k steer, roman scotland

Roman ScotlandAuthor(s): Kenneth SteerSource: The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 33, No. 116, Part 2 (Oct., 1954), pp. 115-128Published by: Edinburgh University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25526263 .

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Roman Scotland

IN 1937 the Glasgow Archaeological Society, on the initiative

of Mr. J. M. Davidson, appointed a Committee to organize

a systematic investigation, by means of surveys and excavations,

of Roman roads and forts in south-west Scotland. This bold

and imaginative project was in the best traditions of the Glasgow

Society, which, like its sister society in Dumfries, has so often

taken the lead in the exploration of Roman remains within its

territory; and there can be no doubt that the moment was

opportune for an enterprise of the kind. For the concentration

of resources on the Antonine Wall during the previous twenty years had inevitably retarded field research in other parts of

Roman Scotland; and nowhere was the situation more unsatis

factory than in the south-west, where, apart from excavations at

Birrens and Burnswark, and the discovery of a temporary camp at Little Clyde, scarcely any progress had been made since the

publication of Roy's classic folio.1 Indeed, in some respects the

position had deteriorated, for a number of authentic Roman roads

and fortifications in the area, whose true character had been

recognized by Roy, or divined by less gifted antiquarian topo

graphers, had fallen victim to the pervasive scepticism of the late

nineteenth century, and had either been summarily rejected or

set aside. Thus a systematic re-examination of both known and

putative Roman sites in the south-west was long overdue, and

the Society was exceptionally fortunate in having at its command

not only an experienced team of field-workers, but also a scholar

of the calibre of the late Mr. S. N. Miller, to whom the task of

co-ordinating and editing the various reports was entrusted.

Moreover, in 1938 unexpected assistance was obtained from

another quarter when it was learned that Dr. J. K. St. Joseph was

engaged on a similar survey to that projected by the Society, in

preparation for the revised (third) edition of the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain. By a happy arrangement it was agreed

that Dr. St. Joseph's detailed reports should be incorporated in

1 The Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain (London, 1793).



n6 Kenneth Steer

the Society's volume, and in return the Society undertook to

defray the cost of trial trenches on selected sites. The scheme thus started under the most favourable auspices,

but even so the results obtained in the first three years exceeded all expectations. Discerning ground-observation brought to

light new permanent forts at

Bothwellhaugh, Loudoun Hill and

Crawford; two small earthworks, at Milton and Durisdeer, were

excavated and proved to be Roman road posts (fortlets) of a type

already known at Chew Green and Kaims Castle; and many miles of Roman roads were

patiently retrieved from the limbo of lost

reputations into which they had been consigned. Nor was this

all, for in June, 1939, Dr. O. G. S. Crawford carried out the first air reconnaissance of Roman sites in Scotland. Any doubts that

air-photography, as an aid to archaeological research, would lose

its effectiveness on transfer from the chalk Downs to the grimmer scenery of the Highland zone were at once set at rest. For

although the subsoil conditions pertaining in the Highland zone are, in general, less favourable to the preservation of crop

markings in arable than are those in the south of England, there is ample compensation in the fact that the moorlands and old

grasslands of Scotland still enshrine hundreds of ancient monu

ments whose remains, though visible on the ground, have not been recorded for lack of intensive field-work. In these circumstances, the aeroplane obviously has an invaluable role to play as a spotter, and the point was

firmly driven hoipe by Dr. Crawford's foray which produced, amongst other things,

a second fort at Birrens; a fortlet at Redshaw Burn, in Annandale; a signal-station near the Beef Tub; a temporary camp at Galloberry, in Nithsdale; and a fort at Cardean, in Strathmore. A brief account of the results

of this epoch-making flight was given at the time,2 but, as in the case of Dr. St. Joseph's researches, detailed publication of the new material in the south-west was reserved for the Glasgow

