Jigsaw Cambridgeshire Best Practice Users' Guide

Roman Pottery Identification

Alice Lyons
edited by Jemima Woolverton

December 2013

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INTRODUCTION
This is a brief introductory guide to identifying the main types of Roman pottery found in our
region. If you are interested in finding out more about Roman pottery the best way is to try and
gain some practical experience. Attending Jigsaw workshops where you can handle material is
ideal.

The Study Group for Roman Pottery (http://www.romanpotterystudy.org) is also a great resource
and provides useful conferences and publications. Currently it costs £15/year membership, which
includes a free journal.

Two very useful publications – both of which are available online are:

Tomber, R and Dore, J., 1998 The National Roman Fabric Reference Collection. A
Handbook, MoLAS monograph 2 ISBN 1 901992 01 2

National Roman Fabric Reference Collection:

http://www.molas.org.uk/projects/fabrics_tei.asp?report=nrfc

Tyres P., 1966 Roman Pottery in Britain. B T Batsford, London

ISBN: 0 7134 7412 2
Potsherd: http://potsherd.net/atlas/potsherd.html

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1 HOW ROMAN POTTERY WAS MADE
The introduction around the mid 1st century AD of the dual new technologies of the kick wheel and
kiln firing drastically changed pottery production in Britain. Where before pottery had been
handmade and bonfired, the introduction of the fast potters' wheel and the semi-permanent kiln
meant pottery could be made much faster, in a more uniform way and fired more successfully in a
controlled environment.

It is these methods of manufacture that make Romano-British pottery so distinctive from its Iron
Age predecessors and its Saxon successors. Roman pottery tends to be thinner, harder and more
uniform than Iron Age and Saxon pottery.

These technologies allowed Roman pottery to become mass-produced during and after the mid
second century, and although small scale domestic production continued in most areas, large
industries sprung up making distinctive and beautiful vessels until the end of Roman rule and with
continuing influence in the early 5th century.

The fast potters' kick wheel A section through a semi-permanent pottery kiln

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2 POTTERY TYPES

Amphorae (1st - 3rd centuries AD)

● 'Amphora' (pl. -ae) means ‘two-handled vessel’ and
although commonly referred to as 'Roman' in this
country, it was a form of pottery also used by the
ancient Egyptians and Greeks, and continues to be
used in some parts of the Mediterranean today.

● It is a coil-made, kiln-fired, self-colour vessel

produced for long-distance trade (it can be packed
neatly into the base of a boat to provide ballast).
There are illustrations of people stretchering them as
a means of land-based transport.

● Amphorae were first imported into Britain during the A general view of multiple amphora
1st century BC and continued to be imported into the
3rd century AD. However, most were imported between
the mid 1st to 2nd centuries. They are commonly found
on military sites and next to roads. 99% of all amphorae
found in Britain were imported.

● The most common types of amphorae in East Anglia are

globular olive oil vessels made in southern Spain. They
are buff in colour with a flaking fabric and with numerous
inclusions of mica and quartz (DR 20). Other types
include fine pink to white fabric wine vessels from Italy
(DR 1 or 2). Also recognised are the smaller white ware
wine amphorae/flagons from Gaul that reached our
region in some quantity but can be difficult to distinguish Dressel 20- olive oil amphora from
from domestic flagons. Southern Spain

● Wine was stored in the long thin amphorae, and oil in the
globular amphorae. Stewed fruit and salted fish were also
stored in them.

● Stoppers were made of cork and sealed with pitch (some can
be seen in the British Museum).

Dressel 1 wine amphora from Italy

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 Picture demonstrating how amphora can be
stacked Picture showing how amphorae were
moved by rolling

Samian
● A glossy brick-red tableware, samian is the most
recognisable Roman pottery found in Britain. It was
industrially produced on a scale unequalled until the 18th
century. It is estimated that one centre turned out a million
vessels a year.

● Samian was primarily used for displaying and serving food.

Bowls, dishes and plates are common, along with smaller
'cups' that may have been used to serve condiments and
snacks rather than as drinking vessels.
A decorated samian bowl (Dr 30)
● Samian has been intensively studied and is known as
'terra sigillata' on the continent.

● Samian was first produced in north Italy at the end of the 1st century BC, but by AD43 it was
nearly all being made in Gaul (France). The principal factories remained there for the next
two centuries, although there were small-scale producers in Colchester and possibly in
London. Many vessels are stamped with the potter's name.

