11. Roman Pepper Pot

What did the Romans do for Britain? Maybe introduced us to pepper?

Spices for flavour and medicines have been popular traded items since the start of the Silk Roads. Initially sourced from India and then from SE Asia e.g. Indonesia, by Arab merchants from the14th C and the Portuguese from the 16^th C. Pepper was the Portuguese’ most profitable commodity. The Arabs brought with them Islam and today Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims. This object: A gilded silver pepper pot  in the form of a reclining ibex. It has the remains of the spice-dispensing mechanism in its base.The pepper pot is dated to 43-410 CE and is 6cm x 6cm in size. It was found in Hoxne in Suffolk.