Editing Offa's Dyke (section)

===Contrary evidence===
"Ofer" means "border" or "edge" in Old English, giving rise to the possibility of alternative derivations for some border features associated with Offa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=ofer&oldid=66533079|title=ofer|date=29 April 2022|via=Wiktionary}}</ref> Roman historian [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]] in his book ''Historiae Romanae Breviarium'', written around 369, mentions the [[Wall of Severus]], a structure built by [[Septimius Severus]], who was [[Roman Emperor]] between 193 and 211:<blockquote>
''Novissimum bellum in Britannia habuit, utque receptas provincias omni securitate muniret, vallum per CXXXIII passuum milia a mari ad mare deduxit. Decessit Eboraci admodum senex, imperii anno sexto decimo, mense tertio.'' {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20031019083558/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/eutropius/text8.html#19 ''Historiae Romanae Breviarium, viii 19.1'']}}
<br />
<br />
He had his most recent war in Britain, and to fortify the conquered provinces with all security, he built a wall for 133 miles from sea to sea. He died at York, a reasonably old man, in the sixteenth year and third month of his reign.
</blockquote>
This source is conventionally thought to be referring, in error, to either [[Hadrian's Wall]], {{convert|73|mi}}, or the [[Antonine Wall]], {{convert|37|mi}}, which were both shorter and built in the 2nd century.<ref>{{cite book   | last = Smith   | first = William   | title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities   | publisher = John Murray   | year = 1875   | location = London   | pages = 762 }}<br />Eutropius uses the figure cxxxii (132) ''milia passuum''. As a Roman mile ≈{{convert|1479|m}}, 132 Roman miles = 195&nbsp;km (or 121 statute miles); Offa's Dyke is around 192&nbsp;km long (a little over 119 statute miles).</ref> Recently, some writers have suggested that Eutropius may have been referring to the earthwork later called Offa's Dyke.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Steve |last1=Blake |first2=Scott |last2=Lloyd |title=The Keys To Avalon |publisher=Element Books |year=2000 |isbn=1-86204-735-9}}</ref> Most archaeologists reject this theory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cpat.org.uk/news/oldnews/offaro.htm|title=CPAT: New book claims that Offa's Dyke is Roman!, article by Ian Bapty|access-date=17 October 2009|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220056/http://www.cpat.org.uk/news/oldnews/offaro.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpat.org.uk/offa/what.htm|title=What is Offa's Dyke?|publisher=The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust|date=16 October 2009|access-date=16 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006110053/http://www.cpat.org.uk/offa/what.htm|archive-date=6 October 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.badarchaeology.net/confused/wall_of_severus.php|first=Keith|last=Matthews|title=Was Offa's Dyke actually the 'Wall of Severus'}}</ref>

[[Bede]] also mentions the barrier built by Septimus Severus, but Bede says that the rampart was made of earth and timber, a description which would closer match Offa's Dyke than Hadrian's Wall, though it would describe the Antonine Wall:
<blockquote>
After many great and severe battles, (Severus) thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had recovered, from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine, but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised high above the ground, like a wall, having in front of it the trench whence the sods were taken, with strong stakes of wood fixed above it. Thus Severus drew a great trench and strong rampart, fortified with several towers, from sea to sea. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38326/38326-0.txt ''Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England, Bk 1-5'']
</blockquote>

However, the solution to the problem lies a few chapters later in Bede's account. In Book One Chapter Twelve of Bede's ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People|Ecclesiastical History]]'', he writes that the Romans "built a strong wall of stone directly from sea to sea in a straight line between the towns that had been built as strong-points, where Severus had built his earthwork ... straight from east to west". The strong wall of stone cannot refer to the Antonine Wall or Offa's Dyke, so it clearly refers to Hadrian's Wall, especially as Offa's Dyke runs from north to south. Also, as Severus's earthwork is described as being in the same location as Hadrian's Wall, it cannot be Offa's Dyke either, so the earth rampart with a great trench that Bede refers to must be the [[Vallum (Hadrian's Wall)|Vallum]], the adjoining earthen barrier immediately south of Hadrian's Wall. Bede inadvertently attributes the Vallum to Septimius Severus, saying that it predated the wall. In fact the Vallum was the work of [[Hadrian]] and slightly post-dated the wall.

