Ricerc@Sapienza

Hadrian's Wall, a unique portion of the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire, offers an unparalleled opportunity to explore many issues that affect not only ancient history and archaeology, but also some related and innovative scientific branches and, under some perspectives, contemporary society. The study of Hadrian's Wall can offer new insights into Roman frontier world, on native people and soldiers' life, on the interaction between native and Roman cultures, and so at al larger extent on multiculturalism, identity, conflict, war, walls and barriers. This standpoint gives to the proposed research a really innovative approach, as the existing bibliography is focused on more general aspects or, in contrast, on very specific topics. The project endorses also the study of the transformations of the Wall in the later phases and after the Romans left Britain in 410 AD, a topic which is still underestimated but that can shed new light on the interaction between peoples and cultures up to the Early Medieval period.
By broadening the interpretative focus on all the western sector of Hadrian's Wall, including also the Cumbrian coastal defenses, it will be possible to encompass the limited vision of the north-west frontier as a real barrier and to consider it at a wider scale. Thence, considering the gateways opening into the Wall and the trade activities attested between natives and Romans, Hadrian's Wall has the potential to become more than just a Wall, taking on more significant place of contact between Rome and the local traditions and cultures. Its study can shed new light on life on ancient frontiers from a wider point of view.
Topographic studies will be fundamental to implement the already known information on the western portion of the Wall. Existing maps tend towards the functional, and do not include layers of information which are fundamental from an archaeological point of view. Acquiring and digitising historic cartographies in Tullie House Museum is an important step to create a complete platform with a map including all the known (existing and no more existing) evidence.
The systematic study of building techniques, never carried out in detail, will be performed according to the most recent techniques of surveying and employing specific softwares for photogrammetry; the use of a drone will help in documenting unreachable or dangerous areas. Research will select samples from turrets, milecastles and forts, so as from single stretches of the wall. Epigraphic data attest that the legions were involved in the construction of the Wall, but a tentative attribution to the single units of specific building fashions has never been attempted. Also the quarrying and working of materials will be reassessed.
The 3D virtual reconstruction of one of the most studied but largely debated forts, Milecastle 48 at Poltross Burn, will be attempted, assembling archive and excavation data (dating back to the early 20th century) and archaeological information on structures collected on site. Applying the innovative BIM system to the reconstruction of this milecastle, we will try to solve some static and still doubtful compositional elements, such as the coverings and the connection with the wall itself. The target is also to test the BIM programs, created to satisfy the requirements of new buildings, and see if they can also be successfully used in complex situations, like the ones linked to the Cultural Heritage field.
The preliminary results of the on-going research demonstrated the big heterogeneity of materials uncovered at Hadrian's Wall, even if we are in a quite remote area of the Empire. Pottery and glass vessels come from various areas of western provinces and, in some cases (e.g. the amphorae), from the Mediterranean, confirming the impressive size and extent of Roman commercial activities. On the contrary some productions, such as coarse pottery and metal objects, were certainly locally made, being distributed throughout Britain and also in the neighbouring countries. In order to contextualise the existing relations among European production areas and the peripheries of the Empire, the research will combine traditional and innovative methods, using archaeometric analyses to understand the chemical composition of the objects so as to know their precise origin.
A new methodology will be tested for the study of the wooden inscribed tablets, directly comparable with those of Vindolanda, preserved in Tullie House Museum (approximately 300 fragments). A large part of these tablets remains unpublished and very difficult to be deciphered, due to the bad state of preservation. A specific project, for which an annual research grant (assegno di ricerca) is requested, aims at documenting (with infrared photographs and digital scanning) all the tablets, trying to read the texts thanks to the modern infrared and other kind of filtration and archiving all the related information in a searchable online database.