Vegetable Remains from the Site of the Roman 
Military Station at Newstead, Melrose. 
By 
Harry F. Tace, F.LS. 
The following constitutes a report based upon the examination 
of material submitted from time to time by Mr. James Curle, of 
Priorwood, Melrose, during the excavation of the site of the 
Roman Military Station at Newstead, Melrose. 
Curle’s investigation of the site,’ as an antiquarian 
authority points out, forms “a great contribution to our knowledge 
of both Roman antiquities and Roman Scotland,” and it was 
hoped that an examination of the vegetable remains from the 
various pits and trenches excavated, would contribute something 
to a knowledge of the flora of Roman Britain. 
The nature of the material which was sent to the Royal Botanic 
Garden, Edinburgh, for investigation was of two kinds :— 
(1) Samples of the deposits from the various pits and 
trenches opened during the work of excavation ; 
(2) Definite articles of interest such as implement shafts. 
The samples of earths from the pits gave numerous twigs of 
trees, pieces of bark, branches, chips of wood, and seeds, which 
had found their way into the pits at the time the latter were 
being filled with refuse from the station. From the pits and 
trenches, and mixed with the vegetable debris, came many of 
the important finds of Roman implements and other articles, 
1 Reports of excavations of the Roman Military Station, Newstead, Melrose, 
by James Curle. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1906, 1907 
[Notes, R.B.G., Edin., No. XIX., April 1908.) 
