<< Books/Products >> Book Review: The Rocks at the Edge of the Empire by Ian Jackson
Submitted by Andy B on Sunday, 06 April 2025 Page Views: 2480
Roman, Greek and Classical
Rob Ixer writes: If ever there was a book for Megalithic Portal readers this is it and at an unbelievably low price. This is a landscape book with full colour, full page, carefully selected photographs, most of northern Britannia, very northern Brittania. Some are stunning, the majority are excellent, but there are one or two where Roman influence is difficult to see. Some, the untouched landscapes at Yardhope Burn and Harrows Scar especially even exude a spiritual aura.But this book is far more than superb photography, the text is also valuable, geological aspects are explained clearly without any patronage and put into Roman civil engineering contexts. As an extra and in the middle third of the book Jackson has some serious advice/gentle admonishment for archaeologists concerning their approach to geology in general, and geological provenancing especially. A point he makes repeatedly. (As do many other geo-archaeologists).
Most popular archaeology books are text-heavy with figures seemingly as an afterthought - poorly served, poor reproduction on poor quality paper - these just irritate rather than inform. This fault is endemic and true for both serious and alternative/fringe archaeology books - it is understandable, but never forgivable.
Jackson’s book is a fresh air break from this - in essence it allows the sites to take a deep breath and speak for themselves, and their mainly Geordie accents are both eloquent and soothing. The locations, like Hadrian’s Wall are divided into three parts, sites around the eastern end, close to Newcastle upon Tyne, and at the western end around Carlisle separated by locations on or close to where the wall is built on the Whin Sill in the central North Pennines. It is these that provide the sometimes stunning views as exemplified by Steel Rigg. But it not all joy and pleasant viewing the first photograph forces an involuntary gasp, a timely jolt, as it shows a picture of Sycamore Gap before the aboricide.
Jackson, like many other geologists with an archaeological interest, notes that there is an imbalance between the attention given by archaeologists to lithic and similar raw material artefacts and their sources. 15 of the 50 sites concern raw materials - for Northern Britain Jackson highlights this not just for lead, iron and copper ores, but for coal, salt, gypsum and millstones. He downplays the exploitation of silver and certainly of gold in the North Pennines, probably correctly.
He further instances exotic material with a page of intaglios from Carlisle, pendants from Newcastle and Mayen millstones from many Roman camps. Indeed, in his end note he summarises his views “as insufficient scientific data and evidence exists to establish the origins of so many materials” without stating a major reason for this. Simply, it is not going to trained specialists, engaging with them and then employing their help.
It worth observing that where this has been done, the establishment of a very wide ranging Bronze Age and Roman metal trade has become manifest, because large numbers of actual and potential ores have been given the same weighting and attention as artefacts, analysed alongside and then matched to them.
So despite metal provenancing being inherently more problematical than lithic provenancing, due to remelting/recycling of metals, it is far in advance of most lithic raw material work. It is unfortunate that “no provenance is better than wrong provenance” - really good advice - is the best that can be given and there are too many instances in the literature where it has not been taken)
But this admonishment is for a small section of potential buyers. For most, buy the book and enjoy. A coffee table book that deserves to be placed on a piece of genuine Shaker furniture, for they are both imbued with the same spirituality. It illuminates the reflections of the work and experience of a talented photographer and earnest geologist - but overall a sensei.
The book is just lovely. There is little like it in British archaeology.
The Rocks at the Edge of the Empire: 50 extraordinary rocky places that tell the story of the Romans and the landscape of their northern frontier
Author: Ian Jackson.
Published by Northern Heritage
Approx 110 pages full colour throughout.
£12.00
Order from your local bookshop or Amazon.co.uk.
With many thanks to Rob Ixer for this book review.
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