Malain Vernhet has published in Gallia a summary of one of the most important discoveries made at La Graufesenque for many years; a mass of waste associated with a large kiln contained the work of about forty potters, some familiar in the last stages of the export-trade to Britain. Among the decorated bowls were some with the potter's stamp L.COSI, conventionally dated to the late Flavian period. Several of them bore reliefs which prove that the style continued down towards 120: thus, on one bowl, which is illustrated, we see figures of a seated warrior turning his sword on himself, labelled DECIBALV, and of a prisoner condemned ad bestias, identified as PARTV. AS M. Vernhet remarks, reference is to the suicide of the Dacian king, Decebalus, in 106 and to the Parthian triumph, which Trajan did not live to experience, in 117. The design thus epitomizes the great conquests of the reign, and in all its provincial crudity speaks to us directly of facts, away from which the noble commemorative monuments in Rome and at Benevento all too readily, perhaps, beguile us.

In the course of examining the charioteer mosaic discovered at Rudston (Yorks.) in 1971 it struck me that certain aspects of the iconography had been either misunderstood or over looked in the first publications. In particular the idea that the bust of a Season holding a rake must be identified as Winter seems to rest on a misconception. It is much more likely that the Season in question, both here and in other similar representations, is Autumn.

The chronology of the Saxon conquest of Britain is notoriously obscure. Among its most controversial aspects is the date of the adventus Saxonum, the appearance of the Saxons as an independent force in Britain. Only two sets of literary sources throw light on the question. A single contemporary, the anonymous Gallic Chronicler of 452, briefly noted under the year XVIII of Theodosius II (equated by Mommsen to A.D. 441–2) that ‘The British provinces, which up to this time had suffered various disasters and misfortunes, were reduced to Saxon rule’. Bede, writing in the eighth century, and basing his calculations on Gildas’ sketchy sixth-century account, supplied two somewhat later dates for the coming of the English to Britain: the first, A.D. 446–7, and the second ‘in the reign of Marcian and Valentinian’, that is, between 449 and 455. Bede's dates were generally accepted in the first part of this century, and the testimony of the Chronicler of 452, which records the end, and not the beginning, of a Saxon conquest, was dismissed as unreliable. In the last few years, there has been a tendency among scholars to consider Bede's dates mistaken, and to base the chronology of the adventus on the entry in the Chronicle of 452. Bede has not lacked defenders, however. Recently, Dr Molly Miller suggested not only that the date of 441-2 for the adventus was a figment of Mommsen's edition of the Gallic Chronicle, but also that the Chronicle itself could not be considered as a fifth-century source because it had been edited and interpolated at a later date. Miller's article raises serious questions about the value of the Chronicle of 452. Can it be used as a contemporary account of fifth-century events? Or must it be treated as a compilation contaminated by Carolingian editors?

The extent to which the conquest of British tribes by Roman forces affected the native population may be properly assessed only when an accurate picture has been obtained of both the pre- and post-conquest periods. Too often this is not the case because the evidence for the earlier period tends to be scanty in comparison with the later, much of which is the result of a gradual increase in the output of durable artifacts which have stood the test of time: coins, pottery, metalwork, buildings. In recent years the evidence for rapid population growth and accompanying social changes has drawn greater attention to the existence of protourban societies in southern and eastern England. The present paper is a brief attempt to restate the case for Eastern Yorkshire, generally accepted as the home of the Parisi, and to examine the extent to which Iron Age society there was affected by incorporation into the Roman province.

In 1974 the authors began an aerial reconnaissance of the valleys and plain of North Cumbria, in an attempt to assess their potential for settlement site location. The drought that occurred in the summers of 1975 and 1976 enabled this programme to reap a rich and unexpected harvest. By the summer of 1975 a scatter of sites had been located, of which one of the more significant concentrations lay in the good farmland of the central Eden Valley, where a belt of Grade 2 agricultural land contained not only numerous farmsteads but also three Roman fort sites. Numerous crop-mark sites of enclosures and other features were located, particularly around the fort site at Brougham. Sites were located as parch-marks in pasture land, due to the unusual drought, as crop-marks in cereals and root crops, and further examples of shadow sites were also located on the more elevated areas. By these means it became possible to rectify the upland bias that had hitherto distorted concepts of ‘native’ settlement distribution in the Roman period, perhaps most obviously to be found in the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments volume for Westmorland published in 1936. With this corpus of new evidence available it became highly desirable to excavate at least a single example from among the body of sites that had been discovered, and to establish as much as possible about the settlements and their occupants. An even larger body of evidence of settlement became available from the North Cumbrian plain where previously only a handful of sites had been located. It became possible to excavate farm sites from each zone in succeeding years (1976–1977), although factors leading to the selection of the two sites were different. Initially, an example was chosen close to Penrith for a trial excavation in 1975, run with the help of local volunteers. The evidence of plough damage which was produced as a result of this initial excavation led to the adoption of the project by the Department of the Environment, and it was with their backing that a more extensive programme was undertaken in the summer of 1976. In contrast the Silloth site was excavated at the instigation of the Department of the Environment prior to destruction of the site by the construction of a small estate of bungalows.