Society's report. Then the war intervened, not only to interrupt the investigation but also to suspend the publication of what had

already been ascertained; and owing to various misfortunes after

the war it was not until the end of 1952 that the book emerged from the press.3

2 Antiquity, xiii (1939), 280-92.

3 The Roman Occupation of South-We stern Scotland, being reports of excavations

and surveys carried out under the auspices of the Glasgow Archaeological Society

by John Clarke, J. M. Davidson, Anne S. Robertson, J. K. St. Joseph, edited for the

Society with a historical survey by S. N. Miller. Pp. xx, 246 ; figs. 12, plates



Roman Scotland 117 As was to be expected, the book is a storehouse of information,

reflecting the greatest credit upon its contributors, and will

become a standard reference-work for students of Roman Scot

land. The first section, which is devoted to a detailed description of the roads from Carlisle to the Forth, to Nithsdale, from the

Tweed to the Clyde, from mid-Clydesdale towards the Ayrshire coast, and from Castledykes to the Forth-Clyde isthmus, is

admirably done. The accounts are lucidly written, and the

skilful insertion of strip-maps, derived from the Ordnance Survey 6-inch sheets, makes them easy to follow on the ground. It is no exaggeration to say that this contribution has revolutionized our knowledge of the Roman road system in Scotland; and even

though the system that emerges in the south-west is manifestly

incomplete as it stands, numerous possible routes are indicated

for further study, and much sound, practical advice is given on

how to distinguish between Roman and later metalled roads.

Only one minor criticism may be offered, namely that it is most

unlikely that the blue clay lining observed in the side-ditches of the road from Castledykes to Collielaw (p. 71) was deliberately laid to render them watertight: watertight drainage-ditches would

defeat their own purpose, and many instances are known where

similar blue clay has developed from natural causes, being due

either to leaching or to the anaerobic conditions induced by

waterlogging.4 The second of the three main sections which compose the

book deals with the forts, fortlets and temporary camps in the

area, and principally with those which were excavated or trenched

in the course of the survey. Here, again, a considerable amount

of fresh material has been made available, but the section is to

some extent weakened by the fact that it takes hardly any note of

discoveries made since 1940, and by a lack of balance in the

treatment of the sites concerned. For example, the account of

the unfinished excavations at Castledykes, which occupies no less

than forty-four pages and fourteen plates, seems to be unduly elaborate for an interim report. On the other hand, it is dis

appointing to find that the (presumably) final reports on the fortlets at Milton and Durisdeer are merely illustrated in each

case by a ground plan (rampart-sections, and a photograph of

lxvi. Glasgow: University Press, 1952. (Obtainable from the Joint Hon.

Secretary, Glasgow Archaeological Society, 2 Ailsa Drive, Glasgow, S. 2.

45s.). 4 Cf. M. J. O'Kelly, Cork Historical and Archaeological Society Journal, lvi

(1951), 29-44.



118 Kenneth Steer

Durisdeer?one of the most photogenic Roman sites in Britain?

might surely have been included), and that neither plans nor

photographs are

provided for a number of new discoveries such as the signal-station on White Type, whose position is only

vaguely indicated on the map (PI. viii d), and the fortlet at

Barburgh Mill. A more serious defect, however, is the inade

quate publication of the pottery from these excavations. For

although large quantities of Antonine coarse pottery were found at Bothwellhaugh, Milton, Durisdeer and Castledykes, some of it

in sealed deposits, only a few representative pieces, all from

Castledykes, are illustrated, and in no instance is the precise

find-spot given. Yet if the stratified sherds had been fully published,

so that comparison could be made with the closely datable Antonine wares from Corbridge, the history not only of

the sites in question, but of Antonine Scotland as a whole, might be less obscure than it is at present.

In the concluding section Mr. Miller selects the significant features from the mass of evidence that has been presented in the

previous pages, and draws them together to form a comprehen

sive picture of the Roman occupation of south-west Scotland.

