The akwardness of spanning from thread to blog to gallery has been solved by Viggen's suggestion of a "report" form for the Wall visit-he himself has an excellent report on a visit to Aguntum in the Roman Culture Section .
Sub divided galleries can be used so that areas of interest can be approached more easily than a horizontal trawl through the gallery area. So I aim to produce a "central" hadrians wall gallery and add individual sites as and when the opportunity arises . I envisage a separat
I am waiting for some favourable weather before going on photo recce to the more photogenic parts of the wall. I am presently re-reading Sawley's "Oxford History of Roman Britain", and this gives a good broad brush picture of the military and political activities leading to the construction/modification of the wall. The book strongly conveys the idea that one can consider the areas to the south of the wall being offered "shelter" by the wall to prevent unwholesome combinations of tribes ( inte
I have encountered a case today of a person suffering systemic poisoning by antimony trisulphide. This is fairly unusual , but not impluasible as he has been working with heavy machine bearings which contain an alloy of antimony .Antimony has a very strange history as a medicine, a cosmetic , part of a weapon system and a medieval re-usable laxative. Antimony is toxic if one has more than 100 milligrams in the body, indeed 2 mg is the norm for an adult. Rather unfortunately it has had a long vog
A coincidence of two items leads me to post a little about grain conssumption in the ancient world. Northern Neil fortuitously got hold of some spelt (red wheat) bread from a local (to ourselves) supermarket chain, this particular loaf is very different to any off the shelf product in mass usage.I am presently also writing a review of grain supply vis a vis famine in the classical world, and was struck by the frequency of grain shortages (as opposed to outright famine)
A couple of slices of
The ongoing work at Vindolanda will probably take centuries to come to fruition, a sobering thought, our own words will be history by then. The blog title is the title of the book by Anthony Birley whose family have devoted themselves to the exploration of the site , he himself was born in the house adjacent to the fort and I was priveliged to meet him, very briefly, recently.
The book is an excellent commentary on the Tablets and the great difficulties in retrieval,restoration and interpretati
Here are a few images from an obscure, or perhaps overlooked, Fort . Some work was done after the First WW , but thats about it and we have few artefacts to look at In the present the remains of the fort are quite meagre and tucked away to the rear of a small park area in a major Lake District resort.
http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...si&img=1438
Ambleside is the head of the Lake (Windermere) , and it would seem that we have a Fort with granaries tha are conspicuously overlarg
A name to strike dread into the heart of many UNRV posters. Not as you may assume the Queen of Bythinia , rather we are talking downtown Bronx and Queens. Some recent members will not be aware of the dread shadow that this name casts over such a staid and scholarly forum , a man capable of posts varying from DaDa-ist "happenings" to "stream of consciousness" psychadelica. If Sigmund Freud had a darkest fear I suggest it would be Gaius Octavius, dressed as a giant chicken, perching on the headbo
A most excellent days excursion . I was unable to fly any bird to the lure on this trip, as the resident Peregrine is now retired and of pensionable age-a shame , because they strike hard and you need to have your nerves still and head calm as they swoop in at speed, all very exhilarating if it comes off well. The weather was warm and calm, so that ruled out any possibility of flying the vultures , as decent thermals are needed to get them airborne , also the large Lappet Vulture was resting du
Prithee: Note well that Pertinax will be much Engagde in Venerye the Morrowe..
so what do we have here? Amedieval shopping list?
Emperor :The Eagle, Vulture and Merloun / Lady : The Marlyon
King : The Ger Falcon and Tercel of the Ger Falcon / Young Man :The Hobby
Prince :The Falcon Gentle and the Tercel Gentle / Yeoman :The Goshawk
Duke : The Falcon of the Rock (coastal type) / Poor Man :The Jercel (male goshawk)
Earl : The Falcon Peregrine
Ive dropped a couple of "welded " photos into my "Historic Site" Gallery, they arent meant to be proper exhibits in the sense of cultural/historical importance .I hope members would take a look and give critical feedback, I want to adopt the method to try and get long panoramic shots of certain of the wall sections around York.However if the images are too small for comfortable viewing ill try a different approach.
The welds are now withdrawn -only theMultangular Tower shot remains in Eborac
Not a bad trip to York , the winter sun doesnt help when trying to get panned shots of the walls so I think that will have to wait till spring. The Roman Bath's 'Museum" is in turmoil at present so no shots of that , however the Yorkshire Museum had an excellent array of items. The Walls were a bit tricky because of the lighting conditions so I concentrated on the Gatehouses.The wallls were in part original Roman built and constantly extended in medieval times. I was struck by the fact that the
A rapid scouting trip to check out this pivotal city in the conquest of Britain , both as a Legionary base and a port for the Classis. The sudden onset of bad weather drove me off site , but I was able to get a few useful shots for our information.
http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...si&img=1055
The amphitheatre project continues, the dig is well underway and here is the official site:
http://www.chester.gov.uk/amphitheatre/index.html
as can be seen this is the lar
At Chester Zoo there has been an attempt to re-create a Roman garden , or certain elements of types of garden. The medicinal, the rustic (cottage garden) and the ornamental are represented in an overlapping reconstruction.
