Cawdor (Roman Fort), located near the small village of Easter Galcantray (15 miles or 24 kilometres east of Inverness), was suspected of being one of the northernmost Roman forts in Great Britain, although no evidence of Roman occupation has been found to date.
In 1984 cropmarks were identified at Easter Galcantray, south west of Cawdor, by aerial photography. The site was described as being on the "south bank of river Nairn, straight cropmark with gap in middle and suggestion of two more sides, truncated by river, at right angles to main mark." [1] .
Excavations between 1985 and 1990 uncovered a ditch, post holes, a corner tower and a few pottery fragments. [2] Studies of the pottery identified it as medieval. [3]
The posisbility that the site may have been a Roman fort in Caledonia (as Scotland was called by Romans) was raised. Although no Roman pottery or artefacts were found, several features were identified that seemed supportive of this classification:
Jones (1986a) interpreted the main structural phase within the (Cawdor) site’s history as potential evidence for the presence of a Roman military work. This assumption was based on a number of salient factors. These include: the rectilinear form of the enclosure ditch, with its V-shaped profile; the associated timber gate and corner tower; the presence of possible contemporary rectilinear timber buildings, which appear reminiscent in both size and form to barrack blocks; and finally, the dating evidence. [4] This, based on the one sigma calibrated range, suggests the slighting of the site during the late first century AD, which would correspond to the governorship of Agricola, or possibly his unknown successor. [5]
In mid-83 AD Agricola defeated the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. With this big victory, Agricola extracted hostages from the Caledonian tribes and instructed his fleet to sail around the north coast confirming to the Romans the province of Britannia was an island.
Agricola then may have marched his army to the northern coast of Scotland [6] .
However, Romano-British scholars have been reticent in confirming Jones' interpretation. Maxwell and Wilson wrote: "For the present, it may be noted that, viewed as crop-mark sites, neither [Cawdor nor Thomshill] sits happily in the established morphological categories of standard Roman military installations in North Britain". [7] David Breeze added that "the suggested Roman context for the sites at Easter Galcantray [Cawdor] and Thoms Hill - Daniels 1986 and Jones 1986 - fails to convince; most of the evidence from the former site would better sit within a medieval context". [8] William Hanson concluded that "none of the postulated sites discovered by aerial survey in Moray and Nairn over recent years has the distinctive morphological characteristics of a Roman fort". [9]
Radiocarbon tests of material recovered from the site gave possible dates of construction during Agricola's first century campaign, [10] but its interpretation remains problematic because the site was occupied and abandoned quite quickly leaving no other evidence. [11]
This sherd of pottery was subsequently dated to 1300±140 AD (Dur87TL-2AS) by thermoluminescence
Likewise, the single calibrated radiocarbon date retrieved from the 'demolition deposit' within the ditch, although partially spanning the Flavian period at both one and two sigma standard deviations (cal AD 80–130 (1 sigma): cal AD 80–220 (2 sigma) ), remains problematic. It is not, in itself, conclusive evidence that the site was occupied and abandoned during the late first century AD. Still less is it conclusive evidence that it was occupied and abandoned by the Roman military, particularly since no late first-century Roman pottery was recovered from this feature or from elsewhere on the site.
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general and politician responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. Born to a political family of senatorial rank, Agricola began his military career as a military tribune under governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. In his subsequent career, he served in a variety of political positions in Rome. In 64, he was appointed quaestor in Asia province. Two years later, he was appointed Plebeian Tribune, and in 68, he was made praetor. During the Year of the Four Emperors in 69, he supported Vespasian, general of the Syrian army, in his bid for the throne.
Trimontium was a Roman fort complex located at Newstead, near Melrose, in the Scottish Borders, in view of the three Eildon Hills which probably gave its name.
The Gask Ridge is the modern name given to an early series of fortifications, built by the Romans in Scotland, close to the Highland Line. Modern excavation and interpretation has been pioneered by the Roman Gask Project, with Birgitta Hoffmann and David Woolliscroft. The ridge fortifications: forts, fortlets and watchtowers were only in operation for a few years, probably fewer than ten.
