#WomenattheWall! Over the years, discussing Hadrian's Wall in #RomanBritain paints a picture to most as a male dominant place of hardship and conflict. A thread showing the female presence at the wall and analysis on gender bias. 1/10

Thousands of women lived at Hadrian's wall but they have not been fairly represented. Evidence has been overlooked by archaeologists due to their own prejudice - scholars such as L. Allason-Jones has begun to set the record straight. 2/10

Inscription evidence for women with wealth is found at Hadrian's wall. Tablets preserved due to waterlogging at Vindolanda show wives in correspondence with others. An example being Sulpicia Lepidina’s invitations to a birthday party. 3/10

Tablets (image 2) show elite women living with their husbands on the border. The subject matter being personal and social can be interpreted to show a level of independence for elite women at the wall as well as a level of literacy. 4/10

Tombstones are used as named evidence for women found at Hadrian's Wall. They show that it wasn't just wives that followed soldiers to the border. Auralia was the 20-year-old daughter of Aurelius who erected a tombstone at her death. 5/10

When relying on inscriptions and tombstones as evidence for women at the wall one falls into the trap of elite bias - a common theme with Roman Britain. Merchants and trade at the wall were not as male dominant as commonly perceived. 6/10

Excavation at Housestead Roman Fort has shown 6 buildings fronting the street that have been identified as shops and inns. #Businesswoman may have been present in their own right making the most of the trade that occurred at forts 7/10

Assemblage archaeology shows evidence of ‘female objects’ such as hair-pins and rings at these sites. Allason-Jones states that in the past we have been too quick to assign objects to genders so we should be wary at Hadrian's Wall. 8/10

Archaeologists are often accused of the imprecise projection of their own norms on to the past. M.Conkey and J.Spector show how this applies to gender. With this in mind, understanding the female presence at the wall is more difficult. 9/10

Whilst it isn't as clear as bracelet = female presence - this thread has shown the forgotten presence of females at Hadrian's wall that is justifiable through inscriptions, epigraphy as well as (in some cases) assemblage archaeology. 10/10