The “Turf“ Wall; Science Denial at English Heritage / Historic England – Now It’s Official

To test the water, and offer English Heritage a chance to consider the matter I sent an e-mail explaining the Science that proves Bede, writing in the C8th was wrong to suggest Hadrian built a Wall of turf aka The Turf Wall.

Twenty years ago their own excavation Appleby produced unequivocal evidence that this section of Wall was made of Timber, information they failed to comprehend at the time.[1]

The science is simple and irrefutable.

1. Soil science.

If turf is blocks of local soil held together with plant roots, then the composition of the "Turf " Wall deposit at Appletree with its complete absence of mechanical particles other than some sand grains in what is essentially a peaty deposit indicates that this cannot have derived from a local soil and therefore, can not ever been made of Turves.
[QED] [2]

2. Palynology
The palynology dominated by tree species alder, oak and in particular Hazel, [ a shrub] [3]
3. Palaeobotany
The recovered plant macrofossils were dominated by pieces of carbonised wood, trunk & branch up 0.01m, and notable remains of Ceratodon purpureus fruiting bodies. [4]

Conclusions.

4. All the scientific evidence, indicate the use of timber to construct this rampart, a conclusion which is also confirmed by the Roman’s own accounts of their engineering.[5]
5. It is fair to conclude that the concept of a “Turf Wall” is a native literary tradition, now largely driven by nominative determinism, and the momentum of the inherited orthodoxy in institutions.

I sent an email outlining the arguments using their data [6]

Hi

I am a structural archaeologist working in the NE of England and I have serious concerns about the denial of Science in favour of faith-based arguments.

20 years ago you produced a report that proved beyond all doubt that the Romans did not build a "Turf" Wall using soil science palynology and palaeobotany; tragically, the report concluded the exact opposite.

This prompts serious questions about quality control and competence at the highest level.

Thus, my principle question is who takes responsibility for such serious mistakes and the blatant denial of science that ideas like a "Turf Wall" represent?

Is anyone at EH prepared to defend this non-scientific stance in public or discuss the issues it raises?

Best

Geoff Carter

After the usual robotic exchange of pleasantries, they responded thusly.

Dear Geoff,

Thank you for your email. It is always interesting to hear alternative interpretations. However, it remains our view based on the evidence recovered from a number of excavations and associated analyses that the wall is constructed of turves in the widest sense with Appletree as the classic example.

A consideration of turves in the archaeological record is laid out in Hall, A R 2003 Recognition and Characterisation of Turves in Archaeological Occupation Deposits by means of Macrofossil Plant Remains. Historic England Research Report 16/2003.

Kind regards,

Rosie Ryder

Historic England Communications Team

I responded, seeking reassurance they had understood the argument, and further pressing my point, but no further communication was forthcoming.[8]

" . the wall is constructed of turves in the widest sense with Appletree . . " is basically a denial of the science, with not enough wiggle room to escape such a charge. 

Observations.

• While as an academic subject, “Research“ is driven by simple reproduction of the existing narrative, since the skills necessary to understand archaeological base-data are often lacking.

• The reference cited reviews the evidence of “turf” in a variety of contexts, and demonstrated that archaeological expectations are not by and large confirmed by paleoenvironmental data

• It highlights a broader lack of basic methodology and the tendency to use of excavations as an opportunity to reinforce or fine tune part of an existing narrative, ignoring or excluding data that does not fit the expected pattern.

• However, even learning Archaeology out of a book from someone who learned it out of a book, should not preclude a basic understanding of soil science, it is after all, what archaeologists find most of.

• Institutions, working in monopoly, offering careers for life, and in an environment where their customers, students and the public can be assumed to be wrong, have no market pressures to raise their game above a minimalistic mediocracy.

• Archaeology is not mission critical, nobody dies through this sort of science denial, and while disappointing, it’s only our money and their institutional creditability that is being wasting.

Notes 

[1] Hadrian’s Wall Archaeological Research by English Heritage 1976–2000

edited by Tony Wilmott
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1416-1/dissemination/pdf/9781848021587_all.pdf [Accessed 25/12/2014],

[2] op. cit.116 The plant macrofossils,  Allan Hall

[3]op cit p. 114 the pollen  James Wells

[4]Ceratodon purpureus, Fire Moss,  present in quantity, which as the name suggests is an early coloniser after forest fires, and it commonly grows on is dead wood.

