This handbook to Scotland’s Roman frontier first appeared in print in 1960 as a wallet-sized guide to the remains produced by the late Professor Anne Robertson. This latest edition, the sixth, maintains her name on the cover but is very much the product of Professor Lawrence Keppie, adding a wealth of additional information gleaned from decades of studying, walking and excavating the remains.
The book maintains its pocket size, but this belies the volume of information contained within. Produced by the Glasgow Archaeological Society, it is the first edition since the Wall became inscribed as part of the international ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’ World Heritage Site in 2008, and includes the Antonine Wall brand on the cover: the Bridgeness Distance Slab cavalry figure logo.
The handbook is divided into two parts: the first contains an overview of the Wall and its component parts from its construction in the mid-second century ad to its abandonment a generation later. This section provides a concise introduction and summary of the key aspects of this frontier, geographically and chronologically close to its English neighbour, Hadrian’s Wall, but differing in a number of areas, not least its construction in turf, making the survival of some of the remains vulnerable to centuries of agricultural improvements and development. A short, well-illustrated section on the distance slabs highlights this remarkable collection of material (much of which is on display in the Hunterian, University of Glasgow).
The Wall is then described from east to west – it is in this section that much of the new information on the Wall comes to light. While many of the plans are familiar to seasoned Wall students, the colourful drawing of a cross-section of the well at Bar Hill brings the significance of those early twentieth-century discoveries to life; the select use not only of colour but of illustrations that bleed right to the edges of the page makes the volume attractive and maximises the amount of information, both visual and textual, that can be conveyed. Keppie has managed to obtain information and illustrations about sites that were still in post-excavation or pre-publication, such as Camelon (immediately north of the Wall but part of the frontier) and Bearsden (excavation published in 2016). Elsewhere, the provisional nature of some information is exemplified at Falkirk, where it is noted that the relationship between fort and Wall is unclear, despite what is indicated on the interim plan, but this provides a current summary. Finally, the bibliography provides an update of key sources of material.
New work on the Wall is mentioned: recent geophysical survey results and the recent acquisition of LiDAR, which has the potential to provide much new information. Indeed, the delivery of the World Heritage Management Plan will see exciting new digital media applications.
Marrying museum collections with the frontier remains, this is an indispensable guide to all who are interested in studying or visiting Rome’s north-western frontier.