Evidence has also been found that challenges the accepted date of the construction of Offa's Dyke.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wansdyke21.org.uk/wansdyke/wanart/nurse1.htm#_edn2|title=Latest thinking about OFFA'S and WAT'S DYKES|publisher=New Welsh Review 52|date=16 October 2009}}</ref> In December 1999, [[Shropshire County Council]] archaeologists uncovered the remains of a hearth or fire on the original ground surface beneath [[Wat's Dyke]] near [[Oswestry]]. [[Carbon dating]] analysis of the burnt charcoal and burnt clay ''in situ'' showed it was covered by earth around 446. Archaeologists concluded that this part of Wat's Dyke, so long thought of as Anglo-Saxon and a mid-8th-century contemporary of Offa's Dyke, was built 300 years earlier in the [[Sub-Roman Britain|post-Roman period]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hannaford|first=H.R|title=Archaeological Investigation on Wat's Dyke at Maes-y-Clawdd, Oswestry|publisher=Archaeology Service, Shropshire County Council|year=1999}}<br />"The excavation produced some residual deposits of worn sherds of Roman Samian ware and coarseware pottery. The report suggests that the dyke should be 'regarded as being contemporary with the other great 5th-century linear earthwork, the [[Wansdyke (earthwork)|Wansdyke]] in [[Wiltshire]] ... an achievement of the post-Roman kingdom of the northern Cornovii, rather than a work of 7th–8th century Mercia.' However, Dr David Hill, senior research fellow, Centre for Angio-Saxon Studies, [[University of Manchester]] ('Offa Versus The Welsh' – British Archaeoiogy, December 2000) has argued for a date later than the 6th century for Wat's Dyke – that it was constructed as Gwynedd and North Powys briefly became a unified state. Evidence from both dykes suggests, he says, that people were not settling or spending much time in these 'wild zones'."</ref>

In 2014, excavations by the [[Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust]] focused on nine samples of the dyke near [[Chirk]].<ref>{{citation|last=Grant|first=Ian|title=Offa's Dyke De138, Chirk, Wrexham: Survey, Excavation and recording|issue=CPAT 1224|publisher=Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust}}</ref> Radiocarbon dating of redeposited turf resulted in a series of dates. In one section, these ranged from 430 to 652 and in another section from 887 to 1019: confirming that the bank is clearly post-Roman and that at least some rebuilding work took place after Offa's reign.<ref>{{citation |last=Belford |first=Paul |contribution=Offa's Dyke: a line in the landscape |editor1-last=Jenkins |editor1-first=Tim |editor2-last=Abbis |editor2-first=Rachel | title=Fortress Salopia |publisher=Helion Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-91-151-269-1 |pages=60–81}}</ref> It has been suggested that Offa's Dyke may have been a long-term project by several Mercian kings.<ref name="Offa's Dyke: built by multiple kings?">{{cite journal|journal=Current Archaeology|title=Offa's Dyke: built by multiple kings?|date=June 2014|volume=XXV, No. 3|issue=291|pages=6}}</ref> Further excavations on the dyke at [[Chirk Castle]] found well-preserved remains of the ditch under later parkland; radiocarbon samples were recovered, but the results have not yet been made public.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Belford|first=Paul|title=Hidden Earthworks: Excavation and Protection of Offa's and Wat's Dykes |journal=Offa's Dyke Journal |issue=1 |date=2019 |volume=1|page=80|doi=10.23914/odj.v1i0.251|url=http://revistas.jasarqueologia.es/index.php/odjournal/article/view/251 |language=en|doi-access=free}}</ref>