short, coiled handles ending in birds' heads. Many of the spoons bear pagan inscriptions to Faunus, a minor Roman god who had many characteristics in common with the Greek Pan. There is no overtly Christian symbolism in the hoard, though one spoon is decorated with the figure of a fish, which can often be an oblique reference to Christianity. Bacchic iconography is obvious in the group, and was traditional in Roman culture, but in the late Roman period, many Bacchic motifs were adopted and given new interpretations by Christians. Nevertheless, at this date, the end of the 4th century AD, there was no obstacle to placing unequivocally Christian symbols and inscriptions on personal possessions, so that their absence here is noteworthy. The openly, and probably exclusively, pagan iconography remains one of the most interesting and unusual aspects of the assemblage. The dedications, such as DEIFAVNIAVSECI (RIB 2420.21) (literally, 'of the God Faunus Ausecus') are engraved in the bowls of both the cochlearia and cigni. The epithets or by-names applied to Faunus in the inscriptions have been identified as containing Celtic (Gaulish or British) linguistic elements, supporting the supposition that any cult of Faunus which they represent was Romano-British, not one that consisted of devotees from elsewhere in the Roman Empire. The inscriptions were discussed in the published catalogue by the late Kenneth Jackson. It has been suggested that it is unlikely that these items were intended to be used for ordinary domestic dining, and that their eventual deposition may be interpreted as a ritual act rather than a practical one (See Religion in Ancient Rome). However, since both pagan and Christian inscriptions are regularly found on Roman jewellery and domestic tableware, and as the actual motivation for the concealment of the Thetford material itself is unknown, this view is open to debate. The unusual composition of the group of gold objects is actually somewhat better evidence of a non-domestic background than the decoration and inscriptions of the silver assemblage (see comments on the range of finger-rings in the following section). The suspicion that the hoard is incomplete undermines any detailed analysis of these matters, but if the gold and silver objects were connected in any way with pagan cult practices, which is certainly a possibility, then the anti-pagan Theodosian edicts of the 390s would have provided good practical (rather than ritual) reasons for the concealment of the material from the