Over 100 previously unknown Iron Age settlements found north of Hadrian's Wall


In the UK, a study of the area north of Hadrian's Wall turned up more than 100 previously undiscovered Iron Age communities.

The 134 locations are Native American communities that predate Roman occupancy. The journal Antiquity on Tuesday released a report outlining the conclusions.

In what is now northern England, Hadrian's Wall was built starting in 122 AD and served as the northernmost limit of the Roman Empire. About 20 years later, when the Roman Empire continued to grow, they constructed the Antonine Wall across what is now the middle of Scotland. However, this was just a temporary enlargement, and the border eventually returned to Hadrian's Wall.

In order to understand more about the roads, forts, camps, and recognizable walls the Romans utilized in their struggle to rule northern Britain, the Roman portion of this area has received the majority of academic attention.

The head of archaeology at The University of Edinburgh's School of History, Classics, and Archaeology in Scotland, Manuel Fernández-Götz, is keen to learn more about the influence Roman control had on the lives of indigenous Iron Age populations in Britain.

According to study author Fernández-Götz via email, "This is one of the most fascinating locations of the Empire, since it constituted its northernmost boundary and also because Scotland was one of very few places in Western Europe over which the Roman army never succeeded to establish full authority."

Therefore, it's a perfect case study to examine the effects of imperial powers on communities on the periphery of their political frontiers — a concept that is equally pertinent to succeeding historical eras.

Through August 2024, he will oversee a project titled "Beyond Walls: Reassessing Iron Age and Roman Encounters in Northern Britain" that will examine a region extending from Durham to the southern Scottish Highlands. The initiative started in September 2021 and is supported by the Leverhulme Trust in the UK.

The initial phase of study has focused on examining the area around the Burnswark Hill fort in southwest Scotland, where Roman troops concentrated their efforts as the Roman Empire sought to advance northward. This area is 579 square miles (1,500 square kilometers) in size.

Roman bullets have been recovered in the highest concentration in Britain at this location, demonstrating the weaponry that these legions were bringing with them. For many years, the authors of the research claimed that northern Britain was a "fluctuating frontier territory characterized by dynamic patterns of confrontation and exchange between Iron Age people and the Roman state."

Although there are few documented records from this historical period, the landscape still has human traces that might add further information.

A group of archaeologists, including Fernández-Götz, examined lidar data for the region. Lasers are used in lidar, or light and detection range, to take 3D pictures of an area. 134 previously unreported communities were discovered using the lidar data, despite the fact that this region had previously been extensively examined.

In essence, areas in a landscape that may be easily missed if you were to analyze it from the ground or the air are revealed by lidar, according to Fernández-Götz.

A lot of previously undiscovered knowledge is being revealed in this area, he added, where new technologies and new methods of looking are truly making a difference.

With it, there are now 704 Iron Age villages in the area. Small farmsteads make up many of these recently discovered sites. The buildings were crucial to how these Iron Age people lived, not merely the defenses of the affluent and powerful.

They assist in developing a picture of how the majority of the population lived, including how near they were to their nearest neighbors and if they may have used the area for farming and grazing animals. stated Fernández-Götz.

While it's obvious that there was a lot of friction between the locals and the Roman army, he said that there may have also been instances of communication and cooperation, such as when local farmers were connected to the extensive logistical supply lines that supplied the Roman army.

According to the researchers, the locations of the sites show that there was a pattern of organization underlying the timing and location of these Indigenous tribes' settlement.

The importance of many newly undiscovered sites lies in their contribution to our ability to recreate settlement patterns, according to study coauthor Dave Cowley, manager of Historic Environment Scotland's aerial survey program. Individually, they are extremely regular, but taken together, they allow us to better grasp the environment in which the native inhabitants lived.

In order to get a deeper understanding of these communities and the individuals who created them, archaeologists will review some of the significant finds discovered thus far using geophysical instruments and radiocarbon dating. Their research might provide a picture of life before, during, and after the Roman occupation, as well as how much the imperialists disturbed daily life in the region.

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