#A2ZChallenge K is for Kintore... Ancient Roman Temporary Camp

K is for Kintore

Deer’s Den Ancient Roman Temporary Marching Camp

Theme: Ancient Roman Scotland during the Flavian era

There are so many archaeological digs nowadays, all of which I approve of, since they often produce spectacular finds – the excavations mandatory in the United Kingdom  if the ground investigated is about to be redeveloped for some new housing, public buildings or community use.  

Some of the excavations make bigger headlines than others, depending on the eras focused on and often especially if there is a possible connection to a major local historical event (e.g. finding King Richard III's skeleton under a car park in Leicester, England!) 

Sometimes, it’s the artefacts that make the record books in archaeological terms, like those I have photos of in previous #A2ZChallenge posts (e.g. J is for Jugs) images photographed from the Roman Fort at Newstead (Trimontium) which yielded up a treasure trove of articles. 

But, just as importantly, sometimes sites become more notable in archaeology terms because different excavation techniques have been employed.

In the course of expanding the Ancient Roman Empire, hundreds - even thousands - of temporary camps were created all across the Empire, but most did not make 'the archaeological headlines' in the same way as the one at ‘Deer’s Den’, Kintore, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The excavations at Kintore were unique at the time (c. 2002) because of the premise of the excavations, which was literally ground-breaking. I’ll try to explain why…

But first...
Where was Kintore temporary Roman camp?
  

Copyright - Nancy Jardine

The map above indicates temporary Roman encampments which are thought to have been used by the Agricolan invasion force c. A.D. 83/84, and some of them possibly reused by Emperor Severus in c. A.D. 210. The camp at Kintore is the most thoroughly excavated temporary camp in north-east Scotland.

What was a temporary Roman camp? 

The Ancient Roman legions built temporary camps while on campaign across the empire when invading barbarian territory. These camps were used for unknown durations – days, weeks or even months. Earlier archaeologists and historians believed that the camps were built for a single one-night use. A one-night use was certainly possible for a legion on the move, but the effort to build them was substantial. The building of the temporary camps was in many senses a work of art, a slick, well-organised operation that sometimes could be done in a matter of a couple of hours to harbour thousands of men and horses.

When marching across newly invaded territory, the Ancient Roman Legions tended to cover somewhere between 10 to 20 miles (Roman) a day, depending on the landscape covered and the interaction with the native population. Advance troops (exploratores) would have sussed out the best place to site a temporary camp for the night, or more likely for a longer period till that environment was effectively dominated by the Romans. Interestingly, the Ancient Roman writer Cornelius Tacitus wrote that his father-in-law, General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola, was inclined to choose the sites for camps and forts himself.

No two temporary camps in north-east Scotland are alike but they all share some characteristics. Relatively flat ground was a bonus though not always the case across a complete site. A nearby water source was needed which could supply the men and horses. This was a considerable amount since it was reckoned a soldier needed at least 8 litres of water and animals (horses, mules, pack animals) around three times that amount.  Plentiful wood was also necessary for building fires for cooking, and sometimes the wood provided a minimal amount of heat to sit around.

Wikimedia Commons 

The camp builders would presumably have been nearer the front of the advancing column and once the site was selected, they’d swing into action. The perimeter layout of the camp would be measured out by the specialist engineers, according to the amount of soldiers and animals who would be sheltered behind the defences. The gate openings were marked in place – sometimes four and at other times six, depending on the quantity harboured.

Next was the creation of the rampart defences by the men designated as camp construction experts.

A layer of turf was removed at a certain distance away from the outside of the marked perimeter, the soldiers using a turf cutter adze-like tool which they carried in their sarcina (backpack) and the stripped-off turf was laid aside for later use.

A ditch, often V-shaped, would be dug and the excavated soil mounded up into a rampart wall. The turf was then relaid on the top of the rampart and wooden stakes inserted to create a barrier. The palisade of stakes ensured that no night predators entered the camp easily, and that included native enemies and predatory animals, since wolves were still prevalent around the area.

Inside the perimeter, a few bisecting 'roadways' from gate to gate were marked out. The roughly central area was laid out as an administration block where the leather tents of the commanding officers were pitched.  The rank and file leather tents, housing a contubernium group of 8 (10 with slaves) men, were laid out in rows along the roadways.

The temporary camp layout would have given the soldiers a sense of familiarity when in hostile territory, and the predictable surroundings would have been easier to negotiate if wakened in the dark during an enemy incursion.

The above description is of a relatively typical camp construction, but what made the excavation of the Kintore, Deer’s Den camp so different from other excavations across the Roman Empire over the centuries?

Daring to be different at Deer's Den, Kintore!

Until c. 2000, and the excavations undertaken by AOC Archaeology, the norm had always been to do trench-digging around the perimeter rampart, ditch, and gate areas of a temporary camp. Different styles of gate openings had been used by the various camp engineers and the style employed had sometimes led to conclusions by earlier historians as to which Ancient Roman General had quartered the troops in a particular camp.

