Building with turf at Roman Vindolanda: Multi-scalar analysis of earthen materials, construction techniques, and landscape context

Ben Russell; Tanja Romankiewicz; Tom Gardner; Andrew Birley; Riley  Snyder; Christopher T. S. Beckett

doi:10.1080/00665983.2021.1949148

Building with turf at Roman Vindolanda: Multi-scalar analysis of earthen materials, construction techniques, and landscape context

Ben Russell, Tanja Romankiewicz, Tom Gardner, Andrew Birley, Riley Snyder, Christopher T. S. Beckett

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Turf was widely used as a building material in the Roman period, especially in military architecture. Despite this, few studies have investigated properties of turf in construction, and fewer still have applied micromorphology to ancient turf walls. This study details the methods and results from a combined macro- and micro-scale analysis, using samples from the well-preserved ramparts at Vindolanda, a fort associated with Hadrian’s Wall. Our work not only proposes a refined methodology for the wider geoarchaeological study of turf walls, but also provides new, deeper insight into the properties of turf as a building material.

Original language	English
Journal	The Archaeological Journal
Early online date	29 Sept 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2021.1949148
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 29 Sept 2021

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

turf walls
earth-based building materials
geoarchaeology
micromorphology
Roman military constructions
Hadrian's Wall

Access to Document

10.1080/00665983.2021.1949148Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

RussellEtal2021AJBuildingWithTurfFinal published version, 40.3 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

1 Chapter
1 Article

Taking roots on the Wall
Romankiewicz, T., 4 Apr 2024, Hadrian's Wall in our Time: To the memory of a fallen tree in Sycamore Gap. Breeze, D. J. (ed.). Oxford: Archaeopress, p. 192-193 2 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
'Another wall of turf': Geoarchaeological analysis of the Antonine Wall at 72 Grahamsdyke Street, Laurieston, Falkirk
Romankiewicz, T., Russell, B., Bailey, G., Gardner, T., Snyder, J. R. & Beckett, C. T. S., 30 Nov 2022, In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 151, p. 103-141 39 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Open Access
File

1 Oral presentation

Military Construction Strategies on the Limes: New Geoarchaeological Approaches
Romankiewicz, T. (Speaker), Russell, B. (Contributor), Beckett, C. (Contributor) & Snyder, R. (Contributor)
27 Aug 2022
Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Cite this

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title = "Building with turf at Roman Vindolanda: Multi-scalar analysis of earthen materials, construction techniques, and landscape context",

abstract = "Turf was widely used as a building material in the Roman period, especially in military architecture. Despite this, few studies have investigated properties of turf in construction, and fewer still have applied micromorphology to ancient turf walls. This study details the methods and results from a combined macro- and micro-scale analysis, using samples from the well-preserved ramparts at Vindolanda, a fort associated with Hadrian{\textquoteright}s Wall. Our work not only proposes a refined methodology for the wider geoarchaeological study of turf walls, but also provides new, deeper insight into the properties of turf as a building material.",

keywords = "turf walls, earth-based building materials, geoarchaeology, micromorphology, Roman military constructions, Hadrian's Wall",

author = "Ben Russell and Tanja Romankiewicz and Tom Gardner and Andrew Birley and Riley Snyder and Beckett, {Christopher T. S.}",

year = "2021",

month = sep,

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doi = "10.1080/00665983.2021.1949148",

language = "English",

journal = "The Archaeological Journal",

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T2 - Multi-scalar analysis of earthen materials, construction techniques, and landscape context

AU - Russell, Ben

AU - Romankiewicz, Tanja

AU - Gardner, Tom

AU - Birley, Andrew

AU - Snyder, Riley

AU - Beckett, Christopher T. S.

PY - 2021/9/29

Y1 - 2021/9/29

N2 - Turf was widely used as a building material in the Roman period, especially in military architecture. Despite this, few studies have investigated properties of turf in construction, and fewer still have applied micromorphology to ancient turf walls. This study details the methods and results from a combined macro- and micro-scale analysis, using samples from the well-preserved ramparts at Vindolanda, a fort associated with Hadrian’s Wall. Our work not only proposes a refined methodology for the wider geoarchaeological study of turf walls, but also provides new, deeper insight into the properties of turf as a building material.

AB - Turf was widely used as a building material in the Roman period, especially in military architecture. Despite this, few studies have investigated properties of turf in construction, and fewer still have applied micromorphology to ancient turf walls. This study details the methods and results from a combined macro- and micro-scale analysis, using samples from the well-preserved ramparts at Vindolanda, a fort associated with Hadrian’s Wall. Our work not only proposes a refined methodology for the wider geoarchaeological study of turf walls, but also provides new, deeper insight into the properties of turf as a building material.

KW - turf walls

KW - earth-based building materials

KW - geoarchaeology

KW - micromorphology

KW - Roman military constructions

KW - Hadrian's Wall

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DO - 10.1080/00665983.2021.1949148

M3 - Article

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JO - The Archaeological Journal

JF - The Archaeological Journal

ER -

Building with turf at Roman Vindolanda: Multi-scalar analysis of earthen materials, construction techniques, and landscape context

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Research output

Taking roots on the Wall

'Another wall of turf': Geoarchaeological analysis of the Antonine Wall at 72 Grahamsdyke Street, Laurieston, Falkirk

Activities

Military Construction Strategies on the Limes: New Geoarchaeological Approaches

Cite this