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Hadrian's Wall, one of the most recognizable Roman monuments from anywhere in the world.

Stretching from the Tyne estuary to the Solway Firth, in Roman eyes, this was the northern edge of their empire, the end point of civilization.

Today, it's easy to define Hadrian's rule by the great sights dotted along its length,

forts like Halsteads and Chester's.

But what about the people themselves?

What do we know about the men, women and children who lived their lives on this border of barbaricum

almost 2,000 years ago?

What clues have they left behind?

This is the ancients. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and this is your guide to life at Hadrian's

Wall. Our guest today is Dr Francis McIntosh, collections curator for English Heritage at Hadrian's War Room.

Francis, what a pleasure to see you again. It's great to have you back on the podcast.

I know, it's been a long time.

It has. The last time we saw each other in person, as we were talking, just before going live,

it was almost five years ago when we did the tour around Corbridge and Chester's Roman-Francalfrey. We were exploring the ruins properly, weren't we, rather than just pretending. It was very good fun. Well, we're still going to really delve into the story today. But this is what I find so interesting about Hadrian's world. We've done the story of like the monument itself in the

past and the various components of it. I guess the most fascinating thing is learning about the

...