Roman and Romano British

This paper presents the results of a recent watching brief and investigations conducted at Carzield Roman Fort, Kirkton, Dumfries and Galloway. This work was directed by the author on behalf of Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) and Scottish Water during improvements to domestic services within the fort area. The investigations on three service trenches (Trenches 1-3) revealed new evidence on the fort’s occupation and internal layout. The archaeological deposits included cobbled surfaces and ditch and gully features. The assemblage included Samian Ware, Black-burnished Ware, numerous metal objects including a javelin head and hobnails from a calceus Roman shoe. Building material included a fragment of an imbrex roof tile and a fragmented hypocaust tile from a bath house. The environmental analysis revealed evidence of wattle-and-daub structures in the rampart area of the fort as well as evidence of arable food resources. The AMS date range for the deposits dated was cal AD 2 to 257 (at 2 sigma calibration; 2 σ hereafter) with the exception being an Early Iron Age date of 847 to 767 cal BC (at 2 σ). This earlier date, although a result of re-deposition in Roman layers, is indicative of redeposition of material from earlier human activity in the vicinity of these excavations. The median value for the Roman dates is 18-214 cal AD (at 2 σ). The date range coupled with the artefactual evidence reaffirms the Roman occupation of the fort in the Antonine period with some evidence of occupation prior to and following this occupation, based on this most recent work and previous analyses.

The purpose of this note is to record the findings of an archaeological evaluation at Muirkirk Road, Newbie on 0.74 ha of agricultural ground to be developed for housing (NGR: NY 1808 6528). The evaluation, in November 2004, comprised six trenches coverin

Lecture to the Society, 25th March, 2006. Recent work on the lake dwellings of Dumfries and Galloway through the South-West Crannog
Survey a condition monitoring project funded by Historic Scotland has provided a series of site surveys and radiocarbon da

The second season of the SWCS Phase 2 was carried out in September 2003 and January 2004 and comprised detailed digital survey of submerged and dry areas of selected crannog sites in Dumfries and Galloway. Small scale underwater excavations at one site, L

In 1946 a Miss Helen Selby brought into the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland a collection of artefacts gathered largely from local sources by her father, William McDowall Selby, and grandfather, Robert Bird Selby, who served successively as medi

Summary of the First Cormack lecture - delivered to the Society on 5th december 2003. The subject was 'Early Celtic Art in South-West Scotland: Its Origin and Purpose'. Fraser Hunter explained that he hoped that the lecture provided some insights, however

Review of a booklet on the multiple aspects of Roman artillery showing it Greek origins. In local terms a number of references are made to a number of aspects of the archaeology of Burnswark and Shan Castle in Glencairn parish.

This paper announces the discovery of a potentially important early historic and mediaeval site, with likely ecclesiastical associations at Chapelton, Haugh of Urr. The previously unrecorded remains were exposed during topsoil stripping associated with th

A recent review of the evidence for bog bodies in Scotland has added 14 previously unrecogbised examples to the existing gazeteer. Seven of these 'new discoveries' - actually old finds hidden in local newspaper accounts and antiquarian reports - are fro G

McCarthy's book on 'Roman Carlisle and the Lands of the Solway' does more than its title and provides a full review of the archaeology of both the English and Scottish sides of the eastern end of the Solway from the early quaternary to the early mediaeva

Dumfriesshire in the Roman Iron Age was possibly the least decentralised area of south-west Scotland with much of its territory probably occupied by north-western Brigantes embracing septs such as the Anavionenses of Annandale. Few Roman finds and none of

The first phase of the South-West Scotland Crannog Survey, the primary fieldwork for which was carried out in 1989, examined the assumption that submerged crannogs in the south-west were relatively stable while their counterparts on drained land were rapi

This paper presents the results of a survey of promentory forts on the Solway Coast of Dumfries and Galloway. This work was carried out by the author primarily to determine the extent and nature of erosion affecting these sites. The surveying programme al

In 1998 AOC Archaeology Group conducted an archaeological evaluation on behalf of Safeway Stores plc in advance of the supermarket redevelopment of the livestock market on Butts Street in Annan. Of 18 trenches opened, 12 trenches revealed features cut int

This paper, in a series of toponyms in south-west Scotland, discusses Ptolemy's Vindogara, Elvan Water near Wanlockhead, Tarelgin near Ayr and Troquhain near New Galloway, which have Brittonic names explicable as 'white ridge', 'salt stream', 'willow home

This paper reviews the archaeological evidence for the organisation of the later prehistoric landscape that has emerged from work in the Border Counties over the last twenty years. It challenges any assumption that prehistoric farms and territories were d

Birrens is the richest site in Scotland for Roman sculpture and inscriptions. The sculpture has been well published but much of it is fragmentary, making interpretation difficult. In displaying the displays for the new Museum of Scotland it was necessary

A review of Andrew McCulloch's 'Galloway - A Land Apart'. This new work assesses the history of Galloway as it affected all social strata, through the fresh and unrestrained eyes of a historian at the end of the 20th century. McCulloch successfully incorp

The Celtic place-names of south-west Scotland are a subject repaying investigation. This paper discusses five such names: Ptolemy's Abravannus, meaning 'very feeble one' and referring to Pilanton Burn, near Stranraer. A possible link between the Ravena Co

Archaeological evidence indicates that at the time of the Roman conquest the Novantae were politically decentralized with a mixed farming economy augmented by crafts and light industry. Their economy would have adapted to Roman requirements and Roman infl

This paper reviews the results of aerial photographic recording of archaeological sites revealed by cropmarking in south-west Scotland. A consideration of patterns of visability and recovery provides a preamble to a review of the general trends this mater

Aerial photography by the late Professor G.B.D.Jone and the RCAHMS has identified a series of crop-marks on the Pleistocene gravels to the west of the mouth of the River Annan at Hayknowes.
The extensive nature of the Hayknowes crop-marks prompted an inv