Tuesday, December 21, 2004

How does evidence from the forts of Hadrian’s Wall contribute to our understanding of what every day life was like for soldiers serving in forts of Hadrian’s Wall and civilians living nearby during Roman occupation?

Hadrian’s Wall was used for nearly four hundred years during the Roman occupation. In that time its forts were burned down, abandoned and rebuilt, numerous generations of soldiers served there. In this coursework I will be looking into evidence surviving from that time and see how it helps us to understand what every day life was like during Roman occupation. Most evidence comes from forts of Hadrian’s Wall their structure and building materials alone can tell us something about people who built them. Some forts are built directly on the wall other like Vindolanda are situated nearby. Vindolanda’s tablets is one of the best sources of evidence for learning about the lives of ordinary soldiers from this time as most of the tablets are not official historic accounts but letters made by every day people. Besides tablets I will use other archaeological evidence like remains of tools and weapons to see what can be learned about their day to day use. Finally evidence that’s not necessarily from the Hadrian’s Wall area like the Tacitus Roman History and Trajan’s column will be used as reference where necessary.
Outside the forts, settlements or vici would often build up. To create a more rounded picture of the every day life of the time I will look at evidence concerning these settlers. Taking into account archaeological evidence found in these settlements.

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