Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
In the past few decades the Roman fort at Vindolanda has had some of the most extraordinary finds from the northern frontier of the Roman Empire that have truly changed our understanding of life in the Roman army. The site lies near Hadrian’s Wall in a remote countryside in Northumberland, England and was part of the original frontier line in this location in the late first century CE. Decades of excavation at the site have given us an extraordinary view into the lives of soldiers living in this frontier region. Elizabeth Greene has excavated at Vindolanda since 2002, directing trenches in new areas of the site for several years, and will give a presentation focusing on the recent excavations and new hypotheses from this work. Highlights of the presentation concentrate on the extraordinary finds from the site, including Roman shoes, numerous inscriptions and artifacts, as well as the unparalleled corpus of writing tablets (letters and military records), to reveal what life was like on the edge of the Roman empire and how the site has changed many accepted views of life in the Roman army.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:
Birley, R. 2009. Vindolanda: A Roman Frontier Fort on Hadrian’s Wall (Stroud: Amberley Publishing)
Birley, A.R. 2002. Garrison Life at Vindolanda: A Band of Brothers (Gloucestershire: Tempus)
Breeze, D. and B. Dobson. Hadrian’s Wall (Several editions) (London: Penguin)
Greene, E.M. and A. Meyer. 2017. “The North Field excavations at Vindolanda: Preliminary report on the 2009-14 exploratory field seasons,” Mouseion Series III, Vol. 14: 197-251.
A. Birley, A. Meyer, E.M. Greene. 2016. “Recent Discoveries in the Fort and Extramural Settlement at Vindolanda: Excavations from 2009–2015,” Britannia 47: 243-252.
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