[5] a. C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War 
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001  [Accessed 25/12/2014],
b. C. Julius Caesar, Commentaries on the Civil War  William Duncan, Ed.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0076 [Accessed 25/12/2014],
c.  The Military Institutions of the Romans (De Re Militari) by Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Translated from the Latin by Lieutenant John Clarke, translation published in 1767.   Etext version by Mads Brevik (2001)
http://www.digitalattic.org/home/war/vegetius/  [Accessed 25/12/2014],
d. Polybius, Histories http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0234 [Accessed 25/12/2014],[7] 12 Feb, 09:51

[6] Dear Rosie,
Thank you for your prompt reply and the link; this is a very important paper as it it demonstrates my view that the “evidence” is not scientific, but is driven by archaeologists’ expectations.  
It confirms that from the plant micro-fossil point of view the case is not proven in any Roman context, and draws attentions to other, more normal processes that can account for these assemblages.  [The occasional use of turf as a roofing material and even for small walls in area devoid of other resources is not in dispute].
Deposits derived from crop processing, organic flooring such as reeds, charcoal burning,
and the decay of building materials such as daub are theoretical sources of plant assemblages, that might be similar to turves.
The issue of soil science, in particular the lack of mineral particles in “Peaty” deposits is not discussed; it is one of the deeper issues with archaeological fieldwork being driven by the existing literature.  
I have observed that archaeologists when dealing with soil have a culture of “stick in a bag and ask the specialists what it means”.   To which the hard-pressed specialist has asked for a specific question about a specific context.  The science is being asked the wrong questions; rather than, where did the turves come from?
It should be what is the origin of this deposit?
It is partly a tradition of the way archaeology funding is granted in terms of objectives, project design and “Answering Questions”.
In short, there is nothing in the evidence presented that demonstrates the use of turf in Roman Military contexts, and I would argue that the plant micro-fossil evidence that has been retrieved confirms the use of timber.
Further, the soils at Appletree make it impossible; that is not an opinion, it is archaeological soil science 101.*
I will look at the data tables in more detail, particularly the mosses, but you do not have any “Science” on your side, only a literary tradition dating back to Bede.
Naturally, it is a matter I intend to push you on, can you take this matter any further?
Best
Geoff
* Being an archaeologist is much more difficult than people imagine, especially if you have actually been trained as an archaeological lecturer by an a university lecturer with no real experience of being an archaeologist or writing up complex excavations.
Geoff Carter
Structural Archaeologist

Reverse Engineering Roman Cavalry

1. Context.

In the precious post I was quite hard, if not downright disrespectful about some of strange conceptions about how cavalry horses might be stabled. So it’s time to put some cards on the table, and explain how horses and built environments are meant to interact – from a more traditional perspective, after all, cavalry barracks have existed and continue to exist since ancient times, and horse care in a variety of contexts is hardly a forgotten art.

My work for Philip Crummy in Colchester on Britain's first legionary fortress taught me to respect the accuracy of Roman Military surveyors. An important point also was apparent; Romans favoured stone foundations, but significant parts of the superstructure were built from timber for ease and speed of construction.  In terms of Hadrian’s Wall, we have very poor data sets, but the Roman army was very systematic in its architecture, so the Fort chosen is North of the Wall at Birrens in South West Scotland.

Theoretical modelling is a way of testing and refining ideas about how buildings and built environment might work. In this context, given the number of unknowns, modelling can only give you a range of answers and help delineate the problem. Having tried out various options against the available data, what is presented is a best fit model, directed to a specific aspect of a problem, in this case how many horses can you house in a cavalry stable, and what does this tell us about the size of cavalry units.

There is certain fetish about deploying Latin vocabulary which is not always helpful, however, I have to confess a prejudice to the use of Cohort sized units [600] and centuries [100]. There are a variety of terms deployed notably, equase, decurion, turma, ala, quingenaria, and Milliaria.  While the primary objective is to develop a model of a cavalry barrack, and from this delaminate the scale of units, relating this to Latin vocabulary would be seen as an academic objective. 

2. Roman Forts Basics

It is generally understood that the layout of camps mirrors the layout of the Roman marching camp, which in turn reflects the structure of the army, with individual 8 men tents [contubernium] formed up in centuries, and cohorts. The disposition of cavalry may reflect picket lines of horses, which have to laid out with same aims in mind, namely keeping them securely organised for ease of care, deployment and preventing them from kicking each other.  

In the Roman Army class is important in the distribution of Space, notable for the space allocated to the Roman commanders house & bathing. Forts are similar in plan being built up from the similar components, principally, a single Headquarters building, Commanders house [+bath], Hospital, and  varied numbers of; Infantry barracks, Workshops / Stores , Granaries, and Stables. 

 3. Hadrian's Wall & Birrens

This exercise is try get a sense of Hadrian’s design for his Wall in terms of cavalry, principally because they represent be an ideal supervised the emperor, which is a great context for archaeology. In reality, the evidence from this Broad Wall phase is fragmentary, and most of the forts were built or rebuilt after the initial phase. The best preserved cavalry fort in the North is at Birrens, part of the Antonine Frontier built after Hadrian’s Wall was initially abandoned.

Much of the Plan was recovered, but has a few problems, particularly the lack of a commanders house, some ambiguity about building A2, and a sense that the fort is a bit light on storage / workshops. There is an annex to the East which probably accounts for this. The site appears to have been tarted up at some stage with rebuilding or refacing the gable ends of buildings.

