What does this research mean for the field?

An 1891 letter from George Neilson to John Collingwood Bruce reveals early developments in Neilson's interpretation of Hadrian's Wall and highlights the experimental nature of stratigraphic recording techniques for turf ramparts in late 19th-century archaeology. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This work aims to explore the correspondence between George Neilson and John Collingwood Bruce regarding archaeological recordings.

April 1, 2026

A Letter of 1891 with Some Questions: George Neilson and the Antonine Wall Committee

Key Points

This work aims to explore the correspondence between George Neilson and John Collingwood Bruce regarding archaeological recordings.
Examined a letter written by George Neilson in 1891.
Outlined Neilson's photographic recording techniques for excavated sections.
Compared Neilson's and Bruce's approaches to frontiers.
Placed excavations within broader European archaeological context.
Neilson proposed a new interpretation of Hadrian's Wall.
Found differences in stratigraphic recording techniques between Neilson and contemporaries.
Highlighted the progress and challenges of Antonine Wall excavations.

Abstract

On 20 March 1891 George Neilson of Glasgow wrote to John Collingwood Bruce of Newcastle to solicit his advice on how the sections recently excavated by the Glasgow Archaeological Society across the Antonine Wall might be recorded photographically. In his letter he also set out an interpretation of the Vallum of Hadrian’s Wall as a southern facing element of the frontier works, a proposal which he later developed in his book Per Lineam Valli published later that year. The letter also provides information on the progress of the Antonine Wall excavation project. In this article, a comparison is made between Neilson and Bruce as investigators and interpreters of their respective frontiers, and between the stratigraphic recording techniques of Neilson and those of other archaeologists of the day. The excavations on the two frontiers are placed in their wider context at a time when archaeologists in western Europe as well as Britain were experimenting with the recording of turf ramparts and earthworks

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