GhostOfClayton

Whatever the critics say, I can only reiterate Julia's post and say . . .IT'S ROMAN!

Just got the following from Vindolanda:

What the critics are saying about The Eagle.

Hmm . . . as you can imagine, it's a pretty well known fact in the archaeological community around here - it's quite a find. So, haven't got a source to hand. However, just entering "Excavations Brough on Humber" into Amazon returns a number of candidate works. I use it merely as an example of how etymology can help in providing supporting evidence - it can never be a primary method of establishing a Roman place name.

Also, to add to the list of sources, there's the Rudge Cup, the Staffordshire Moorlands Patera and the Amiens Skillet (covering Hadrian's Wall). These, when taken along with the Ravenna Cosmography and Antonine Inventory, highlight how little we know for sure. There are wide variations in spellings leading to some very different interpretations, and it is unknown if these are transcription errors, names changing over time, etc. Some names change totally. Is this an error, a name change, or two places close together? You mentioned the Peutinger Table. I'm not sure if that is all we know of the Cursus Publicus network, or it there are other survivng records.

I should just say a little bit more about Brough-on-Humber, since it's on my patch. We know Petuaria is Brough-on-Humber and not North Ferriby from two main pieces of evidence. The first is that Cade's Road/Ermine Street (the main Roman Road to York and Newcastle) runs straight into the remains of a Roman Fort in Brough, but principally, the town is actually named on a dedication stone for a Roman theatre found in Brough. There are plenty of Roman town names that we know, and your reasoning looks sound, especially if we add in the occaisional find like the dedication stone mentioned above (see how I segued nicely between the two?) We should also mention etymology (e.g Lincoln = Lindum Colonina). But it should be added that there are Roman place names that we don't know the location of. For example the birth place of St Patrick was Banna Venta Berniae. There are some pretty convincing guesses as to where that is, but nothing concrete.

So the big question must be - how did it get to Sweden?

I can thoroughly recomend a visit to the Roman Museum at Maryport (which will be located next to the dig). Their sizeable collection of alters are in almost suspiciously good nick, especially considering they're sandstone!

Exciting!

I'll qualify my answer by saying that I have no technical knowledge or education, but I have seen an awful lot of Roman stone in various uses and states. The mortared rubble/cobbles: These would be from a layer known as the Audit (though I'm sure not all Roman Roads were built to an absolute standard throughout the entire length, breadth and time of the Empire). However, to my untrained eye, the mortar looks too new (and sophisticated), especially (as Melvadius has said) beside a watercourse. Some of the later shots of possible audit material might just look old enough, but they seem to match the large (how large?) mystery slab, which seems to have some quite flat surfaces still on it. If you're interested, Housesteads are running a long term experiment on the aging and weathering of various different Roman mortars. Regarding the mystery item, it could be anything including a bit of old slate that happens to have eroded that way. Top tip, though: whenever you take photos in a scientific/archaeological context, put something of a known size in shot. We don't know the size of the slate, and that could be key. Sorry - just seen the later shot of the object in your hand - unless you're some kind of giant. The photo you describe as gravel looks 'tarmac'y from the photo. How well is it bonded? Modern Road? photos. Looks like it to me. And the gravel photos look like they come from that same tarmac wearing course. Large black stone: Looks like bitumen that has flowed into that shape. Waste material from the modern road wearing course. Looking towards Pamber: There's a distinct raised linear feature of a not unsuitable width - if it coincides with the extrapulated line of the road it's likely to be of interest. I'm assuming you're working round here somewhere?

Maybe the invisible BMW is there waiting for you - it's just a really, really good invisible BMW. On an only slightly related note, I had the following conversation with a client last year. Client: "One of those Stealth Bombers flew over yesterday, did you see it?" GhostOfClayton: "No" Client: "Good, aren't they!"

Wow, Caldrail, you used to fly? You're the James Bond of UNRV!

