The Biglands milefortlet, the first known site of the Cumberland coast defences, lies 5,500 feet beyond the terminal fort at the western end of Hadrian's Wall at Bowness-on-Solway. It survives as a low but prominent grassy mound (FIG. I), situated some 60 m from the edge of the salt marsh and with views which command the Cardurnock peninsula, the Solway estuary and the mountains of Galloway. Its height above the level of the highest tides is 4–5 m, the subsoil consisting of the bedded sands and shingle of a raised beach. The most prominent feature both from the air and on the ground is the silted ditch of the fortlet; it encloses an area which is subrectangular in plan, measuring c. 40 by 50 m. Only the southern end of the fortlet, where there are the farm buildings of Biglands House, lies concealed. There is no obvious sign of a break in the ditch and it was thus assumed that this was a ‘long-axis’ fortlet, orientated north-south, with a rear entrance as at Cardurnock. The air photographs also showed traces of a palisade revetting the rampart which, as was demonstrated by trial-trenching in 1954, was built up of marsh silt; but no structures were recovered in these excavations, and there was only a thin scatter of second-century pottery.

Eight Roman coins were reported in 2007 to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. All the coins were late Roman issues, with the latest identified as a Gloria Romanorum type dating to A.D. 406–408. This coin is only the second of its type to be identified in Britain, and it was found outside the normal area of fifth-century coins in southern Britain, in the Hadrian's Wall corridor. The finding of the group with its late coin begs the question of how many more fifth-century Roman issues may be as yet undiscovered or misidentified in Britain.

Recent years have seen excavation at two points on the perimeter of the Roman temporary camp at Dunning. The first excavation, in spring 1988, adjacent to the known northern entrance to the camp, was conducted by Dr Lawrence Keppie of the Hunterian Museum, on behalf of Historic Scotland, in advance of pipe-laying by British Gas Scotland. In autumn 1992 excavation of the western entrance to the Roman camp was directed by Andrew Dunwell of the Centre for Field Archaeology, in advance of a housing development by A. & J. Stephen (Builders) Ltd of Perth. The projects were funded by Historic Scotland and A. & J. Stephen (Builders) Ltd respectively.

Recent waterfront excavations on the Pudding Lane site in the City of London exposed a timber structure to the south of, and earlier than, a late first-century quay. This provisional report describes the structure and its context, and summarizes evidence for and against its identification as a pier-base for an early bridge across the Thames.

A saltern associated with salt production was excavated at Pyde Drove, near Woolavington. The large assemblage of briquetage recovered has allowed for some novel interpretations of the function of the different component types within the hearth structures. The saltern comprised a mound of waste material adjacent to 12 brine-settling tank pits and two salt water channels. A further settling tank was revealed beneath the mound. The pottery indicates that activity on the site dates to the later Romano-British period.

In 1960 I published an account of the campaigns of Aulus Plautius and Ostorius Scapula in Britain, and attempted to show that the Fosse Way was part of a frontier system established by the first governor. There have been subsequent modifications as new information has come to light. A number of new sites has been discovered and the basic pattern of the Plautian frontier, as suggested in the original paper, now requires further consideration. Our conception of the military situations between 43 and 71 has become more complicated with increased knowledge of the tide of battle sweeping forward to the west and then the ebb bringing troops back into the rearward areas subsequent to the Boudiccan revolt. Several sites such as The Lunt at Baginton, Metchley and Usk are being carefully and extensively excavated. These are producing not only interesting sequences of buildings but quantities of pottery and coins which make closer dating possible. The amount of pottery in particular allows detailed studies of shapes and fabrics, enabling the changes to be more narrowly assessed than previously. This present paper is an attempt to consider this new information and to clarify the position as it is now seen. But the situation is still far too fluid for anything but an interim statement; as more work proceeds further adjustments will become necessary.

A catalogue of stamped bronze vessels found in Britain, published by McPeake and Moore in a recent volume of this journal, discusses a total of 40 vessels, one of which was omitted by accident from their published list (Part II below, No. 34). There are, however, a number of errors and omissions in this catalogue, and they have failed to include three stamped skillets that have been known since early this century: all these vessels are referred to in papers used by McPeake and Moore in compiling their catalogue. A principal purpose of this paper, therefore, is to correct the major inaccuracies in McPeake's and Moore's contribution, and to bring to wider notice the three ‘forgotten’ skillets together with three recent finds from Cumbria: this work forms the basis of our Part II. In Part I, however, we discuss the evidence for the date at which Publius Cipius Polybius, the most prolific of the Capuan bronzesmiths, was chiefly active.

During 1981 a large quantity of Roman brick and tile was recovered from excavations at Pudding Lane/118-127 Lower Thames Street, London. Examination of this material revealed a small assemblage of roofing-tile characterised by the presence of red or brown moulding-sand, and unusual rounded tegula flanges. All were made using calcareous clays quite unlike that used for the majority of Roman tile in London. As tile from further sites in London was recorded, more roofing-tile made in the same, or similar, clay types was discovered. From the mid-1980s work outside London has revealed other sites in southern England with tiles made with the same distinctive clay types. They are located over an extremely wide geographical area ranging from Devon in the west to London in the east. Movement of tile from the as yet unidentified tilery was almost certainly by ship along the south coast. The dating of these distinctive tiles is still problematic, although there is now considerable evidence for their use in the late Roman period.

I propose that the usual role of the Notitia Dignitatum's ‘Saxon Shore’ forts was, on both sides of the Channel, to control chronic, ‘everyday’ piracy and to support imperial operations. An exception occurred under Carausius and Allectus when the British forts were augmented to face likely Roman invasion. There was never any integrated cross-Channel system against concerted barbarian seaborne attack, Saxon or otherwise. The ‘Saxon Shore’ was a late fourth-century political expedient, confined to Britain and with minor military significance.

This paper presents a new approach to an old problem, the provincial reception of the image of Roman emperors. Applying 3D computer modelling, we captured the portrait features of Hadrian as represented on coinage minted for the British province, produced a 3D model from a coin and compared it with the bronze head of Hadrian found in London. The aim was to test the possibility, previously posited by other scholars, that the London portrait might have been produced by an artisan who used coin portraits of the emperor as his main – if not only – model. More generally, the paper examines the dependencies of coinage and sculpture on shared models and applies new technology to Roman portrait studies.

Roman lead sling bullets (glandes) have been found at Windridge Farm near St Albans in Hertfordshire since the 1970s. A previous study suggested these missiles could have originated from a plough-disturbed hoard of Roman lead objects. More recent discoveries of glandes from other sites throughout Europe have enhanced our understanding of depositional characteristics, morphology and lead sources for Roman sling bullets and this paper offers an alternative explanation for their loss. Their atypical form (for Britain), and the prospect of a continental origin of the lead ore for their manufacture, suggest an early date of deposition. We also argue that the number of bullets and the pattern of their dispersal are indicative of an episode of conflict. After review of attested early military engagements that could have taken place in the vicinity, we propose that the projectiles may relate to one of two events: Claudius's invasion under the auspices of Aulus Plautius in a.d. 43 or Caesar's second incursion of 54 b.c.

Phallic imagery occurred throughout the Roman world and is most commonly found on small portable items such as amulets and pendants, and on buildings and structures. This paper details three Romano-British instances of phallic carvings found on millstones and one on a rotary quern. It assesses the style and positioning of the carvings in relation to the functional operation of the stones, reviews their contexts of recovery geographically and chronologically and considers the likely symbolism and meaning of the carvings.