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Digging deep for Britain

lindaglamour
Aug 30, 2016
2 min read

Hadrian's Wall, or as a fellow historian has nicknamed it, Hadrian's Highway, was begun in 122AD as a defensive fortification under the Emperor Hadrian. While other emperors before Hadrian had pushed the boundaries to expand the Roman Empire, Hadrian wanted to define it and to show the extent of the empire. On 'this side' you were a valued Roman citizen however if you were on 'the other side' you were a barbarian.

Travelling is like this. On one side you are expanding experiences and challenging yourself while on the other, you are defining your own boundaries and understanding what has meaning for you and what does not. To do both, you need to dig deep into your own reserves of resilience, adventure, humour and curiosity. I've done this these last ten days or so.

My first 'dig' was at York. At the All Saints Church, North st. York I spent the day excavating on the site of the church's medieval cemetery. Centuries of development and use on top of the graves had been removed and I spent the day amongst the remains of York's medieval inhabitants. Physically the dig was relatively easy - I enjoyed the camaraderie of the team and the good weather. Scraping away at the surface with my trowel one found little pieces of pot (some Roman, some Medieval) an oyster shell discarded no doubt by a Roman after lunch as they were cheap and easy food.

One was always conscious however that one was in a cemetery. Little dark patches around 60 centimetres long was all that was left after the exhumed remains of children's burials were taken away. Over my right shoulder two fellow archaeologists were carefully brushing the soil away from another child's bones... Adults were left in situ. Their remains uncovered then covered with plastic topped with a wooden sheet (strong enough to be walked on - which it was). The children's bones are to be reinterred in the crypt under the church floor.

Amongst the finds displayed at the end of the day from earlier times on the dig - an assortment of pot, coins and jewellery. Most outstanding a seal from a Roman signet ring which would have been used with wax to seal correspondence. It's colour still glowing in the light and the engraving of the god Mars clear and undimmed by the ages. The most touching - a funerary pin used to pin a shroud around a small child, a fragment of the cloth having survived sticking to its side.

York was busy as it was race week season and the crowds thronged the streets around my hotel and through The Shambles. The market was on full of local produce and fortunately for me, a second hand book stall. So 4 books were purchased, historical fiction of course, and they shall keep me company in the calm of the evening in the coming weeks.

Hadrian not only built his wall but also fortified it with a range of turrets and forts along its length and from York to the Wall and to the particular fort of Vindolanda, I need to dig deep again and put myself into the past trying to uncover what remains there.