The Roman site at Wood Lane End is situated on the east side of Hemel Hempstead (TL 082079) adjacent to the Industrial Estate and close to the MI intersection (FIG. I). It occupies the plateau on a 450 ft. contour about midway between the rivers Ver and Gade. Close by the land dips in a south-easterly direction to form the start of a shallow valley running across the Gorhambury estate towards Verulamium three miles away. The site is equidistant (2½ miles) between the Roman villas at Gorhambury outside Verulamium and Gadebridge situated alongside the Gade stream just to the north of Hemel Hempstead. The subsoil is of the Batcombe series—a pebbly loam over a bedrock of clay with flint. In places small pockets of gravel are encountered while occasionally fingers of chalk rise close to the surface. As elsewhere on the plateau the subsoil is surprisingly well drained, the drainage of the area being towards the Ver valley. The soil is suited to arable cultivation though its productive capacity is limited by the varying degrees of stoniness. The earliest cartographic evidence of the Wood Lane End area comes from the Tithe apportionment map of 1843 (DSA4/48). It would appear then that the site was located in a field called Hales Wood, but despite its name it was classified as arable, and was 7·021 acres in extent. None of the adjacent field names gives any indication of Roman or earlier features and neither do the boundaries of the 1843 map reflect the alignment of the Roman buildings. They relate solely to the roads, as shown on the nineteenth-century map.

The stone relief (PL. XI, FIG. I) which forms the subject of this paper was submitted to the British Museum (Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities) for identification. The relief had been added to the collections of the Saffron Walden Museum in 1836, (reg. no. 1836. no LXXIX). Though it was rumoured to have come from York or Chester, the register entries give the provenance as variously Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Among the offerings deposited in Gallo-Roman sanctuaries, the miniature ‘ex-voto’ have seldom been studied. They have been discovered at various sites in Gallia Comata and, apart from a few typically local products, are similar to the better-known examples from Britain.

In the spring of 1978, the construction of a gas pipeline from the eastern outskirts of Gravesend to the Isle of Grain, revealed the existence of a previously unknown Romano- British site at Oakleigh Farm (TQ 729 741) in the parish of Higham, Kent (FIG. I). The site was first noticed by Messrs Patrick Thornhill and Percy Payne, both members of the Kent Archaeological Society. The Engineer in charge of the construction of the pipeline was immediately informed of the discovery and arrangements were put in hand for the examination of the site by the author (Archaeological Adviser, British Gas Corporation). The excavation and recording of the site took place during the time the pipeline was being constructed. The remains of four kilns used for the manufacture of Black-burnished ware, category 2 (BB2) were examined. The scale of the investigations was subject to a number of constraints, such as the speed of the construction programme, the size of the site, the available manpower and by the need to maintain a presence on other parts of the pipeline route, where other sites were being discovered. Despite these restrictions, all four kilns were at least partially excavated and a number of other features were recorded, mainly in the sections of the pipetrench, when this was cut.

The shrine was discovered in the Spring of 1980 and the excavation was carried out in June of that year by the Field Research Group of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. The authors are indebted to Mr and Mrs D. A. Hofmann who made the initial discovery of the Yardhope relief, to the landowner, the Ministry of Defence, Otterburn Training Area, for permission to excavate, to Tyne Tees Television for some financial assistance, to Mr A. Reed for drawing their attention to the Hollinside relief and to Mr N. Gill for permission to photograph it. A special debt is owed to Drs D. Breeze and B. Dobson for assistance in the final drafting of this article and last, but by no means least, thanks must also be recorded to Ronald Charlton and John Day for their interest and willingness to help with the excavation, despite cramped working conditions and frequent hatches of midges.

Within the area between Tomen-y-Mur and Erglodd and eastwards across Wales to the Whitchurch-Wroxeter-Leintwardine Roman road, there are II known forts or fortlets, but little is known of the road-system which serviced them. The latest edition of the Map of Roman Britain shows only parts of the road from Wroxeter to Caersws via Forden Gaer and fragments of other roads, although the Chester road from Caer Gai to Brithdir is sufficiently well defined to merit inclusion.

The invaluable contribution of air photography to the study of Roman military remains in Scotland over the last five decades is already well known. From its earliest tentative beginnings in the hands of O. G. S. Crawford to the highly structured programmes directed by Professor J. K. St. Joseph and D. R. Wilson on behalf of the Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography, aerial reconnaissance has proved itself a stimulatingly fruitful tool – whether by its totally unexpected additions to the sum of knowledge or through its ability to find the one piece of the jigsaw-puzzle that turns surmise into certainty. In this process the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland has also had a part to play, although, for much of the time it has worked, perforce, within a more restricted frame of reference, scrutinizing the vast collections of RAF vertical photographs during its preparation of County Inventories, or in the course of the Survey of Marginal Lands in 1951–8. Nevertheless, the discovery of the forts at Bishopton, Broomholm, Easter Happrew, and Oakwood, as well as the fortlet at Lurg Moor and the watch-tower at Beattock Summit, mainly as a result of such scrutiny by K. A. Steer and R. W. Feachem, indicates that even this more passive form of involvement can be handsomely rewarding.

