This volume looking at the fort of Bearsden on the Antonine Wall is the result of more than 40 years of study, beginning with the first excavation in 1971. By 1982 the development of the site was finished and no further excavations took place. Yet, as usual, work continued. Various scholars worked on the material recovered from Bearsden, enhancing understanding of the site, its function and the life of its inhabitants. After briefly covering the early accounts of the site (Chapter 2), the book discusses all the material from Bearsden, moving from the large structures down to increasingly smaller finds.

B. gives an account of the excavations (Chapter 3), starting with the topography, which is crucial for an understanding of the site. All structures discovered during the excavations are then presented, starting with the large structures such as the ditches and rampart that surrounded the fort and its annexe, as well as the roads and open spaces in the enclosure. The buildings of the fort are presented in detail, grouped by the areas in which the different excavations took place. Each of them is illustrated by a plan, showing the excavated areas in relation to the rest of the fort. Interpretation is avoided in the description of the structures themselves. Where appropriate, there are added comments, however, which highlight special aspects and anticipate the possible interpretations suggested in the discussion. The buildings of the annexe are treated in the same way in a separate sub-chapter. A brief account on the soils (Chapter 4) concludes the part of the publication concerning the features of the site.

In the following chapters, the different groups of material are presented, each with their own catalogue. The latter is sometimes divided into finer details, according to material and/or function. Due to the different nature of the topics and the huge diversity in the quantity of finds, not all chapters have the same structure. In some cases a discussion was not deemed necessary or possible. For those groups only an introduction and the catalogue itself, or sometimes only the latter, are given. This is the case for glass (Chapter 9), intaglios (Chapter 10), metalwork (Chapter 11) and leather (Chapter 19).

In other cases, a short discussion follows the catalogue, pointing out special insights gained from the material. Again, no discussion is forced, the thoughts can concern the whole chapter or only certain aspects. In the chapter on stones (Chapter 5), for instance, only the origin and technical specifications of the milling stones (Chapter 5.3) are pointed out.

The two most extensive chapters examine pottery (Chapter 7) and plant remains (Chapter 13). Both provide some new thoughts on wandering potters’ workshops, trade routes and cooking habits at the Antonine Wall forts. Experiments were performed to test the properties of different cereals for certain dishes.

The analysis of insect remains (Chapter 17) and parasites (Chapter 18) are rather uncommon fields of research and provide further interesting insights into the daily life, health and diet of the soldiers at Bearsden. They also give some clues about which kind of livestock was kept there.

Not all analysis achieved the desired results. Neither resistivity survey (Chapter 3.5) nor mortar analysis (Chapter 8) or dendrochronology (Chapter 15) yielded relevant new information. Nevertheless the methods used and the reasons for the lack of success are pointed out. This is not only a commendably honest approach, it also demonstrates that nothing was omitted from the report.

This is not the first publication concerning Bearsden and its findings. There have been interim as well as advanced reports during and after the excavation campaigns from the years 1974 to 1991 (most of them by B. or C. & J.H. Dickson). Some of the material has already been discussed at length; the analysis of the plant remains in particular was widely received. It even inspired The Times to publish articles looking at the diet of Roman soldiers in the summer of 1983.

Yet this new publication does much more than collect the existing reports, adding a few chapters on hitherto unpublished material, such as the metal finds. B., a well-known expert on the frontiers of the Roman Empire, was in charge of the excavations from the beginning. He delivers the framework: the introduction, the description of the excavation and its discussion, while the reports on the different material sources are written by the respective experts. As already stated, the specialist reports, especially those on pottery and plant remains, contribute new ideas to the respective topics. It is the framework, however, especially the discussion, which brings together the various reports and forms a comprehensive picture. The reconstruction drawings provided by M.J. Moore, which illustrate the discussion, contribute substantially to this, especially since they are kept objective enough to leave room for interpretation. The descriptions always make clear to what extent the drawings are based on facts unearthed during the excavations and what details have been added by the artist.

For some questions the answers cannot be given without doubt, of course, the most pressing of which is what kind of troops were stationed at Bearsden. It is commonly presumed that it would have been a cavalry unit, but there remains little evidence to substantiate this. There are no remains of horse bones in the fort nor any traces of mucking out drains, though the latter were explicitly searched for (cf. pp. 337–8). The only findings pointing to horses are one horseshoe (p. 214, cat. 222), which from the look of it is probably modern, and a dung beetle, which is most commonly, but not exclusively, associated with those animals. B. points out these problems, but argues that the form of the known barrack-blocks with their eight rooms for soldiers and the presumed fore hall of the headquarters building make it likely that the unit at Bearsden was at least in part a mounted one.

B.'s arguments are convincing, yet conclusive evidence is still lacking on this and other points. Some of it might not be available at all, due to conservational reasons, other crucial evidence may remain yet to be uncovered at the site. Even though Bearsden is ‘the only Antonine Wall fort to have been excavated comprehensively using modern techniques of recording’ (p. 180), large parts of the fort were not available for excavation. These might have been able to prove, or disprove, some of the theories, but it seems unlikely, at least in the near future, that further excavations will take place. Thus the volume at hand, presenting all currently known material, will probably remain the state of research for quite some time.

While it would be desirable to have similar publications covering other Roman sites along the edges of the empire, the unique situation at Bearsden has to be kept in mind. The comparatively low number of findings (e.g. only 188 sherds of Samian ware) has allowed for a comprehensive catalogue of the complete material while keeping the book at a manageable length. Nevertheless the example of this publication will hopefully inspire others like it.