Roman Roadworks near Vindolanda and theCohors I Tungrorum

Abstract

On the Stanegate near Vindolanda two milestones are still in situ. The complete eastern one lacks an inscription. Only the base of the western one survives, cut down and split c. 1815; but eighteenth-century antiquaries read an inscription on it, now recognised as secondary, and a little of a primary text, probably naming Hadrian and perhaps a Tungrian unit. Writing-tablets and inscriptions show cohors I Tungrorum at Vindolanda in the late first and early second century, so it may have set up the milestone. Evidence from elsewhere names army units as road-builders on milestones. The distance between the Stanegate milestones is greater than the ‘standard’ length, hence perhaps the so-called pes Drusianus was used. The final section discusses the secondary inscription.

Archaeological soil from Roman occupational layers can be differentiated by microbial and chemical signatures

“…Initial reading of the writing tablets found in 2017 suggest that they came from the residence of the first commanding officer at Vindolanda, Julius Verecundus, who is known from other tablets discovered at Vindolanda (5-7) and were perhaps part of his archive. The new tablet evidence neatly confirms what has previously been proposed: that the initial garrison quartered in the period II fort was the now enlarged Cohors I Tungrorum, still commanded by Julius Verecundus (1,8,9).…”

Unit Levies after the Batavian Revolt and the Conquest of Northern Britannia

“… 47 Cichorius 1900, col. 343–4; Alföldy 1968, 73, 78; Jarrett 1994, 48; Birley et al 2013, 293; Birley 2017, 5. Alföldy and Jarrett both mention the existence of Tungrian irregular forces during the Julio-Claudian era, but it is uncertain when they became regular auxiliary units.…”

“… 48 Alföldy 1968, 86; Holder 1982, 123; Holder 2006, 161; Jarrett 1994, 48; Spaul 2000, 226; Birley et al 2013, 291–4; Birley 2017, 5–6.…”