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What do the Antonine Wall distance slabs reveal about its construction?

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Historical map of ancient Britain featuring three sections: a main map of Roman Britain showing Roman roads, frontier walls, principal settlements, forts, mines, and key tribal regions; an inset of prehistoric Britain marking Neolithic, Mesolithic, and Bronze/Iron Age sites; and a smaller map illustrating the stages of Roman conquest with color-coded tribal territories and years of conquest.
Roman Britain

The distance slabs found along the Antonine Wall serve as significant historical records of the frontier's construction. They reveal the following details:

  • Work Attribution: The slabs document that the wall was constructed by legionaries from Legions II, VI, and XX.1
  • Precise Measurements: The inscriptions record the specific lengths of the wall sections built by these units, with some measurements reaching a precision of the nearest foot.1
  • Historical Context: Beyond construction data, the slabs feature friezes that depict scenes from the Roman campaign against the northern tribes, including representations of Roman victory.1

These artifacts provide a unique look at both the engineering efforts of the Roman army and the political narrative of the era. Seventeen of the 20 known distance slabs are currently housed at the University of Glasgow's Hunterian Museum.1