Using GIS and historical data to reconstruct the Ravenglass-Ambleside Roman road, Cumbria, United Kingdom.

Abstract

The ability to locate Roman road courses is an important aspect of understanding how culture is expressed in landscapes, and to understand the impact of human agency in antiquity. This study deals with using least-cost models to locate Roman road alignments in the north of Britain, using two different datasets with attested Roman roads to calibrate modeling techniques before attempting a prediction on a third route. Moreover, least-cost routes are refined using additional lines of evidence, such as landscape history and archaeological data to create a more defensible reconstruction than is possible with GIS alone. This study demonstrates that it is possible to identify Roman road alignments to tight corridors using GIS. However, it highlights the central issue in any archaeological application of GIS: that models are not a standalone tool for interpretation. Rather they are another line of evidence to assist researchers to build defensible reconstructions when little archaeological evidence remains.