From the moment of its first publication in 1903 the career inscription of C. Velius Rufus has been the subject of a great deal of attention and scholarly debate. Why this should have been so is clear enough: the text records the career of a man who, beginning as a centurion (probably not in the ranks), not only rose to the coveted primipilate but went on to important independent field commands and an administrative career which culminated in major procuratorial governorships. More important still for historians of the period, the career included special commands which shed vital new light on the otherwise often obscure warfare of the reign of Domitian. The interpretation and chronology of the career as it appears in standard textbook treatments of the period may be said to be essentially that of Ritterling as modified and refined by a succession of eminent scholars, notably Syme, Pflaum and Dobson. This mainstream interpretation was summarized most recently by the last of these in 1978. From the outset, however, and in parallel with the development of this standard view, there have been a number of dissenters: von Domaszewski disagreed with Ritterling on a crucial point and, since then, there have been challenges to various aspects from, for example, McElderry, Hanslik, Saxer and Visy. Indeed, in the same year as Dobson presented a refined restatement of the orthodox interpretation, Visy coincidentally, offered a major re-examination. These earlier challenges, however, tend often to disagree with one another and, just as many to-day will be unconvinced by Visy's proposed revisions so, in most cases, his forerunners have found little support. This should not, however, obscure an important point, namely that there has been persistent dissatisfaction with the standard view from the outset. Nor should the implausibility or weakness of the proposed alternatives detract from the very serious nature of some of the objections raised.

Beading was frequently used as a decorative and strengthening finish for the rims of silver bowls and dishes in the late Roman and early Byzantine periods. There are two main types of beading:

(i) the bead-and-reel band (PL. XXA).

(ii) the single-bead band (PL. XXB).

The first consists of a series of oval or sausage-shaped solid beads alternating with smaller double-ridged reels (PL. XXC), while the second is a row of beads, often hollow, nominally of the same size, placed closely together (PL. XXE). In addition, some hybrid beaded rims, intermediate between the two, are found (for example, the two flanged bowls from the Carthage Treasure have a single row of small hemispherical beads worked almost entirely from the front). Beading is usually positioned on or close to the rims or outer edges of the dishes or vessels. Beaded decoration was particularly popular during the late Roman period, and decorates vessels found in many different locations, both within the Empire and outside it, for example fragments of beading found in a hoard of hacksilber from Coleraine, in Northern Ireland (PL. XXD), and a flanged silver bowl from the River Don in southern Russia, as well as vessels from Mildenhall, in England, Chaourse, in France, Carthage, Syria and Constantinople. The use of bead-and-reel decoration seems to be the earlier of the two techniques and was used on many of the vessels in the Chaourse Treasure in the third century A.D., while material from later hoards of the fourth to the sixth centuries, such as the Mildenhall treasure, show that the large single-beaded band had then become extremely popular. To discover the techniques employed to produce this simple beaded decoration examples of both types were examined using optical and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Models were made in copper to test the resulting theories on how the different methods of beading were carried out.

Excavations and observations on adjacent sites in the heart of London's ancient harbour produced exceptional evidence of waterfront activity from the mid-first into the fifth centuries. To the south of the natural pre-urban river bank were found substantial traces of structures thought to represent a pier base for a timber bridge across the Thames and an open-work landing-stage. The latter was replaced in the late first century by an infilled timber-faced quay traced for over 70 m east–west. Two storage buildings, each 25 m × 6 m, were laid out over the northern half of the quay area. The line of the waterfront had been advanced beyond the southern limit of excavation by the early second century, and again by the early third century, and these major modifications are reflected in the subsequent development and layout of the buildings and associated features recorded in the excavations.

The well-preserved timber structures are described and illustrated, the development of the storage buildings is discussed in detail, and the first century river level is assessed.

The survey of prehistoric and Roman monuments of Lanarkshire undertaken by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland during the preparation of the county Inventory naturally included a re-examination of the Antonine Wall between Kirkintilloch and the River Kelvin. Regrettably, as that survey recorded, the past fifty years have seen considerable erosion and destruction of this section of the Roman limes: for example, gravel-quarrying has destroyed the fort at Cadder, together with about 400 m of the Wall itself to the N of Wilderness Plantation, and elsewhere road-widening operations, pipe-laying, and the remorseless process of arable farming have worn down or encroached upon the fugitive traces of the Imperial frontier. In the case of large-scale disturbance, the opportunity has generally been taken to ascertain by excavation the nature of what was destined to be lost forever, but it was perhaps inevitable that, in the process, significant structural evidence should also have been removed unrecognized. Amongst the structures thus destroyed was the easternmost of the minor enclosures which are attached to the Wall to the north of Wilderness Plantation and which form the subject of this paper. It is not surprising, however, that neither it nor its companions were noticed earlier, for it must be many years, possibly centuries, since they were visible as upstanding earthworks, and their identification in modern times resulted from the inspection of aerial photographs, undertaken as part of the Inventory survey-programme.