Modern-day Aldborough, in North Yorkshire, lies on the site of Isurium Brigantum, the former administrative capital of the Brigantes, one of the largest indigenous tribes of Roman Britain. Strategically located on Dere Street, by the second century AD it had become a key Roman town engaged with the supply of the northern frontier, with buildings and mosaics that reveal a thriving economy through to the fourth century.  In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the site of Isurium Brigantum was the subject of important antiquarian investigations. However, unlike some southern counterparts – for example, Calleva Atrebatum or Verulamium – in the twentieth century it attracted less archaeological attention until, in 2009, a team of archaeologists led by Dr Rose Ferraby and Professor Martin Millett began a major re-examination of the site. Large-scale geophysical surveys using both gradiometry and high-resolution ground-penetrating radar were conducted and these revealed most of the town and its surroundings, allowing its development from the second century AD to the medieval period to be mapped with great accuracy.   Bringing together for the first time the results of large-scale geophysical surveys of Isurium Brigantum with a re-evaluation of earlier antiquarian study and more recent archaeological fieldwork and excavations – some never before published – providing provides historians and archaeologists with exciting new information about the topography of a key Roman town engaged with the supply of the northern frontier of Britain, and about its development and later landscape, together with a thorough review of the town in the broader context of Roman Britain and the western Empire.

The importance of the results, the clarity of thought and expression, and quality of production should garner this volume a wide readership across specialists and non-specialists alike. * Archaeological Journal *
The book contains much scholarly discussion of the evidence and the competing interpretations, integrated with the broader history of Roman Britain. It is also highly readable, lavishly illustrated with photographs and plans. It will appeal to general readers, as well as specialists in the field. * ClassicsForAll *

Dr Rose Ferraby is interested in the relationships we have with landscape. She works as an archaeologist, artist and cultural geologist, using these different approaches to explore and narrate sub-surface worlds. She is currently a Research Associate in the Faculty of Classics, at the University of Cambridge. As well as academic publications, Rose has worked on books of poetry and print, as well as writing and presenting for BBC Radio 3's 'The Essay'. Rose grew up on the edge of Aldborough, the Roman remains inspiring her future career. Professor Martin Millett is an archaeologist whose principal research interests lie in the social and economic archaeology of Italy and the western Roman Empire. He has published widely on this subject, and has led archaeological surveys and excavations in Britain, Spain, Portugal and Italy. He is currently Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and was previously Professor of Archaeology at Durham and Southampton universities. He has been the Director and the Treasurer of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and Vice-President of the British Academy.