Significant advances in understanding the past have been part of the history of major road and rail infrastructure projects in Britain, from the early discoveries made by Peter Fowler along the M4 and M5 motorways in the 1960s and 1970s (Fowler Reference Fowler1979) to the High Speed One rail line through Kent in the 1990s. Equivalent examples from the north of England, however, have so far been less forthcoming, but Contact, concord and conquest: Britons and Romans at Scotch Corner by David Fell—the second volume of Highways England's 2013–2017 upgrading of the A1 to motorway at Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire—represents one of the most important excavation reports to have resulted from a major infrastructure project in recent years.

Summarising and reviewing the most significant findings of the report—which runs to 715 pages—in a way that does justice to the range and quality of the evidence has not been easy, but the following areas stood out for this reviewer:

The Introduction provides a background to the project and a history of Scotch Corner. It is probably the best-known modern road junction in the north of England, but is also shown to be a complex, historic confluence of routes lying within one of the most significant Late Iron Age and Early Roman archaeological landscapes in England—a landscape that includes the internationally important Late Iron Age enclosure at Stanwick and the Roman forts at Catterick and Piercebridge. A summary of the sometimes complex regional, national and international background to the Scotch Corner excavation is also augmented by useful maps and tables.

The structural history of the site has been divided into the three overarching periods: Contact, concord and conquest, as reflected in the volume's title. The ‘contact’ period comprises extensive evidence of native Middle and Late Iron Age settlement, field systems and routeways at Scotch Corner, and for around 4km to the south—discoveries which would in themselves be sufficient to make a fascinating monograph. Towards the end of the period, c. AD 15, however, the Scotch Corner site begins to take on an enhanced level of importance, with evidence for ‘contact’ outside the region in the form of luxury imports and the beginnings of coin/pellet manufacturing.

During the succeeding period of ‘concord’ (c. AD 15–70) the evidence for luxury imports increases, and it is suggested by the author that these goods probably arrived as diplomatic gifts from Rome to the local Late Iron Age elite. The author also concludes that Scotch Corner was, at this time, part of an extensive poly-focal ‘oppida’ complex centred at nearby Stanwick. The highlight of the period of ‘concord’, however, is probably the evidence for the manufacture of native Late Iron Age metal alloy pellets/coins between AD 15 and 55, which includes a probable workshop located within an enclosed enclave. The analysis of the evidence by Landon, Morley-Stone and Ponting provides an important contribution to the subject, including an understanding of how the coins/pellets themselves were produced and details of their metallurgical composition from residues present within the clay moulds. The identification of two distinct types of clay coin/pellet mould trays at Scotch Corner based on their fabric, form, hole-size and metallurgical residue composition could also be significant in terms of understanding the mode of production used for Late Iron Age coins/pellets.

The consumption of luxuries associated with military supply suggests the presence of the Roman army at Scotch Corner, together with supporting administration and merchants, during the succeeding ‘conquest’ period between c. AD 70 and 90, although it seems unlikely that the army were actually garrisoned there. The excavations have also provided insights into Roman policy and decision-making processes at Scotch Corner during this important period for military campaigning in the north of Britain. Three separate phases of planned co-axial enclosures were created at a landscape scale and on differing alignments at Scotch Corner, and a convincing case is made by the author for the final phase representing a short-lived Roman ‘vicus’ or small town, whose abandonment c. AD 85–90 was preceded by the ritualised closure of the settlement. This comprised the deposition in pits and ditches of a stunning collection of luxuries, including imported glass vessels and pottery and a miniature sword. The reasons for abandonment and who might have perpetrated the destruction and burial of so much wealth is explored in an extended discussion by the author. The chapter also considers Scotch Corner's role in the military campaigns of the Roman Governors Cerialis and Agricola and the local landscape context in respect of its relationship to nearby Stanwick and Melsonby. The discussion also provides a lengthy consideration of the significance of the evidence for pellet/coin manufacturing, including the possibility of it representing a Brigantian mint.

The author, his colleagues at NAA and supporting specialists should be congratulated for having successfully excavated this remarkable site between 2014 and 2017 through all seasons, and then to have published within three years a coherent narrative with supporting evidence, together with numerous specialist reports. The volume has been well produced, with over 400 plans and photographs, including several excellent vertical ortho-photographs. The volume's publication as a single, high-resolution 583MB or 88MB low-resolution pdf does, however, make it somewhat slow and unwieldy to navigate on the average laptop in its high-resolution form, especially for the structural chapters that have several large plans which require two screens (ideally three) in order to follow and interrogate the evidence. I would therefore suggest that in addition to the single pdf, the availability of separate pdfs for each chapter in both high- and low-resolution forms would aid accessibility of the report, particularly via tablets and smartphones.