The Excavations:
The pottery shop
A pottery shop?
The fort and vicus needed a good supply of pottery. In the past pottery was used for storage jars, for flagons for holding liquids, and for cooking pots, as well as the ‘tablewares’ that we are familiar with. Some pots were made locally, but others were imported to Britain from Spain, Germany and France.
The archaeologists found a large quantity of unused pottery in one of the vicus buildings. Archaeologists identified it as either a pottery shop or a large storeroom for pottery.
Fire!
The archaeologists discovered that the pottery shop was destroyed in a fire. Before the fire the pots had been stacked ready for sale. The building collapsed and the pots were broken into hundreds of pieces. The heat from the fire also left burn marks on the pottery.
What kind of pots were for sale?
There were two types of pottery in the pottery shop:
Samian
The Romans liked to have Samian pottery to use at the dining table. It had a red, glossy finish and was often decorated with moulded patterns showing plants, people and animals. Most Samian was made in Central France. Samian is important to archaeologists because it can be closely dated from the potters’ stamps. The potters’ stamps on the Samian show that the fire happened in about AD 140.
Mortaria
The mortarium was a mixing bowl with grit set into the inside surface to help break down This type of pottery was used to make mixing bowls.