 4. Cavalry; Human Consideration & assumptions

As I understand it, in this period Auxiliary Cavalrymen were high status non-Roman troops from horse owning elites elsewhere in the empire. It is not known whether the status of cavalry was reflected in their accommodation. They were an expensive resource intensive asset, and presumably would be equipped the best horses available in the area where the unit was raised.

My guess / assumption is that there is a 1:1 ratio of support troops to cavalry troopers. Apart from Historical best practice; the following considerations may apply:

• Need to deploy the whole unit en masse and quickly.
• Armoured men with weapons are not suited to the preparation or care of horses.
• Cavalry extends fort’s curtain wall which requires additional troops to defend.

Cavalry have to be part of a predominantly infantry unit.

5. Horses General Consideration & assumption

Keeping large numbers of horses undercover in a compact area on a long term basis requires a specially adapted built environment. Horses prefer high airy spaces, with underlying floor surfaces that are dry, firm, but not too hard, and graded for drainage.

Stables

A building with access to water supply and suitably drained, with individual Space for each horse, allowing for; Feeding, Watering, Mucking Out, Grooming and Tacking up.

• Storage for tack and other kit.
• Wider and taller entrances. 
• Space for mounting and forming up.

Other buildings;

• Sheds or lofts for Forage / Hay / Bedding
• Granaries for Barley & Oats
• Buildings for: Blacksmith / Farrier; Equine vet; Sadler
• Ideally, a covered space for training, assembly and practice.  

 6. General model; The Roman fort at Birrens

The model includes a consideration the whole fort as a context for the cavalry stables.

 The fort is regularly laid out in Roman feet shown at @0.296m; however, it is not necessary to best guess precisely what is going on in the minds of the surveyors and builders, for the following reasons:

• I do not wish to push the accuracy planning historical and modern.
• Precisely what is being measured, including the thickness of the component is not clear.
• The dataset is for the measurements of foundations not roofs
• Allocation of external spaces like roadways is not implicit in the design of individual buildings
• It is only relevant to the number of bays in the stables and their capacity. 

Looked at as a whole the fort is a nominal 600 x 400 ' centred on the HQ building, each set of stables occupies a plot about 150' square, roughly the same as the 6 double infantry blocks.

Including Granaries G3 & G4, and  building A3, the stables account for 40% of the forts area.

The use of standard measurements and components greatly simplifies construction and is evidenced by the uniformity of the building types. The use of standard roof trusses, which in turn is reflected in standard bays, is most clear on the buttressed buildings.

The 150’ long barracks are presumably about 10 – 12 bays long, [11 being not uncommon on the Wall]. Some produced evidence for partitions, perhaps at 60, 120, feet, while others produced no evidence. It cannot be cannot presumed there is only one type of barrack represented.

The end on nature of the Stables allows them to be packed closer together than side on buildings like the barracks. Double Walled barracks show the dedication to the single truss and the avoidance of valleys. Built back to back they can make use of the terraced sloping sites to improve drainage.

It is worth noting that between Granary G1 and building A1 there appears to be a corn dryer, which suggest that crop processing is taking place.  In which case A1 may be a barn for processing and storage of harvested grain, indicating some degree of local arable production by the garrison.  For a cavalry fort the need for meadow and grazing, and more specialised grains implies a more complex agricultural hinterland.

7.  Roman Stable theoretical model

Based on the buildings at Birrens, the model has two sets of stalls with a central passage, and serviced by feeding passages. There is a loft for hay or bedding overhead.

The capacity of buildings are dependent

• The choice of bay size
• The number of occupied bays.
• The number of horses per bay

The model assumes 4 horses per bay, utilising 10 - 13 bays per building as shown in the table below. [2]  The buildings are 150’ long; allow for the thickness of partitions, 10 – 12 bays at 15 – 12.5 foot intervals work well, which offers a range of values for the number of horses of 30 – 50.

Once the models covered central passage is accepted, it is simply a matter of how many horses can fit on the two rows to either side. In this respect a five foot stall is probably too narrow, and 6 foot stall generous. Assumptions also have to be made about the provision for spare horses and even whether officers had more stable space.

8]. Conclusions

Within the parameters set out the model stable has a capacity between 30 – 50 horses or 180 – 300 horses for the whole fort / unit. Offering three probable scenarios for the six buildings 

• A]. 2 x 100 man units
• B]. 3 x 100 man units
• C]. 2 or 3 x units of intermediate strength. 

Solution A; 200 horses

Each stable would hold the horses of a troupe of 30 + 3 officers, a century being 3 such troupes; 90 troopers + officers.  The six blocks are a nominal 200 horses for 200 cavalry men. 

Two units fits with the 2 Extra Granaries for feed,{G3/4} each with six bays, which together the 2 Cohort Granaries, {G1/2} and the axial symmetry of the fort layout, all suggesting we are have two units. 

