The abandonment of the Roman occupation of Scotland in the governorship of Julius Verus is seen as deliberate, ordered and, so far as we can see, peaceful. It is argued that the withdrawal is linked to an ongoing shortage of military manpower in Britain, brought to a head by the transfer in a.d. 158 of legionary vexillations to the German provinces (attested by RIB 1322) to assist with the reconfiguration of the frontier there.

A brooch from Marham, Norfolk, is identifed as being a hybrid Colchester Derivative and its relationship with other Colchester Derivatives is discussed. An examination of the basic distribution of the parent of the Marham brooch, the Rearhook, shows that it is of Icenian origin. Discussion of other rare hybrids along with the dating of the parent reveals that, alone of British brooches, the Rearhook has what may be described as an abrupt cut-off date which can be equated with the suppression of the Iceni. Only one hybrid has any development, and that is the one to which the Marham brooch belongs. The fantail foot found on many Rearhooks also has a later history which is examined. The discussion focuses on the dating and distribution of what may be described as ultimate Rearhook derivatives. The early post-Boudiccan history of the Iceni is alluded to and a case presented for the probable deliberate plantation of Icenians at Castleford.

The original poem inscribed above an image of Europa and the bull on the Lullingstone villa mosaic has long been recognised as referring to an episode in Ovid's Metamorphoses and making an allusion to Virgil's Aeneid. Here it is proposed that it is also a parody of a poem by Martial on the same subject and adds to the growing quantity of classical literature with which the fourth-century Romano-British elite are known to have been familiar.

A black mineral amulet in the form of a human bust is the only one of its kind so far found in Britain. Found c. 1900 during brick-making, it probably came from the burial of a young female. The authenticity of its provenance, context and associated finds is reviewed in the light of other grave groups, and its iconography and use are compared to those of other black mineral amulets from Britain and the Continent. Supplementary material available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000094) comprises a short biography of Henry Money and a catalogue of beads.

Excavation of the latest surviving structures of the villa at Batten Hanger in West Sussex indicates that a large aisled building was demolished in the late fourth or fifth century and replaced by a large hall 31.6 m long by 11.5 m wide, orientated approximately east–west. The survival of pad stones shows this space to have been divided into seven bays, with the more westerly bays screened off by a cross wall. The east wall of the building had collapsed outwards and was largely complete. A coin of Valentinian III suggests that occupation continued at least to the middle of the fifth century. The Supplementary Material available online (http://journals.cambridge.org/bri) contains a detailed presentation of the coin hoard and the pottery assemblages.

The ancient sources for the location of Thule are reviewed.1 It is suggested that the identification of the Shetland Isles as Thule was an error by Agricola. The identification was then accepted by Ptolemy, who moved Thule from the more northerly location implied by Pytheas’ account to the site of the Shetland Isles. This would account for his description of Thule/Shetland as one island. The coincident location of Ptolemy's Thule with Shetland suggests that the Roman fleet did see the islands. The emendations of Wolfson relating to Thule are examined and rejected. There is no evidence that Agricola's fleet landed in Shetland.

In the course of the excavations at the legionary base of Haltern earlier this century, a lead lid some 10.5 cm in diameter was found near to the principia. The lid (PL. XIII) is inscribed EX RADICE BRITANICA (sic).

Seemingly dating some thirty to forty years before the conquest of Britain, this inscription is intriguing. Since the first publication of the lid in 1928 the contents of the vessel to which it belonged have been identified with the herba Britannica which Pliny the Elder described in the following terms:

‘Nor is it beasts alone that are guilty of causing injury; at times waters and regions do the same. When Germanicus Caesar had moved forward his camp across the Rhine, in a maritime district of Germany there was only one source of fresh water. To drink it caused within two years the teeth to fall out and the use of the knee-joints to fail. Physicians used to call these maladies stomaca and scelotyrbe. A remedy was found in the plant called britannica, which is good not only for the sinews and for diseases of the mouth, but also for the relief of quinsy and snake-bite. It has dark, rather long leaves, and a dark root. Its juice is extracted even from the root (sucus eius exprimitur et e radice). The blossom is called vibones; gathered before thunder is heard, and swallowed, it keeps away the fear of quinsy for a whole year. It was pointed out to our men by the Frisians, at that time a loyal tribe, in whose territory our camp lay. Why the plant was so called I greatly wonder,unless perhaps, living on the shore of the British ocean, they have so named the britannica because it is, as it were, a near neighbour of Britain. It is certain that the plant was not named because it grew abundantly in that island: Britain was at that time an independent state.’

During July and August 1990 several finds of Roman metalwork and other material were reported to the Milton Keynes Archaeology Unit by metal-detector-users searching on the line of the Fenny Stratford bypass, which was at that time being constructed to the south of Milton Keynes, close to the boundary of the scheduled area covering the site of the small Roman town of Magiovinium. Of particular note among these discoveries was the finding of three coarse-ware vessels containing quantities of copper-alloy coin blanks and pellets, and a pair of possible iron coin dies (PL. IA), reported to the Unit by the finder. After preliminary recording and some statistical analysis by Bob Zeepvat, samples of the coin blanks and pellets were chemically analysed by Matthew Ponting at the Institute of Archaeology, London, while conservation and cleaning of the dies, followed by chemical and physical tests, were undertaken by the Conservation and Scientific Research departments at the British Museum. This work was carried out by Janet Lang and Mike Cowell. The pottery was examined and reported on by Pauline Marney. The hoard remains the property of the landowners, Buckinghamshire County Council, and the initial stages of the watching-brief at Galley Lane were carried out by the Milton Keynes Unit on behalf of the Buckinghamshire County Museum.