The Bridgeness Distance Slab

SHORTER NOTES | 519 Bridgenese Th s distance slab Joanna Close-Brooks* The Roman distance slab from Bridgeness at the eastern end of the Antonine Wall, found in 1868 bees ,ha n repeatedly published recentls ha d yan , been discusse detaidn i Phillipy lb s (1974) and Keppie (1979). The slab has been displayed in the National Museum since its discovery. In the winter of 1979/80 it was taken down from the wall of the Roman gallery and cleaned and e Museum'repaire th e stafl f th o f y b d s Conservation Laboratory unde e directioth r f Miso n s Mary MacQueen preparation i display, w ne a r . nfo Washin accumulatee gth d dusgrimd an t e frostone frone th m th f e o t revealed faint traces of red paint in parts of the carving, traces which now appear pink, and which showed up most clearly whe stone wetpainns traced th e confinere e wa .Th f tar s o specifido t c areas particulan i , r letterine incisee th th o t d dgan grooves definin pelte gth a ornamen eitheo tt inscriptione r sidth f eo . left-hane th n I d panel paind beheadere , e nece tth see e th tracef kb o n nn o e dsca th Britot a d nan s severehi bas f o ed head alsd an o, curiousl groove th n i ye formin divisioe gth n betweee th n bottom horseman' e edgth f eo horseright-hans e bace shi th cloath f n ko I .d kan d pane paind lre t seee b nsoldiecloae n e onlth th ca f kn o y o r farthes righe th to tt agains aedicula,e pillae th tth f ro and in this case the entire cloak appears to have been painted red. This rather sporadic use of paind suggesy re ma t t other more fugitive colours were use s wellda . Indeed, further studf yo left-hane th d panel unde displaw ne r y light s showsha n thahorse'e th t srider'e bodyth d s an , facarmappead w an eno , r slightly greye darked ran r than eithe backgroune rth rider'e th r do s dress, suggesting that these darker areas were originally painted some colour such as dark blue or grey. The only other stone in the Museum's collection with traces of red paint is the tombstone o Brigantiafa n from Mumrills (Collingwoo Wrighd& t 1965, 2142) lettere .Th thif so s inscription appear pale pink. Traces of red paint have recently been noted on the sculpture and lettering of another distance slab of the II Legion from the Antonine Wall, found at Summerston farm, near Balmuildy Hunteriae , th befor n i w e n1694no Museud an , m (Keppie 1979, 14). The red paint of the Bridgeness slab is considered to be of Roman date, for it seems unlikely tha painteslas e th tb wa dfouns aftewa 186n t d i i rt Museue beforgive s 8th bu wa o nt t ei mn i 1869. An altar from Castlecary, found before 1848 and given to the Museum in 1892, does have modern black paint in the lettering, but this also had 'Castlecary' written on the plinth in the same blac morkr paine paintfa th s ei td obviouan , s tha faine nth tBridgenes e traceth n o s s slab. wale opportunite th Whilf lth of stonee s eth takes wa ywa recoro nt bac e sidesd dth kan , not visible when the stone is on display. Miss Helen Jackson prepared the drawing (fig 1), showing the back, all the edges, and a cross-section taken obliquely along the break. There are three cramp stonee singla edg p th d to f eo ean ,e hole cramth n si p hol eacn ei h side edge bace bees Th .k ha n fairly roughly largdressedone e righ sincarethe and ,has t ato e been damaged bacthe ; k also bears a series of plough scratches (not shown on fig 1). The edges have been carefully dressed, drawin e righe th edg e th n i th tn et o g appearbu havo st e bee t downcu n sinc sladise s eth b-wa covered crame samTh .e pth f eholeo desig e sar Romae thoss na th n eo n building stones founn di a quarr t Easteya r Langlee, near Galashiels, Roxburghshire (Steer 1966 ; ,Wrigh p44 i t 1965, 218-19). distance th problee w Th eho f slabbees mo ha n s p discusseweru t ese Keppiy db e (1975, 62-4). The provision of cramp holes on all but five of 19 recorded distance slabs implies they t directlse wer t eno y int slopine oth turge th facf f Walleo t int bu ,omasonr a y backing. Nationa* l Museu Antiquitief mo Scotlandf o s , Queen Street, Edinburgh 520 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1981 •Ufe-r ?•':•'••: '\'-^ •;>•.'.•«*»,:••:•'•"•'.•m ^•' ffl ^ I •o u en T3 •d c 0-" O U- SHORTER NOTES | 521 finally notema e yb t I d tha smala t l repai bees rha n damagee madth o et drighte areth n a-i hand front panel. A fragment of stone projecting at the back of the slab was found by Miss MacQueen to have been used front to back. On reversing the fragment, the mouth from the missing face of the right-hand soldier was discovered. ACKNOWLEDGMENT I am grateful to Dr David Breeze who read a draft of this paper. REFERENCES Collingwood Wright& G P Roman e 196R ,R , Th 5 Inscriptions of Britain, . OxfordI . Keppie F 197J L ,5 'The distance slabs fro Antonine mth e Wall: some problems', Scot Archaeol Forum, (1975)1 , 57-66. Keppie, L J F 1979 Roman distance slabs from the Antonine Wall. A brief guide. Glasgow. Phillips J 197E , 4 'The Roman distance slab from Bridgeness', ProcAntiqc So Scot,(1972-4)5 10 , 176-182. Steer, K A 1966 'A Roman building at Easter Langlee, Roxburghshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 98 (1964-6), 320-1. Wright P 196R , 5 'Roman Britai 1965n ni . II: Inscriptions' Stud, m (1965),6 /5 Ro , 217-25..

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