Those familiar with Miller's published work?notably his reports on the excavations at York, Balmuildy and Old Kilpatrick; his

survey of the Roman Empire in the first three centuries in Eyre's

European Civilization; and the chapter which he contributed to

the latest volume of the Cambridge Ancient History?will need no

assurance that the present essay is a masterly exposition of both

fact and deduction, in which breadth of judgment is balanced with

meticulous attention to detail. It is true that discoveries made

since 1948, when this section of the book was evidently com

pleted, have invalidated a few of Miller's conclusions, while some

of his speculations on

problems still unsolved will not command

the support of all scholars. Nevertheless, the core of the work

remains sound, and, in company with his other writings, con

stitutes a worthy memorial to an accomplished scholar and teacher

whose untimely death was a grievous loss to Roman studies.

Since 1948, however, great strides have been made in our

knowledge of Roman Scotland elsewhere than in the south

west. In the hands of Dr. St. Joseph, the air camera has added

large numbers of new sites to the map, as well as revealing much

fresh information about known sites; while study of the National

Survey air-photographs has also produced several major dis

coveries. Professor Richmond has reported on his excavations



Roman Scotland 119 at Newstead and Cappuck, and has begun

a systematic examina

tion of the legionary fortress at Inchtuthil; and Dr. Crawford has

published his Rhind Lectures on The Topography of Roman Scotland, North of the Antonine Wall. All this work has had a

bearing, directly or indirectly, on the problems of the south

west, and it seems fitting therefore that comment on Miller's

survey should take the form of an assessment of the present

position of research on Roman Scotland as a whole. Owing to

considerations of space, only a broad treatment can be attempted,

and the mere recital of ascertained facts, and of unsolved problems, will leave no

margin for adequate discussion of current contro

versies.

The Flavian Occupation

Although recent discoveries at Milton, in Annandale, suggest that Roman troops may have penetrated into that district in the

governorship of Petillius Cerialis (a.d. 71-4), or one of his

immediate predecessors, the first chapter in the Roman occupa tion of Scotland opens in a.d. 80 when, after two years prelim

inary campaigning, Agricola's armies invaded the Lowlands.

One of the most important results obtained during the period under review has been the confirmation of Roy's hypothesis that

the armies concerned in this invasion did not operate as a single

column, but advanced along two major routes.5 The Agricolan date of the Scottish section of Dere Street, the great eastern

highway from York to the Forth, was established long ago, and a similar early origin for the western trunk road, running from

Carlisle through Annandale into upper Clydesdale, has now been

demonstrated by discoveries at Birrens and Milton. Moreover, the Glasgow Society's survey has shown that the latter road did

not link the Firths of Solway and Clyde, as had previously been

supposed, but that it turned north-eastwards on crossing the

watershed into Clydesdale, and ran along the southern slopes of the Pentlands to converge on Dere Street in the neighbourhood of Inveresk. Thus the initial strategy of the invading forces is seen to have taken the form of a pincer-movement which was

evidently designed to envelop the Selgovae, dwelling in the

tangled foothills of the central massif, and to isolate them from

the other Lowland tribes?the Votadini of Northumberland,

5 See accompanying map. The writer is indebted to the Society for the Promo

tion of Roman Studies for permission to adapt this map from the one which app2ared

in vol. xli of the Society's Journal.



WKr?^r%!\. '

*^^^^^^^^^^^^P|

R0MAN SITES IN SCOTLAND I

HSw^ *^*a^^fc?//^ /^ V KA? HOUSE C3 /^llllli^ I]



122 Kenneth Steer

Lothian and the Merse; the Damnonii of Clydesdale and Ayr shire; and the Novantae of Nithsdale and Galloway. From

Inveresk, which was presumably one of the principal supply

bases for the expedition, forward elements moved across the

Forth and succeeded in reaching the Tay before the end of the summer. The rapidity with which the Lowlands were overrun6

was doubtless made possible by lack of unity, if not bitter hostility, between the tribes concerned, for whereas the later history of the

Votadini and the Damnonii implies that both were long-standing allies of Rome, and Roman goods were reaching the Votadinian

hill-town on Traprain Law in the Flavian period, the distribution

of Roman garrisons tells a very different story of the Selgovae and

Novantae.

