Artefact research has endured a complicated relationship with the broader field of Roman studies. For many years finds supplied the prime dating evidence, with pottery and coins defining a site's chronology and given detailed treatment as befitted this status. Then, with larger-scale excavations, ever-larger assemblages and new theoretical positions, finds became an embarrassment, relegated to appendices, to microfiche or archive lists, with only selected (datable) examples illustrated. Some artefact missionaries toiled relentlessly among the unbelievers, but only in the last decade or so have finds studies emerged from the shadows, part of a wider theoretical reawakening of material culture studies in the social sciences. New views of finds have driven much of the most interesting work on Roman Britain in recent years, and the volume under review brings together both the missionaries from the wilderness years and the new zealots to present a work which serves to introduce and push forward the value of artefact studies.

Thirteen thematic chapters cover a broad sweep of topics where artefacts can cast light, from commerce and craft to ornament, burial and belief. They will become standard reading as introductory texts, since in most cases they act as both an introduction to the basic literature on a topic and a stimulant in terms of possible approaches and interpretations. The grouping of authors is quite a dream-team, with long-established specialists (and a few bright young(ish) things) providing handy updates to their key works. All are of interest, but they take varying approaches, some offering more than others. Some encapsulate a topic, providing the overview which the non-specialist needs, such as Tomlin on ‘Writing and communication’ or Jackson on ‘Medicine and hygiene’. Some are more restricted than their title suggests. Brickstock's ‘Commerce’ primarily concerns coinage; it is a useful guide but without much to stir the blood, though this topic has been at the forefront of new approaches and is perhaps now waiting for others to catch up. Manning's ‘Industry’ is likewise more restricted than the title claims, being predominantly about iron tools, though in this it provides what one would hope for, summarising and synthesising a lot of valuable information. Some chapters scope the topic and show its potential for socially-focused interpretation — Eckardt on ‘Heating and lighting’, Swift on ‘Personal ornament’ and Cool on ‘Funerary contexts’ are good examples which will draw bright young students like moths to the academic flame, conveying something of the excitement which good artefact studies provide. Some bring alive a topic which rarely receives attention — Crummy's chapter on ‘Travel and transport’ is an excellent example, drawing together disparate and surprisingly fascinating material, and identifying gaps in research where others could profitably step. Likewise, Mould's ‘Domestic life’ synthesises an eye-watering amount of data in a series of useful, stimulating themes.

This book is not a handbook of artefact identification, as the editor notes, but the supporting illustrations vary more than might be expected. Some chapters provide a very good range of illustrated examples to send the reader forth, notably Rees on ‘Agriculture’ or Jackson's medical implements, and the commissioned drawings illustrating typical ranges or typologies are very useful. Other chapters can call on accessible syntheses, such as Bishop's ‘Weaponry and military equipment’, where he can cross-reference the detail in other texts and stick profitably to broader pictures. But some are under-illustrated, notably Bird's ‘Religion’, which requires readers to have an extensive mental picture library. The question of illustration also raises questions for the publisher. The volume is avowedly for a student market, and is likely to feature on set-book lists, presumably making the publisher a handsome profit. Why, then, was the picture budget not more generous? Almost 50 per cent of the plates come from the editor's own institution, a noble gesture which presumably saved the publisher a lot of money; but one might have expected broader coverage in topic and area.

It would be uncharitable to end on a gripe. The volume is a most valuable one, bringing together various workers and strands of artefact studies in a very handy synthesis, and both editor and authors are to be congratulated. Gaps are inevitable in such a treatment — but the benefits outweigh such small concerns. The authors synthesise, illuminate and at times provoke, presenting the value of artefact studies to a broader audience, and hopefully sending some of the readers spinning off into detailed finds reports to create new views of Roman Britain.