Archaeopress Roman Sites Series – serie

The Roman fort at Bearsden and its annexe, together with areas beyond its defences, were extensively excavated from 1973 to 1982. The report on these excavations was published in 2016. This ‘popular’ account of the discoveries looks at the material recovered from the site in a different way, examining the process of archaeological excavation, the life of the soldiers at the fort based on the results of the excavation as well as material from elsewhere in the Roman Empire, the presentation and interpretation of the bath-house and latrine, and a discussion of possible future work arising out of the excavation. The excavation report was well illustrated with reconstruction drawings and the process of creating these is also discussed.

The collection of Roman inscribed stones and sculpture, together with other Roman objects found at Maryport in Cumbria, is the oldest archaeological collection in Britain still in private hands. Today, it is housed in the Senhouse Roman Museum on Sea Brows to the north of the modern town of Maryport. Beside the museum the earthworks of the Roman fort may still be seen, and beyond it, though not visible, lies a large civil settlement revealed through geophysical survey and the scene of two recent excavations. 'Maryport: A Roman Fort and its community' places the collection in context and describes the history of research at the site. Maryport, although at the north-western edge of the Roman Empire, provides material of international importance for our understanding of the Roman state.

Wroxeter: Ashes under Uricon offers a perspective on how people over time have viewed the abandoned Roman city of Wroxeter in Shropshire. It responds to three main artistic outputs relating to the site: poetry, images and texts. The poets include Wilfred Owen, A.E. Housman and Mary Webb. The writers cover a range of interests relating to the site but include Darwin, Dickens, Rosemary Sutcliff and John Buchan. The artists are perhaps less well-known but include watercolours by Thomas Girtin, archaeological reconstructions by Alan Sorrell and Amedée Forrestier, and paintings by Wroxeter’s own resident artist, Thomas Prytherch. Photographs are represented by the work of Francis Bedford and others more closely associated with aerial archaeology such as J.K. St Joseph and Arnold Baker.While the famous names have their value, The book also investigates what locals and visitors thought of the site over time – how they perceived it and have responded to it. It reflects in particular upon how the public and locals responded to the archaeological discoveries on the site and perceived the narratives that were created by the archaeologists working on it. It contends that archaeologists are just as much story-tellers as the writers, poets or artists, although their work is more filtered or controlled, and through these narratives, they inspire others.A further strand to the book is to explore the increasing focus over the past century on the democratisation of access to and understanding of the site, alongside increasing state intervention in its running. This too has had its impact on who visits and what is understood about the site. A short concluding section offers a vision of how the site might develop in the near-future, and how its cultural side might flourish once again.