Sorry (once again) that I didn't post this before the event, but there was a nice little article (only about 10 minutes or so) on The One Show tonight about Roman bathing, laundry, make-up, etc. At the time of posting, it's shown as 'Coming Soon' on the BBC iPlayer, and it'll only be there for a week. Not sure of the iPlayer overseas rules, but give it a try.

For all you folks in the US, Germany etc. (in fact, pretty much the whole world other than Portugal) who are getting this film before the UK, could I please implore you to keep reasonably tight-lipped until 1st April? In return for your patience, I offer you a whole web-page chock-full of clips from the film.

Hi AntoniaR, and welcome to UNRV. I'm afraid that (as I'm sure you must have suspected) the reasons for the downfall of the Roman Empire are not only many and varied, but have been argued over passionately long into the night by this forum's contributors for many years. You don't have to look too far through the history here before you find a thread on that subject. I can give you the following as just one example of many, but perhaps the others can post some more links to threads that will help you understand this particularly thorny question. Thread link . . . and also, you have to be clear about what you mean by the downfall of the Roman Empire. Just the Western Empire, or the final downfall of the Eastern Empire (or even the Holy Roman Empire).

You could make up a couple of names yourself, and trace their growth and movement through cyberspace using Google. 20 years down the line, they could be the de facto standard believed by all.

The chalk dust sometimes gets up your nose!

If you take the situations at the end of the 1st century AD, then at the 2nd century, end of the 3rd , 4th and 5th, things are getting progressively worse, but (especially given the average lifespan) it could be argued that pretty much every citizen of the Roman Empire only ever saw a status quo, because the change was so slow. Even the large barbarian incursions were against the context of continual niggling away at the borders, and smaller incursions. So the vast, vast majority of the population would be unaware of change in their lifetimes. The question then would be, how aware were they of former glories? Although histories were documented, with most of the population being only educated to a bisic level, that left a tiny proportion with access to the information (although it may have been a sort of common knowlege that in the dim and distant past, the Roman Empire was more glorious than now). Of that tiny proportion, a tiny proportion would be capable of extrapolating an end . . . and would they be listened to?

If they were going to be anywhere, surely they would be in 'Annals'. You can bet your bottom dollar that Tacitus doesn't actually mention them there, and so at some stage, someone's written a semi-fictional account requiring the naming of names, and chosen those two. Someone (from that fictional work) has then taken it as fact.

The economics of necessity back this up. If food prices were too high, fewer basic labourers would be able to afford basic living costs, leading to fewer labourers, and so prices would be forced back down. If food prices went too low, there would be a corresponding downward pressure on labour wages until the balance point was met. This balance point would continue until more sophisticated markets arose (post Industrial Revolution), or extraordinary external conditions occurred (droughts, plagues, etc.) that would unbalance the system.

Hiking, hiking and more hiking. Travel, travel and more travel (job as well as hobby!) Music (listening to rather than making - I wish I was cool enough to play an instrument, but I'm not) Golden Age science fiction - can I recomend the seemingly endless 'X-Minus-1' podcasts available free on iTunes, even if you don't own an Apple device. Fortunately, I've managed to kick the Snooker habit. There's a saying that snooker is the sign of a mis-spent youth, and that certainly was the case with mine. Had I spent more time in the lessons and lectures I should have been in, rather than in snooker/pool halls, I would no doubt (given my vast intelligence, wit, charm and modesty) be ruling the world by now.

IMDB aludes to the fact that "The Eagle of The Ninth" may be the UK title. If that's the case, US film-makers probably should have more faith in their audience.

I'm not sure if cake was involved, but he's now back on the job!

Good finds both by Mr Addison, and by Mr Paulinus Maximus. There's an excellent Roman Road called Sarn Helen. I walked a little of it when I was doing the Brecon Beacons Way, and I reckon that short stretch is in better nick than most in Brtitannia, but doesn't get the attention because it's so remote.