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

Arthur E Gordon. 1983, Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy

Austin L,Egan, S, Clarke, S, & Kirby G & Millward D. The geology and geodynamics of the Northumberland Trough Region: Insights from mathematical modelling, Earth Sciences and Geography, School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, Keele University.

Aviam, M., 2007, The Archaeological illumination of Josephus; in Making History: Josephus And Historical Method, edited by Zuleika Rodgers, pp. 354 -355, 361-2, 381.

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

Birley, Anthony, R. 2013; [Roman Imperial Biographies] Hadrian: The Restless Emperor

Birley, R. 2009 Vindolanda: A Roman Frontier Fort on Hadrian’s Wall. Amberley

Bramwell, M., [ed]. 1982. The international book of wood. London.

Breeze, D.J. 2003. "Warfare in Britain and the Building of Hadrian's Wall." Archaeologia Aeliana 32, 13 –16.

Breeze, David J.1982, Northern Frontiers of Roman Britain, Harper Collins

Brown, D. J., 2005, Bridges: three thousand years of defying nature. NB. The Sant'Angelo bridge, built for Hadrian in AD

Burley R 2009, Vindolanda A Roman fort on Hadrians Wall. Amberley ISBN978-1-84868-210-8

Caius Julius Caesar "De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries English translation by W. A. MacDevitt, introduction by Thomas De Quincey (1915) ]Lewis, Charlton, T. An Elementary Latin Dictionary. New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago. American Book Company. 1890.

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

Cambell, Brian. 2008, Roman Britain (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World)

Codrington, T. 1903 Roman Roads in Britain: the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London.

Collingwood Bruce, J.1966. Handbook to The Roman Wall. J. . Published by Hindson & Andrew Reid Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne

Conybeare, Edward, 1903 Early Britain--Roman Britain

Dumayne L. and Barber K.E. 1994, The impact of the Romans on the environment of northern England: pollen data from three sites close to Hadrian's Wall, The Holocene, June 1994 vol. 4 no. 2 165-173

Dunning,. G. C. 1945, Two Fires in Roman London', Ant. J. 25 (1945) 48-77.

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.

Frere, S. 1974. Britannia. Cardinal Books. P 156–7

Gibson, J.P. & Simpson, F.G. 1911. "The Milecastle on the Wall of Hadrian at the Poltross Burn"; Trans. CWAAS XI (New Series) Art XXIII pp390–461

Graafstal, Erik P.: 2012, Hadrian's haste: a priority programme for the Wall. Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th Series, vol 41, 123–84

Hanson, C.,O. 1934. Forestry for Woodmen. Oxord press.

Haverfield, F. 1897. "Report of the Cumberland Excavation Committee, 1896," TransCumberland Westmorland Antiq Archaeol Soc, o ser, 14, 413-433

Heywood, B. 1965. "The Vallum- its problems restated," in M G Jarrett and B Dobson (eds). Britain and Rome: essays presented to Eric Birley. (Kendal), 85-94

Hill, P. R. 2006. The construction of Hadrian's Wall. Tempus

Hodgson, E. 1897. "Notes on the Excavations on the line of the Roman Wall in Cumberland in 1894 and 1895," Trans Cumberland Westmorland Antiq Archaeol Soc, o ser, 14, 390-407.

Ireland, Stanley. 2008, Roman Britain (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World)

Jenkins, J G. 1978. Traditional country craftsmen. Routledge & Kegan Paul

Kay N.W. [ed]. 1946. The Practical carpenter and Joiner Illustrated. Odhams Press

Keppie, Lawrence. 1991 Understanding Roman Inscriptions -

Leutscher, A. 1969. Field natural history: A guide to ecology. Bell, London.

Mattingly, D. 2006. An Imperial Possession; Britain in the Roman Empire 54BC--AD409. Penguin: Allen Lane.

More, D., & Fitter, A. 1980. Trees. Collins Gem Guide

Perring, Dominic. Roman London B (P72).

Platell, A. C.: Excavations on Hadrian's Wall at Melbourne Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. 5th Series, vol 41, 185–206

Powell, Lindsay. 2017 The Bar Kokhba War AD 132–135: The Last Jewish Revolt Against Imperial Rome.

