Current Archaeology 164

Current Archaeology number 164 was published in August 1999

Front Cover CA 164

What’s been happening on Hadrian’s Wall? Ever since 1849, there has been a ‘pilgrimage’ of the Wall every 10 years, and the final Pilgrimage of the 20th century takes place from August 14th-21st. As with previous Pilgrimages (see CA17, 116,) a special issue of Current Archaeology is being devoted to Hadrian’s Wall.

  • Wallsend

    • The most impressive projects are at the eastern end of the wall, at Wallsend itself, and at the supply base of South Shields on the South bank of the river Tyne. At both sites a major long term research projects are under way. At Wallsend, much of the interior of the fort is being excavated, and an age-old problem - where were the horses in cavalry barracks? - has been solved. South Shields was in the main a supply base but new light is now being thrown on the barrack arrangements in the southern part of the fort.

  • Birdoswald

    • Half way along the wall at Birdoswald, the former farm house is now being laid out as a study centre, but a recent Geophysical survey has revealed the layout not only of the fort, but also the civilian settlements on either side of it.

  • Carlisle

    • At the other end of the wall, the Roman town of Carlisle appears to have been much larger than expected, and excavations at Botchergate thought to be in the cemetery area prove to be a continuation of the Roman town. Meanwhile at the northern end of the town, a millennium project plans to link the castle with the museum, and here we describe some of the archaeological work that this involves.

  • High Rochester

    • Not all the current work is on the wall itself: 20 miles to the north of the wall is the outpost fort of High Rochester, guarding the Roman road north into Scotland. This was a fort in enemy territory - there were double sized granaries, and the bath house was inside not outside. However recent work has shown that the annexe to the west was set over an earlier iron-age hillfort.

  • Editor

    • The editor of this issue is Paul Bidwell, the head of Archaeology for Tyne and Wear Museums, and Director (and instigator) of the excavations at South Shields and Wallsend. As part of our plans to develop Current Archaeology, we intend to have ‘issue editors’ for a number of issues in the future, and as Paul is the editor of the Pilgrimage Handbook, he is the obvious person to become our first ‘issue editor’. This will be the beginning of a major new development as Current Archaeology moves ahead into the new millennium

And of course there will be the usual Diary, Letters, Books and John Musty's Science Diary.

The magazine is due to be published in August 1999

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Revised: 16th August 1999