INSIGHTS Virtual Lectures: Is this the end? Hadrian's Wall and the End of the Roman Empire

Dr Rob Collins, Project Manager to the Hadrian's Wall Community Archaeology Project (WallCAP)
What happens to a frontier when society collapses? Traditionally, it has been assumed that Roman soldiers were withdrawn from Britain for deployment elsewhere in the Roman Empire by AD 408, and that without these guardians, Roman civilization in Britain collapsed in the early decades of the 5th century AD. However, archaeological evidence has demonstrated a much more complex picture. This lecture will explore the evidence from Hadrian's Wall that shows life continued at some forts, and what that means for our understanding of the end of Roman Britain.
For more detailed information from this lecture, please see:
- Rob Collins, Hadrian’s Wall and the End of Empire (Routledge 2012)
- Rob Collins and Linsday Allason-Jones, Finds from the Frontier (CBA 2010)
- Rob Collins, Decline, collapse, or transformation? The case for the northern frontier of Britannia, in N. Roymans, S. Heeren, and W. Clerq (eds.), Social Dynamics in the Northwest Frontiers of the Late Roman Empire: Beyond Decline or Transformation (Amsterdam University Press, 2017)
For the End of Roman Britain, please see:
- James Gerrard, The Ruin of Roman Britain (CUP 2013)
For Hadrian’s Wall, please see:
- Nick Hodgson, Hadrian’s Wall: Archaeology and History at the Limit of Rome’s Empire (Hale 2017)
- Rob Collins and Matt Symonds (eds.), Breaking Down Boundaries: Hadrian’s Wall in the 21st Century (JRA 2013)
- Rob Collins and Matt Symonds, Hadrian’s Wall 2009-2019 (SANT & CWAAS 2019)
Follow Dr Rob Collins on Twitter @duxBritanniarum
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[@TheWracked]

Great lecture - sorry I couldn't follow it live but caught up now. I thought you covered the nuanced developments through the 4th and 5th century very well in the small time you had. Wish the lecture had been longer!

[@neilireland327]

General: "Right, that's it, lads, we're going home"
Confused soliders:
"But we are home"
General:
"Uh...ummm.. oh. Right! Cover me as I leave"
Solider 1:
"What we gonna do now, lads?"
Soldier 2:
"Well, our families still need protection from those Northern barbarians.."
Soilder 1: "good point, what about food and weapons"
Solider 2: "Our families will continue farming, and if you stop drinking so much and losing your sword, you won't need a new weapon"
Solider 1: "Right, that's it, lads. Continue as normal"