At Birrens there is potentially 16 spaces, representing a surfeit of potential infantry barracks with room for 1200 in the 6 double blocks alone, with another 4 blocks spare; two are in prime position next the central area with access from both sides.  Various combinations seem possible, based on 2 cohorts +/- cavalry.

One way of accounting for this space is to assume the cavalry have more generous quarters, perhaps  3 blocks per unit mirroring the layout of the stables.  Giving 6 blocks for cavalrymen, 2 for support troops, and 6 for an infantry cohort, making 14 units in total.   Thus, detailed understanding of the garrison is dependent on assumptions about the ratio of horses to cavalrymen and support troops, as well as how their status might be reflected in the allocation of living space.

The minimum view is that we have two centuries, comprising 200 horses, with 200 cavalrymen & 200 support troops.  With the addition of an infantry Cohort of 600 this would create a garrison / unit size of 1000.

Solution B 300 horses & Solution C 200 -300 horses.

To get 50 or more horses per stable would require narrow stalls and leave little options for spare horses.  It seems too much of a push to get to 300 horses comfortably onto the site.  However, within the modelling it is possible to conceive of an understrength 300 man unit.

Thus, all the above does not preclude a unit comprising any vaguely sensible number between 200 – 300; a unit of 240 horse could be 3 units of 80 would fit, and make supporters of the 80 man century very happy.  

After Inscription from Birrens  dedicated by II cohort of Tungrians {Rib I 2110} [3]

The modelling pushes an engineering perspective, which has its own logic and drive for uniformity, which in the context of the Roman Army is not inappropriate.  Notwithstanding the issues of  how cavalrymen were accommodated, the ratio of support troops and infantry to horses, the model helps delimit the scale of cavalry units, particularly emphasising the space required compared with regular infantry units.

Happily, historically it is thought that the fort was occupied by II cohort of Tungrians a 1000 strong unit mixed unit.

 Notes.

 [1] Traditionally, the front ranks of a nominal army line is formed from the younger fitter soldiers, with the more senior and more experienced towards the back.  Support troops are the more senior soldiers who are not as physically fit, but are highly trained and well motivated. They represent the specialist in medicine, leather work, armourers and administrators, who do not routinely leave the fort; on campaign they travel with the baggage.  The eight men leather tents which each unit used, formed the basis of the layout of the camp, but would require a mule to carry, and a second to carry the collective equipment of the unit. The baggage is the most valuable part of the army group in the field

[2] The table below is based on the following

1. .Bay width / stall width in Roman foot of 0.296m
2.  Stall is the Stall width – 0.5‘
3.  Assumes 4 horses per bay
4.  Assumes two bays not in use or spare

[3] For the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, pontifex maximus, in the twenty-first year of tribunician power, four times consul, the Second Cohort of Tungrians, a thousand strong, part-mounted, publicly praised, (set this up) under Julius Verus, emperor’s propraetorian legate.

Top 10 Peer reviewed Myths about Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall sits on the boundary of Archaeology and History, apart from its scant remains, it exists as a literary and artistic creation, it is already something imagined, a myth.  It is thus, an individual conception, part of the visual conditioning of a pictorial past and subject to cognitive dissonance when this imaginary world is challenged.

Literacy is the key divide, the dead weight of Latin, a the slim volume of Historical data, and the need to justify knowledge of both, has distorted archaeological dataset along the Proto-historical interface.

At this important boundary we are also confronted with our own barbaric tribal ancestors; half naked heathens, primitive peoples, framed by colonialism, classism and xenophobia.

This invisible world has been made real through a visual culture with its own district history, however, just how this imagined past has interacted with the literary narrative, and it’s effect on the interpretation of the archaeological evidence is more difficult to assess.  As result, and in order to keep the list down to just ten, the wide range of visual myths is not examined, but it is worth noting the deficiency in the representation of timber as an engineering material; why apparent buildings like Turrets and Milecastles are imagined without roofs is baffling.

It is also important to remember that Archaeology is traditionally taught as an “Arts” subject, and is not evidence based, being driven by reproduction of existing texts by academics, often without an understanding of underlying datasets. While as a subject, archaeology does not directly effect human well-being and society, it’s an expensive indulgence among a select group of academics, which as we shall see, incorporates much science denial and irreconcilable non sequiturs at its core.

This clearly a very subjective list, and based on my highly contentious view that academic archaeology should be evidence based, sadly a view not shared by the institutions and stakeholders that insist on promulgating and merchandising these myths.

Top 10 myths.

1. The post pits on the berm were Cippi pits

One of the traps other countries have not fallen into is Cippi pits, a fantastic conflation of two different Latin references to explain away double post-pits which are evidence of a Roman timber rampart. A good example of Tyne and Wear Museums Archaeology’s interpretation of archaeology features through Latin text, and the incidental creation of a new species of spiky tree.

