Distance slabs
19 inscribed stone tablets, originally fixed to the rampart, provided a unique record of the building of the wall.
The discovery of personal belongings gives an insight into the lives of people who lived along the Antonine Wall.
As you would expect for a defensive structure, military equipment has been discovered. Items found include the boss of a legionary’s shield, metal swords, and fragments of leather tents.
Excavations of forts have revealed the equipment necessary to feed and care for the soldiers. For instance, pottery, glassware and bronze cooking pots from the kitchen, strigils (metal scrapers for cleaning the skin) from the bathhouse or coins accidentally dropped around the fort buildings.
Samian Ware Platter, Camelon
Rarer are the well-preserved leather shoes which have survived. These belong not just to men, but to women and children also; the families of those living in, or near, the forts.
Lady’s Shoe, Bar Hill, now in the Hunterian Museum
Items associated with religious belief have also been found, such as statues or intaglios featuring gods and goddesses.
Altars
A number of altars, carved in stone, were raised along the line of the Antonine Wall by both soldiers and civilians.
Tombstones
Tombstones provide an insight into the people who lived along the wall.