River finds, from metal vessels to ancient weapons, have long held a special place in the public imagination and in archaeological research. Both in Britain and on the Continent, there appears to be a striking contrast in the ways in which prehistoric (essentially ritual) and Roman (accidental loss) finds have been viewed. Rather than focusing on individual sites, this Mainz PhD examines Roman-period finds from a 100-km stretch of the river Rhine between Mannheim and Bingen. Ch. 2 offers a detailed summary of the hydrology of the river and the geomorphology of the surrounding area, followed by a careful discussion of the many early modern interventions that affected the Rhine. These did not just alter the river's course but also involved major projects such as the removal of the remains of the Roman bridge at Mainz in the late nineteenth century. As a consequence of the intensive engineering work, most antiquarian finds are from the main river channel itself, while most of the more recently discovered material comes from gravel extraction pits, from where it often disappears into private and poorly documented collections.

A careful survey of the study region and of ancient sources on the Rhine (ch. 3) establishes that ferries and bridges rather than fords represented the main ways of crossing the river in antiquity and describes the relevant sites in detail. Kappesser recorded nearly 900 finds from museums, private collections and published sources, and these are analysed not just in terms of their spatial distribution along this stretch of the Rhine, but also in terms of the types of objects represented and their chronology (ch. 4). This careful analysis reveals some interesting patterns, especially when compared to prehistoric material from the same area (ch. 7). It is clear that weapons and vessels in particular were preferentially deposited, and that while concentrations in the area of Mainz occur in both periods, there are subtle differences clearly related to the ancient use of this area. For the Roman bridge at Mainz, it is even possible to demonstrate a cluster of finds at the very centre of the bridge (fig. 61), a pattern which surely points to deliberate deposition rather than accidental loss.

The results of the survey are then compared to other major rivers (such as the Saône, Tiber and Thames) and to other finds from gravel pits (such as the famous material from Neupotz and Xanten); finally, there is a comparison with votive offerings at spring sanctuaries and hoards (chs 5–6).

K.'s careful analysis of the river and its history allows her to distinguish between recovery bias and ancient patterns, and she concludes that much of the Roman material should be interpreted as deliberate votive offerings. This may not seem revolutionary to British readers raised on Richard Bradley's famous ‘passage of arms’, but it represents a significant break with the German academic tradition of seeing most of this material in terms of accidental loss and riverside battles.

The book is well illustrated, and includes appendices on water engineering, gravel extraction, material in private collections and a full catalogue of the 877 finds studied in detail. The latter is organised by location along the river rather than by type of material and not illustrated. The book represents an important contribution to a long-running debate, and should act as a spur to consider river finds of all periods.