2. The Berm was for structural stability

Traditionally, the space between the Ditch and later Wall was regarded as required for “structural stability”, but if you pushed the Wall over it still would not fall into the ditch; it is not an argument that an engineer, ancient or modern would concede as valid.

3. The Wall was successful cohesive proactive project

While the archaeological evidence has not been well understood, it has typically been framed by a mindset of Roman superiority and achievement, [that discounts native culture and abilities], seeing the apparent changes in design as proactive driven by “decisions”. The archaeological evidence suggests that the project was driven and ultimately derailed by external factors, particularly native resistance on both sides of the Wall.

4. The Wall was for trade, display or distraction

The nonchalant approach to the construction, coupled with the apparent lack of a consistent strategy, [as in No. 3 above], has led some commentators to assume or suggest that the Wall was not driven by military necessitates, but was primarily for the regulation of trade, show, or even something to keep the army busy.

5. The 80 Man Century

Idiosyncratically, the one issue that might have seemed fairly clear from the Latin, the number of men in a Century, has taken on a life of own. The origin may lie in the use of the 8 man leather tent, forgetting the concept of men being on guard and being required to look after the units collective kit as part of the baggage. I am happy to concede 80 men formal fighting units because of the need for support troops and important specialists, but a Century ideally comprised 100 men, [otherwise Decimation becomes the killing of 1 in 8, etc.].

6. Cavalry Barracks and forces

There is a tenancy to impose ideas about the size and nature of cavalry units onto the archaeology with no regard to the real practicalities of equine care and accommodation. As a result horses have been envisaged packed like sardines into infantry barracks and even milecastles, contrary to all established practices and norms of this well documented type of building.

7. Manning levels

In a sense we are touching on the visual representation of the Wall as a continuous manned barrier, however, even at its most optimistic, the overall manning levels of about a century per mile which precludes any realistic defence of the Curtain Wall. The strategic objective of any attacker would have been the capture of a gate.

8. Wallsend Horse Toilets

This has to be the dumbest most tin hat piece of madness on the Wall to date, and a tribute to Tyne & Wear Museums Archaeology complete disregard to reality, science and the concept of evidence. In reality, this is a regular barrack block with a set of stairs marked by a slot and posthole in each unit, and I find it difficult to conceive by what mental process this archaeological feature came to be interpreted a “Horse toilet” on the basis of no supporting evidence. In the real world horses are kept on bedding which absorbs the urine and is regularly changed to prevent harmful ammonia making the horse ill.

Three horses are packed incongruously into a small room with a wooden floor with proper no manger or water supply, which is accessed by a door to narrow safely accommodate a horse.

9. The Valium was a boundary

This is probably the largest "earthwork" in Europe and popularly misrepresented as a "Bank & Ditch"; if that were the case there would be no issue with it also being deemed some sort of boundary. The Engineering clearly indicates that this was foundation trench for a frontier road that was never completed, no other explanation can realistic account for its physical form and the massive investment in man hours.

10. The Wall was built of Turf

The idea of structures constructed from turf dates back to statements made by Bede in the 8^th century, dutifully reproduced by generations of historians, and confirmed by early attempts at archaeology. Twenty years ago, an English Heritage produced the evidence that confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt that this was not the case, tragically, in a remarkable piece of science denial, the report reached the opposite conclusion.

This is probably the most portentous misconception in Roman military archaeology, since any structure not made of stone is presumed to have been constructed of turf, rather than timber as all the archaeological evidence and even the classical sources would indicate.

Conclusions

Clearly, a lot “peer review” in archaeology signifies little more than that the author works in or for an institution with peers. However, given the importance of this archaeology to the local economy, and both national and international scholarship it is little short of a scandal that an idiosyncratic narrative, based on tradition and myth is being sold to students and the public.

The dumbing down of the subject, even at postgraduate level, to little more than copying out text books in your best handwriting, has ensured that the skill set necessary to understand archaeological evidence has not developed, and is perhaps illustrative of a wider decline in British educational standards driven the need for profitability.

It is worth noting that it is not just our eccentric local Museums and bottom feeding Universities that sell these narratives, but also English Heritage, The National Trust and the “Elite” Russell branded institutions like Oxford & Cambridge.

Caveat Emptor.

A suggested timeline for Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall was an elaborate frontier system designed by the Emperor with stone built forts linked by a continuous wall  and serviced by road with naval bases at either end, at least that was the plan. What actually happened has remained obscure, but archaeological discoveries over the last twenty years have provided the key pieces for a puzzle. 

Using evidence based archaeology it is now possible to tell a more coherent story of this ill-fated project, which was unfinished on Hadrian's death and was abandoned by his successor.  This a concise summery, broken down into the tenures of the governors of Britain who were responsible for supervising the work.  The detailed sequence of events and construction phases is discussed in previous articles & videos; the calendar dates, along with other pieces of external evidence derived from coins & inscriptions are a bit of a moveable feast.

