School topics · Teacher guide and download · CfE Second Level · P5–P7
A worn shoe, a cooking pot or a tiny seed can tell a story that a grand monument misses. They help us investigate meals, work and the journeys of ordinary objects.
What was for dinner?
At Bearsden, archaeologists studied remains from the fort’s sewage. They found evidence for cereals, local fruit and nuts, as well as foods such as figs and coriander. The fort depended on supplies, some local and some brought from far away. This evidence does not mean every person ate the same meal.
A shoe worth repairing
The Bearsden excavation report describes a leather sole with wear at the heel and replacement hobnails. Someone kept using and repairing footwear. We can examine that evidence without knowing the wearer’s name or imagining that all Roman soldiers wore identical sandals.
How did Roman objects reach local homes?
Trade is one possibility. Gifts, payments, reuse and other movements can matter too. A Roman object discovered outside a fort does not automatically mean Roman soldiers lived there. Archaeologists consider where it was found and what lay with it.
Leaving did not happen only once
- AD 83 or 84: the usual date for Agricola’s victory at Mons Graupius.
- Around AD 142: construction of the Antonine Wall begins.
- During the AD 160s: the Antonine frontier is abandoned; detailed dates remain debated.
- AD 208–211: further northern campaigns take place under Septimius Severus.
Resistance, supply demands and priorities elsewhere in the empire all matter when we discuss withdrawal. “It was too cold” is not an adequate explanation. Contact continued after the armies left.
Follow people and supplies on a map
Use the numerals and routes activity to explore how forts fitted into a wider network. Remember that a map showing sites from several centuries does not prove that all those sites were occupied together.
Talk about it
Did the Romans really fail in Scotland? Whose idea of success are we using? Give a reason, use evidence, and listen for an idea that might change your mind.
Classroom activity: Numbers and routes
55 minutes • Numeracy, geography and digital technology • Learning focus: explaining Roman activity in Scotland • Evidence to collect: numeral answers and an annotated map or route explanation
Prepare the map
Display the mid-second-century map of forts, fortlets, roads and the Antonine Wall in the National Museums Scotland history resource on the linked sources below. Use its caption to distinguish it from the late-first-century camp map on the same page. If unavailable, use the simplified pupil map on the printable sites and numerals sheet. The latter is a location-and-connection diagram, not a measured road survey.
Lesson steps
1. Decode — 10 minutes. Teach I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100. Practise II, VI, XX, XIV, XL and CXLII. Use the Second, Sixth and Twentieth Legions to connect numerals with the builders of the Wall. Explain that IV and IX use subtraction; some ancient inscriptions instead use additive forms such as IIII.
2. Locate — 15 minutes. Find Bearsden, Rough Castle, Cramond and Trimontium. Identify Forth and Clyde on the geographical map. Which two named forts sit on the Antonine frontier? Which lies much farther south? Trace the Military Way and a marked road associated with the Trimontium area; read the map key before interpreting a line.
3. Measure — 10 minutes. Use the scale strip in the downloadable pack: a measured 6 cm line at 1 cm=5 km represents 30 km. A 9 cm line represents 45 km. At an assumed 15 km per day, these take two and three days. These are invented arithmetic examples, not distances between named forts or evidence for Roman marching speeds.
4. Investigate digitally — 10 minutes. Use a teacher-approved map to compare a route with rivers and relief. Record a screenshot or annotated drawing with a source credit. If a digital map has no reliable scale at the current zoom, use the supplied scale exercise instead of measuring it.
5. Explain — 10 minutes. Answer: “Why might a road bend?” Include a river crossing, slope or destination. Explain why a modern driving route does not necessarily follow a Roman road, and why sites from different periods should not be assumed to operate together.
Differentiation
- Support: use I–XX with a numeral key, locate three pre-labelled sites and count the intervals on the scale strip.
- Core: decode all six numerals, interpret map symbols and calculate both sample journeys with units.
- Extend: encode 49 as XLIX and 164 as CLXIV; explain why the numeral gives a number but not its meaning without context. Compare a straight line with a road route and explain the difference.
Answer key: II=2; VI=6; XX=20; XIV=14; XL=40; CXLII=142. Bearsden and Rough Castle are on the Wall; Trimontium is the southernmost of these four. Greater distance alone cannot explain a route: supplies, crossings, terrain and orders also matter.
Download the teaching pack and printable pupil sheets.
Evidence and further exploration
Further evidence: David J. Breeze, Bearsden: A Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall (2016), chapter 19, pp 305–306; p 347. The teaching pack contains source notes.
