Latest news with #TrimontiumTrust
BBC News
3 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Crime scene forensics used to recreate British hillfort siege
A team of archaeologists has created the most precise reconstruction yet of a Roman siege on a British hillfort by using crime scene eventual victory at Burnswark Hill in 140AD is considered to be one of Rome's greatest military triumphs north of Hadrian's well as archaeological mapping from four excavations and several geophysics surveys, the reconstruction experts also used forensic ballistics to determine the sequence of Stuart Campbell from the Trimontium Trust said that using all the evidence and information available he thought the finished walkthrough was "fantastic". Although attempts had previously been made to invade and colonise northern Britain, emperor Hadrian had settled for dividing the islands with a successor in 138AD, Antonius Pius came to power without any military victories to his name and decided to make his mark in what is now two years later a 5,000-strong army marched north towards the indigenous stronghold of Burnswark Hill where they created siege camps on either 3,000 locals were either living - or had taken refuge - within the hillfort's palisade John Reid of the Trimontium Trust said: "Antonius Pius sends his Legate - or senior general in Britain - to take Caledonia for him and for Rome."The first thing they hit when coming from Hadrian's Wall is Burnswark Hill." The results of an archaeological survey of the site a decade ago were added to previous data and finds from studies which took place in the 1890s, 1920s and using drones, the Trimontium Trust was able create an accurate 3D terrain model of the Roman camps and the ballistics pinpointed the angles of attack and mapping allowed precision detailing on the recreation down to a 2cm (0.8in) pebble within the over a year the archaeologists worked with digital artist Robert Gapper of Virtual Histories to build the 3D Campbell added: "One of the advantages of Burnswark is that there is so much still on the ground to start with."Because it is such an unique site, we've been able to drop people, buildings and weapons - in their appropriate styles - into where they would have been to create this overview." Featuring more than 8,000 individual characters, the 3D digital reconstruction relives the moments before the Roman army stormed the to the Trimontium Museum in Melrose can now use headsets for a virtual walkthrough of the unfolding Reid added: "We know missiles were shot in showers and did some serious damage - they were travelling at speeds of up to 70 metres per second."Then there were arrows from Syrian archers, and ballista balls - the size of grapefruits - being shot from the three platforms, and finally the sling bullets, which were anti-personnel weapons to take arms, legs and heads off."Then from the main camp there would have been a rapid outpouring of infantry heading straight up to the summit to breakthrough the defences."They quickly broke through and - from evidence - herded the last of the resistance to the west end of the hill."
The Guardian
04-02-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Donald Gordon obituary
My father, Donald Gordon, who has died aged 90, enjoyed two successful and influential careers, first in education and then in Roman history, as he put Trimontium, Scotland's largest Roman fort, back on the map. Donald established the Trimontium Trust in the early 1990s, following an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to move the route of the Melrose bypass away from the Roman site, which neighboured Donald's village of Newstead, in the Borders. He set up a self-funding museum in Melrose, and started site walks and organised lectures – from leading academics including Kenneth St Joseph, the Cambridge archaeologist who specialised in aerial photography, and authors such as the historical crime novelist Lindsey Davis – bringing people to Melrose to learn about its fascinating Roman past. All 32 copies of his Trimontium Trumpet journal for trust members have been catalogued in the National Library of Scotland. Born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, to Margaret (nee Fraser), a shop worker, and George Gordon, who worked for the electricity board, Donald won a scholarship to Hamilton academy, going on to study classics at Glasgow University. There he won the prestigious Cowan Blackstone medal, a public oral competition on Latin texts, before graduating in 1956. Donald then attended Jordanhill Teaching Training College and became a classics teacher at his old school. A popular teacher, he nevertheless had a growing ambition to influence education beyond the classroom, and in 1963 was appointed assistant director of education in West Lothian. A decade later he became director of education for Selkirkshire, and after local government reorganisation, in 1975 he was made depute director of education for the Borders – a post he would hold until retirement in 1995. This role enabled him to modernise schooling and champion teachers across the region. He met Ishbel Johnston, a primary school teacher, on a bus home from Glasgow in 1957. They married in 1961, and had two children, Alison and me. Moving to Newstead in 1973, Donald and Ishbel became elders of Melrose parish church, where Donald also led the Sunday school and drove the minibus for elderly parishioners. He was secretary of the Melrose community council for 15 years, and also sang in the Melrose Operatic Society for 25 years, the Eildon Singers and, latterly, the church choir. Well into his 80s, Donald threw himself into completing a project that he had been researching for more than two decades – compiling the letters of James Curle, the Melrose solicitor and archaeologist who had carried out the first excavations in Newstead. Revealing Trimontium was published in 2023. His co-author, Fraser Hunter, concluded that Donald had 'served the Roman legacy of the area tremendously well; without him, the site would have remained largely ignored'. In 2008, Donald was appointed MBE. He is survived by Ishbel, Alison and me, and by six grandchildren.
