This article reviews the emergence and development of Romano-British glass bangles in southern Britain by providing a fresh analysis of finds that also considers recent theoretical and historical advances in interpreting the transition from the late Iron Age to the Roman period. By analysing the emergence of bangles in terms of technological and stylistic transfer, it suggests that the technology used in their production and their visual elements have continental lineage. It also situates bangles amid indigenous developments in bodily adornments in southern Britain before a.d. 43. By reconnecting British bangles with their continental European counterparts and contextualising them within political, social and cultural processes in south-western England during the late pre-Roman Iron Age, the article argues that the emergence of bangles in Britain did not occur in a vacuum after the Claudian invasion in a.d. 43 but formed an integral part of globalising networks of cross-Channel trade and connections with the European mainland in the early first century a.d.

While the basic sequence of innovations that characterise ceramic production in southern Britain during the first centuries b.c. and a.d. is well-established, our understanding of resistance to these innovations remains in its infancy. Led by the theoretical principles of social constructionism, this paper presents a detailed technological characterisation of Silchester ware, a hand-built ceramic type common in late Iron Age and early Roman Berkshire and northern Hampshire, and a conspicuous example of technological and stylistic anachronism when compared to contemporary wheel-made pottery. Multi-period analyses using radiography, petrography and typology indicate that Silchester ware was not merely a technological ‘hangover’, but a traditional form of material culture with its own role in changing socio-economic structures. Contextualisation of the findings within the local archaeological background further suggests that Silchester ware may have been instrumental in the maintenance of local community and identity at a time when these aspects of social life were under threat. Supplementary material available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000355) comprises a characterisation of the chaînes opératoires of Silchester ware and its middle Iron Age antecedents, and a summarised version of the data, interpretations and the original radiographs.

The scarcity of Romano-British human remains from north-west England has hindered understanding of burial practice in this region. Here, we report on the excavation of human and non-human animal remains1 and material culture from Dog Hole Cave, Haverbrack. Foetal and neonatal infants had been interred alongside a horse burial and puppies, lambs, calves and piglets in the very latest Iron Age to early Romano-British period, while the mid- to late Roman period is characterised by burials of older individuals with copper-alloy jewellery and beads. This material culture is more characteristic of urban sites, while isotope analysis indicates that the later individuals were largely from the local area. We discuss these results in terms of burial ritual in Cumbria and rural acculturation. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000136), and contains further information about the site and excavations, small finds, zooarchaeology, human osteology, site taphonomy, the palaeoenvironment, isotope methods and analysis, and finds listed in Benson and Bland 1963.

This paper provides description and context for some of the discoveries made by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales during aerial reconnaissance in the drought conditions of the summer of 2018. New discoveries include two marching camps, three auxiliary forts and a remarkable series of stone buildings outside the fort at Pen y Gaer. The photographs also clarify the plan of several known villas as well as identifying some potential villa sites and enclosure systems of probable Romano-British date in south-eastern, south-western and north-western Wales. The recognition of a new road alignment south of Carmarthen is suggestive of another coastal fort at or near Kidwelly.

Recent excavation and coring of the collapsed east wall of the Saxon Shore fort of Richborough has revealed the manner in which the wall collapsed. This led to a re-evaluation of the original siting of the wall, which must have lain to the west of where it is usually depicted. Reassessment of previous excavations, including the examination of original records from the J.P. Bushe-Fox excavations of the 1920s and 1930s leads to the conclusion that the so-called ‘unfinished’ or ‘abandoned’ east wall foundation was in fact the base of the built east wall, from which the collapse derives. A revised fort plan based upon this conclusion is suggested. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000379), and includes additional backing tables and illustrations referenced in the text.

Non-destructive analytical techniques are now widely and successfully employed in the fields of materials science and conservation. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) and portable Raman spectrometry have proven particularly valuable for the rapid in-situ analysis of samples, but their applicability for the analysis of archaeological artefacts for which survival of surface treatments can be negatively impacted by post-depositional processes has been underexplored. Roman relief-sculpted monumental inscriptions from the Antonine Wall, commonly referred to as ‘Distance Slabs’, have offered an excellent opportunity to deploy these non-destructive techniques to determine whether they were originally adorned with pigments and, if so, to identify the colours used. This is a revolutionary approach to identifying colours on ancient sandstone sculpture that transforms our understanding of these unique monuments. Elemental composition analysis by pXRF has confirmed evidence for pigments and this is supported by the Raman results, making it possible to develop and reconstruct a palette of colours that originally brought these monuments to life in vibrant polychrome. The research offers a new methodology for identifying pigments on sandstone sculpture and opens new avenues for investigating other classes of material culture alongside the development of bespoke analytical equipment.

This paper assesses the alternative models currently proposed for the original design of the Antonine Wall. It argues that there is sufficient evidence of a pattern in the structural relationships between the Wall and its various garrison posts to confirm that there was a major change of plan during the construction process. This resulted in the addition of a series of secondary forts, several of which can now be shown to have replaced primary fortlets, and a concomitant delay in the construction programme. An explanation is offered for this rapid change of design, which resulted in one of the most intensively garrisoned linear frontiers in the Roman Empire.

