A ROMAN FORT IN SCOTLAND.
A GREAT deal of work has been done on the Roman Wall in Scotland by modern Scottish archaeologists, headed by that very able scholar Dr. George Macdonald, and the general history of Antonine's frontier has been made clear. The separate forts along the Wall have now to be examined in detail. At the instance of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, Mr. S. N. Miller, of Glasgow University, excavated before the War the fort nearest to the city, and his new book on The Roman Fort at Balmuildy (Glasgow : Maclehose, Jackson, 21s. net) describes the finds in careful detail. Those who are acquainted with the reports of the Limeskommission on the Roman camps along the Upper Rhine-Danube frontier, which have been justly regarded as models of archaeological research, may be assured that Mr. Miller's work is equally thorough, while its literary form is more attractive. Every scrap of the evidence produced by the spade has been utilized. The numerous fragments of the red pottery known as " Samian " have, of course, been care- fully examined and classified, for camps can be dated by their potsherds now that the varieties and developments of " Samian " ware are well known. But Mr. Miller has devoted not a little attention to the fragments of leather uniforms, old boots and the like which have been dug up. This may seem useless labour, but when the patient inquirer has found among many leather soles only a few that could have belonged to women or youths, and only one that belonged to a child, he may infer with some certainty that Balmuildy was not a peaceful garrison where the legionaries' wives and children could live in safety, as they did farther south. The inference concurs with all the evidence drawn from other sources to prove that Balmuildy was, in fact, occupied for less than half a century (140-185 approximately), that it was taken and damaged by the wild Caledonians at least twice during that period, and that it was then evacuated with the rest of the Antonine Wall, of which it formed an integral part. The fort was built to command a ford of the middle Kelvin, on the track from the Blanc Valley to the Clyde. It was evidently a weak point in. the Wall as the neighbouring fort westward, at New Kilpatrick, was only' two miles or so away—half the normal interval between the forts. The garrison was nominally a thousand strong and must have been difficult to maintain in that wild region, far from the Roman bases of supply. Commodus gave up the attempt to hold Southern Scotland, and withdrew the garrisons to the- older and stronger Wall across Northumberland and Cumber- land. The excavations at Balmuildy revealed a few sculptured- stones—an altar dedicated by the tribune Caecilius Nepciss
fragments of an inscribed slab erected by the Second Legion in the reign of Antoninus Pius, and so on—and a very few coins. One could not expect to find much in so short-lived a, fort. More important is the account of the foundations of the buildings and the Wall, which covered about four acres ; it is illustrated not merely with plans and drawings but also with many excellent photographs. The solid masonry that was uncovered testifies afresh to the ability of the Roman military engineer, but for whom the frontiers of the Empire could not have been held with the relatively few troops that were available.
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