buildine Antonine Th th f go e Wall: archaeological and epigraphic evidence KeppiJ F byL e The opening years of the reign of Antoninus Pius witnessed a renewed effort by the Roman army to conquer and occupy Southern Scotland. Preparations were already in hand by AD 139 (RIB 1147-1148; cf Jarrett and Mann 1970, 187), if not earlier, and a coin issue of the later part earlf o r y (o 143s bee2 ha )14 n f interpreteo s commemoratina d e successfugth l conclusiof o n the campaigns (Robertson 1975, 364). Across the isthmus between Forth and Clyde was con- structed a continuous barrier, the Antonine Wall. It may be assumed that by the close of 142 the building of the frontier line was well under way, if not completed (Robertson 1973, 1). The sequence whicn i ,'curtain e hth attendans it ' wald an l t structure massiva s- e ditco ht th garrisoe northsouthth e militard th e o nth an ,t , forty y wa s- wer e built bees ha ,n much dis- cussed. The traditional approach to the problem has been primarily epigraphic - based on exam- ination of the so-called Distance Slabs, the series of commemorative tablets recovered from the immediate vicinit Walle th f ,yo each recordin e completiogth wore lengta a th f y o nkf b h o detachment draw three th f en o legionfro e Britise mth on f so h province e serier frofa Th . m s si complete distributios it d 1e 8,an th slab knowf w o nso no unevenntw t belon westere bu l th :al go t n linee halth .f o f mose th Br t ysuccessfufa endurind lan g attemp harneso t t informatioe sth n providee th y db Distance Slabs was made by Sir George Macdonald in a stimulating article published in the Journal of Roman Studies (1921, 1 ff)i; some further refinements were added in the second edition Romane Th f o Wall Scotlandn i (1934, 392). Macdonald argued (1921, 20; 1934, 399) that the frontier line was built from east to west, and that the work of constructing the curtain wall was divided into some 15 or 16 sectors, shared evenls a t possibls you a e amon three gth e legions available. Tha buildine th tAntonine th f go e Wall, like tha f Hadrian'o t s Wall twenty years earlier bees begus easters it ha n wa t ,d na nen confirme mory db e recent archaeological work, particularl t Duntocheya Mumrilld an r s (Robert- son 1957 ; disputedSteew 95 , no r wit s t i 1961subdivisioe t no hth I . s i ,wor e 86)d th an kf , no of constructing the curtain wall and of digging out the broad ditch which accompanied it that primarilm a I y concerned with here evidence , andth Distance s th a , f eo e Slabs form indisn sa - pensible backcloth to what follows, it seems essential to begin with a brief summary of this part of Macdonald's theory. Macdonald suggested that it was the Romans' original intention to construct the Wall in nine sector 4c Jf sRomao n mile lengtn si h (1934, 398). pointee Bridgenese 2H th o dt s Distance Slab (RIB 2139), which record completioe th s f 465o n 2 paces between Bridgeness (just over 4-6 Roman miles Inveravond )an ; this distanc closs one-nintewa o et totae th lf h o lengtwork e th f ho . Moreover subdivisioa , n into nine parts appeare linkee b o t dd wit placin e garrisoe hth th f go n 152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1972-4 forts alonWalle th line f gth e;o these t intervalwera t Roma2 ese c f so n miles. Each building sector thus consisted of a 'double fort interval'. t thisBu planeves nwa r completed constructioe :th firse th t f nfouo r sectors, i.e. Bridgeness- Inveravon, Inveravon-Falkirk, Falkirk-Seabegs d Seabegs-Westerwoodan , s successfullwa , y carried out (see fig 1), but within the fifth sector occurred the precipitous crags of Croy Hill excavatee wherb o t ditce ed th hdha from solid dolerite. Dislocatio carefulle th f no y thought-out inevitable schemth s ewa e result Distanco N . e Slabs surviv tel o epreciselt s u l y what happened in this central area, but some four miles further west the thread can be picked up again: a slab from Eastermains informs us that legio VI built a length of 1000 paces (RIB 2105), evidently from Eastermains to the vicinity of Wester Shirva; such a short length was clearly no part of the original plan. Further west some semblanc regularitf eo achieveds ywa 1e 1:th Roman miles from Easter- mainsummie th o st f Castlehil o t divides wa l d into three almost equal part f 3666^s(o , 3666^, 3660f 4e paces)^th Romad an , n miles between Castlehild KilpatricOl d an l k (probable yon e originaoth f l nine sectors splis witp wa )u t h some care int shorx osi t lengths, presumablyo t ensur espeeda y completio thif no s final stretcworke th f ho . 