Press, B. 1992. The field guide to the trees of Britain and Europe. New Holland, London.

Publius Papinius Statius, c. AD 95. Extract from Via Domitiana Silvae 4.3

Rayner,Dorothy H.1980 Stratigraphy of the British Isles, Cambridge University Press

Rodgers, Zuleika (ed). 2006 Making History: Josephus and Historical Method (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism)

Roskams, Steve & Watson, Lez 1981 `The Hadrianic fire of London - a reassessment of the evidence' London Archaeol 4, 1981 62-6

Sigurðardóttir , S. 2008, Building with Turf; English version by Nancy Marie Brown ISBN 978-9979-9757-4-8

Simpson F. G. and I. A. Richmond I.A., 1935, The Turf Wall of Hadrian, 1895-1935, The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 25, (1935), pp. 1-18

Welfare, H. 2004. ‘Variation in the form of the ditch, and of its equivalents, on Hadrian’s Wall’. Archaeologia Aeliana, ser 5, 33, 9-24

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, )

Wood, Eric S., 1973, Collins Field Guide To Archaeology In Britain, Book Club Associates, (first published 1967) After fig. 7, p132

Woolliscroft, D.J., Excavations at Garnhall on the line of the Antonine Wall., Proc Soc Antiq Scot 138 (2008), 129–176

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

The Northern Frontier; lilies, Latin, and illiteracy

Some readers, new to archaeology, particularly students like those on MOOC courses, discover that the evidence based arguments about Roman Military archaeology found on this blog , are not well received by their tutors.  It is important to understand that many academics can only understand archaeology when it is written down, having no experience of real archaeological interpretation. As a result, the text of an archaeological report, rather than the evidence can become an article of faith, and ideas become embedded at a fundamental level, immovable objects, that actual serve to inhibit understand in the subject.

Ideas developed around the evidence for a primary timber phase of Hadrian's Wall, based on the reevaluating archaeological evidence from an engineering point of view, have produced the only cohesive, coherent, and consistent account of the early phases of the Wall. [here]  However, while this blog may give the readers the arguments to deconstruct existing ideas, that is not the name of the game.

Disappointingly, for students, it is a game, a bit like Chess, only more expensive, in that the board and its pieces are fixed, you may not bring in pieces from other games or remove any existing pieces; the object is to remove the pieces from the box and arrange them in the correct order, going beyond this and start making moves is to lose.

It is not just using the evidence, but arguments about the engineering of timber structures is also going to get a chilly reaction; what cuts ice in Roman studies is Latin.

#BlogArch – Where is it all leading?

Over at Doug’s Archaeology Blog the final question for next month’s #blogarch SAA session on blogging is where are you going with blogging or would you it like to go? 
While having spent half my lifetime working on this methodology, I have always had an end in mind, but what I have deduced from this research was utterly unexpected. The ideal end product was always envisaged as a 3D CAD model, and the internet is now the obvious place to present one. But, to cut to the chase, the core of the issue is Peer Review; While it is technically possible to publish a 3D presentation on the internet, how do you peer review a CAD Model?
While Universities are the natural forum for research, reverse engineering structures was never going to work at a zombie department like Newcastle who had even thrown their CAD system away; and my work was branded worthless by their “cosmologist”.  [Caveat emptor]
Ironically, the subsequent decision to blog my research made it worthless, for nothing provided for free has value in terms of the academic system.  Furthermore, it had become apparent that any research that challenges the existing commercial narrative will never be supported by any of the existing stakeholders.
Originally, Iron Age Roundhouses were a key focus, but since most people imagine they have seen one, this is probably now beyond rational redemption.  However, blogging has allowed me to follow a variety of entirely different routes, and to challenge the rationality aspects of peer reviewed Roman archaeology.  The idea of peer review is that it is a firewall that keeps the nonsense out, although in reality it can serve to protect and perpetuate the nonsense already inside.

Quick Case Study; The Archaeology of Stupid Scottish People
As a result of my work on Hadrian's Timber Wall, a colleague sought my opinion on the "Lilia" at Rough Castle, a Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland,  I was not entirely convinced, but I have reserved judgment, - for several years.