● Some samian was decorated with elaborate floral or figural designs that were made by
throwing the pot within a mould. Mould fragments are rare but a few have survived.

Samian mould fragments

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● South Gaulish: (c. AD 35-110, mainly c. AD 65-100).
Cups, platters, shallow bowls, deep bowls, occasionally beakers. Hard reddish brown fabric
with yellow-white fleck and a high red gloss. South Gaulish samian is virtually ubiquitous on
Flavian (AD 69-96) sites. High survival rate, as with all samian. Estimates suggest average
life span of twenty to thirty years.

● Central Gaulish: Les Martres-de-Veyre, (c. AD 100-125). Cups, shallow and deep bowls.
Rare although found in small numbers on most sites in East Anglia. Imported during time of
low overall volume of samian importation. Later products of 2nd century also found, but
fabric less distinguishable from Lezoux wares.

● Central Gaulish: Most from Lezoux. Later first century imports are very rare – cups, bowls,
platters. Bright orange, with a thick orange slip, soft and micaceous. Major exporter from c.
125-200, with some exports possibly slightly later. Peak around AD 140-160. The great
majority of Antonine samian in Britain is from Central Gaul, and the great majority of that
from Lezoux. Cups, bowls, platters, jars beakers, and from c. 150/160 mortaria.

● East Gaulish: Soft, with a porous, often dull and uneven orange finish. Numerous sources
exporting in 2nd century, but the great majority is from Rheinzabern, from the later second
into the first half of the 3rd century. Range of forms broadly as Antonine Lezoux. Imports later
then c. AD 200 are very rare.

● British: A number of attempts to produce samian in Britain can be traced, notably at

Colchester in the later 2nd century, but consumption appears to be localised.

A plain samian dish (Dr31), with a campanulate

Map showing samian production
cup (Dr27), both showing signs of wear centres

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London-type ware
Early British pottery production, which took place at most large production centres such as the
Nene Valley, attempted to copy the style of samian wares, although in a grey fabric. These are
fairly high status wares made distinctive by their soft soapy feel.

● The London ware style is

characterised by incised (including
compass-drawn), rouletted and
stamped decoration generally on fine
grey or black fabrics in forms which
copy samian proto-types.

● Produced between the early Flavian

and mid 2nd century.

● Produced in several centres including,

Ardleigh in Essex, West Stow and
Wattisfield in Suffolk, as well as the
Nene Valley and London.

Mortaria (singular: mortarium)

● Bowl-shaped vessels for grinding. They are
diagnostic of the Roman period in Britain, since
they were only used in Roman times, and more
have been found in Britain than in the rest of the
empire.

● The first mortaria were made in Italy from the 3 rd

century BC. Developed in industries in Gaul and
along the Rhine in the 1st century BC, with
occasional imports into Britain. Imported in
larger numbers post-Conquest. Within 15 years
of the Conquest, mortaria factories were
established in eastern Britain. A mortar and pestle

● Mortaria were used for grinding spices and sauces (hence presence of a spout). The
popularity of mortaria shows a diet change, signalled by a desire to grind foodstuffs smaller.

● Mortaria get smaller through time and lose their spouts. Spouts were only present from the
mid 1st to mid 2nd centuries in Britain, suggesting they were used for making sauces in this
period. As the period progresses, they also move from being a kitchen ware to being a
tableware.

● Potters' names are sometimes stamped on mortaria, e.g. 'Regalis' in Colchester, who started
another workshop in Ellingham, Norfolk.

● Specially-designed pestles are rarely present in the archaeological record. We suspect they
used sawn off amphora handles, or stones, or wood.

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Norfolk and Cambridgeshire mortaria
● Mortaria are mostly white, cream or buff wares (self-coloured).
Usually with trituration (ground up)grit on interior body and
base. Name stamps common from c. AD 50-190.

● Nene Valley and Nar Valley: very similar with reed rim forms
and slag trituration grits. Nar valley tends to be more orange.

● Verulamium (St. Albans) region (c. 50-120): very sandy, buff,

flint and quartz grit.

● Most Roman fabric types have a mortarium form (samian,

Oxfordshire colour coat, Nene Valley colour-coat, white
slipware).

● Broad development in flange from:

- Bead and curving flange: early to mid 2nd century
- Bead with flattish flange: mid 2nd to early 3rd century
- Wall sided: 3rd to 4th century Reeded rim mortaria 3 rd and
4th century
- Reeded rim mortaria 3rd and 4th century
Examples of Norfolk mortarium,
showing the different grinding
grits used.

Essex mortaria
Colchester can be difficult to distinguish from
other East Anglian production centres
(notably Ellingham in South Norfolk) as
same potter using similar clays.

Colchester mortarium fabrics and forms

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White oxidised wares
● Sources for white wares are diverse. Most kiln production centres
produced some white wares, although flagon and mortaria
production seems to have been a specialist trade that was
undertaken together.

● Most oxidised fabrics (orange to white) were produced as flagons

and mortaria.

● Clues to dating flagons: mainly produced in white, buff and white

slip:
– Ring neck: c. 50-220
– Flange-neck c. 220-400 (usually the later 3rd to 4th century in
East Anglia)
– Colour-coated examples are more common in the 4th century. A white oxidised ware
– Jugs (with pinched lips) same fabric range and dating, ring neck flagon
though 3rd century Nene Valley products not uncommon.

An example of white ware oxidised forms

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Grey wares
● Grey wares were the predominant ware across East
Anglia from the late 1st to 4th centuries AD and make up
80% of all Roman pottery found in Britain. Coarse wares,
for cooking or food preparation or storage, are the most
common wares on most sites. They were fired to a high
temperature and used to boil water, as plates, lids, cups,
cauldrons and frying pans.

● In most cases they will be from local sources but some

coarse wares (such as the Black Burnished wares) were
transported over long distances. It is not always easy to
distinguish grey wares from Black-Burnished wares,
which were produced from numerous local sources.
Regional styles can be discerned, but considerable
“cross-fertilisation” of ideas occurred. Fabrics are sandy An example of a grey ware vessel
or fine, occasionally with reduced slip. (restored)

● Clues to dating grey wares:

– Rustication (clay drawn up from body or slip in lumps or spidery ridges) c. 50. 100/120 –
later in Norfolk (till end of the 2nd century).
– Barbotine dots with rings c. 70-150
– Burnished lines in large loops, on jars and bowls c. 3rd and 4th centuries
– Burnished lattice covering wide area of body c. 120-250
– Highly lustrous “metallic” burnish in wide zones c. 250-400
– Reeded rim bowl (early military type) c. 60-130
– Straight-sided dish with triangular rim (dog-dish or pie-dish) c. 120-200
– Straight-sided flanged dish c. 250-400
– Flanged bowl c. 150-250

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Black Burnished wares
Black-Burnished wares are grey wares, which were
originally produced in Dorset and transported over long
distances.

BB1 (c.120 – 370 AD)

● Hand-made, coarse sandy, black or dark grey. Jars,
dishes and lids.

● From Dorset (Poole Harbour). BB1 is rare in northern

East Anglia, possibly as they were traded from the
south-west as receptacles for salt and salted goods
such as meat, and East Anglia produced a large
quantity of its own salt (from around the Wash) so may
not have encouraged trade of these vessels.

● They were based on Iron Age decoration such as

cross-hatching.
BB1 fabric and forms

BB2 (c.120-250)
● Wheel-thrown, fine sandy, black or grey. Jars
and dishes.

● From Colchester and Thames Estuary. These

were copies of BB1 and were made in a lighter
bluer fabric. They are most common in the
Upper Thames Valley and East Anglia, not in
Dorset. They were made and used locally in
Cambridgeshire.
BB2 fabric and forms

Clues to dating BB wares:

Acute burnished lattice c. 120-200 (dishes), c. 120-230
Obtuse burnishes lattice c. 230-370 (jars)
Burnished arcs c. 180-370 (dishes), c. 120-200

Forms:
Jar with simple everted rim, dog dishes c. 120-200
Straight-sided dish c. 180-370
Jar with pronounced everted rim, flanged dishes c. 250-370
Lids are 2nd century.

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Nene Valley colour-coat
(mid 1st - 4th century AD)
Manufactured in the Nene Valley, centred around
modern day Water Newton (near Peterborough) in
Cambridgeshire, was the site of a huge industrial
complex in Roman times. Pottery produced there
is found all over East Anglia and was shipped up
to Hadrian’s Wall.