550c f o 0 Romap ga e nth pacew Ho s between Westerwoo Wested dan r Shirv filles awa d Macdonald did not attempt to show in detail, except to indicate that we must assign to it the single remaining Distance Slab for which no findspot is known: this records the completion of 3000 pace legio y (RIBsb X X 2173). At first sight the intended division of the construction work into nine sectors might seem to have been so ably and convincingly demonstrated that no further discussion could be either necessary salutar e or-profitableb y recalo yma t t i t l thaBu . subdivisioa t n base 'doubln do e fort intervals' rests on only a minimum of evidence. The sector from Bridgeness to Inveravon (upon whic muco hs f Macdonald'ho s reasoning depends havy ma )e been assigne legioo dt I merelI y geographican o l grounds-the 4652 paces carrie Wale dth l fro startins mit gpromone pointh n o t - tory at Bridgeness to the bank of the river Avon. Nevertheless, it remains reasonable to suppose completee b thao t wore s th t approximateln kdwa i y equa sectoro l sectors tw looo t r skd fo an , to the west of Inveravon, each of c 4500 paces, which we may provisionally assign to legions VI and XX. But it may be going beyond the available evidence to say that these sectors must have coincided exactly with existing or intended fort sites. The forts at both Falkirk and Seabegs remain unlocated. Moreover, some modifications of the wall building work as completed seem required. The existence of a short sector of 1000 paces to the east of Eastermains depends upon Macdonald's interpretation of RIB 2105 (1921, 8; 1934, 399); on this slab the inscription stops short in the middle of the last line with the letters PER M P, i.e. per milk passus (or per milia passuum). Macdonald argued thae inscriptioth t s completenwa thad t an i recorde,t e buildinth d f o g mille passus (i.e. 100 0s muci paces)t i ht morBu . e likely thae inscriptioth t s unfinishedi n , with the numerals testifying to the exact distance for which legio VI had been responsible never inserted. 3 knowa f Eastermaine o d nTh sectoren E e Wale ;th sth lin e t founslas f a lth e o bwa n do ther littls ei e reaso thino nt merelks thawa t ti y'waster'a . Examinatio othef no r slab legiof so I V brings out the distinct possibility that the number of paces might be left blank when the original inscriptio cuts added nan wa , d later, perhaps whe precise nth e figure became known. Here eth numerals were never inserted. Macdonald's case for the existence of a short sector of 1000 paces fails, however reasonabl likele vien eth i f wyo dislocatio wall-buildine th f no glefe workar t e W . wit informatioe hth n that there existe dsectoa r runnin frogE m Eastermains, complete legioy db VI, but as yet we cannot say how long it was. Sectors planned (Macdonald) EPPIE Sectors complete s defined(a d 15 14 13 12 u 10 9 8 7 5/6 4 3 2 1 by Distance Slabs) : XX VI n n VI XX LEG VI LEG n LEG XX LEG VI LEG VI/XX LEG VI/XX LEG a TH E Width of base: BUILDIN — t- -e fca 15 ft ^ 16 ft* Superstructure: G * — < turf O W turf/clay F cheeks TH Widt f ditchho : ... I 1 — 1 narrow —————— 1- E ANTON *H broad Antonine Th FI G1 e Wall: buil diiIS sec•to)'S I 154 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1972-4 It is far from certain that the original scheme was successfully completed as far as the W en Sectof do t Westerwooda r4 . Macdonald's case here depende discovere th n do t Arnieboya g (c 300 m east of Westerwood) of two fragments of a sculptured slab whose dimensions, findspot decorativd an e motifs combine identifo dt witt yi h some probabilit Distanca s ya e Slab (Macdonald 1934, 392 with pi LXXII 6). Macdonald described the fragments as found at Arniebog 'in cir- cumstances which suggest they were not quite in situ': the inference is that they had been carried eastwards from Westerwood itself.