Roman Life on Hadrian's Wall

Pioneering merchants and traders, soldiers’ wives and children, and enslaved people were among the many civilians who settled alongside the Roman army at Hadrian’s Wall. Their lives can be traced through the everyday objects they left behind. Children lost socks and wooden swords while playing, and wives and daughters wore decorative hairpins that slipped out during visits to the bathhouses. Hunting dogs were bred and fed for soldiers’ sport, while enslaved workers kept the fort hypocausts burning.Roman Life on Hadrian’s Wall brings together this wide-ranging archaeological evidence to reconstruct the stories of these often-overlooked people. The book offers fresh insight into daily life on this remote Roman frontier and challenges long-held assumptions about the most visited Roman remains in Britain. Read more