The Roman Siege of Burnswark

Abstract

T he flat-topped hill of Burnswark broods over the surrounding landscape of southern Annandale. Its Iron Age defences enclose an area of 7 ha, modest when set against the hillforts of the neighbouring Tyne-Forth province, but without equal in Dumfriesshire. Its situation has often evoked comparison with the 10.5 ha site of Masada (Israel), but, even allowing for occasionally steep slopes rising some 70 m from its base, Burnswark's defences cannot match the formidable 250 m cliffs of the Judaean site. 1 The enduring fascination with Burnswark stems largely from the presence of two Roman camps, sited to north and south, by which the hillfort is 'gripped as in a vice' (FIG. I). 2 In addition, eighteenthcentury visitors claimed to have discerned encircling siege-lines, linking the camps. Alexander Gordon, admittedly not perhaps the most trustworthy of observers, 3 noted 'a huge rampart of stone and earth [running] round by the end of the hill', joining the eastern sides of the two camps; 4 his account may have unduly influenced Maitland's 'covered way that runs round the eastern end of the hill'. 5 But no less an authority than General William Roy agreed that there were 'some imperfect vestiges of two lines ... surrounding the east end of the hill'; furthermore, he added 'intermediate posts' in the west and east, and tentatively suggested that one of the lines 'seems to have joined the large [i.e. southern] camp to the post at the west end of the hill' (FIG. 2). 6 A generation later, 'the remains of a line of circumvallation, which appears to have surrounded the hill' were still evident, according to Chalmers. 7 Barbour's investigation of the phenomenon, during excavations in 1898, seemed to confirm the existence of a rampart, which extended from the northeast corner of the North Camp and ran around the eastern end of the hill before petering out, with a second stretch heading west from the South Camp. In fact, Barbour's survey, to a remarkable degree, confirmed the pattern recorded by Roy, including the irregularly-shaped 'intermediate posts' between the camps. However, when Barbour discovered that the inner of Roy's two eastern lines appeared to be a 10-foot wide roadway, he failed to draw the logical conclusion that, if this was part of a circumvallation, it faced outwards instead of inwards. 8 Although the functional significance of the camps eluded Roy, the idea of a Roman siege gradually gained currency. An anonymous article of 1792 drew the following conclusion: 9 'The whole suggested to me the idea of a siege. The natives, from the plains, had conveyed their cattle and effects to the top of the hill, and increased their natural defence by walls. The Romans divided 1 The topography recalls other siege sites, as Schulten noted (1914, 609): 'Wie Numantia, Alesia, Masada, zieht auch B[irrenswark] schon von feme den Blick auf sich.' 2 The quotation is from Steer 1964, 24. 3 cf. the comments of Steer 1964, 2-5.

Scotland: The Roman Presence

“…The Roman character of the siege works at Burnswark is, however, not in doubt, but here opinion is divided over their interpretation, with some favouring a genuine siege (e.g. Campbell 2003;Davies 2009;Hodgson 2009;Keppie 2009) and others preferring to see it as a training exercise (e.g. Breeze 1982;Hanson and Maxwell 1986; both following Steer 1964 andJobey 1978).…”