The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 150 • W.S.Hanson
around 1900, and subsequently their extent has been augmented by aerial survey and tested by
excavation, indicating that they stretch for some 40 km at intervals of between 800 m and 1,500
m (Figure 8.9). There is still disagreement about the precise date and context of this system, but
a link with Agricola’s halt on the Fort-Clyde isthmus seems at present the best explanation and
would make this the earliest artificially defined frontier in the Roman Empire.
Campaigning was resumed, probably as the result of a change of emperor, and the complete
conquest of the island was clearly the intention. However, a serious military setback in Dacia in
eastern Europe resulted in the withdrawal of troops from Britain to the Danube frontier and the
concomitant failure to consolidate the conquest of the north, reminding us that Britain was just
one small, remote province in a huge empire, and that decisions that affected it were not necessarily
always taken entirely with local considerations in mind.
For the next 130 years, the history of the northern frontier involves the search for a convenient
limit to Roman occupation. On the Continent, the great rivers of the Rhine and Danube provided
ready demarcators of Roman territory. In Britain, the geographical choice lay between the isthmuses
of the Tyne-Solway and Forth-Clyde, though with variations on this theme. These variations give
some clue to the Roman attitude towards frontiers and their function, though these subjects are
still much debated.
Figure 8.9 Plan of the Gask frontier.