The next season, Tacitus tells us, was devoted to consolidation

of the ground already gained. To this end, a temporary frontier,

consisting of a chain of stockaded posts whose remains have been

found at Bar Hill, Mumrills and elsewhere, was set up on the

Forth-Clyde isthmus, while behind the frontier the process of

cordoning off the Selgovae by means of a network of roads and

forts proceeded apace. It is probable that to this year should be

assigned the construction of the Agricolan forts at Newstead and

Cappuck on Dere Street, at Birrens and Milton on the Annandale

road, at Oakwood in the valley of the Ettrick Water, at Inveresk

and Cramond on the Forth, and at Lyne, Castledykes and Loudoun

Hill on the important lateral road that ran from Newstead by way of the Tweed and middle Clyde to reach the west coast some

where in the neighbourhood of Irvine. Nor does this list by any means exhaust the possibilities, for a minor route of penetration

in this phase, leading up Eskdale from Netherby, may be repre sented by the fort at Broomholm, near Langholm, where early aurei have been found, and by the earlier of the two superimposed forts at Raeburnfoot; while nothing is known as yet of the dis

position of the Agricolan garrisons on the Annandale road

between Milton and Inveresk. In the following year (a.d. 82)

Agricola carried out an exploration of the left flank, amongst

tribes hitherto unknown, and stationed troops in an area facing 6 It is significant that neither of the two groups of Roman siege-works known in

Scotland can be connected with Agricola's campaigns. Excavation has shown that

the earthworks which invest the native fort on Woden Law, Roxburghshire, were

built by troops engaged in peacetime manoeuvres. And, despite Miller's remarks

(footnote p. 209), the two siege-camps on Burnswark?which may equally well be

practice camps?must be referred to a later period, assuming that they are contem

porary, since the south camp incorporates a fortlet of Antonine type in its circuit.



Roman Scotland 123 Ireland. The scene of this action has been the subject of much

controversy in the past, but there can now be no doubt that it lay in Galloway or south Ayrshire, and not in Argyllshire or Kintyre as some commentators have supposed. For recent air-photograph discoveries include a

large fort at Dalswinton, in Nithsdale, which

is presumably of Flavian date since it is less than three miles

distant from the Antonine fort at Carzield; a fort at Glenlochar,

subsequently proved by excavation to have been founded under

Agricola and reoccupied in the Antonine period; and a small

fort, as yet undated, as far west as Gatehouse of Fleet.

Having thus established a firm grip on the Lowlands, and

secured his land communications, Agricola, in his two final

campaigns, led his armies across the Forth, and, warding off

sporadic counter-attacks, eventually compelled the Caledonians to fight

a pitched battle at Mons Graupius where the superior

discipline and tactics of the Roman troops carried the day. With

the crossing of the Forth the terrain was no longer suitable for

the broad pincer-movements which had proved so successful

hitherto, and a single line of advance was perforce adopted leading

to Strathmore by way of Stirling, Strathallan and Strathearn.

The route taken is signposted as far north as

Meigle by the

permanent forts at Camelon, Ardoch, Strageath, Bertha and

Cardean, all of which are known, or presumed, to be Agricolan

foundations; but none of the temporary camps that prolong the

line of Roman penetration northwards in a wide arc from the

North Esk to the Moray Firth has been dated, and it is possible that some, at least, of these camps were constructed in the course

of the Severan campaigns in the early third century. Nor has the

site of Mons Graupius been identified, although there is general agreement with Macdonald's opinion that it lay north of Strath

more. Recent research has, however, thrown a good deal of new

light on the measures taken by Agricola to consolidate his victory. The excavations at present in progress on the great camp at

Inchtuthil, near Meikleour, have already substantiated Colling wood's theory7 that the remains are those of a

legionary fortress

erected in a.d. 83-4 to serve as a base for the permanent occupa tion of Strathmore; while the forts at Callander, Dalginross,

Fendoch, and perhaps Steed Stalls, fall into place as elements in a

strategic cordon designed to protect the vulnerable left flank of

the terra limitanea by sealing off the Highland passes. And since 7

Collingwood and Myres, Roman Britain and the English Settlements, second ed.

