Cawdor (Roman fort)

Cawdor (Roman Fort), located near the small village of Easter Galcantray ( east of Inverness), was suspected of being one of the northernmost Roman forts in Great Britain, although no evidence of Roman occupation has been found to date.

Discovery In 1984 cropmarks were identified at Easter Galcantray, south west of Cawdor, by aerial photography. The site was described as being on the "south bank of river Nairn, straight cropmark with gap in middle and suggestion of two more sides, truncated by river, at right angles to main mark.".G.D.B. Jones & I. Keillor, "Easter Galcantray", Discovery & Excavation Scotland 1984 (1984), p. 14

Excavations between 1985 and 1990 uncovered a ditch, post holes, a corner tower and a few pottery fragments. Studies of the pottery identified it as medieval.

The possibility that the site may have been a Roman fort in Caledonia (as Scotland was called by Romans) was raised. Although no Roman pottery or artefacts were found, several features were identified that seemed supportive of this classification:

In mid-83 AD Agricola defeated the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. With this big victory, Agricola extracted hostages from the Caledonian tribes and instructed his fleet to sail around the north coast confirming to the Romans the province of Britannia was an island.

Agricola then may have marched his army to the northern coast of Scotland.Stan Wolfson."Tacitus, Thule, and Caledonia". London, 2002 (THE BORESTI: THE CREATION OF A MYTH)." Wolfson wrote that in the manuscript of Agricola there was written "In finis Borestorum exercitum deducit - He led his army into the territory of the Boresti (that lived in the northern tip of Caledonia)

However, Romano-British scholars have been reticent in confirming Jones' interpretation. Maxwell and Wilson wrote: "For the present, it may be noted that, viewed as crop-mark sites, neither [Cawdor nor Thomshill] sits happily in the established morphological categories of standard Roman military installations in North Britain".G.S. Maxwell & D.R. Wilson, "Aerial reconnaissance in Roman Britain 1977-84", Britannia Vol. 18 (1987), pp. 1-48, at p. 34 David Breeze added that "the suggested Roman context for the sites at Easter Galcantray [Cawdor] and Thoms Hill - Daniels 1986 and Jones 1986 - fails to convince; most of the evidence from the former site would better sit within a medieval context".D.J. Breeze, "Why did the Romans fail to conquer Scotland?", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 118 (1988), pp. 3-22, at p. 8 William Hanson concluded that "none of the postulated sites discovered by aerial survey in Moray and Nairn over recent years has the distinctive morphological characteristics of a Roman fort".Hanson (2003) p.198

Radiocarbon tests of material recovered from the site gave possible dates of construction during Agricola's first century campaign, but its interpretation remains problematic because the site was occupied and abandoned quite quickly leaving no other evidence.

Cawdor (Roman fort)

Bron en licentie