Antiquities Scheme was established in 1997 as an initiative to record archaeological objects found by members of the general public and was extended to the whole of England and Wales in 2003. 1 Surveys of Roman period finds recorded by the PAS have been published in Britannia annually since 2004. This tenth report gives an overview of the finds reported in 2012 and of their character and distribution. As in previous reports, descriptions then follow of significant individual artefacts recorded by Finds Liaison Officers in the year concerned, selected because of the interest of the iconography and/or their contribution to the understanding of object type or distribution, in some cases being exceptional items not previously recorded in the repertoire of small finds from the province or beyond. OVERVIEW Almost 25,000 artefacts of Roman date were recorded on the PAS database in 2012, a figure that, as in previous years, includes finds to which a date has been attributed that spans the late Iron Age and early Roman period. Table 1 shows the number of Roman non-ceramic artefacts recorded on the database by county and grouped by PAS region, as well as the two numerically most significant categories of finds, coins and brooches, and a third category of non-ceramic other finds. 2 Like last year's report, this abbreviated form of reporting replaces the former scheme, in which all non-ceramic finds were presented in their functional groupings. 3 The reports published for the years 2003-2010 in which the data were presented according to the former scheme provide a substantial sample for characterising PAS finds on a regional and provincial basis. The 2012 finds recorded by the PAS comprise 21,077 objects, excluding ceramics. 4 2,950 fragments of Roman pottery were also reported, as well as small quantities of architectural material (tesserae, wall-plaster and tiles) and ceramic and stone objects, including querns, weights and sculptural fragments. As in previous years coins are the most common Roman artefact recorded: the 17,242 individual coin finds recorded in 2012 account for 82 per cent of the total of metallic finds and include 24 Greek and Roman Provincial coins. 5 Roman coins reported this year take the total number documented by the scheme to c. 144,000, a total that reflects the continuing impact of the initiative to record large assemblages of Roman coins in toto. 6 The regional distribution of the coins reported this year closely resembles that of previous years, with much 1

Owing to the very high number of artefacts presented for identification in Norfolk, only a proportion is currently available on the PAS database. Records of other artefacts are entered into the norfolk Historic Environment Record.

An unusual group of gold jewellery was discovered by a metal detectorist near Winchester in southern England in 2000. The hoard included two possibly unique massive necklaces made in a clearly classical style, but different from typical classical necklaces and from the torcs and collars of Iron Age Europe. The hoard also contained extremely rare gold versions of types of brooches commonly made in bronze and iron in north-west Europe during the first century BC, the end of the pre-Roman Iron Age. This paper describes these unique objects and the results of an archaeological investigation of their find spot. Detailed scientific analysis of the objects’ technology has proven crucial for interpreting their origins and broader significance. Finally, the broader consequences of the find for interpreting the significant changes that took place in southern Britain in the century before the Roman conquest are discussed.

are responsible for the overview and descriptions of individual artefacts, S. Moorhead and P. Walton for the summary of coin data. We would like to record our thanks to R. Brewer for reading and commenting on a draft of this paper. The Haverfield Bequest is thanked for a grant to fund the reproduction of colour images.

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