Housesteads Roman Fort The Grandest Station

Housesteads is one of the most important forts on Hadrian's Wall. Extensive excavations were carried out between 1874 and 1981 by Newcastle University. Combining the results with those of excavations done between 1959 and 1961 by Durham University, we now have a complete plan of the north-east part of the fort. These excavations uncovered principally Buildings XIII, XIV and XV, plus stretches of rampartbetween the north and east gates, along with a multitude of features and stratigraphic evidence, revealing not only the sequences but also large finds assemblages. In addition to shedding much light on the material culture of the fort's occupants and the structural and chronological relationships between various parts of the fort, limited reinvestigation of Building XIV and excavatin of the east end of Building XV enabled significant reinterpretation of the original conclusions reached by the Durham investigators, including some redating of structures. These excavations uncover the full 300-year period during which the fort formed an integal part of the Roman military frontier, for much if not all of that time the base of the cohors I Tungrorum milliaria peditat. This report documents the excavations and gives full finds reports, and the analysis of the evidence has enabled the authors to provide a full history of this part of the fort.

Solitary, beneath the wide Northumbrian sky and sprawled across the jagged rampart of the Whin Sill escarpment, the Roman fort at Housesteads represents the northern margin of an empire which once reached as far as the Caucasus and the Atlas Mountains. One of the 15 forts built on Hadrian's Wall, which was started in AD 122, it is situated about midway along the Wall's length. An infantry regiment about 800 strong - the First Cohort of Tungrians raised in eastern Belgium - garrisoned the fort for much of the period of Roman rule here. The visible remains - including the finest preserved latrines known from Roman Britain - reveal the changing needs of the garrison up to the early fifth century. Form then the fort seems to have been largely abandoned until the 16th century, when it was taken over by a lawless community on the Anglo-Scottish border.Renowned since the early 19th century as the 'Grandest Station' along the Wall, Housesteads has been the focus of archaeological research for almost 200 years. The inscriptions and scultpures scattered around the site attracted early antiquarian visitors. Excavations throughout the 19th century, and especially in 1989, provided one of the earliest examples of a complete plan of a Roman fort known anywhere in the Empire.

Built around AD122, Hadrian's Wall was guarded by the Roman army for over three centuries and has left an indelible mark on the landscape of northern Britain. It was a wonder of the ancient world and is a World Heritage Site. Written by a leading archaeologist who has excavated widely on the Wall, this is an authoritative yet accessible treatment of the archaeological evidence. The book explains why the expansion of the Roman empire ground to a halt in remote northern Britain, how the Wall came to be built and the purpose it was intended to serve. It is not a guidebook to the remains, but an introduction to the Wall and the soldiers and civilians, men, women and children, who once peopled the abandoned ruins visited by tourists today. Contents include: Historical background to the Wall; How the Wall was built and its appearance on completion; The history of the Wall from Hadrian to the end of Roman Britain; The purpose of the Wall. This introduction to Hadrian's Wall, the most impressive and famous physical reminder of Britain's Roman past, will be of great interest to all students and keen amateurs of Roman history, archaeology and general history, and is profusely illustrated throughout with 60 colour and 30 black & white photographs and 10 Maps.

This massive three volume set publishes the proceedings of the 2006 Limes conference which was held in Leon, a total of 138 contributions. Naturally these cover a vast range of topics related to Roman military archaeology and the Roman frontiers. The archaeology of the Roman military in Spain, and contributions by Spanish scholars are prominent, whilst other themes include the internal frontiers, the end of the frontiers and the barbarians in the empire, the fortified town in the late Roman period, soldiers on the move and the early development of frontiers . Further sessions had a regional focus. Majority of essays in English, some in Spanish, German and Italian

Environment and Society in the Long Late Antiquity brings together scientific, archaeological and historical evidence on the interplay of social change and environmental phenomena at the end of Antiquity and the dawn of the Middle Ages, ca. 300-800 AD.

This collection of papers, arising from the Late Antique Archaeology conference series, explores war and warfare in Late Antiquity. Papers examine strategy and intelligence, weaponry, literary sources and topography, the West Roman Empire, the East Roman Empire, the Balkans, civil war and Italy.