Newsletter 60

The Gask Frontier Project

In last November's newsletter I reported on a Roman project in Scotland which was being screened by BBC2's Time Flyers programme. The project is being run by husband and wife team, Dr David Woolliscroft and Dr Birgitta Hoffmann, who are both now based at Liverpool University. Full details of the project are published and kept up-to-date on the this marvelous website: www.theromangaskproject.org For those without Internet access here is a brief account of the work being carried out.

The project is a long-term programme to study the Roman Frontier works on and around the Gask Ridge in Perthshire. The Ridge at around 70 metres above sea level lies between the Scottish Highland massif and Fife, and forms part of a corridor northwards towards the coastal strip of richer agricultural land that extends to the Moray Firth. It includes such famous sites as Ardoch and the legionary fortress of Inchtuthill (Pinnata Castra).

It is the earliest Roman land frontier in Britain (or even The Roman Empire), built in the 80's AD, 40 years before Hadrian's Wall and 60 years before the Antonine Wall.

For the last five years Dr Woolliscroft's team has been engaged in an intensive campaign of surveys, excavation, and archival work, which has included, where necessary, the preparation of past research for publication. Recent evidence from this work suggests that the Romans were in occupation here much longer than had previously been thought. This means Petilius Cerealis' campaign against the Northern tribes in the early 70's AD must have been far more extensive and more permanent than the historian Tacitus would have us believe. He gave the credit solely to his father-in-law Argricola in the early 80's.

The whole line was abandoned in 86-87 AD soon after Agricola (the then governor) had been recalled back to Rome by the jealous Emperor Domitian. You will notice in our programme that Dr Woolliscroft has kindly agreed to give our society a talk in November on this very important work.