Roman Wales

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Digimap Case Study:
GIS approaches to the Military Landscape of Roman Wales

Authors

Jason Lucas

Title

GIS approaches to the Military Landscape of Roman Wales

Date

Projected finish Spring 2008

Application Area

Archaeology

Application to other subject areas

GIS, Geography

Project type

Journal Research

Summary

This project explores some of the cultural impacts of the Roman conquest of Wales, using viewshed and cost-surface analyses to examine the effect of military bases on the local populations.

Datasets Used

Name: SRTM, Mastermap, Landform DTM, National Monuments and Records Data, OS Boundary Line

Source: Digimap, UKBORDERS, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, NASA JPL

Aims and Objectives

The creation of the military infrastructure of forts and roads had a direct effect on the on both the landscape and people of Roman Wales. This project investigates the positioning of forts with respect to their visibility and the size of the potential area overseen by the base, considering not only the possible strategic implications, but their role in imposing Roman social and political structures.

The distribution of military bases is also compared with the changing settlement patterns from the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age and early Roman period to examine what effect, if any, the bases had on regional settlement patterns.

Methodology

The visual impact of various forts is examined using viewshed analysis based on a DEM of the areas surrounding the bases, derived from Landform and Mastermap data. The topographic model also allows an examination of the interconnectivity of military bases through the use of least-cost analyses, including the impact of roads and rivers within the model.