Usually refers to a Roman temporary military camp. The Roman army on the move had a systematic procedure for overnight and short-stay stops. Surveyors laid out a suitable and reasonably flat rectangular site, tent positions were planned and marked, and a ditch and low rampart were quickly dug, usually surmounted by a palisade of stakes. These distinctive enclosures may be identified by aerial survey.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied