The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 138 • W.S.Hanson
country are less well understood and thus the archaeological evidence for the early stages of the
conquest is rather weaker.
Major and typical data types
Understanding of the Roman conquest and occupation of Britain is based on several different
sources of evidence. Britain figured in the writings of Classical authors on those occasions when
it entered the wider imperial stage, though rarely at any length or in any detail. Such evidence is at
its fullest in the first century AD, mainly through the writings of the historian Tacitus. Occasional
references in the surviving books of his Histories and Annals, which in their complete state were
intended to cover the period from AD 14 to 96, are augmented by the biography of his father-inlaw,
Agricola, whose primary claim to fame was his conquest of north Britain. There is little
literary evidence to elucidate the second-century history, but slightly more when the Province
again features directly in the power politics of the early third century, particularly with the
campaigns of Septimius Severus in Scotland, reference to which survives in the accounts of the
Greek historians Dio Cassius and
Herodian. Finally, for a brief period
in the later fourth century there is
the excellent, detailed account of
Ammianus Marcellinus. An exciting
and on-going addition to the literary
evidence for the military aspects of
the Province derives from the
archaeological discovery of writing
tablets, the most extensive collection
of which comes from the fort of
Vindolanda (Chersterholm) and
includes elements of the fort’s
administrative archive as well as
copies of private letters (Bowman
1994).
The Romans, and particularly the
Roman army, were in the habit of
commemorating events or making
religious dedicatory inscriptions in
monumental form, often in stone.
Many of these inscriptions have
survived, though not always in their
complete state, and provide a
valuable source of information on
various matters (Collingwood and
Wright 1965; Keppie 1991). Military
building inscriptions can provide
accurate dates for the initial
construction or rebuilding of forts
and frontiers. Religious altars can
provide evidence of the range of
Figure 8.1 Tombstone of Tadius Exuperatus, Caerleon.
Source: by permission of the National Museum of Wales
cults to which the troops subscribed,
and indicate something of the