The Hoxne Treasure, discovered in November 1992, is one of the most significant hoards of late Roman gold and silver from Britain. In terms of its sheer monetary value it has been placed fifth in the international ‘top ten’ of precious-metal hoards from the second to the seventh centuries ad. More importantly, it is virtually the only hoard ever to have been recovered mainly by means of a professional excavation: though it first emerged by accident, the finder immediately notified the police and the local (Suffolk) archaeological service, thus enabling the experts to be called in. The result was the salvaging, almost intact, of an unique deposit containing 15,233 coins (which gave a terminus post quem of ad 407–8), gold jewellery, silver vessels, spoons and strainers, toilet utensils and box fittings. Included were several rare items such as a gold body-chain, a group of pepper-pots in the form of human or animal figures and four strainers with their bowls set at right angles to the handles. In addition, there were remains of wood and other organic materials, which made it possible to establish that the treasure was packed in a wooden chest with internal boxes or subdivisions, as well as straw and textile wrappings for protection.

These finds have been subjected to nearly two decades of scientific and scholarly analysis; the coins were published in a monograph by Peter Guest in 2005, and now comes the second volume, dealing with the remaining material. Written principally by Catherine Johns, it incorporates specialist reports that have benefited from the latest advances in technology, and the result is a far more sophisticated study than (for example) the 1983 publication of the last major treasure to have turned up in Britain, the Thetford hoard. In every respect, this is an exemplary piece of work, meticulously thorough and beautifully written. Hardly an aspect (typological, stylistic, iconographic, sociological) is left unexplored, and on the way we are treated to all manner of learned disquisitions, for example, on the use of pepper in Roman cuisine, the mechanics of elaborate female coiffures of the fourth century and the evolving role of spoons in Imperial-age dining.

Among the interesting aspects of the hoard to be examined is its limited range: the level of wealth implied by the objects present would lead us to expect that the owner possessed a service of silver plate comparable to those found at Mildenhall or in the Seuso Treasure, but, apart from the pepper-pots and an isolated handle in the form of a silver tigress, the only vessels were a small embossed beaker and jug. Were the rest of the owner's valuables buried elsewhere? Or was the Hoxne hoard (as Johns inclines to believe) merely a deposit of ‘bullion’ consisting of items that were not in regular use and could thus be stashed away?

This raises the further question of why valuables were buried at all. There is an unusual number of precious-metal hoards interred in Roman Britain, and both Guest and, more especially, Richard Hobbs have questioned the traditional view that they represent valuables hidden in times of crisis. Using arguments based on the nature of the burial sites and on patterns of distribution, Hobbs proposes that the hoards belong to a cultural tradition of making ritual deposits: there was never any intention of recovering them. This theory is carefully and judiciously discussed in the present volume, but the author comes down in favour of the traditional view, citing a range of factors, such as human nature, which would militate against deliberate abandonment of worldly riches. She is surely right. The careful packing of the objects at Hoxne implies the intention of recovery, and the fact that so many hoards have come from East Anglia, an area likely to have been particularly vulnerable to invasion in the late Roman period, would fit with a pattern of burial for safekeeping.

This might seem to be a definitive publication, but, as the author emphasizes, it is only a start. Future generations may wish to ask new questions, and new techniques of study may yield new results. In the meantime it represents a splendid achievement. In presentation there is scarcely a flaw: the reviewer spotted only a few minor errors, chiefly of numbering (but it is a pity that the terminal shown in figure 3.10 belongs to the body-chain no. 1 rather than, as intended, the necklace no. 2). A more serious shortcoming is the absence of any colour plates. Comparison with the Thetford volume – and inspection of the actual Hoxne objects displayed in the British Museum – shows how much the reader loses by having to rely on reproductions in black and white.