Frequently Asked Questions

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Question...	Submited By: David Karunanithy
Congratulations on a truly impressive and informative website! I have been for many years interested in ancient Scotland and its affairs with Rome. From what I have been able to gather the perception is to downplay or even ignore the tantalizing fragments which point to serious, ongoing indigenous resistance. I hope to research and write articles myself on Iron Age warfare in Scotland. The combination of archaeological evidence for Iron Age military artefacts, Roman sculpture depicting native warriors and papyrus fragments (Vindolanda) alongside literary sources and inference from Irish heroic poetry and the later Picts builds an interesting picture as to how warfare was most likely conducted by these tribal groupings. I look forward very much to in future reading more excellent articles on your site. Well done to all involved! David

Response...	Date: 1/28/2010 Subject: General
Thanks for your kind feedback. The website is a team effort and takes a lot of time from all involved. It is always appreciated when people take the time to contact us you have done and let us know they are enjoying it. We agree with the point you make. Academia from the 70`s onwards has, in many cases, a lot to answer for. We would guess that they railed against an older antiquarian viewpoint which envisioned Hadrian's Wall - for example - under constant Pictish attack day in day out. Their reaction seems to have been however not to set out to suggest that this was not the case and argue for the correct gambit of relations between the tribes and Rome, but to marginalise such events that we know did happen, ignore, or even pretend that they never even happened! Thankfully this is an approach we can readily challenge using the primary sources written by the ancients themselves, not the modern secondary sources which in the main appear to take inspiration from various -now ingrained-modern academic schools of thought. These - in themselves secondary sources - have been so thoroughly recycled since the 70's that for many they are now an article of faith, regardless of what the ancients tell us in their writings to the contrary! At Roman Scotland we have so far literally only scratched the surface, there is plenty more coming. We are currently working on late Roman campaigns in Scotland; an absolutely fascinating - and ever expanding - "epic" of a research topic! Why not sign up for our newsletter, this lets people know when we launch new pieces of work on the site. Kind regards Euan

Question...	Submited By: Bruce Hall
Have any archealogical finds been made at the Dunning site? Are there likely any to be found that can identify it as linked to Mons Graupius?

Response...	Date: 1/9/2010 Subject: General
We touch on the likelihood or otherwise of artefacts from the fighting being found at the site of Mons Graupius in our article - see the section "The Sources Available ". We mentioned in the Lomond Hills contender that the Roman spearhead found there - now in the National Museum of Scotland - is the only known artefact from any of the contending sites so far and that would by default include Dunning. To be fair to the Clevage Hills site at Dunning however we feel it is only right to point out that we were the first to associate these hills as the area of the fighting only last year, so the Clevage Hills have not enjoyed a long pedigree for finds to be sought or indeed recognised in their correct historical context. In contrast, correspondents have advised us that some long recognised contending sites such as Bennachie (for example) have been searched on and off without any artefacts of the fight ever being found. On the other hand we must not let its huge size blind us to the obvious; the site contains the enormous Roman marching camp at Dunning. This camp is the correct size (based on capacities recorded by Polybius) to accommodate the number of troops we have reasoned Agricola had with him - based on what is included in Tacitus`s writings. Its morphology (proportions) are universally accepted as belonging to the Flavian period, the time of the battle. So to answer your question; yes an artefact has been found. It is not a piece of equipment such as armour, spearhead or cloakbroach, nor indeed of human remains but is the upstanding remains of the defended bivouac of the Roman army. Lastly, we would appeal to anyone enthused and intent on visiting the site with a metal detector to do so only under the aegis of a respected metal detecting club working in full consultation with Scotland's Treasure Trove procedure - and only with the permission of the landowners. And if you find anything don`t forget to let us know

Question...	Submited By: Menno de Fouw
Right on the spot!! It was Jedburgh Abbey! As I can recall there is also small explanation sign somewhere in the neighbourhood or on the Abby's premesis that speaks of an small square-like outpost-fort that would have stood outside the wall's boundaries. Perhaps the stone's origin lays there? On the stone itself it was clearly statet were these "lads" came from. I wil have to look up the photo's as we must have photographed it. Many thanks for the splendit way you've answered my question! Kind regards

Response...	Date: 12/26/2009 Subject: Location
Glad to assist.

Question...	Submited By: Menno de Fouw
I was in scotland for holiday and discovered in the borders area a church monastry with the regimental honor stone incaseded in this church. It dislpayed an ode to the calvary unit that was stationed there at that time and came from now a days germany and clould be at least 1500 years old when we saw it. Could you assist me finding it again?

Response...	Date: 12/25/2009 Subject: Location
Based on what you have said I would hazard a guess that you were at the Abbey in the border town of Jedburgh. There are several carved Roman stones there which were used in the building of the Abbey (12th - 15th C AD). The first stone records a unit of spearmen (Gaesatorum) under their Tribune Julius Severus. It has been speculated that this unit may have been Raetian in origin. Another stone specifically records the First Cohort of Vardullians under their tribune C. Quintus Severus. Both therefore relate to infantry units, not cavalry as an "ala" is the term for a cavalry unit. Raetia was the territory now occupied by central and eastern Switzerland, southern Bavaria, upper Swabia and parts of both Tyrol and Lombardy. The Vardullian unit originated in northern Spain. We know they certainly were the garrison of the Antonine wallfort of Castlecary in the mid 2nd C AD. The stones will have been brought to Jedburgh from an - as yet - unidentified site. The nearest known Roman site to Jedburgh is Cappuck fort while the large fort at Newstead (Trimontium) is not too far away to the north. The stones are reckoned to date to the 3rd C AD. Given the poor relations between Scotland and England for much of the period that Jedburgh Abbey was being built then it seems unlikely that the stones were brought north across the border from Roman sites in the north of England, situated a not inconsiderable distance away to the south over the Cheviot Hills. This then suggests that a fort site - somewhere not too far removed from Jedburgh as stone is a very heavy commodity to transport long distances - was occupied during the 3rd C AD, probably in the Severan period (the Emperors Septimus Severus and Caracalla). Hope this has been of assistance.

Question...	Submited By: Ben MacLeod
Are any of the "mons" in Caledonia shaped like a horse's shoe or horse's shoes?

Response...	Date: 12/24/2009 Subject: General
There will no doubt be some, particularly deep within the mountain ranges of the highlands, however such a pronounced re-entrant profile as a fully formed "U" shape is more likely to be formed by the lie of the land created by a series of hills, particularly in relation to a water course rather than an individual hill alone. Glenmouths are a fine example but there is usually a watercourse running down the middle of these - see the Fortingall and Fendoch sites. The alternative Bennachie Chapel of Garrioch, Gask ridge Cairnie Braes, and Mormond Hill sites all have concave theatre like profiles though not as pronounced as the horseshoe "U" shape you refer to. See the "Contenders" section of our Mons Graupius article for plans of these sites. We trust this has been of assistance.

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