A cache of Roman copper-alloy fragments was discovered, apparently carefully layered in a pit, in a field in Gloucestershire by metal-detectorists in 2017. The assemblage comprises over 5 kg of metal pieces, predominantly box fittings, but also smaller items of personal use such as a fourth-century belt buckle, a three-strand bracelet, a spoon and a coin (a nummus of Crispus). Most remarkable are the sculptural fragments, including several pieces of life-size statuary and the complete statuette of a dog with fine incised decoration, and part of an incised bronze inscription panel. This article considers the original form of the statuary and the use and deposition of the cache. It is proposed that these fragments represent the remains of the accoutrements of a temple or shrine in the local area, perhaps dedicated to Diana Venatrix, and that they were removed and deposited together in the late fourth century. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000501) and comprises additional figures.

This paper studies rural populations in the Roman frontier province of Germania inferior, employing a perspective that allocates more space to the exploitative and repressive aspects of Roman rule. We draw attention to an alternative series of topics than the ones currently presented in rural archaeology. This includes attention to situations of crisis and instability, to fundamental reordering of rural populations, to issues of migration and to the interconnectivity of rural developments and imperial power structures. While these topics are usually considered as ‘historically given’, they are rarely the subject of serious archaeological research. This attempt at a more historicising approach does not mean a simple return to the traditional paradigm of historische Altertumskunde. Much better equipped than our predecessors of two or three generations ago, we archaeologists of the 21st century are able to engage in a critical and creative dialogue with historical sources and models.

The publication of the RurLand (Rural Landscape in North-East Gaul) project has provided an opportunity to compare methodologies and results with those of The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain project. Two themes, which draw out the asymmetrical development of settlement in the two regions, are examined: the very different impacts of the Roman conquests of Gaul and of Britain on settlement numbers and settlement continuity, and the development of the agricultural economy and its relationship with the frontiers of Britain and Germany, as reflected in the growth and decline of villa estates in Britain and Gaul.

A magnetometry survey of the Roman fort at Lake Farm, near Wimborne Minster in Dorset, first discovered in 1959, has upgraded the status of this site to a full legionary fortress: a major base of the legio II Augusta during the subjugation of the Durotriges and other tribes of south-west Britain. The interior layout of the fortress was identified for the first time, together with the original road and river connections, extensive areas of extramural activity and evidence for an earlier phase of the site as a marching camp.

This paper reports the discovery through aerial photography of a Roman fort at Thirkleby, near Thirsk in North Yorkshire. It appears to have two structural phases, and surface finds indicate that it dates from the Flavian period. The significance of its location on the intersection of routes north–south along the edge of the Vale of York and east–west connecting Malton and Aldborough is discussed in the context of Roman annexation of the North.

The abandonment of the Roman occupation of Scotland in the governorship of Julius Verus is seen as deliberate, ordered and, so far as we can see, peaceful. It is argued that the withdrawal is linked to an ongoing shortage of military manpower in Britain, brought to a head by the transfer in a.d. 158 of legionary vexillations to the German provinces (attested by RIB 1322) to assist with the reconfiguration of the frontier there.

It has been asserted that the usurper Magnus Maximus can be identified with the commander Maximus who served during the Gothic uprising of 376–77. This assertion is tempting because it connects imperial events in Africa, the Balkans and Britain during a pivotal period. However, this note aims to dispel this identification. It does so by both examining the socio-institutional ramifications of promotion in the imperial chain of command and cross-examining literary traditions previously overlooked in this identification.

Developer-funded excavation in Easton, Suffolk, investigated part of a long-lived Iron Age settlement and Roman farmstead. One late Iron Age pit contained an unusual bronze handle, most likely from a jug, the form of which appears to be unique in Britain. The closest parallels are products of Italian workshops in the late first century b.c. This paper describes the likely form of the vessel and discusses the significance of its presence at a rural settlement on the ‘border’ of the Iceni and Trinovantes/Catuvellauni.

Quantification of assemblages of ceramic building material (CBM) is now normal excavation practice, but there is insufficient standardisation of methodology and little study of the validity or uses of these analyses. Consequently, it is difficult to interpret confidently the resulting analyses or make comparisons between sites. This paper suggests a simple approach and tests its validity empirically in urban environments where the high level of constructional churn should generate assemblage homogeneity. It then shows how the results can help with site and building interpretation.

A stone fragment from recent excavations at Sheepwash Grange near Lincoln is illustrated and discussed. Initially thought to be an early medieval, Christian grave-marker, because of its excavated context, its original form is reconstructed as a carved stone aedicule of Roman date and interpreted as a lararium. The building depicted is timber framed. Analogies from Britain prove at best partial, but contemporary objects of similar form in the Rhineland and Saarland regions provide close parallels and invite discussion of the connection this evidences. While the excavations included a villa complex likely to be the aedicule's immediate context, the location is an ancient river crossing distinctively marked by repeated activity from earliest prehistory.

A black mineral amulet in the form of a human bust is the only one of its kind so far found in Britain. Found c. 1900 during brick-making, it probably came from the burial of a young female. The authenticity of its provenance, context and associated finds is reviewed in the light of other grave groups, and its iconography and use are compared to those of other black mineral amulets from Britain and the Continent. Supplementary material available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000094) comprises a short biography of Henry Money and a catalogue of beads.