2011 End of Season Excavation Update

Now that the dust has settled on the muddy waters of another fantastic year on the excavations at Vindolanda we can update you all on how the season has progressed, what some of the best finds were, and offer a sneak preview into where the future of research at the site might go in light of the current research.

2011 inside the fort:

The majority of the 2011 season was spent working within the confines of the 3rd century stone fort in an effort to complete the work of the previous three seasons before consolidation. The very good weather in April and May enabled rapid progress towards the goals of examining the last of the 3rd century material and in June and July & August there were opportunities to explore below those remains and delve into the earlier timber phases at the site. This proved to be both enlightening and disappointing in the same measure as it quickly became evident that a combination of the foundations for massive stone buildings above and the rising topography below made for poor preservation of the earlier timber forts on this part of the site. However, there were many advances to be had by this work, particularly in examining the Severan and Antonine levels which were in parts well preserved. 

During the examination of a centurion’s apartments of Antonine date a small hoard of silver denarii was discovered and this was deemed by many to be one of the best individual ‘finds’ of the year, although it faced stiff competition from another wonderful altar and some finely carved stone figures including a lion’s head. The coins had been concealed within the apartment’s clay floor, possibly placed in a bag, and the denarii would have represented a considerable sum of money at the time they were lost, perhaps up to a tenth of a soldier’s yearly pay. This finding of a hoard of coins from the late second century at the site is very rare as the majority of small hoards come from later periods of occupation, at times where either uncertainty or inflation were presumed to have been a major factors. The coins were perhaps concealed in an attempt to save some money for a rainy day, or perhaps those recovered only represented part of a large hoard, the rest being removed in antiquity by the owner. Whatever the reason for their non-recovery in Antiquity, the coins make a fine addition to the fabulous new displays in the Museum at the site where you can visit them today.

The Antonine barracks themselves proved to have been finely built structures before they in turn were demolished and replaced by more circular huts in the Severan period. Evidence for nine more circulars was discovered during the 2011 excavations, and this added much needed detail to the plan of Vindolanda in the Severan period. The most current theories about the roundhouse buildings suggests that the occupation was not directly military in nature, and that the roundhouse occupants may have been native Britons offered a temporary refuge from the fighting north of the Wall, no doubt for services rendered to the Roman army. At least two of these buildings which are unique to Vindolanda in a military setting are to be consolidated for display in 2012.

Extramural excavations 2011

Just as the excavations inside the fort were coming to a natural conclusion in the end of July and early August the weather turned and the teams were beset by torrential rain almost on a daily basis. This made further deep exploration below the barracks and roundhouses untenable so the decision was made to start some preliminary work on the site of the 2012 excavations in the extramural settlement. The team moved into the area immediately to the south and west of the ‘3rd century bath house’ and another remarkable discovery was quickly made. A large defensive stone wall had been constructed on a stout clay rampart immediately to the west of the later baths, and to the west of that a broad and deep defensive ditch was found. This feature came as a complete surprise to the archaeologists on the site as they had walked over this area every day for 20 years without a clue of the presence of this wall below. Nor had the impressive structure shown up on the geophysical survey to any great extent.

Upon examining the material culture from the area, mostly pottery, from inside the associated ditch, it became clear that this was a mid-second century defensive works which was either early Antonine or late Hadrianic in date. The outside of the wall had been finely built with well-dressed and chamfered stones, a feature which is replicated on the south west corner of the 3rd century fort (perhaps in imitation to this earlier work). The ditch was unusually clean for Vindolanda and had an enormous build-up of grey silt sometimes over 2m deep inside. It is clear that this ditch had been regularly cleaned out until it was finally allowed to silt up. There were also sections of wall stones in the ditch, still mortar bonded, suggesting that some of the wall had either fallen or been backfilled into the ditch in its final phase. The ditch and wall were certainly out of use by the time of the Severan fortlet and subsequent vicus, both of which were placed over the demolished/filled in remains. Although the team only had six weeks in this area they proved that it will be worth uncovering more of these wonderful new Vindolanda defenses during the early course of excavations in 2012.

2012 and the future:

As we reach the end of the current SMC and research programme the Vindolanda Trust and its volunteers can take great pride in the work which has been undertaken at the site during the past four years. 2012 looks like it will be another fantastic season – starting with the new western 2nd century defences before moving further the west of the site. Here we expect to encounter the Severan rampart and ditch, normally one of the most impressive periods of occupation at the site, and of course a host of other 3rd century structures associated with the vicus or extramural settlement in that period.

Excavation will once again commence in the field to the north of the site, where in 2010 the remains of not one but two new forts were uncovered. All of this gives us plenty to be excited about for the coming year at Vindolanda. The excavations in 2012 will start on the 2nd of April and run through to the 31st of August – Monday to Fridays.

Beyond 2012 the Vindolanda Trust hopes to continue its current programme of research which has yielded so many fantastic discoveries, added a huge amount of detailed knowledge about the site and is widely seen as a progressive model for research on Hadrian’s Wall.  To all of you who have come to visit the site to learn about the excavations in the past year, your support and enthusiasm remains an inspiration and without you it would not be possible to continue with this ground-breaking research. So from the Vindolanda excavation team – a gratefully felt - Thank You.