The Roman army tried to conquer Scotland three times. Our cover feature examines the experiences of soldiers in the frontier zone, the civilian communities that grew up around their forts, and the local people who called these lands home.
In the centuries immediately after Roman occupation ended in Britain, the early medieval church helped to shape a new cultural and political landscape. The monastery of Lios Mòr in the Inner Hebrides is mentioned in historical sources as an influential religious centre, but little archaeological evidence had been found to pin down its location – until now. Our second article reports on tantalising traces uncovered by a community-led excavation.
From buried clues to sunken secrets, we then dive beneath the waters of Devon’s Salcombe Bay to learn how dogged research has revealed the identity of a shipwreck first discovered more than 30 years ago, and what this work has revealed about its unusual cargo, life on board a 17th-century ship, and far-reaching trade connections.
Returning to the subject of the Roman invasion, our fourth feature offers a springboard to discuss these famous events from a thought-provoking new perspective. Archaeological and genetic research has shed intriguing light on the status of women in Iron Age Britain, and Roman writers attest to the existence of two female rulers, Boudica and Cartimandua. Here, Miles Russell makes the case for adding a third name to the list, and we consider what this reinterpretation might add to our understanding of the political context and power dynamics surrounding the conquest.
Our final article takes a wider view of the past, exploring the landscape of the Trent Valley and the ways in which it and the activities of its inhabitants have evolved and intertwined throughout prehistory.
In this issue:
FEATURES
ROMAN SCOTLAND
Life on the edge of Empire
Rome made repeated attempts to conquer Scotland. What impact did these campaigns have on the people who already lived within the landscape that the Roman army marched into, and what were the experiences of the men, women, and children who inhabited newly founded frontier communities?
LIOS MÒR: LOST NO MORE?
Rediscovering a major monastery of medieval Scotland
Once a powerful religious centre, the early medieval monastery of Lios Mòr on the island of Lismore had vanished from view, known only from written sources and local tradition. Now a community-led archaeology project has uncovered tantalising traces that could bring its location to light once more.
THE REMARKABLE CARGO OF THE DOM VAN KEULEN
Examining the fate of a 17th-century Dutch merchant ship
Once thought to represent the remains of a Barbary pirate ship, a 17th-century wreck off the Devon coast has been reidentified as a Dutch merchant vessel. What can artefacts from the site tell us about life on board and the trade networks of the period?
VERICA REX
Searching for a ‘lost’ queen of the British Iron Age
Miles Russell makes the case for adding a third name to our list of female rulers in Iron Age Britain, alongside Boudica and Cartimandua. Revisiting the famous events of AD 43, we consider what such a reinterpretation would add to our understanding of the power dynamics surrounding the Roman Conquest
TALES FROM THE TRENT VALLEY
Exploring an evolving landscape through prehistory
From the end of the last Ice Age to the eve of the Roman Conquest, the Trent Valley has undergone a dramatic transformation. An exhibition running at the University of Nottingham Museum traces how the people who settled there shaped (and were shaped by) the landscape over millennia.
LETTERS
Your comments, complaints, and compliments
NEWS
Woodstown Viking settlement reveals more secrets; Assembly Rooms renovation expands Roman Bath; Recycled Roman sarcophagus reinvestigated at Westminster Abbey; Early medieval jewellery workshop at Govan Old; Anglo-Saxon hall uncovered near Gloucester; Science Notes; Revealing Rossett Roman villa; Finds Tray
NEWS FOCUS
Potted history: recreating a Roman kiln at Stanwick Lakes
COMMENT
Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive, revisiting the discovery of Richard III’s remains
CONTEXT
Rings a bell: Orford Ness, Suffolk
REVIEWS
The Celtic World: a history; Sketching Sherds: a comic handbook for pottery drawing and typology; Ancient Places: archaeology and history on the N5 Westport to Turlough road project, Co. Mayo; The Wreck of the London: archaeological investigations of a 17th-century warship; Documenting Activism, Creating Change: archaeology and the legacy of #MeToo; Pagans
EXHIBITION
Korea at the British Museum, London
EXHIBITION
Aphrodite: the making of a goddess at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
MUSEUM NEWS
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions
LISTINGS
Our selection of exhibitions and events, as well as historical, archaeological, and cultural resources online
SHERDS
Chris Catling discusses maligned embroiderers and ideas of how best to fund heritage
ODD SOCS
The Nautical Archaeology Society
