Elginhaugh Roman Fort was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

of the 1st century AD, located in

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Elginhaugh is the most completely excavated timber-built auxiliary fort in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. The site of the Flavian (1st century) fort lies 1 km to the west of the modern town of

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; , ) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1541. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle (now Dalkeith Pala ...

, south-east of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. The fort, discovered in 1979 by aerial reconnaissance, takes its name from the nearby hamlet of Elginhaugh. It was fully excavated, along with much of its large annexe, during 1986-87 by Dr William Hanson. The excavation confirmed the broad consistency of auxiliary fort plans (in terms of general layout and the identification of specific building types), but highlighted their individual uniqueness in relation to plan detail. Of particular importance, in relation to the traditional interpretation of fort plans, is the recognition that it was the norm to house horses and men together in stable-barracks, whose number and disposition indicate that the fort cannot have housed any single standard unit, and was probably occupied by a vexillation of cavalry. Extensive examination of the annexe highlights the ancillary, probably military, character of the activities taking place there and emphasises, in contrast with the fort, substantive changes in use over a relatively short time-span.

History

The primary role of the fort was probably to guard the nearby ford where

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman roads, Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond int ...

, a vitally important north-south Roman route, crossed the river North Esk, a tributary of the River Esk, Lothian. Thus it served as a garrison post (''

castellum A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually: * a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of (' military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It is distinct from a , which ...

'') as part of the more permanent consolidation of Roman control in Scotland during and immediately after the campaigns of

Gnaeus Julius Agricola Gnaeus Julius Agricola (; 13 June 40 – 23 August 93) was a Roman general and politician responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. Born to a political family of senatorial rank, Agricola began his military career as a military tribu ...

. The fort’s occupation is closely dated to c. AD 79-87 by associated coin evidence, including a foundation hoard from the ''principia'' (headquarters building). There is also unique evidence that the site continued to function as a collection centre for animals after the garrison had departed: the interior of the fort was cobbled over, two additional wells were dug and ditches inserted across the annexe to funnel livestock.

Finds

The site provides a very precise dating horizon for a wide range of associated artefactual material. Of particular importance is the evidence of the local manufacture of coarse pottery and indication that the garrison used hand-held artillery pieces. An extensive programme of environmental analysis provided insight into issues of local environment and food supply.

The coin hoard

The Elginhaugh coin hoard is a group of 45 '' denarii'' which provides the ''

terminus post quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

'' dating of AD 77-78 for the construction of the fort and was argued by the excavators to represent a foundation deposit for the ''Principia''. The validity of this dating has recently been called into question by David Woolliscroft, who argues that the coin hoard is unsuitable for this purpose as only 21 of the 45 coins in the hoard were actually found in a single, stacked deposit - of these, the latest was dated to AD 71. The dating of AD 77-78 comes from a single coin closely associated with the hoard, but not securely from within it.

History

Finds

The coin hoard

References

Further reading