The problem with visiting a Zoo is of course the spectacle of large , dumb animals wandering aimlessly and displaying semi-psychotic behaviour , whilst their offspring are never allowed to live in freedom (nor experience a healthy diet). The animals look pretty pissed off a
I am gratified and amused by the learned interest that my image and commentary on Cuckoopint herb has stirred. At first I had thought perhaps there was an urgent cultural need to understand the starching of Elizabethen costume ruffs, I now see that it may have been more related to my initial commentary on the seminal vessels .
The glycosides in this plant are of unknown structure, the other main constituent is a group of acetylated mannans.Large doses administered for sore throats have ca
I return from a fruitful photo sweep of the site of this "behind the Wall" strategic fort excavation.
http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...si&img=1412
Corstopitum is a Stanegate (strategic crosss country road) installation, pre-dating Hadrian's Wall but repeatedly rebuilt as a crucial supply depot and major civilian settlement. Only a fraction of the site has been excavated , but we see that there are some impressive items in the museum , and some worthwhile remains on site.The
The scenario is , you are on patrol 135 AD (or thereabouts) , you are an experienced mounted Auxiliary trooper with 15years service under your belt including a couple of pitched battles and some skirmishing and policing scuffles.Youve picked up a leg wound whilst intercepting some customs dodgers just north of Hadrian's Wall, nasty gash from a spear into the muscle of the calf. You are trained to report in with wounds at the double as no one wants experienced men sitting around gossiping in the
A completely unforseen stroke of luck saw me with a day for selfish recreation, excellent weather and a very fast car.Dea Fortuna and Mercurius will recieve Libation.
I offer you therefore Cilvrinum Fort (Chesters) , I have now pushed further east beyond Vindolanda toward Wallsend ( Segedunum). The weather was glorious, the museum of artefacts is crammed with retrieved inscriptions/altars and the fort bathhouse must have one of the best rustic views in the Empire.
http://www.unrv.com/
Chester's Fort (that is on Hadrian's Wall not Deva the Fort at Chester!) is the subject of a second visit. The collection of artefacts in the site museum repays scrutiny , many are altars and inscriptions of great value saved by local antiquarians working only with private resources and a love of history. That these items are now in the custody of English Hertiage at least means theft and dispoilation cannot befall them.
I dont intend to post the majority of shots in UNRV , rather a selectio
A fast recce to the small local museum in Lancaster, to peruse the Roman exhibits. This is a small municipal museum with limited space but a friendly attitude. I hope to be able to go back very soon and photograph items not on public display for your edification .
Perhaps the most striking finds here are the "Burrow Heads" a series of substantial 3rd C AD monumental carvings that appear to represent The Elements. It is said they were recovered about a mile away from the present city in 1794
Salvete Omnes!
I have returned from Vindolanda and Vercovicium with a massive portfolio of photographs. Dea Fortuna favoured the lone scout from UNRV moving quietly through the early morning mists to steal the images of the special places.I will spend some time editing and paring down , many of the shots I will load onto my own home site ( though its link is still defective) particularly the detailed "object" museum shots . For now I will post a couple of images in the miscellenia gallery .
I have just returned from another photo recce on Hadrian's Wall . This time I moved from the Western extremity of Luguvallum (Carlisle) to meet up with the images already posted for Vindolanda and Vircovicium.
http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=436
Bana is the first major survival to the east of Brampton (eight miles east of Carlisle). It is the present day museum of Birdoswald , housed in an old water mill attached to an austere victorian house. This is the only
I have put together a small selection of pictures, relating to the work of the recently deceased John Davis of LEG II AVG. Nothing fancy, just an indication of the talent and knowledge that has been lost at the passing of this worthy Romanophile.
Firstly we see him with his scales in the booth of the Architectus, here he is weighing the extremely valuable lapis lazuli for crushing into a paint pigment. This is a top of the range Roman colourant , ordinary people would have to make do with th
Before I , hopefully, attend the re-enactment at Banna I would like to clear up the geography of the Eastern extremity of Hadrian's Wall. This is also to indicate the likely extent of any photorecce , as much of the Wall in this area was destroyed by use as building material for the Military Road in the Jacobite Rebellion (c1745).
The other difficulty is that in this area urbanisation has swamped or overgrown the remains of the fortifications.
If you refer to this map section:
http://www.
Arbeia (present day South Shields) was at the Eastern extremity of Hadrian's Wall. The modern town could be described as "post industrial" , with the re-created fort gate and barrack blocks of the fort sitting on a dig site within a late victorian townscape. At Arbeia A T Croom (of Tyne and wear Museums) has worked on the re-creation of Roman furniture , and indeed published a work of that name which i am presently annotating. I would like to show some interesting items that may elicit comment a
I hope to have a little time away in the next week, if all goes to plan I hope to report from Aqua Sullis , Corinnium Dobrunnorum , Vxacona, Vertis , Salinae and Colonia Glevensis. I hope also to look at some Marcher Castles in the Welsh Borders.
As usual the weather will require the indulgence of the Deities at this time of year. Aqua Sullis alone will be photogenic in the rain.So I hope I will have more images for you soon.
