A rare find was made in 2012 when a metal-detectorist on land near Bridge, a few miles south of Canterbury, Kent, recovered a copper alloy brooch, other metal items, and a quantity of burnt bone contained in a near complete, probably imported Gallic, helmet of Iron Age type. Excavation was undertaken to ascertain the immediate context of the helmet, confirm that it represented a cremation burial, and determine if it formed part of a larger funerary deposit. The helmet and brooch suggest a burial date in the mid-1st century BC and the apparently isolated cremation burial, of a possibly female adult, can be broadly placed within the Aylesford-Swarling tradition; the helmet taking the place of a more usual pottery cinerary urn. Cropmark evidence suggests that the burial was made within a wider landscape of Iron Age occupation.

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Summary This article is a case study of the detailed contextual and scientific analysis of a single object, moving beyond a conventional object biography to consider flows of materials and shifts in meaning and value. The object is a simple triangular silver ingot from the Late Iron Age shrine site at Hallaton, Leicestershire, UK. Scientific analysis is used to uncover the biography of the ingot, and the raw materials from which it was created. The results suggest that the metal which eventually formed the ingot circulated through both Iron Age and Roman social networks, being reworked and transformed several times before it was deposited. Silver emerges as a material which mediated between the Mediterranean world and Iron Age communities in Britain, allowing translation and transmutation between different systems of value in conquest‐period Britain.

While not offering a comprehensive account like that provided by George Boon, the discussion is immensely important and impressive. Part III focuses on the defences and surrounding earthworks, providing a thorough new understanding of their development. Part IV moves on to consider a broader range of themes. Among the most important are C.'s discussion of the town's origins, military involvement and the cemeteries. The re-evaluation of the role of the Roman military is particularly refreshing, moving debate away from the familiar ground of fort/no fort, to offer a more nuanced perspective. We may also note his tentative but convincing suggestion that there was a circus just to the northwest of the town (427-9). Some of C.'s innovative use of the geophysical survey evidence to contribute to broader debates is also methodologically significant. First, he has been able to identify various different cemetery areas. Those seen as high-status Iron Age burial enclosures are important for our understanding of the development of the site, but are not methodologically significant. By contrast, his success in mapping the extent of large inhumation cemeteries and potential cremation pyre areas around the town is very important as few other surveys have achieved this. Second, his use of magnetic signals associated with burning to map areas of industrial activity provides a new approach to the use of extensive urban survey data which may add a new dimension to our understanding of the economic dynamics of urban sites. It will be clear from my comments that this is an immensely important book that makes a key contribution to the study of Roman Britain. C.'s ideas offer much scope for discussion, but it is clear that this volume places all future debate on new and secure foundations.