Roughly two-thirds of an assemblage of 156 whetstones from three collections representing two late Roman sites at Silchester can be assigned geologically to the Brownstones (Devonian), Pennant sandstone (Carboniferous) or Stonesfield Slate (Jurassic), imported from the west and north into the town as roof-tiles. The latter were put to further, secondary use as whetstones, some small and portable but others large and laid flat and kept stationary. The whetstones are polished through use, typically on both faces, and a high proportion carry grooves. On some the grooves are short and fine and could represent the sharpening of such items as pins, needles, meat skewers, styli and engraving tools. These grooves are typically found on whetstones from Insula IX, where artisanal and, at best, ‘light-industrial’ activities are recorded. At the forum-basilica, by contrast, the whetstones are more substantial and typically show large grooves of two kinds that point to the shaping and finishing in considerable numbers of iron objects such as knives, cleavers, swords and even possibly ladles. The industrial activity at this site had a distinctly ‘heavier’ quality. The biography of these whetstones — objects seemingly simple and unpretentious — was complex, wherever they were found.

Artificial Roman ponds present in various guises, but they are relatively rarely found in the service of rural agriculture. This article focuses on a possible example of this type from Worcestershire, where extensive excavation has been carried out. The results demonstrate the potential of a pond for the reconstruction of wider landscape usage, while the considerable quantity of associated finds potentially sheds some light on social practice. A review of similar sites across Roman Britain suggests there may be practical (in essence curatorial) issues about the fuller investigation of such features once identified, in order that a similarly high level of data can be achieved more regularly, and suggests a need for prospection/mapping for the better management of this resource, especially employing newly available LiDAR data.

In this paper, I investigate how eighteenth-century antiquarians engaged with the remains of Roman bath buildings in Britain and discuss their multifaceted attitude towards the ancient practice of bathing, with a focus on the city of Bath. I also examine the interests and priorities of Georgian scholars in studying Roman baths and their structure, highlighting their sometimes uncritical use of Classical sources and tracking the origins of their misconceptions regarding the components and function of these facilities. Finally, I briefly address the elusive socio-cultural legacy of Roman baths and bathing in eighteenth-century Britain, stressing influences and differences in practice and architecture.

In Britain air-photography has proved to be one of the more important tools of the historian and archaeologist working in the Roman period. The principal results of aerial reconnaissance since 1945 have been described in a notable series of papers by the writer's colleague, Professor J. K. St. Joseph, published in the Journal of Roman Studies. Most of the discoveries reported had been made on flights sponsored by the Committee for Aerial Photography of the University of Cambridge. A fuller treatment of the photography of walled towns has also appeared; the present paper likewise is devoted to a single class of site in greater detail than is feasible in a periodic general review. Some of the sites to be described are hitherto unpublished; others, previously noted in brief, now receive a more extended commentary.

The rectangular multivallate enclosure at TQ 6535 8135 has been sampled by excavation and described previously. Further excavation by Essex County Council was undertaken for the Department of the Environment when road construction threatened total destruction. Evidence for settlement was found, which began in the early or middle Iron Age, continued until the late Roman period and was also present in the early Saxon period, FIG. I shows the major features that have been excavated or denned; FIGS. 2 and 3 indicate substantive features during each period.

Twelve pieces of leather waste from various sites in the City of London and Southwark bear stamped or incised inscriptions, the majority of which seem to stand for personal names. Some occur on shoe sole off-cuts, others on waste pieces of thinner leather, and one on a discarded piece of hide from the head of a calf.

In the spring of 1850, a remarkably well-preserved male bog-body was found on Grewelthorpe Moor, near Ripon, North Yorkshire. The body was clad in brightly-coloured woollen garments and a pair of leather ‘sandals’, the style of which induced two late nineteenth-century writers to conclude that it was that of an ‘ancient Roman’ (see below). More recently, Tinsley recognized the importance of this find and suggested that the body may have been a ‘Roman soldier’. In the absence of adequate supporting evidence, one of the present authors (J.P.W.) previously expressed skepticism concerning the body's supposed Roman date. Two woollen fragments which survive in the Yorkshire Museum in themselves provide insufficient dating evidence. Fortunately, the surviving shoe-sole is of a distinctive Roman-British regional type. This article presents the dating evidence, reappraises the clothing in the light of its confirmed Romano-British origin, and re-assesses the circumstances behind the death in the light of comparable finds.

The results of the chemical analysis indicate that the majority of the unknown sherds tested were not manufactured in the Nene Valley and that there is a strong probability that Köln was the major source with only about 16 per cent being attributed to the Nene Valley. The possibility of a further source or sources is also indicated by the sub-group of Köln A. In addition analysis of the Nene Valley control sherds has shown no distinction between the products of Water Newton, Sibson and Stibbington, but some evidence for discrimination in the case of Stanground.

Although Gaulish samian accounts for most of the pottery table-ware found in Britain, Gaul and Germany in the first and second centuries A.D., its repertoire was supplemented by a range of colour-coated drinking vessels. These are generally in different fabrics to those of contemporary samian (ranging from white through to various shades of brown) and are generally finished in a variety of slips, which are usually reduced. The pre-Flavian range of drinking vessels of this kind found in Britain has recently been the subject of a detailed study. Now the colour-coated drinking wares of the later first and second century are beginning to receive attention. During this period the bag-shaped beaker with cornice rim is one of the most popular forms (FIG. I, 1-4) and is frequently found in a fine white paste with a reduced slipped surface. Decoration may be by roughcasting or, particularly from the mid-second century, barbotine or rouletting. During the period concerned (i.e. late first to the end of the second century) vessels of this kind were made at several workshops in Britain, Gaul and Germany. The kilns of the lower Nene Valley, for example, are usually credited with being the source of bag-beakers in a white fabric and decorated with hunting scenes enbarbotine, (often described as Castor ware in earlier British and continental reports after Artis) (FIG. 1, 3-4). However, kilns in Köln produced vessels in a similar form and fabric with roughcast and barbotine decoration (FIG. 1, 1-2) as, it seems, did workshops at Lezoux in Central Gaul and, no doubt, further workshops await discovery.