Making your mark in Britannia : an investigation into the use of signet rings and intaglios in Roman Britain
This project presents and analyses all of the signet rings and intaglios so far unearthed in Roman Britain to reinterpret how they were used and their role within provincial society. These small artefacts have traditionally been regarded as attractive but relatively insignificant minor objets dâart, with little relevance to the wider discourses of Romanists. This thesis attempts a more critical examination of how they were used and their role within provincial Roman society. I argue that signet rings were an essential element in provincial society that should no longer be overlooked. This project builds on the pioneering Corpus assembled by Martin Henig in the 1970s, including more recent discoveries and more than doubling the material available to him. This combined body of evidence includes 2,012 signet rings and intaglios, making it one of the largest contextualised assemblages of these objects ever studied. It also benefits from the results of developer funded archaeology and the advent of recording by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, enabling us to create a richer and more detailed picture how they were used. My approach has been to resituate these objects in terms of the archaeological context in which
Marshman, Ian James
Making your mark in Britannia : an investigation into the use of signet rings and intaglios in Roman Britain. This project presents and analyses all of the signet rings and intaglios so far unearthed in Roman Britain to reinterpret how they were used and their role within provincial society. These small artefacts have traditionally been regarded as attractive but relatively insignificant minor objets dâart, with little relevance to the wider discourses of Romanists. This thesis attempts a more critical examination of how they were used and their role within provincial Roman society. I argue that signet rings were an essential element in provincial society that should no longer be overlooked. This project builds on the pioneering Corpus assembled by Martin Henig in the 1970s, including more recent discoveries and more than doubling the material available to him. This combined body of evidence includes 2,012 signet rings and intaglios, making it one of the largest contextualised assemblages of these objects ever studied. It also benefits from the results of developer funded archaeology and the advent of recording by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, enabling us to create a richer and more detailed picture how they were used. My approach has been to resituate these objects in terms of the archaeological context in which
making mark britannia investigation use ring roman_britain project present analyse ring far roman_britain reinterpret use role_within provincial_society small artefact traditionally regard attractive relatively insignificant minor art little relevance wider discourse attempt critical_examination use role_within provincial roman_society argue ring essential_element provincial_society longer overlook project build pioneer corpus assemble martin include recent_discovery double material_available him combine body_evidence include ring make one_large contextualised assemblage object ever study also benefit developer fund archaeology advent record_portable_antiquities_scheme enable create rich detailed_picture use object term archaeological_context