Turf - new online exhibition shows what the Roman Empire was really built on

An online exhibition from a ground-breaking (no pun intended) project explores how it wasn't just marble or brick which built the Roman Empire.

Ancient Rome is portrayed as  gleaming marble public buildings or luxurious villas with mosaic floors, but it was far more humble structures made from very humble materials which made it so successful for so long. 

Mud is not a material we typically associate with the Romans but all across the Roman world, in civilian and military contexts, everyday construction was carried out in earth. These structures have just as much to tell us about Roman builders and their methods as those built in more prestigious materials.

Professor Ben Russell Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire

Earthen Empire

We can trace individual military units by their specific turf-block shapes, their turf building signature if you want.

Dr Tanja Romankiewicz Lecturer in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology

The recently completed Earthen Empire project's aim was to shed new light on the use and properties of earthen building materials in the Roman North, and especially those made of turf – a material comprising the upper layers of grassy soil and the earth held together by its roots. This collaboration between the School of History, Classics and Archaeology and the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh undertook the first systematic study of turf-use in the ramparts of Vindolanda - one of the best-known Roman fort sites in the Roman Empire - and the first geoarchaeological study of a section of the Antonine Wall, one of the largest earth structures built anywhere in Roman world and the most important Roman monument in Scotland.

Prior to this study, little was known about the use of turf in Roman buildings, and the turf itself. Turf blocks are pieces of the ancient landscape that were then used as building blocks, so by analysing them construction techniques and the decisions made by builders, and also the ancient environment around the building site could be better understood.

Turf: An online exhibition

Now, an online exhibition and associated video on turf building and its Roman heritage explains what the material is and how it was used. A key part of the online exhibition is the series of commissioned paintings produced by Dr Rose Ferraby, Research Associate on the project in 2021, inspired by the excavation of Roman turf structures.

View 'Turf: An Online Exhibition'

Earthen Empire
Clockwise from top left: Sampling a turf rampart at Vindolanda; Inspecting layers of Roman turf; Thin sections of Roman turf walls; Inspecting thin sections in the lab.

The future of turf

The Earthen Empire project has essentially rewritten the book on how ancient turf monuments were constructed, based on how the materials and structural features were selected for their hydrological and structural functions. The academic papers - available below - are now referred to as a new baseline for understanding how ancient turf structures behaved. In the wider world, understanding the mechanics of turf could help predict and prevent landslides.

We are, through the study, developing new techniques to understand the mechanics of vegetated materials, which will have implications for slope stability calculations (e.g. improving the Rest and Be Thankful). So, the indirect applications are the more valuable part for Engineering, whereas the direct outcomes are more valuable for Archaeology.

Dr Christopher Beckett Senior Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering
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