Roman Domestic Wood

The lengthy subtitle aptly describes the content of this volume as an 'Analysis of the morphology, manufacture and use of selected categories of domestic wooden artefacts with particular reference to the material from Roman Britain'. Paola Pugsley presents an in-depth analysis of a limited assemblage of domestic wooden material from Britain, and comparative objects from Europe, discussing issues and problems of preservation, deposition and interpretation. Among the objects considered are combs and other grooming accessories, wood-soled footwear, boxes, tableware and kitchen equipment, supplemented by evidence from literary sources, iconography and an experimental study that focused on technological aspects. Pugsley concludes that many of the objects had important social as well as utilitarian functions and that the Roman period was a time of innovation which led to significant developments in technology and design. English text; abstracts in French, Italian and German.