Ditch dimesions

[John1]

Are there any collections of relative Fossa sections for marching camps?
I read a bit in "The Roman Army: The Greatest War Machine of the Ancient World" by Chris McNab that suggested the ditches did not exceed 1.48m x 0.89m, seems a bit small to me, so I'm trying to scope out the literature to assess the relative sizes, my personal focus is the first century camps of Britain.

[mcbishop]

Are there any collections of relative Fossa sections for marching camps?
I read a bit in "The Roman Army: The Greatest War Machine of the Ancient World" by Chris McNab that suggested the ditches did not exceed 1.48m x 0.89m, seems a bit small to me, so I'm trying to scope out the literature to assess the relative sizes, my personal focus is the first century camps of Britain.

It depends upon your definition of 'marching camp.' Most would see them as a subset of temporary camps, the ditch sizes of which could vary widely, according to a scale dictated by Vegetius (more than once, and different in both cases :roll: ) and more or less followed by pseudo-Hyginus. Vegetius (III,8) says that marching camps (in the sense of a camp dug every night when marching from A to B) had the slightest defences (5Rft wide by 3Rft deep, or c.1.48m wide by c0.89m) and, from memory, only Arosfa Gareg in Wales comes anywhere near matching his suggested dimensions (but with all temporary camps, you can pretty much guarantee no two sections on the same circuit will match!).

You can find much more on camps, including sections (or at least dimensions, where they have been excavated) in the reports on the camps of England Wales, Scotland to follow soon (we hope!).

Welfare, H., and Swan, V. 1995: Roman Camps in England: the Field Archaeology, London
Davies, J.L. and Jones, R.H. 2006: Roman Camps in Wales and the Marches, Cardiff

Mike Bishop

[D B Campbell]

Are there any collections of relative Fossa sections for marching camps?

There is evidence to suggest that the ditch is the least important element of the marching camp, although its defensive potential was clearly appreciated. At Arosfa Gareg in Wales (which Mike has mentioned above), the excavator (the late Professor Barri Jones) cut a section across the E rampart and found that the 3.6m-wide rampart (earth and stone fronted by a turf cheek) was fronted by no ditch at all. The ditch around the well-known camp at Durno (Mons Graupius :wink: ) almost peters out in sections, showing a lack of concern regarding either uniformity or defensive value. Remember that, for Vegetius, the minimum requirement was simply a rampart (Epit. 3.8; cf. 1.24), and Hyginus suggests that the ditch is added "for the sake of discipline" (i.e. to keep the troops busy; De mun. castr. 49).

But I digress. McNab's book has been cobbled together from a hotch-potch of previous Ospreys, but I think I recognise this statement as belonging to Nic Fields. He has probably taken Vegetius literally. In practice, camp ditches are often around 1.8m wide and 0.8m deep, but just as there are smaller ones (or none at all!) there will be bigger ones, too.