This monograph is a very welcome addition to the other comparable publications on Roman camps in England (H. Welfare and V. Swan, Roman Camps in England: the Field Archaeology [1995]) and Wales (J.L. Davies and R.H. Jones, Roman Camps in Wales and the Marches [2006]) and completes the coverage for the whole of Britain. The sheer number of camps in Scotland when compared with the rest of Britain makes this a larger and more comprehensive publication, with implications for the study of this monument type across the rest of the country and, indeed, of the former territory of the Roman Empire. J. is to be congratulated on this work and on her contribution to the Welsh volume which, together, must now make her one of the foremost scholars in this field.

The volume is beautifully produced and is a credit to the expanding series of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland publications. The majority of the maps and plans, as well as the cover design, were skilfully executed by K. Hicks and S. Werner of CFA Archaeology Ltd. The photographic images come from a variety of sources with all the aerial photographs being crown copyright to RCAHMS. There is extensive and effective use throughout of aerial photographs from the national collection at RCAHMS, although the small scale of some of the images does limit the ability of the viewer to comprehend the site more effectively. Similarly, the lack of colour photographs is disappointing and in a medium where subtleties of tone and colour belie the details of the site being explored, is surprising. In an era of modern printing technologies the decision not to use colour detracts from the effectiveness of some of the images. There are undoubtedly instances where the strong tonal contrast of black-and-white photography in displaying aerial photographs is more effective but there are also many examples where this is not the case. However, this does not detract from the overall achievement and importance of this publication and it is the collection of these maps and photographs along with J.'s gazetteer which makes this a useful research tool. The large format of the book, and indeed the series, perfectly answers the need in archaeological publications for large scale illustrations of maps and plans of which J.'s book is generously supplied. This study is the outcome of many years of research for J.'s Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow and is thorough and painstakingly detailed.

The book is divided into 10 chapters of discussion followed by an extensive gazetteer, a detailed bibliography and a comprehensive index. It is very well written, although there are the occasional, but insignificant, lapses in editorial attention. Chapters 1 to 3 discuss the background with an investigation of the historical sources and the contribution of earlier scholars and antiquarians such as Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Sir Robert Sibbald, Alexander Gordon and General William Roy. The inclusion of many maps and plans from these earlier works, particularly those from Roy's Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain (1793), provides a welcome insight into their fascination with the Roman military remains in Scotland and the long standing tradition of research which developed from it. Through her discussion of Roy's activities and of earlier scholars, soldiers and gentlemen of leisure, J. draws together a fascinating overview of the contribution they made providing many insights into what drove them and how they laid the foundations of our understanding of the Roman occupation of Scotland.

Chapters 4 and 5 look, respectively, at the contribution of aerial photography and of excavation and survey to the discovery, identification and categorisation of Roman camps in Scotland while Chapter 6 considers research and studies in southern Britain and across the Continent. Together these provide a useful summary of the important work in aerial photography of people such as O.G.S. Crawford and J.K. St Joseph in the mid-twentieth century in developing this form of investigation into an important archaeological research tool and, in the case of St Joseph, identifying the bulk of Roman sites in Scotland from the air. J. rightly credits these men, and their successor, D. Wilson, with laying the foundations for the use of landscape survey through aerial photography followed by limited question-focussed excavations as an effective means of research into Roman military remains. The RCAHMS under G. Maxwell and no doubt J. herself has, since the 1980s, taken over the role established by Crawford and St Joseph and continued their valuable work.

Chapter 7 forms the core of the discussion where J. assembles and succinctly assesses the archaeological evidence for the physical remains left by these Roman camps. J. teases out the information and presents it in an extremely useful summarised form. The morphology and significance of these camps has long provoked debate as to their function and how they can be linked to recorded historical events and campaigns. J. provides us with the information upon which we can more effectively conduct these discussions and, in the process, throws out some tantalising and interesting ideas which would benefit from further research. For example, in her investigation of the different gateway types, particularly the clavicula gateway and its peculiarly Scottish variant the Stracathro-type gate, J. raises the possibility that these may be the idiosyncrasies of individual legions or even groups of officers. If this does prove to be true then it raises intriguing possibilities for the identification of particular campaigns and legions. Much has also been made of camp size with respect to particular campaigns and dates which J. effectively dismisses with her comments on how campaigns are conducted and her observation that various camp sizes will probably have been used during each campaign. J.'s identification of ‘assembly grounds’ outside some of the major forts, which she convincingly demonstrates with a few plans, is a useful concept and would benefit from further investigation with a view to analysing campaign and military strategies.

The gazetteer forms the core of the book and is its most valuable section. It is clearly the result of many years of painstaking research and is an excellent aid for future scholarly research. The gazetteer is arranged alphabetically by site name and is divided into known, probable and possible sites. Each entry, which has a complete description and history of the site and is fully referenced, is accompanied by photographs and by large format plans and maps. The detailed and factual description of the history of the discovery, survey and excavation of each site as well as any debates or uncertainty which surround it provides a useful and complete summary. The plans are excellent and the use of OS maps with full grid referencing make this book an important tool for future field work.

There is no doubt that this volume will stand for many years to come as an indispensable reference work for scholars of the Roman period, for local authority planners, for governmental heritage agencies such as Historic Scotland and for interested amateurs alike.