A tribute to a man so involved in major research and discoveries on the Antonine Wall and beyond should be weighty and academically rigorous, and this book is both. Barely a scholar involved in current Antonine Wall research is not represented, and this guarantees a variety of perspectives and arguments, and a good mix of old hands and early-career researchers, although only a brief consideration of its 32 papers is possible here.
The papers are arranged by theme, beginning with an overview of Lawrence Keppie's impressive career (Breeze and Hanson) followed by an in-depth review of the state of knowledge regarding the Antonine Wall (Hanson and Breeze), which provides a useful foundation for the papers that follow. Chapters 3 to 5 describe the landscape in which the Wall was built (Davies), its impact on Iron Age society (Macinnes) and an examination of pre-Antonine coins found in the region (Brickstock).
The following six chapters cover aspects of the design and construction of the Antonine Wall, including well-worn but still debated questions over the planning sequence (and changes to it) and relationships between structures, with two considerations of the distance slabs sitting slightly awkwardly amongst contributions on installation spacing (Hannon, Wilson and Rohl), the structure at Bar Hill (Jones) and new perspectives on the structure of the Wall (Romankiewicz et al. and Graafstal). They include information both old and new, and contain surprisingly little overlap despite covering similar ground. Campbell's work on colouring the distance slabs showcases scientific methods (pXRF and Raman spectroscopic analysis) used to great effect.
Investigations of specific locations are discussed: Summerston (Maxwell and Hanson) and Castlehill (Hanson and Jones), and an account of the discovery of three Antonine Wall fortlets through fieldwalking (Walker). A comparison of the Antonine Wall fortlets with those on Hadrian's Wall and the German limes is also included (Symonds). Links to other parts of the Empire can also be found in the fascinating detective work on a ‘lost’ high-status urn (Hunter), while Bidwell and Bateson offer more traditional contributions on pottery and coins respectively.
Direct discussion of the army is fairly brief, covering garrison numbers (Breeze) and the career of Antoninus Pius’ guard prefect (Birley). Hodgson discusses pressures on the Wall and the movement of troops, but it is not until chapter 22 that there is in-depth discussion of the people and communities found around the Wall. The evidence for women (Allason-Jones, van Driel-Murray and Greene) is particularly strong, while Meyer's paper on veteran communities is an interesting contribution on this overlooked group. Consideration of extra-mural settlements allows for some discussion of the potential civilian community (Hanson). However, the focus on the physical structure of the Wall in research to date is very apparent in this book.
As befits a tribute to Keppie, who has made the antiquarian study of the Antonine Wall a key part of his research, there are papers covering Sir John Clerk and his collection of Wall artefacts (Brown), and John Anderson's notes on the Wall (Bailey and Mearns). The final few chapters bring us to more modern engagements with the Wall: the Verecunda project (Devine), the Antonine Wall's World Heritage Site designation and the impact and implications of this (Weeks), the Advanced Limes Applications project (Dobat) and the challenges of mapping the Wall (McKeague). Experimental reconstructions at Saalburg provide interesting parallels for Wall research (Flügel and Obmann). A more poetic final chapter brings elements of the Roman past into the early twentieth century, with Scottish soldiers of the Great War finding connections to their forebears (Brown).
In all, the book covers most areas of research into the Wall but does not feel disjointed, giving instead the sense of a close community of scholars enthused by this fascinating monument and engaged in lively and ongoing debate. It is a testament to Wall scholarship and the complexity of the frontier zone that areas of overlap in the papers, particularly those concerned with the design and planning of the monument, can be approached in such varied ways to try to answer linked questions. It is also a reminder that although there is a long history of investigation by scholars such as Keppie, in many ways this is just the beginning, and the inclusion of innovative new research is a taste of more to come. Chapters dealing with public engagement and education bring together global status and local significance, a fitting tribute to a community-minded scholar. Bidwell's comment (p. 263) that ‘[t]he blending of older scholarship with modern research has been at the heart of Lawrence Keppie's outstanding achievements in the study of Roman Scotland and of the Antonine Wall in particular’ in many ways summarises the book's contents and highlights its many qualities.
