What did people actually eat on Rome’s northern frontier?
Roman soldiers stationed in Scotland needed feeding every day.
A fort containing hundreds of soldiers therefore created an enormous demand for grain, meat, vegetables, drink and other supplies.
Some foods were produced locally.
Others travelled hundreds or even thousands of miles through the Roman supply network.
Remarkably, one of our best sources for the Roman diet in Scotland is a toilet.
Bearsden’s extraordinary evidence
The latrine and sewage ditch at Bearsden Roman fort preserved microscopic traces of food eaten almost 1,900 years ago.
They included:
wheat, barley, beans, lentils, figs, dill, coriander, opium poppy, celery, hazelnuts, raspberries, blackberries, wild strawberries and bilberries.
Some were available locally.
Others must have travelled considerable distances.
Biochemical analysis suggested that the soldiers’ diet at Bearsden was predominantly plant-based, although Roman soldiers certainly also ate meat.
Bread, porridge and grain
Cereals were fundamental to the Roman military diet.
Evidence from Scotland includes several varieties of wheat as well as barley.
Quernstones were used to grind grain.
Granaries inside forts stored enormous quantities of it while keeping it raised above damp ground.
Ovens found in forts and temporary camps show that bread and other grain foods could be prepared on site.
Food from Scotland
The Roman army did not transport everything from the south.
Local communities could provide:
grain, animals, fruit and other produce.
Research around Loch Clunie, close to the huge legionary fortress at Inchtuthil, suggests farming continued during Agricola’s campaigns rather than collapsing.
One possible explanation is that Roman military demand created a new market for local agricultural production.
Roman Impact on Farming — Loch Clunie
Food from across the Empire
Roman occupation connected Scotland to an international supply network.
Large ceramic containers called amphorae carried products such as:
wine, olive oil and fish sauces.
Wine and olive oil could not be produced on the necessary scale in Scotland, so they travelled north through the Empire.
An amphora found at a Scottish fort may therefore represent the final stage of a journey beginning in Spain, Gaul or elsewhere around the Mediterranean.
Figs, herbs and spices
Bearsden produced evidence for foods which were not normal products of the Scottish landscape.
Figs, coriander and dill show that the soldiers could maintain elements of a wider Roman diet even at the northernmost frontier of the Empire.
Food was therefore one way in which soldiers retained a connection with the wider Roman world.
African cooking traditions
Pottery can sometimes reveal more than the ingredients.
Some pottery from the Antonine Wall was made in forms which resemble North African cooking traditions.
At least some examples were produced locally.
This does not necessarily mean that the cooks themselves were African, but it suggests that culinary traditions travelled with soldiers as military units moved around the Empire.
Food carried memories and habits as well as calories.
How did they cook?
Roman kitchens did not resemble modern kitchens.
Cooking could involve:
open fires, ovens, braziers and portable cooking vessels.
Mortaria were heavy mixing and grinding bowls.
Pots and casseroles were placed over or close to heat.
Large ovens have also been found at military sites.
How do we know what they ate?
Archaeologists use several types of evidence.
Plant remains survive when they become waterlogged or charred.
Animal bones can reveal meat consumption, although Scotland’s acidic soils often destroy bone.
Pottery can identify imported products.
Amphora stamps can reveal where containers were manufactured.
Quernstones show grain processing.
And latrines preserve tiny traces which would otherwise disappear completely.
This is why Bearsden has transformed our understanding of the Roman military diet in Scotland.
Explore the Food posts
Roman Impact on Farming — Loch Clunie