In northern Scotland, the temporary marching camp sizes and gate designs tended to be of a few forms and had led to 'groupings'. The clavicular style of gate, which curved outwards from the line of the rampart, tended to be also referred to as 'Stracathro' type. The titular style, a short 'baffle wall' which was constructed a short distance out from the line of the rampart, enabled entry and exit from two sides. Though difficult to prove, the clavicular gate style was thought to have been favoured by Agricolan forces and the large camps with titular entrances were thought to have been used by the troops of Emperor Severus. There is still, probably, some controversy over who camped where! 

courtesy of R.H. Jones

Possibly as early as 1810, an interested local, Alexander Watt of Kintore, had investigated the Roman Camp at Kintore. Decades later, in 1865, he published a pamphlet entitled  'The Early History of Kintore' which included measurements of the perimeter and other details. That pamphlet led Captain E.H. Courtney, of the Royal Engineers, to make his own observations which he recorded in 1867. Sadly, even by then much of the rampart had been ploughed out but it still became an official Roman temporary camp site.

Skip forward to the year c.2000 when AOC archaeologists were given the remit of investigating the Deer’s Den camp. By then much of what had been farmer's fields in Courtney's time had already been built upon by housebuilders. The above map indicates the extent of the perimeter line of the 44 hectare camp and shows the amount of house building in Kintore that had taken place by the end of the 1990s. The wide track beginning at the bottom left of the map, which cuts through the camp area and exits near the part marked 'Shepherd 1986', is the line of the dual carriageway which now bypasses Kintore.

Investigating the rampart exterior and gateways was therefore not a possibility. But what was possible for the AOC team was investigating ground in the interior of the temporary Roman camp.

From late-Victorian times, there had always been community field areas behind the Victorian built village school of 1875. (That school was situated in the marked area at bottom right of the camp- 'AOC 2004') I've no actual proof, but I suspect that any camp rampart remains of the bottom right corner, still visible in 1875, were flattened out when the Victorian school was constructed right on that corner- the shape of the Victorian buildings shown on the opposite side of the road (then the A 96)  from the red dot.

The main reasons for the excavations in 2002- 2004 were because a brand new purpose built primary school and integral local library facility were about to be constructed on the part the locals deemed the village ‘football field’ (striped area marked AOC 2004 at right) immediately behind the Victorian school. The common village-use areas had been acquired from the estate of the Earl of Kintore (c. 1875?). At that point in time, the land had either been vacant ground or had been farmed, so beneath the top layers it was virtually undisturbed. From that late Victorian time till c. 2005, the 'village football ground' had been grassed over and maintained by the Burgh council. 

For archaeologists, it was highly innovative and unique to investigate the interior of a Roman marching camp, and the 'Kintore interior dig' is believed to be the first ever recorded across the Roman Empire. Initially, the expectation of any relevant finds may have been cautious, but the results were fantastic! 

First excavations at Kintore in frosty weather ! copyright Nancy Jardine

Naturally, the archaeologist team were cataloguing all findings within the test pit areas and the results varied from very early Neolithic to medieval eras. The Roman findings were amazing in that there was sufficient evidence to prove a use during the Flavian era, and a re-use during the late 2nd century or early 3rd century. This was postulated as being the Emperor Septimius Severus invasion of c. A.D. 210, or if slightly earlier - e.g. from A.D. 190s onwards -  it would mean an entirely undocumented invasion of northern Britannia, perhaps during the era of Emperor Commodus who was supplanted in A.D. 193 by Septimius Severus.     

Roman bread oven at Kintore

Evidence of re-firing, i.e. a reuse of camp bipartite ovens, was quite spectacular. The amount of Roman 'bread ovens' found at Kintore ( 180+) was the largest ever discovery of camp ovens across the Roman Empire. The variations in design of the firepits and ovens indicate a preference in style, perhaps due to the fact that army units originated from different parts of the Roman Empire.

The re- firings indicated the camp was used for more than one night - which changed the previous perception of the duration of temporary camp use.

Further evidence from midden areas, and other items gave sufficient confirmation of Flavian use at Kintore. 

When the Deer’s Den camp rampart was recorded in 1867 by Captain E./.H. Courtney, the estimate of troops harboured in it was about 4,000, e.g. approximately one legion. The excavation evidence of c.2000 - 2006 estimates the amount of soldiers as being more like 10,000, or about two legions.

Within the camp perimeter there are still areas like Rollo Mire which is very swampy, boggy ground and this was thought to have been a more prevalent problem almost 2000 years ago in Flavian times Although the camp size could harbour 3 to 4 legions, parts of it may have been deemed unable to be camped on.  Or... the more recent estimates are still too low! 

Almost central to the interior of the excavation area at Kintore, there was evidence of local Iron-Age roundhouses and another area which was thought to have been of religious significance. It’s not entirely unusual that the Ancient Roman camp engineers would have chosen to surround native features like these since enclosing them may have been a statement of supremacy on the part of the Roman Empire.

Since the Deer's Den, Kintore excavations provided such spectacular finds, I’m sure that where possible the interior of known Roman temporary camps will be investigated in future.

Till tomorrow and another #A2ZChallenge post...

Slainthe! 

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legionaria_(3).JPG

Youtube Video added Sun 14th Talk given by Rebecca H Jones