(Oxford, 1937), 119.



124 Kenneth Steer

this system must have been largely dependent for its success on

the transport of supplies and reinforcements by sea, it can be

confidently assumed that the fort of Carpow, on the south bank

of the Tay estuary, was established at this time to guard a

natural harbour. Beyond Cardean at least one more permanent fort may be presumed, at the terminus of the road which has been

traced intermittently as far as Kirriemuir, but it is clear that

Agricola's policy was to blockade, and not to annex, the High lands.

That Tacitus' famous phrase ' perdomita Britannia et statim

omissa '

cannot be taken to mean that Agricola's conquests were

immediately surrendered on his recall, was convincingly demon

strated by Macdonald over thirty years ago.8 But it is now

apparent that the transfer of Legio II Adiutrix from Britain to

Pannonia in a.d. 85 or 86 necessitated a reorganization of the

northern defences which involved the evacuation of the legionary fortress at Inchtuthil and the auxiliary fort at Fendoch, and the

consolidation of forts further south.9 The Agricolan forts at Newstead and Milton were now

completely rebuilt, the former on an exceptionally massive scale, while alterations designed to

strengthen the existing defences were undertaken at Oakwood,

Cappuck and elsewhere. This second phase in the Flavian

occupation of Scotland only lasted, however, until about a.d.

ioo,10 when, with the possible exception of the garrisons in

lower Annandale, a general withdrawal took place to the Tyne

Solway line. This withdrawal was presumably connected with

the preparations for Trajan's Dacian wars of a.d. 101-6, but

evidence from Newstead and Oakwood shows that in the south

east it was carried out hurriedly and in the face of strong enemy

pressure. At Milton, on the other hand, the second Flavian fort was peacefully dismantled, and is thought to have been immedi

ately succeeded by a fortlet.

The Antonine Occupation

During the next forty years, trouble in the Lowlands, which

may have been due in part to the infiltration of alien elements

8 Journal of Roman Studies, ix (1919),

n 1-38. 9 Analogies from the German frontier suggest that the chain of wooden watch

towers on the Gask ridge, between Strageath and Bertha, may represent a frontier

line. If so, the Domitianic reorganization would seem to provide the most suitable

occasion for the creation of such a frontier. 10 For the date, which has been the subject of lively disputation in the past, cf.

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, lxxxiv (1949-50), 26.



Roman Scotland 125 from the north-east and from Ireland, provoked

a Roman punitive campaign on more than one occasion, and eventually the situation became so serious that between a.d. 139 and 142 the region was

once again absorbed into the Roman province. Hadrian's Wall was now

partly dismantled and a new frontier-wall was con

structed on the Forth-Clyde isthmus. North of the isthmus the

road to Strathmore was reopened at least as far as Ardoch, and in

the Lowlands the Agricolan system of roads and forts was largely restored,1 and even extended in some areas. On general grounds it seems likely that the British dediticii who were conscripted into the Roman army about this time, and dispatched to the

