Mapping the Antonine Wall

Abstract

The Antonine Wall was the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire in the mid 2^nd century AD. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2008. The nomination process required a detailed assessment of the location and mapping of the monument, and the production of new maps of the Wall. This was accompanied by a new map of the Antonine Wall, designed for a general audience.

Key Words:

• antiquities
• Antonine Wall
• archaeological mapping
• Ordnance Survey
• World Heritage Site

Acknowledgements

The authors would primarily like to thank Georgina Brown at RCAHMS, who undertook the painstaking work of producing all the maps; we would also like to thank David Breeze (formerly Historic Scotland) and George Findlater (Historic Scotland) for collaborating with the production of the maps, and also to Jim Devine and colleagues at the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, for collaborating on the 2008 Antonine Wall map at 1:25,000. We would also like to thank John Linge for useful discussions on the OS surveys of the Wall, and Dr Richard Jones at the University of Glasgow for access to his geophysical survey results at Balmuildy. Finally, we would like to thank Chris Fleet for inviting us to present this work at the Mapping and Antiquities seminar.

Notes

Automated processes can interpret, render and visualise hachures from the break of slope detail published as vector mapping by the Ordnance Survey. (Regnauld et al., 2002).

The Scottish Ten is a partnership between The Conservation Group, Historic Scotland and the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation, Glasgow School of Art to create exceptionally accurate digital models of the five UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites in Scotland together with a further five international sites.