distinction is indeed necessary when we are compiling information for a military or political history; but in the study of Roman Britain too little attention has been paid to the historical value of sources in their own right, as evidence for Roman culture and society rather than sources as such.

‘The problem of Claudius’ temple at Camulodunum is one of those hardy perennials where insufficient evidence makes a final solution in practice hardly possible; anyone laying the law down on the subject does so at his peril’.

Meagre archaeological data that add up to few hard facts, a sneer by Seneca on which a whole case has been built, obscure terminology in a solitary half-sentence of Tacitus – all the familiar knots in the problem are brought into play by C.J. Simpson in his recent reappraisal of the enigmatic temple. That there are enough loose ends to justify continuing debate is hardly in contention. Whether Simpson succeeds in demonstrating that a temple dedicated to the living emperor Claudius was already in existence at the colony by that emperor's death in A.D. 54 is another matter. A rejoinder provides in any event a welcome opportunity to consolidate a thesis that has been the focus of vigorous discussion for well over twenty years.

It is generally held that Hadrian's Wall was abandoned c. A.D. 140 in favour of a heavily garrisoned Antonine Wall, then reoccupied about A.D. 158 upon withdrawal of troops from Scotland and the Antonine Wall. Almost immediately troops returned to Scotland, though the northern garrison was thinner than before. This second, brief occupation of the Antonine Wall is now most often supposed to have ended at some date early in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian's Wall then being reoccupied.

Recent years have seen excavation at two points on the perimeter of the Roman temporary camp at Dunning. The first excavation, in spring 1988, adjacent to the known northern entrance to the camp, was conducted by Dr Lawrence Keppie of the Hunterian Museum, on behalf of Historic Scotland, in advance of pipe-laying by British Gas Scotland. In autumn 1992 excavation of the western entrance to the Roman camp was directed by Andrew Dunwell of the Centre for Field Archaeology, in advance of a housing development by A. & J. Stephen (Builders) Ltd of Perth. The projects were funded by Historic Scotland and A. & J. Stephen (Builders) Ltd respectively.

The excavations were sponsored by the then Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments (Wales) – now CADW: Welsh Historic Monuments – when permission was given to erect a new dwelling on land formerly occupied by an orchard attached to Alstone Cottage. The cottage dated from the seventeenth century and it was anticipated that no serious disturbance had occurred to the Roman deposits on the site since that date. The cottage grounds were known to overlie Barrack XII of the Prysg Field series, which flanked the western side of the via decumana. No previous excavation of the barrack had been undertaken. Thus the opportunity arose to check the validity of the conclusions arrived at by V.E. Nash-Williams, who had wholly or partly excavated ten of the twelve barracks in this area, as to the structural and occupation history of this quarter of the fortress. At the same time the opportunity was given to investigate the history of the via decumana itself.

This paper will present an analysis of one of the most common legionary fortress building types – the centurions' quarters, in an attempt to understand their usage and organisation, and the degree to which they were standardised. After looking briefly at centurions themselves, and especially their social backgrounds, to see what they might have expected of their houses, the paper will study the buildings' size and position within a fortress, and analyse their common features, internal structure, and the distribution of find types within them, in an attempt to identify different areas of use. Finally, an historical overview will be offered to show how the design of the buildings evolved over time, whilst comparisons with other structures will be used to see how they fit into the wider Roman building tradition.

What are the cultural grounds on which both natives and liberal Europeans lived and understood each other? How much could they grant each other? How, within the circle of imperial domination, could they deal with each other before radical change occurred?

Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (1993), 241

As recently remarked by Poulton and Scott, archaeological perspectives on Celtic deity are largely derived from the Romano-Celtic period, with studies employing ‘the evidence of epigraphy and iconography to reveal how particular Roman and Celtic gods were identified with each other’. This paper explores a specific form of post-Conquest epigraphy: name-pairing interpretatio.

The object of this paper is to examine the introduction of classical reception facilities into Romano-British houses. This will provide new interpretations of the functions of rooms in some Romano-British villas. It will also enable us to make some observations concerning the changing behaviour patterns of the British élite. It is hypothesised that by the late antique period reception facilities and associated social behaviour were as those found anywhere in the Roman Empire.

In Britannia iii I was able to give a very summary and outline picture of Roman coinfinds in Britain. A year later this picture was extended to France and Italy, and various similarities and differences were noted. At the same time John Casey was working particularly on military coin-finds, and he came independently to very similar conclusions. A framework had been established: there was a British pattern which was different from the continental pattern and all British sites, to a greater or lesser extent, lay within this pattern. The most obvious features, drawn out in diagram form in Britannia iii, included low coin-loss on every site from the Claudian conquest to A.D. 260, high coin-loss from 260 to 294, a dip from 294 to 330, a major peak from 330 to 348, and a general high level of coin-loss in the fourth century.

At present 200 procuratorial stamped tiles are known from Roman Britain, the vast majority from the City of London. A small number of other stamps are known from Westminster, Barking in Essex, Brockley Hill in Hertfordshire, and possibly Saunderton in Buckinghamshire. Eight procuratorial stamped mortaria have also been found in London. All the procuratorial stamped tiles found up to 1986, with two exceptions found too late for inclusion, are listed in RIB II. The considerable number of stamped tiles found in London after this date, almost all of them unpublished, are included in an appendix to this report.

Almost two decades ago, David Peacock documented for the first time on a systematic basis the presence of North African amphorae in Roman Britain. Since then, additional finds of similar material from recent excavations of Romano-British sites have greatly increased the initial number of examples listed by Peacock, bringing about a more complete picture of these imports.

Littleborough lies on the west bank of the river Trent between Newark and Gainsborough, at the point where the Roman road from Lincoln to Doncaster crossed the river. Finds of Roman material from the site are recorded from the sixteenth century onwards and Roman tile occurs built into the small Norman church. Epigraphic and literary evidence combine to identify the site with Segelocvm, the place name apparently referring to a pool with rapid current in the river. The present paper brings together a considerable amount of new evidence from aerial photographs by J.K. St Joseph and D.N. Riley and the results of excavations by W.B. Clark in 1954–56 and by J.S. Wade in 1968–70. The combined data suggest a substantial defended settlement lying to the north of the present road from Sturton-le-Steeple to the river bank.

This article is a speculative essay about one aspect of authority and power in the late Iron Age. Excellent narratives exist which discuss the political context of the rise of the polities of Verica and Cunobelin in the South East of Britain, but over the last few decades the place of druids in this story has been neglected. However druids did exist, and they need to be worked into our narratives of the past. What follows leads to a discussion of their nature and function in society, and of their decline in importance during the large-scale social changes which took place in the generations immediately preceding the Roman conquest. The article uses a mixture of ethnographic, historical, numismatic, and archaeological evidence.