German frontier,2 were drawn from the reconquered districts, and two pieces of evidence suggest that the Selgovae may have

been the chief victims. In the first place, the native settlements

and homesteads of second- and third-century date, which are such a striking feature of the Votadinian landscape, are notably absent

from the territory of the Selgovae. And secondly, the fact that

the site of the Flavian fort at Oakwood was not reoccupied in

this period, and that Milton and Raeburnfoot were now tenanted

only by patrol units ensconced in fortlets, implies a relaxation of

the former cordon control in the Ettrick Forest region. Never

theless the overall strength and deployment of the Antonine

garrisons in the Lowlands, concerning which a great deal has

been learned in the last fifteen years, makes it impossible to believe

that the deportation of the native tribesmen was on anything like

the scale envisaged by Collingwood.3 For the auxiliary forts at

Lyne, Inveresk, Cramond, Castledykes, Loudoun Hill and

Glenlochar were rebuilt; new forts were established at Bothwell

haugh and Carzield; and the lines of communication, especially in Annandale and Nithsdale, were further protected by fortlets

ranging from one fifth of an acre to one acre in extent. Recent

research has also furnished supplementary reasons for rejecting

Collingwood's low estimate of the tactical and strategical value

of the Antonine Wall.4 For the gap which was formerly believed to have existed on the left flank of the Wall has now been closed

1 Miller's suggestion (pp. 221?6) that Nithsdale was not originally included in

the Antonine scheme of occupation does violence to the pottery evidence from

Carzield {Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and

Antiquarian Society, 3rd Series, xxiv, i-n), and in any case is no longer tenable

now that Glenlochar is known to have been held throughout the Antonine period. 2 Germ ant a, vi (1922), 31-7.

3 Op. cit., 146-7.

4 Op. cit., 140-4, and Journal of Roman Studies, xxvi (1936), 80-6. For the

opposite view, cf. Richmond's observations in the latter volume, 190?4.



126 Kenneth Steer

by the discovery of an Antonine fort overlooking the site of Dumbuck ford at Whitemoss, near

Bishopton, and of a survivor

(Lurg Moor) of the chain of fortlets and signal-posts that evidently prolonged the defensive system at least as far as the mouth of the

Clyde estuary. Similarly, the rediscovery of the long-lost fort at Carriden on the Forth, which has yielded Antonine pottery, shows that corresponding precautions were taken on the right flank to prevent the Wall from being turned by sea-borne land

ings.5 The Antonine frontier organization thus bears all the hall-marks of a permanent arrangement, and can no

longer be written off as a

temporary expedient which was only intended to last

' until the pacification of the Lowlands had stood the test

of time \6 On the Wall itself, where comparatively little work has been done since 1937, the most interesting discovery is that the fort at Duntocher was preceded by a fortlet also of Antonine date. This discovery is obviously of considerable importance for the structural history of the limes, but its implications have still to be worked out.

In spite of the progress made in the knowledge of the anatomy of the Antonine occupation of Scotland, the history of the period remains obscure at many vital points. The chief difficulty is that whereas two periods of occupation have been found in all the

Antonine forts so far examined between the two Walls (with the doubtful exception of Carzield), the Antonine Wall forts exhibit three periods; and it is not clear why there should be this difference between the Antonine Wall and its hinterland, or how the successive periods are to be correlated with the evidence from Hadrian's Wall and fitted into the framework of known events. Assuming that the two periods observed in the Lowland forts are to be equated with the first two periods on the Antonine

Wall, the most plausible explanation of the break in the occupa tion would seem to be that the entire Roman forces were

hurriedly withdrawn from Scotland in a.d. 155 to deal with the revolt of

the Brigantes in that year.7 For the renewed advance into

Scotland had only been achieved at the cost of stripping the

garrisons from Brigantian territory, and it is known that Birrens was destroyed

at this time and was rebuilt in a.d. 158 as soon

5 The supposed Roman watch-tower at Inchgarvie (R.C.A.M. Inventory, Midlothian and West Lothian, no.

332) should be remembered in this connection. 6

Collingwood, op. cit., 148. 7 This explanation was first propounded by Collingwood, Journal of Roman

Studies, xxvi (1936), 86.



Roman Scotland 127 as the insurrection had been crushed. On the other hand, a case can be made out for supposing that, Birrens excepted, the first

Antonine period continued until a.d. 163 when the threat of a

further rising brought Calpurnius Agricola to Britain, and

Hadrian's Wall was once more put into commission.8 Whatever the exact date of the intermission, once the crisis was over no time

was lost in reoccupying and repairing the abandoned fortifications.

