This exotic bird is an Indian parrot (Psittacus torquatus), carved on a piece of red jasper. It was made to fit into a finger ring or some other piece of jewellery. The carving is so detailed that you can see the ring around its neck and the upturned tail feathers that identify it.

This gemstone is tiny, only 8mm long. So it is not surprising that its owner lost it almost 2,000 years ago. It was dropped in the busy trading settlement of shops and workshops outside the Roman fort at Castleford in about AD 100.

It shows that the Romans liked exotic pets and could import them long distances from beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire. There are many other Roman gemstones, including some found in Britain, showing Indian parrots. Maybe someone in Castleford really did have one as a pet.

Even if Indian parrots didn’t reach the pet shop in Roman Castleford, archaeologists found evidence that the Romano-British people of Castleford did keep pets. Study of the bones of dogs from Castleford found the bones of small breeds of dog. These had been bred small so they could be kept as pets in the house. The smallest ones were about the size of modern dachshunds. They were much too small to be used as working dogs for guarding, hunting or controlling livestock.