Unlocking the Roman fortress

In her current project, Dr Allison is again taking a high-tech approach to Roman archaeology, applying new technology and new questions to life inside Roman forts. The latest Geographical Information Software (GIS) is allowing her to explore life at the heart of the Roman military.

“The Romans have always been of interest to people interested in the military and politics. They provided the model for the 19th century military.

“They needed them to be hard, tough soldiers because they were trying to make hard, tough soldiers.”

Our understanding of Roman forts paints them as distinctly male places — the only exceptions being the families of commanding officers. It has always been understood that Roman soldiers lived, ate and slept their warrior life and had little contact with women or children. However this may be what we needed to believe, when the 19th century European empires looked to history for inspiration as they sought to consolidate and expand their conquests.

It has always been thought that Roman soldiers ate together within their units, in their barracks. However, Dr Allison has found evidence of taverns lining the main streets within the fortress where they could have eaten. In these public areas she has found signs of the presence of women — brooches, hairpins and possibly even a baby’s feeder. Evidence from a fortress in Switzerland suggests that an innkeeper there had been female.

She has used the latest technology to map the quantities of ‘male’ and ‘female’ artefacts found in different regions of forts and found they suggest a significant female presence.

Previous archaeologists have frequently refused to entertain the possibility that artefacts could belong to women. Items that have been accepted as distinctly female in other sites, such as women’s graves, have been ascribed to men when found within military forts.

“For example, when certain types of brooches found in female graves were also found in military forts some have assumed that these types must also be worn by soldiers. But some of these brooches are too small to belong to soldiers. Soldiers only wore large broaches to fasten their cloaks, whereas women also wore smaller ones to fasten their undergarments. Some hairpins found within military forts have been interpreted as styli (or pens) because they also should not be there.

“If, as is now becoming more widely accepted, numerous women lived and worked within Roman military then it is expected that they would lose their hairpins, brooches and personal effects around the site.”

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