118 - 122 Quintus Pompeius Falco

It is presumed that the Wall was response to serious infiltrations of the existing frontier which comprised of forts and other installations linked by a road [The Stanegate], perhaps even involving the IX Legion. It is worth noting that unique among Roman provinces that Britain was an Island, never fully conquered and separated from the rest of the empire by the sea.

122 - c.127 Aulus Platorius Nepos

122: In this year of Hadrian's only visit, the frontier was  initially secured by a continuous timber rampart with a ditch in front, from Newcastle to Bowness. This mirrors fairly precisely the subsequent layout of the stone Wall in terms of its regular Milecastles and Turrets.   The subsequent detailed positioning and design of the forts seems to be fixed during the emperors tour.

123: The most productive year with an abundance of unskilled labour laying out the frontier road [The Vallum], Wall foundations, and skilled labour working on the more complex instillations and the "Broad Wall".  The considerable progress evident in the first seasons of the project tends to validate the viability of the projects logistics.

124- 6: A Rebellion in South, quite possibly in response to the levy of labour required for the Wall is evidenced by the burning of London. Work on the frontier is suspended during this period of warfare, also marked by the sending reinforcements and reconstruction of military infrastructure in London.

127 - c. 131  Trebius Germanus

The new Governor restarts work on The Wall, but the shortage of manpower is evident, with the specification of the Wall reduced  [Narrow Wall] and work on the road suspended.  This too was abandoned as a result of an attack in the thinly defended central sector.  Resulting in further warfare and probably additional troop reinforcements.

c. 131-133 Sextus Julius Severus

Severus was Rome's top general and the building of Narrow Wall was restarted now supplemented by 3 additional forts added in the central sector, but his tenure was curtailed by recall to deal with a rebellion in Palestine.  

133-138 Publius Mummius Sisenna

The Narrow Wall with its additional forts does not progress well, and the extension of the Narrow Wall to a new fort at Wallsend may indicate a second attack on the Eastern flank, [i.e. separate from the one in the central sector].   These attacks appear to be directed at the Roman army with its destruction in mind. 

By the the time of Hadrian's death the Wall was still only 2/3 complete, to a lower specification and with no frontier road.  It was abandoned by his successor, who chose to reoccupied the buffer state to the North and build a new shorter Wall in Scotland, this Antonine Wall was also never completed.

Conclusions - anatomy of a Disaster 

The widespread misinterpretation of the archaeology, has led to a misrepresentation of Hadrian's Wall as cohesive and even successful project, disguising the true nature of this military disaster.  These are the five key factors that contributed:

1. Poor ridged design, over elaborate with too many gates and with little or no regard for topography or potential threat, for which Hadrian must be held accountable.

2. The strategy is dependent on the cooperation of the Buffer state to the North to prevent or warn of attack.  This evidently failed.  

3. Spreading the Legionary Army along the frontier and being engaged in construction is a risky and potentially dangerous deployment. 

4. The logistics of the project would require the cooperation of native population to provide the bulk of the unskilled labour, but once they had rebelled and been killed they were no longer available, which additionally impacts on the army's food supply.

5. Hadrian's evident self-regard for himself as a soldier and architect, coupled with an arrogance and lack of regard to the sensitivities of the native population or their military capabilities was a recipe for a disaster.  This is a very similar set of circumstances to those that led to costly Bar Kokhba revolt and the destruction of the regions' Jewish population.

UK Academic Archaeology; Incompetence, Science Denial and Racism

The good news is that my cancer has not returned, but having reached the "Do Not Revive" age group, I am not taking anything for granted, and I  have further surgery scheduled in the next few weeks.  

So I intend to spend what time remains to me in trying to prevent young people, international students  and tax payers being stiffed by these unscrupulous institutions peddling science denial.

I have decided to return to blogging and hopefully more making videos featuring some of the more outrageously dumb tin hat archaeology being promulgated at public expense. 

Obviously, Academics with a job for life in a monopoly where the customers always wrong have no need to defend their ignorance, any more than English Heritage or Museums services feel the need to justify their science denying stance. 

I have to admit I have found it psychologically difficult to reconcile being blackballed for challenging science deniers; apart from the money, why are these people [1] so anxious to piss in our collective chips?

Denial or Ignorance

We all should be aware of the dangers of science denial, but to allow it blossom in Higher Education is either stupidly criminal or criminally stupid, but despite repeated requests, Newcastle University refuse to confirm which is the case for their former Post-Graduate Dean and his staff. [op. cit.]

One might be forgiven for thinking that archaeology was not a real academic subject but a form of badly informed infotainment, after all, celebrities and members of the public don't do forensic accounting or midwifery on the weekend, but are regularly invited to hack holes in inoffensive ancient monuments for out amusement.

