Archaeologists excavate structures and objects, but they can and should aim to reconstruct the societies of the past and seek to understand them. Artefacts and Archaeology brings together essays written by leading scholars in the fields of Iron Age and Roman archaeology and material finds in Britain in order examine the ways in which the study of sites, artefacts and ancient societies are interdependent.

Artefacts and Archaeology deals with the wide range of objects produced by the Iron Age and Roman cultures, from ironwork, defences and the Roman army, and Roman finds. It emphasizes the role of the archaeologist as interpreter of people, not things, and shows how object studies can move beyond pure description and instead attempt communicate with the past. Individual essays discuss Iron Age and Romano-British religion, the Roman army in Wales, Roman bronze, pottery and glass objects, the Roman economy and museum objects, and the collection as a whole offers a fascinating overview of the material culture of Iron Age and Roman western Europe.