11 October 2021
In this presentation, archaeologist Dr Katy O’Donnell will talk about her PhD research which was recently completed at Edinburgh University on the topic ‘The Quarries of Hadrian’s Wall.’
Within the area surrounding Hadrian’s Wall, over 500 sandstone, limestone and dolerite quarries are recorded in modern mapping. This large number represents the complex and changing use of the landscape surrounding the Wall. Over the last two millennia, this region has seen Roman invasion and settlement, medieval monastic building, major agricultural land-use, military road construction, and the growth of two cities. It was necessary to understand the entire history of the region in order to establish which of the many quarries may have been associated with the Roman Wall, due to very limited changes in quarrying techniques up to the modern era. At this time, only seven of the hundreds of quarries have been identified as Roman due to inscriptions left by the quarrymen. Looking at land-use, historical mapping and industrial and pre-industrial quarrying methods has allowed a categorisation of the quarries to suggest which, if any, of the undated sites are the most likely to be associated with the Roman Wall.
This PhD research also included the largest scale petrological testing programme ever completed along Hadrian’s Wall. Ninety-three samples were taken in total, thirty-seven samples from archaeological remains and fifty-six quarry samples.
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