Sadly it's not just bottom feeders of Russell branded universities like Newcastle, but also those who regard themselves as serious institutions like Oxford and Cambridge that are guilty of dumbing down the subject through science denial and/or ignorance.

For the hoard of begowned over paid functionaries,  deans, chancellors and the like who see their task as improving the return of the Universities' property portfolio archaeology is an obvious target for dumbing down; do this to a science at you would be risking lives and our economic future.  

Fundamentally, merit is gained in subjects like archaeology by copying out other peoples work in your best handwriting, regardless of its merit or evidential basis, allowing for the reproduction of myths, fallacies and ensuring the progress of the credulous.

You are taught "archaeology" out of a book from some one who learned it out of a book, so all the victims of the system can do is practice archaeology out of a book. Thus,  "Methodology" in archaeology is basically what proper subjects call  "bias".

Many archaeology students naively imagine they are learning to be an archaeologist, but unfortunately they are being trained by a lecturer to be a lecturer, their fees are subsiding the very small percentage sufficiently compliant students to become the next generation of lecturers.

I am reliably informed that Academics teaching archaeology are payed the same money as those engaged in evidence based teaching, so ignorance is not only bliss it's just as financially rewarding as real knowledge.

A Classical Gaff

Being taught archaeology out of book by someone who learned it out of book would not be a problem if archaeologist found books, but surprisingly what they actually find is soil, and that's where the problems start.

Every institution involved with Roman Britain,  universities, museums, and most notably English Heritage persist in the promoting the myth of the Romans building things out of "turf".

This myth dates back to the eight century and Venerable Bede, and has been faithfully reproduced in their best handwriting by generations of academics.

Tragically, twenty years ago English Heritage excavated the "Turf Wall", and having gathered all the scientific data to demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that this was not true, concluded it was made of "turf".  [2]

The power of nominative determinism is quite extraordinary, as is the fact that, in denial of the peer reviewed evidence,  academics continued to buy into this myth and sell it to their students.

The Roman Wall was no more made out of turf than the Moon is made from cheese, anyone regardless of status or salary, who tells you otherwise is either ignorant of, or in denial of basic soil science.

However, that's just the pointy end of a very long stick;  it is common practice to assume that any Roman structure not made of stone must therefor made of "Turf", [Q.E.D.] [!], resulting in numerous "turf" forts and a second "Turf" wall in Scotland - none of which has a scintilla of evidence to support it. 

Experimental archaeology - racism in action.

"Experimental" Archaeology tells you a great deal about Academics and virtually nothing about the past.  Repeated attempts to reproduce "primitive" "African" mud huts in the UK in defiance of the archaeological evidence is a tribute to the persistence of ideas about Cultural Evolution.  These concepts, similar to those which fuelled the genocidal politics of National Socialism, and are a remarkable example of both the racism and science denial that is central to UK academic archaeology.  

Portrayal of our ancestors as some form of white negro is a perfect analogue of racial theory that drove British imperialism and the slave trade; this is theme I intend to pursue in future work. It is also evident from our shared our visual culture of the past, which having no evidential basis serves only to illuminate the racist presumptions of UK academic culture. 

Personally, I feel it important to try to preserve some of the intellectual culture that made our education some of the best in the world, but once you dumb it down I suspect that it's gone for good.

However, I intend to keep on going because in some countries, particularly in the USA and parts of Europe, archaeology is still treated as a serious academic subject and has not fallen victim to the cadre of mediocre racist science deniers who have infiltrated our education system. 

Notes.

[1] I refer explicitly in this case to Professor Niell Marshall - Former Post-graduate dean and enabler of Dr Jane Wester a self confessed "expert in Iron Age Building Cosmology".

While "Cosmology" is a big word [Neill],  so is "tautology" and it's criminal that you and your colleagues can't grasp such basic evidential principles, and cannot recognise or admit you are defrauding your students by faith based teaching. 

I retain a special affection for Professor Ian Haynes ["I wish I could help you Geoff, but I don't want to stabbed in the back by the people who stabbed, - I have my career to think about"], for his complicity in this duplicity.

[2] Wilmott, T., [ed]. 2009. Hadrian's Wall: Archaeological Research by English Heritage .(NB. p. 114 the pollen James Wells p. 116 The plant macrofossils, Allan Hall, )

Understanding Hadrian's Wall ~ Part III ~ The Hidden Disaster Video . . .

Please excuse the delay, Part III has been on adventure, it disappeared off on a weeks unscheduled leave to digital Neverland.
The Theoretical Structural Archaeology data centre asynchronous binary server farm suffered a failure - a real black screen job.  There are some things in life you can't fix with a trowel or a hammer. However, as a result of my misspent midlife in the real world, my little dark grey Chinese friend now has a new hard disc, and is now operating in new two digit windows environment, which is shedding new light on an old, and as it turns out,  somewhat incompatible system.
To cut a long and stressful week short, all was recovered and rehoused to a new Seagate home with a new windows to look out of by 5.20 am on the Sunday of the following week.
I can only apologise for the quality, particularly the sound, hopefully, this and other technical issues have been addressed.

