22 February, 2012

Hadrian's First Wall - Free download


I am making my research into the earth and timber phase of Hadrian's Wall, covered in the previous three posts, available as a convenient electronic or printable copy. 
Since this amounts to 12,500 words, with 48 of illustrations, it is perhaps too cumbersome to work well as an on-line article.  I hope this may prove useful to those readers who interested in the archaeology of this period.  Please feel free to distribute it as you think fit.

Hadrian’s First Wall



On Tyneside, between Hadrian’s Wall and the Ditch to the north, archaeologists have found three lines of double postholes, which it is argued, represent an early Timber Wall, and this, along with the Ditch, formed part of a temporary frontier while the Roman Wall was being built. Further, it is argued that the Turf Wall represents the continuation of this structure in the western sector of the Wall.  In addition, when the engineering and layout of the Vallum is examined, it appears to be an unfinished road, probably abandoned when warfare interrupted work on the Wall. These insights into the archaeology of Roman military engineering are the key to a new understanding of how and why Hadrian’s Wall was built.

Download or read a copy of  Hadrian's First Wall here

This is 10.4 meg  pdf file. It has full colour illustrations, formatted for A4 printing as 40 pages plus a cover.

2 comments:

Mike Anderson said...

Jeff,

This is a tremendous contribution, answering many questions I've had about the wall. I'm going to cite it on my blog so more people know about it.

I want to go there!

Geoff Carter said...

Thanks Mike,
Sadly, all the interesting stuff [postholes] is under the ground; all there is to see is some great big stone Wall!