2019 Rhind Lecture 1: "1848: The Year of Revolutions, on Hadrian’s Wall as well as on the continent"

Описание: “1848: The Year of Revolutions, on Hadrian’s Wall as well as on the continent” by Professor David Breeze

The Wall entered the modern era in 1848. John Hodgson had just persuasively argued that the Wall had indeed been built by Hadrian. John Clayton had undertaken his first excavation on the Wall and discovered a gate through it, thereby challenging existing perceptions of the relationship between Rome and her neighbours. John Collingwood Bruce undertook his tour of the Wall in 1848, led the first Pilgrimage in 1849, and published his first book in 1851,. The position of Bruce as ‘king of the Wall’ was established and he was to remain as such for the next forty years.

The 2019 Rhind Lectures, entitled “Hadrian’s Wall: A Study in Archaeological Exploration and Interpretation” and presented by Professor David Breeze OBE, BA, PhD, Hon DLitt, FSA, Hon FSA Scot, FRSE, Hon CIfA. Recorded in the National Museums Scotland auditorium at 6pm on 10 May 2019 by Mallard Productions Ltd. Sponsored by AOC Archaeology Group.

The Lectures
Hadrian’s Wall was written about even when it was occupied. The Romans produced souvenirs of the Wall, medieval scribes placed it on maps, antiquarian visitors recorded the remains, scholars from the Renaissance onwards argued about its date and purpose, and early archaeologists uncovered its walls. The age of modern discoveries started in the 1830s and over the succeeding 150 years a very substantial archaeological dataset has been created. The addition of new material, combined with new approaches to archaeological investigation, ensures that interpretations constantly require review.

These Rhind lectures examine the ways that data has been created, and then to move on to examine specific aspects of Hadrian’s Wall in depth, in particular its purpose and operation over time and its effect on the local population. In the final lecture, we look at the Wall today and some aspects of its future.

The Lecturer
Professor David J Breeze OBE, BA, PhD, Hon DLitt, FSA, Hon FSA Scot, FRSE, Hon CIfA was President of the Society from 1987-90. He served as Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland from 1989 to 2005 and as Chairman of the International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies until 2015. He has excavated on both Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall and published books on both as well as on Roman frontiers generally and on the Roman army.