Exhibition looking at the cultures linked to Wall
Jun 27 2009 The Journal
AN exhibition coming to Segedunum Roman Fort this summer aims to challenge the perception of Hadrian’s Wall by unravelling the cultural heritage and history of the North of England.
An Archaeology of ‘Race’: Exploring the Northern Frontier in Roman Britain is part of Tales of the Frontier, a Durham University project (Archaeology with Geography) which aims to explore the significance of Hadrian’s Wall and its landscape as both political and cultural landscape and monument.
The exhibition will display archaeological materials and narratives that reflect multicultural Roman Britain, and explore the North of England during this time as a space of migration and cultural diversity. Evidence indicates the cultural influence of military units from North Africa, Spain, France, Germany, Syria and other provinces of the Roman Empire.
Dr Divya Tolia-Kelly, Lecturer in Geography at Durham University said: “The ‘Romans’ who lived on the Hadrian’s Wall Frontier certainly weren’t all from Rome, and through telling their stories we hope to show what a culturally diverse place the North of England was at this time.”
The exhibition will include artefacts relating to Septimius Severus, a Roman Emperor born in Leptis Magna, one of the colonised cities of Roman Africa. Severus came to the North East of England to campaign against the tribes north of the Wall.
The exhibition runs at Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend from July 4 to September 13.
It will be accompanied by Names Set in Stone an exhibition telling the story of the men who built Hadrian’s Wall through inscriptions found on stones within it.