Inchtuthil is the site of a Roman legionary fortress situated on a natural platform overlooking the north bank of the River Tay southwest of Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
The Selgovae were a Celtic tribe of the late 2nd century AD who lived in what is now Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire, on the southern coast of Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, and there is no other historical record of them. Their cultural and ethnic affinity is commonly assumed to have been Brittonic.
Cawdor is a village and parish in the Highland council area, Scotland. The village is 5 miles south-southwest of Nairn and 12 miles east of Inverness. The village is in the Historic County of Nairnshire.
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Coria was a fort and town 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. It was strategically located on the junction of a major Roman north–south road with the River Tyne and the Roman Stanegate road, which was also the first frontier line which ran east–west between Coria and Luguvalium. Corbridge Roman Site is in the village of Corbridge in the county of Northumberland.
Ythan Wells, also known as Glenmailen, is the site of a Roman military camp, near the farm of Glenmellan, 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) east of the village of Ythanwells in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site is a designated scheduled monument.
Elginhaugh Roman Fort was a Roman fort of the 1st century AD, located in Midlothian, Scotland.
Scotland during the Roman Empire refers to the protohistorical period during which the Roman Empire interacted within the area of modern Scotland. Despite sporadic attempts at conquest and government between the first and fourth centuries AD, most of modern Scotland, inhabited by the Caledonians and the Maeatae, was not incorporated into the Roman Empire with Roman control over the area fluctuating.
Muiryfold was one of the Roman fortifications built by Septimius Severus in northern Caledonia. The site is located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Keith in Moray.
The architecture of Scotland in the Roman era includes all building within the modern borders of Scotland, from the arrival of the Romans in northern Britain in the first century BCE, until their departure in the fifth century CE. Ptolemy indicated that there were 19 "towns" in Caledonia, north of the Roman province of Britannia, but no clear evidence of urban settlements has been found and these were probably hillforts. There is evidence of over 1,000 such forts, most south of the Clyde-Forth line, but the majority seem to have been abandoned in the Roman period. There is also evidence of distinctive stone wheelhouses and small underground souterrains.
Pinnata Castra was a settlement located in the north of the island of Great Britain, featuring in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography as one of the four places listed as belonging to the Vacomagi tribe. It is also included as Pinnatis in the Ravenna Cosmography.
Thomshill, located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of Elgin in Moray, Scotland, is the site of an excavated rectilinear enclosure that has been interpreted as a possible Roman military camp or fort. The enclosure covers an area of approximately 3.25 hectares and is situated at a height of 72 metres (236 ft) above ordnance datum.
Durno or Logie Durno, located 6 miles (9.7 km) north west of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is the site of a Roman marching camp, first discovered by aerial photography in July 1975 and excavated in 1976 and 1977.
Audrey Shore Henshall was a British archaeologist known for her work on Scottish chambered cairns, prehistoric pottery and early textiles.
Virosidum was a Roman fort and settlement situated near to the modern town of Bainbridge, North Yorkshire, England. The site is a Scheduled monument.
Scotland in the Iron Age concerns the period of prehistory in Scotland from about 800 BCE to the commencement of written records in the early Christian era. As the Iron Age emerged from the preceding Bronze Age, it becomes legitimate to talk of a Celtic culture in Scotland. It was an age of forts and farmsteads, the most dramatic remains of which are brochs some of whose walls still exceed 6.5 m (21 ft) in height. Pastoral farming was widespread but as the era progressed there is more evidence of cereal growing and increasing intensification of agriculture. Unlike the previous epochs of human occupation, early Iron Age burial sites in Scotland are relatively rare although monasteries and other religious sites were constructed in the last centuries of the period. The Stirling torcs are amongst examples of high quality crafts produced at an early date and the Pictish symbol stones are emblematic of later times.
Dorothy Nairn Marshall FSAScot (1900-1992) was a Scottish archaeologist. She is known for her archaeological work in Scotland, particularly on the Isle of Bute and Argyll.
