Romans 8: blingy things
It’s a silver brooch in the shape of a running hare. Men, women and children wore brooches to fasten their clothes.
This is an expensive brooch, so would have belonged to a wealthy lady, possibly the wife of the owner of Folkestone Roman Villa, or one of her family or guests.
Poorer people had brooches made from plain bronze, or even wood with a bronze or iron pin.
Did you know?
The Romans hunted hares for food, and they often appear in Roman art and jewellery.
There were lots of hares in Roman Britain. But there were no rabbits until Norman times, hundreds of years later.
Image copyright: Canterbury Archaeological Trust
This is close-up of an intaglio (a carved gemstone) from a wealthy Roman's finger ring. It's less than 1cm high!
The missing ring would probably have been made from gold. Intaglios come in lots of different designs including animals, gods, goddesses and good luck symbols.
Intaglios also functioned as a form of identification. When sending a letter, the image on the intaglio could be pressed into sealing wax so the person who got the letter would know who it's from.
How do you think it got lost in the first place?
Image copyright: Canterbury Archaeological Trust