In the future, I may re-edit these first three this as a single more succinct video, as well as producing a more technical [ / more boring] video about the archaeology of the Wall.

Hopefully, we can get on with some videos about prehistoric buildings, and how this conflicts with the views of the imaginary people interacting the imaginary landscapes in the imagination of academics.  Walk through 3d graphics don't work well in PPS.
I would like to thank my family, and friends, particularly Andy and Raph for their support, even Guy Opperman, for at least being prepared to listen, although Heritage & Higher Education hardly registers MP's corruption radar.
Special Thanks to The Beacon Club, Hexham.

Burnt Bridges
 I do now have a Macmillan nurse and a couple operations coming up soon, so it was important for me to stake a claim to these ideas because Jane Webster and Neill Marshall have ensured they cannot be accepted while I am alive. Thanks to Prof Andrew for explaining the facts of death to my Mother, she now understands this is the only way forward for my work.
I wanted to go into full on iconoclastic mode, but I have railed about duplicitous mendacious academics completely unconscious of their own conceits, and the decent of another institution into the post-truth zeitgeist, many times before.  After all, power, without the freedom to abuse it, is just a responsibility, which is why allowing universities a monopoly and their staff a job for life has been a disaster for archaeology.
I hope this video demonstrates, that while narratives may appear credible to the school leavers, the most credulous of whom will go on teach them, a lot of what you are sold by universities can be debunked in short order by a return to a traditional evidence based approach to archaeology.

Caveat Emptor

Select Bibliography

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Aviam, Mordechai. 2007, The archaeological illumination of Josephus’ narrative of the battles at Yodefat and Gamla.

Bennett, Julian. 2000, (Roman Imperial Biographies) Trajan: Optimus Princeps

Bidwell, P T, 2005 'The system of obstacles on Hadrian's Wall; their extent, date and purpose', Arbeia J, 8, 53-76.

Bidwell, Paul T.; Watson, Moira. 1989 'A Trial Excavation on Hadrian's Wall at Buddle Street, Wallsend'. Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th ser., 17 (1989), 21-28.

Birley, Anthony R, 2005, The Roman Government of Britain

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Caius Julius Caesar, Commentaries on the Civil War William Duncan, Ed.

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Frain T. ,McKelvey J. ,& Bidwell P. 2005 Excavations and watching brief along the berm of Hadrian’s Wall at Throckley, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 2001-2002. Arbeia J, 8 53-76.

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Wilmott, T., [ed]. 2009. Hadrian's Wall: Archaeological Research by English Heritage ; (p. 114 the pollen James Wells p. 116 The plant macrofossils, Allan Hall, )

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On Line

Wilmott,T., TheTurfWall https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/archaeological.services/research_training/hadrianswall_research_framework/project_documents/TurfWall.pdf

http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/archaeological.services/research_training/hadrianswall_research_framework/project_documents/Carrawburghrev.pdf

http://www.roman-britain.org/places/brocolitia.htm

http://www.arbeiasociety.org.uk/journal.htm

Hadrian’s Wall Archaeological Research by English Heritage 1976–2000edited by Tony Wilmott http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1416-1/dissemination/pdf/9781848021587_all.pdf

Texts

Caius Julius Caesar De Bello Gallico VII.73 [De Bello Gallico and Other Commentaries English translation by W. A. MacDevitt, introduction by Thomas De Quincey (1915) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10657]

C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001

The Military Institutions of the Romans (De Re Militari) by Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Translated from the Latin by Lieutenant John Clarke, translation published in 1767. Etext version by Mads Brevik (2001)

http://www.digitalattic.org/home/war/vegetius/

Polybius, Histories

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0234

Inscriptions

http://www.romanbritain.org/epigraphy/rib_hadrianswall.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4d/Via_Munita.png Roman Road; Via Munita [from Smith, W. 1875. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. John Murray, London.

Illustrations

This Video uses based on images from Google Earth: http://www.google.com/earth/index.html 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Agricola.Campaigns.78.84.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Bronze_head_of_Hadrian_found_in_the_River_Thames_in_London.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Statue_of_Hadrian_from_Tel_Shalem.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian#/media/File:Roman_Empire_125.png

* * * * * * *

  Special Guest  Non-appearance

                           

Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Museums 

                          

~ Horse Toilets  ~

Hodgson N. & Bidwell P. T. Auxiliary Barracks in a New Light: Recent 

Discoveries on Hadrian's Wall.   Britannia Vol. 35 (2004), pp. 121-157

                           

Truly this is the death of reason 

& the most fantastic  thing ever 

published in a peer reviewed journal

R.I.P Britannia 

The Journal of Romano-British and Kindred Horse Sanitation Studies