The North Field Excavations at Vindolanda: Preliminary Report on the 2009–14 Exploratory Field Seasons

Abstract

Since 2009, work has been carried out in the North Field at Vindolanda, a Roman military fort in the frontier zone of Roman Britain. The excavations have been directed by the Vindolanda Trust, in conjunction with a team from the University of Western Ontario. Based on these first seasons, some significant preliminary conclusions about this area of the site can be made, which will be important in moving forward with further excavations and for future interpretations of the early occupation of this region by the Roman army. The North Field appears to have been occupied already in the last quarter of the first century and may prove with further excavation to contain a fort that pre-dates “Period I” at Vindolanda, settled in ad 85. The field also appears to have been an area of significant activity in the second and third centuries. Large stone structures and a fortified ditch enclosed at least part of the space in this period. These buildings were part of the thriving third-century extramural settlement explored extensively elsewhere at Vindolanda over the past decades. The findings from these five seasons (2009–2010 and 2012–2014) have led to further excavation campaigns in the North Field, which will continue for several more field seasons. This article disseminates the results of the exploratory trenches as the research moves forward with further excavation.