Dr. Francis McIntosh

Hadrian dies, 138, Antoninus Pius comes in and they're like, no, we'll go further north, you know, and they build the Antonine Wall.

And when they come back from the Antonine Wall, about 160-ish, there's lots of repairs along Hadrian's Wall basically because it's been left unattended, you know, maybe with just a skeleton or caretaker crew on there.

And there's loads of inscriptions saying we've fixed this and that's the soldiers who are also based there.

You know, they're expected to do everything.

The army is meant to be a self-sufficient unit and it might be that there's more skilled, I don't know,

bricklayers in one unit than another but they should be able to function as that unit on their own to do everything they need which is get food keep their forts safe both from outsiders and from you know it falling down yeah

We have no evidence that they're sitting down and eating communally.

That's what happens in the pre-Roman period, so what we call the Iron Age.

There's lots of large, big serving dishes.

Big roundhouse, yeah.

The houses, but also the, you know, big bowls.

One pot, you know, it's a one pot meal, everyone wants now, isn't it?

It's over the fire and people eat from that.

The Romans come in and it goes to individual dining.

People are interested.

Hilary calls for some excellent work on dining.

and how you can see the change in consumption by the stuff they're eating off, so the plates and the crockery.

And so, no, each soldier probably has his own little beaker, his own cup or bowl.

They would also have their own pan, you know, if you looked and we could do a whole thing about how much a soldier has to carry, you know, if it's his kit.

It might be communal that they sit together, but it is not communal dining.