Planning of Roman Roads and Walls in Northern Britain
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A01=John Poulter
Ancient History & Civilisation
Ancient Roman History
Archaeological digs
Archaeologist
Archaeology Methodology & Techniques
Author_John Poulter
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=NKD
Category=NL-HD
COP=United Kingdom
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Format=BC
History of Civilisation & Culture
History of Rome
HMM=248
IMPN=Amberley Publishing
ISBN13=9781848685482
Methodology
PA=Available
PD=20100715
POP=Chalford
Price=€20 to €50
PS=Active
PUB=Amberley Publishing
SMM=13
Social & Cultural Anthropology
Social Sciences
Subject=Archaeology
WG=497
WMM=172
Product details
- ISBN 9781848685482
- Weight: 497g
- Dimensions: 172 x 248 x 13mm
- Publication Date: 15 Jul 2010
- Publisher: Amberley Publishing
- Publication City/Country: Chalford, GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Of all the monuments from the 350 or more years of Roman rule in Britain, perhaps the most magnificent to come down to us today are their roads and the two great walls that they built across northern Britain - Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Yet, before these vast structures were built, their courses would need to have been chosen and their lines set out across the countryside. In general, Roman literature is silent about how they did this, but recently John Poulter has devised a way of detecting the directions in which Roman surveyors may have been working when setting out their roads and walls. Applying this to Dere Street, the main Roman road from the Vale of York up into Scotland, has led to a radical reappraisal of how and when this important road was planned, and when it was built. At the suggestion of leading archaeologists, John has also applied his methodology to the planning of Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall in Scotland - and, again, unearthed a multitude of surprises for both of these monuments. Not only were their processes of planning found to be quite unlike what might have been expected, but the lines that their designers chose to take across the landscapes offer us new insights into the intended purposes of these structures. In addition to these individual studies, John offers comments about Roman roads in general, and compares them with General Wade's Military Roads in Scotland. He also discounts much previous writing about Roman roads as being too uncritical, and introduces an approach to the analysis of archaeological findings which seeks to deliver interpretations that are as objective and as balanced as possible.
John Poulter trained as an engineer and retired in 2004. The study of Roman roads has been a hobby since his youth and his work has attracted the attention of several leading Roman archaeologists. With their encouragement, he extended his studies to include Hadrian's Wall and Antonine's Wall in Scotland. He is a member of a number of archaeological societies, including the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, the Society of Antiquitaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Arbeia Society, based in South Shields. He has had articles published in Archaeologia Aeliana (1998), Journal of the Railway and Canal Historical Society (2005), and The Arbeia Journal (2005).
