Hunting For Hadrian

News And Star ^ | 1-25-2007

[blam]

Hunting for Hadrian

Published on 25/01/2007

HISTORIANS hope to unearth evidence that Roman emperor Hadrian once stayed in a fort along the magnificent wall bearing his name.

Archaeologists will be digging along Hadrian’s Wall this summer in an attempt to confirm speculation about why and when it was built.

They hope their work at Vindolanda in Northumbria will prove that the emperor once stayed there on a visit to the wall, as well as unlocking secrets about the Roman army and people’s political and social lives.

The 73-mile stone barrier – stretching east to west from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth – stood as the empire’s most imposing frontier for 300 years.

Now a BBC documentary will question the wall’s purpose and whether it was designed to keep people in or out.

And those who live and work along its path say producers of Timewatch: Hadrian’s Wall were amazed by what they found.

Vineet Lal, director of branding and communications for Hadrian’s Wall, said: “The Timewatch production team admitted that they had only previously scratched the surface where Hadrian’s Wall was concerned.

“They were genuinely surprised by some of the beautiful scenery in Cumbria and North East England and their filming has captured perfectly the landscapes that surround Hadrian’s Wall with stunning aerial photography.”

Among the places featured in the documentary, which will be screened on BBC Two at 9pm on Friday, is Tullie House museum in Carlisle.

Timewatch will use state-of-the art graphics to bring the wall and its people back to life while detailing the preservative and forensic processes used to reveal astonishing Roman treasures.

Producers say an extraordinary collection of archaeological findings bring a unique understanding – not just about those who build and defended the wall – but of the Romans whose empire dominated Europe for half a millennium.

Even almost 2,000 years after Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of the wall, opinion remains divided about its purpose.

It was presumed to have been a defensive wall to keep warring barbarians out, but historians have argued that it was built in peaceful times and that its real purpose was as a customs frontier.

An earlier dig at Vindolanda found 1,500 Roman letters written by the commanders, soldiers, slaves and their families on the northern frontier.

Hadrian’s Wall Heritage, the organisation responsible for the marketing and preservation on the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site, has put together a Timewatch itinerary which will assist visitors inspired by the programme who want to visit the wall and find out more.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Archealogists found SCENERY??? and VIEWS???

I was hoping for coins, bones, or scrolls.

[MamaB]

Have you seen all of the shows on the History Channel about all of digging going on in different places? It is a very interesting show.

[sphinx]

It was presumed to have been a defensive wall to keep warring barbarians out, but historians have argued that it was built in peaceful times and that its real purpose was as a customs frontier.

Nonsense. If it was a taxing station it would never have been abandoned. People would still be paying tolls to pass.

[Sam Cree]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Hadrian%27s_wall_at_Greenhead_Lough.jpg

[PzLdr]

Once again somebody forgot that the Romans built another wall [wooden] north of Hadrian's Wall - twice. The walls probably served both purposes. The Roman Army patrolled north of Hadrian's Wall, so there had to be some defensive purpose in mind.

[colorado tanker]

It is a really beautiful area, but it must have seemed very cold and lonely in winter to the Romans.

I can't buy the idea of a customs barrier. No need for such an impressive stonework and so many troops to do that and I'm not aware of any area of the Empire where there was a comparable barrier for customs purposes, not even in areas that would have seen much more cross-border commerce such as Syria and Armenia.

[SunkenCiv]

Subtitled, "Where the Boys Are". ;')

[blam]

"Subtitled, "Where the Boys Are". ;')"

Connie Francis?

[SunkenCiv]

Wall be darned. ;') Thanks Blam.

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[SunkenCiv]

Whoops.

[metesky]

Raiders from both the English and Scottish sides of the wall commenced fighting back and forth over the border almost as soon as the Romans left, sometimes organized by the countries themselves, but many as simple reivers and thieves organized by clans and families.

This reiving became endemic and went on for centuries until finally stopped when the two kingdoms were united under James the VI and I late in the 16th and early 17th centuries.

A very good book on the great Border reiving clans is George MacDonald Fraiser's "The Steel Bonnets". The area was home to some of the hardest men in Anglo/Scots history and the Clans gave us at least two presidents (Johnson and Nixon).

[Hegemony Cricket]

"reiving" - new word to me - THANKS! :-)

[lepton]

So maybe it was a both-ways wall? ...like sending both kids to their own rooms because they just won't stop fighting?

[metesky]

I certainly don't know the original purpose, but it did become a two-way wall in the end with the Scotch Clans riding against the English Families, the Families against the Clans and through centuries of inter-marriage, sometimes there would be alliances of Clan/Family against some perceived common enemy or just against somebody who had more than they.

Great thieves and the inventers of blackmail.

[SunkenCiv]

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