Pioneers in Roman Archaeology: The Antonine Wall Committee

Abstract

The paper considers the origins of a Committee established by the Glasgow Archaeological Society in March 1891 to oversee an investigation of the Antonine Wall; the backgrounds and interrelationships of those involved; the methodologies and protocols adopted; the sequence in which the trenches were opened up; the slow progress to publication in 1899 of the written record, The Antonine Wall Report; and the significance of the work in the history of Scottish archaeology. Extensive use is made of the Minutes and Annual Reports of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, articles in the press and other contemporary documents. Hitherto unpublished site-drawings by the draughtsman Mungo Buchanan of Falkirk add to our knowledge of these events.