Publication Account
Date 17 December 2011
Event ID 922877
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/922877
The camps at Inveresk lie on the east side of the River Esk at Musselburgh, south-east of the Antonine fort which sits on a high plateau in a meander of the river. A vicus sits to the east of the fort and other features in the area include a field system, a triple-ditched feature and an unusual structure interpreted as a possible amphitheatre (Neighbour 2002a), as well as monuments of other periods (a probable Neolithic cursus monument and a possible long cist cemetery).
Both camps were recorded as cropmarks by St Joseph in the 1960s (1965: 80; 1969: 107–8). Camp II, the smaller of the two, sits within camp I and probably utilised part of its perimeter. Parts of three sides of camp I are known, demonstrating that it enclosed around 460m from north-west to south-east by at least 350m trans- versely; the location of the north east side is unknown. It therefore enclosed at least 16.3ha (40 acres) and possibly close to 22ha (54 acres). Entrance gaps protected by tituli are visible in the south-west and south-east sides.
Various excavations have taken place on the camps and other features in the vicinity. In 1966, St Joseph excavated on the north-west side and recorded a large V-shaped ditch, 1.75m deep and 3m wide filled with silt and large stones (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 4). Further excavations in 1981 recorded slightly smaller dimensions, along with a small V-shaped ditch across the causeway of the gate on the south-east side, possibly indicating a secondary use (see Inveresk II (Rankov 1982: 340; RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 8)). Hanson excavated on the south-west and south-east sides in the mid-1980s in advance of road construction, recording that the ditch was V-shaped, up to 1m deep and 2–3m wide; one section produced a fragment of Antonine samian. He suggested that the ditches may have been deliberately backfilled on the basis of the gravel in-fill (Hanson 2002: 53). Later excavations by Cook on the north-west side of Inveresk I recorded a section of that camp and two other ditches which he originally interpreted as possible camps (2002a: 66–8) but subsequently suggested that not all may relate to the Roman occupation (2005). Given that the field system produced V-shaped ditches with apparent ‘ankle-breaker’ slots, the interpretation of features in this area as being part of temporary camps must be treated with caution. In addition to sections of ditch, Hanson’s excavations also recorded five probable ‘dumb-bell-shaped’ ovens, up to 3m long and 1.5m wide, containing charcoal and carbonised grain (Hanson 2002: 53–5). Cook’s excavations revealed a further possible field oven (‘a bipartite pit filled with ash and charcoal’) close to the north-west side of the camp and cut by a later ditch. This produced radiocarbon dates of the late 1st and early 2nd century ad (Cook 2005: 153).
A series of pits is also visible on the air photographs close to the west part of the north-west side. It is possible that these pits represent further remains of ovens. Some 250m of the north-west side of camp II are known, with a central entrance gap and titulus, together with a rounded corner angle and short stretch of the adjacent north-east side. St Joseph excavated eight trenches to establish the line of the ditch and gate on this camp in 1967, and noted that it had a small V-shaped ditch, 0.75m deep and 1.7m wide (St Joseph 1969: 108). The gate was 10.4m wide with the titulus ditch set some 8m from the entrance (RCAHMS St Joseph Collection: Notebook 4). The ditch of the titulus was interrupted by the rectangular slot of a foundation trench for a timber building. The top of this revealed a worn dupondius, possibly of Domitian (St Joseph 1969: 108).
If camp II utilised the southern portion of camp I, suggested by St Joseph’s excavations on the south-east entrance of this camp, then it could be almost 300m in length and enclose around 8.5ha (21 acres). Hanson’s excavations did not show any sign of recutting of the ditch of camp I, which led him to suggest that there may have been a short time-gap between the occupation of the two camps (2002a: 57).
R H Jones.
