Objects and Their Significance

Objects made of metal, glass, baked clay, jet and shale, bone, antler and ivory, and of stone — the small finds discovered on archaeological sites — help us weave a narrative about aspects of life in Roman Britain. They hold the essence of the past.

About the Book

This book is about objects from Roman Britain and about how they were used. It is also about ideas sometimes encapsulated within those objects and in certain artistic images from the province. Some objects were produced specifically for the purpose of carrying symbolic meaning while some otherwise functional objects sometimes had symbolism thrust upon them.

Author and Approach

Iain Ferris explores the sophisticated consumer culture of the Roman world. Finds or objects are used in this book to write an alternative history of Roman Britain in the form of a series of narrative snapshots of the past at certain locations and at certain times.