Excavation

Date 1956 - 1961

Event ID 571659

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/571659

Excavations between 1957-61 with a view to long term conservation of the fort, produced neither pottery nor structural evidence of Flavian occupation. Parts of the Headquarters building, NE and NW quarters, and the defences were investigated.

S Cruden 1957; S Cruden 1959; I A Richmond 1959; S Cruden 1961.

Full report of 1957-61 excavations (see S Cruden 1957; 1959; 1961) given.

I MacIvor, M C Thomas and D J Breeze 1981.

(MacIvor, Thomas and Breeze 1980, 271, no. 296). The well-preserved Roman fort of Rough Castle has formed a major element of the Antonine Wall defensive system. It probably housed the greater part of the cohors VI Nerviorum for two periods within the years 142 and 164 AD approximately, and is situated on a prominent N-facing escarpment in an area where industrial activity has greatly modified the landscape. The nearest navigable water was probably in the vicinity of the River Carron which, at its nearest point, is 1.5km to the N of the fort and at an altitude about 50m lower.

The later campaigns of excavation on the fort have recently been published. The existence of waterlogged deposits or conditions suitable for the preservation of organic remains is not discussed in detail and the provenance of many of the objects is not specified, although the majority are said to be unstratified.

Among the finds there is a 'paddle-like object' of oak which has apparently suffered from splitting. As it survives, it measures 0.34m in length over all, of which the blade (of elongated oval form) accounts for 0.23m, and the rectangular-sectioned stock or handle forms the remainder. The blade is incomplete, but appears to have been roughly oval; the asymmetrical shoulders taper into the shaft which measures 70mm by 20mm in cross-section and is set at right-angles to the blade; it terminates in a neat cut which indicates that the object is preserved intact.

Although the form of this object strongly suggests an identification as a paddle, its small size casts doubt upon its possible use for propulsion; it may have been a mill-paddle.

I MacIvor, M C Thomas and D J Breeze 1980; W S Hanson and G S Maxwell 1983; R J C Mowat 1996.