Nene Valley colour coated vessels

Mid 2nd century to early 3rd century

● Established in the mid 2nd century by potters from the Rhineland, the industry really began to
thrive in the later 2nd century (at the same time as samian imports began to fail). It became
dominant of the local markets in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

● Early production concentrated on beakers such as “hunt cups” and other bag-shaped forms.
These vessels can be easily confused with imports from the Lower Rhineland, both having a
white fabric with dark, nearly black slip.

Mid 3rd - 4th century

● Production in the 3rd and 4th centuries changed with the introduction of utilitarian forms such
as jars and dishes which were more chunky, although still colour coated.

Other colour-coats
● Other colour-coated wares are made at various sources, in various styles and date-ranges.

● Non-British products (mostly beakers) include pre-Flavian (c. AD 43-70) imports from Lyon,
2nd century from Lower Rhineland, late 2nd century to early 3rd century from Trier, 2nd
century from Central Gaul.

● British sources include Colchester (later 2nd and 3rd centuries) and other, minor industries –
such as Pakenham in north Suffolk, Two Mile Bottom in South Norfolk and others as yet
unlocated.

Clues to dating colour-coats:

Rough-casting (pellets scattered on surface) in quartz sand c. 43-70
Rough-casting (pellets scattered on surface) in clay c. 70-180
N.B The Nene Valley colour-coat industry did not rough-cast it’s products
Barbotine figures under slip c. 150-250
Indentations with barbotine scales c. 180-300 (mostly early-to-mid 3rd century)
Bag-shaped beakers c. 120-250
Bulbous body, tall neck c. 150+
Dishes c. 300+

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Shell-tempered wares
● Shell-tempered wares can be very confusing and
undiagnostic body sherds are very difficult to identify,
since the same shelly clay resources were used from the
Iron Age through the Medieval period.

● The Lower Nene Valley produced shell tempered storage

jars from the 1st to 3rd centuries, with very little change in
form. Shell-tempered jar

● Other centres include: Greetham-Bourne ware, Lincolnshire. Black fabric, undecorated. Jars
with necks, pie dishes. Later 2nd to 3rd centuries. Rare.

● Dales-type wares also mainly in the Midland area,

but certainly reaches our region in small numbers.
Very distinctive rim form (also made in a grey ware
fabric).

● South Midland shell-tempered ware was common in

East Anglia from the late 3rd to early 5th centuries.
Produced at Harrold (in Bedfordshire) and perhaps
at Lakenheath (Suffolk) but other sources likely.
Distinctive under-cut rims and rilled body sherds.
Frequently found sooted which gives their exterior Harold Vessel forms
surface a dark colour.

Clues to dating:
Early: jars, with lid-seated or necked rims, latter mainly very large ‘storage jars’. The former dates
from the 1st to mid 2nd century. The latter can occur throughout the Roman period, but in orange
or brown fabrics, a rounded rim tends to be 1st to early 2nd and an angular rim mid 2nd century
onwards.

Late: jars with necks, dishes with flanges, both “rilled”. Mainly mid-to-late 4th century. Rilling is a
type of repeated horizontal grooving if body executed on the potters wheel whilst rotating.
Rilled, small to medium sized jar, mainly mid to late 4th century.

N.B Rilling can occur on early and late vessels, lid-seated and ‘storage’ jars
Combing, 1st to early 2nd century
Dish, sometimes rilled, mid-to-late 4th century

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Oxfordshire Products (3rd - 5th centuries)
In the later Roman period domestically produced red wares became
fashionable. These wares mainly copied the samian style but are quite
distinctive. Oxfordshire products are the most common found in our region.

Oxfordshire red/brown colour-coat (c. AD 240 – 400)

In East Anglia these date mostly from the 4th century, perhaps peaking in
3rd quarter. Mainly beakers and bowls, also flagons, jars, mortaria and
occasionally others. White paint, rouletted, stamped decoration, or plain.
Generally an orange fabric, often grey core. Slip adheres poorly and can be
lost in adverse soil or post-excavation conditions.

Hadham red wares

Oxfordshire products are very easy to confuse with Hadham red wares
(Hertfordshire) which were also produced in Late Roman Britain. Their fabric
is typically red-brown, sometimes with a purple core and the vessels made
share many of the same forms and decorative techniques at Oxford. This
has led to a group of fabrics known as Had/Ox where differentiation has not
been possible.

Oxfordshire fabrics

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