Several forts, such as Cappuck and Ardoch, were now reduced in

size but were equipped with more substantial defences, while there

are indications that increased importance was now attached to the

cavalry arm. How long this phase of occupation lasted is not

yet certain. Macdonald linked the second destruction of the

Antonine Wall, which, on his view, left the Lowland forts unscathed, with the barbarian invasion recorded by Dio Cassius

in a.d. 184,9 and he concluded that the restoration of the frontier

by Ulpius Marcellus was short-lived, being followed a year or

two later, by the evacuation of the whole of Scotland apart from Birrens. Others, however, would postpone the evacuation

until a.d. 196 when Clodius Albinus transferred the bulk of the

British garrison to the continent in pursuit of his bid for the

imperial throne, and the Maeatae seized the opportunity to break

into the defenceless province. There is, in fact, no evidence as

yet for the precise date of the event, although the latest pottery from the Antonine Wall is said to correspond closely with the vessels which occur in the destruction deposits of a.d. 197 at

Corbridge.10

The Severan Campaigns As soon as he had defeated Albinus at Lyons in a.d. 197, the

new emperor, Septimius Severus, sent Virius Lupus to Britain to repair the shattered northern defences; and from a.d. 209-11,

Severus, accompanied by his sons Caracalla and Geta, personally conducted a series of punitive campaigns in Scotland?first

against the Caledonians of Aberdeenshire and beyond, and then

against the Maeatae of Strathearn, Strathmore and the Mearns.

It has already been suggested that some of the temporary camps in these regions may have been built at this time, but apart from

Cramond, which served as an advanced supply-base for the

expeditions, and Birrens, which was reconstructed as an outpost 8 Cf. J. P. Gillam,

* Calpurnius Agricola ', Transactions of the Architectural and

Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, x (1953), 359-75.

9 lxxiii, 8. 10

Gillam, loc. cit., 367.



128 Kenneth Steer

of Hadrian's Wall, no Scottish fort has so far produced any proof of occupation after the end of the second century. It is true that

Miller (pp. 235-9) and Mr. Eric Birley1 have argued, on some

what different grounds, that the third period of occupation on the

Antonine Wall was initiated by Severus and not by Ulpius Marcellus, but at present this theory lacks support from the

archaeological evidence. Miller's appeals to the Falkirk coin

hoard and the Dolichenus relief from Croy Hill (p. 238) do not

help the case, since the hoard extends down to Severus Alexander

(a.d. 222-35), while Dolichenus was already being worshipped on Hadrian's Wall in the reign of Antoninus Pius. Yet all are

agreed that on Severus' death in a.d. 211 the Roman command

finally abandoned the Agricolan and Antonine policies of extend

ing direct control over the Lowlands, in favour of a system of

indirect control through the medium of buffer-states. The aims

and achievements of the New Deal, which had profound con

sequences for Roman and native relations in the third and fourth

centuries, lie, however, outside the scope of this review.

Bibliographical Note The above survey is largely based on excavation reports which are to

be found, or will shortly appear, either in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland or in the Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. Some of the books and more

general papers consulted have been cited in the text,

and to these should be added: E. B. Birley,' Dumfriesshire in Roman Times

' {Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural

History and Antiquarian Society, Third Series, xxv, 132-50), and ' The

Brigantian Problem' (ibid., xxix, 46-65); J. K. St. Joseph, 'Air Reconnaissance of North Britain

' {^Journal of Roman Studies, xli

(1951), 52-65); I. A. Richmond, 'Recent Discoveries in Roman Britain from the Air and in the Field

' (ibid., xxxiii (1943), 45-54),

and ' Gnaeus Iulius Agricola' (ibid., xxxiv (1944), 34-45).

Kenneth Steer.

1 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, lxxii (1937-8), 343-4.



k steer, roman scotland

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