Archaeologists Search For Scotland’s Lost Roman Fort

words by Carol King A team of archaeologists is conducting a search for a “missing” Ancient Roman fort thought to be buried in the Scottish countryside. BBC News reports that a team of experts from the Roman Gask Project at the University of Liverpool is investigating various sites in the countryside around Angus and Aberdeenshire. They believe that remains of the lost fort may lie between a Roman fort at Stracathro, near Brechin, and the northeast coast. If the team is successful, the fort would form part of the Gask Ridge frontier system located further south in Perthshire. The system is the earliest Roman land frontier in Britain and was built c 70 AD, some 50 years before Hadrian’s Wall and 70 years before the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Since German archaeologists redated the start of their frontier to the Trajanic period 20 years later, it appears that the Gask Ridge system is the first Roman land frontier anywhere in the world. It consists of a series of Roman forts and watchtowers, and stretches from Doune, near Stirling, to Stracathro. Excavation leader Dr. Birgitta Hoffmann told the BBC: “We’re not sure what exactly we’ll find, but we’re hoping to find something, and if it is a Roman fort, it will help to complete our understanding of the Romans in Scotland.” She added: “People are always surprised when I tell them about the Roman occupation of the area – they think the Romans never got any further than the Antonine Wall or even Hadrian’s Wall... The truth is, we don’t know how far north they got, but we’re hoping that the work of the Roman Gask Project will change that this year.”