Rights Holder: The Portable Antiquities Scheme
CC License:
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Unique ID: LON-D56E99
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
A body sherd fragment from a Roman Highgate Wood C ware 'poppy-head' beaker dating AD 70-160. The sherd is a reduced ware of grog-tempered fabric. The sherd is decorated with six rows of dark grey barbotine dot decoration. Similar beaker can be seen in Davies et al (1994:85 fig. 413-427).
Dimensions: length: 30.87mm; width: 27.78mm; thickness: 3.57mm; weight: 3.14g.
Similar Highgate Wood C ware 'poppy-head' beakers on the database are LON-D9C5F5, LON-D59C3E and LON-D572A0.
Davies et al (1994:83) write "Apart from beakers in HWC-1403, which were present in the late Neronian-early Flavian period, they generally occur for the first time in Flavian contexts, rapidly increased, and then remained important until c 150... Beakers are generally decorated with panels of barbotine dot decoration, and it is apparent that the diamond shaped and more complex ring-and-dot patterns are restricted to HWC-1403 (413-14, 420). The majority of complete vessels have a characteristic base with a single concentric groove; 416 may well belong to a IIIB."
"The grog-tempered fabric is the most common reduced ware in London assemblages for the period AD 50-100 (Davies et al 1994, fig 60). The sand-tempered ware is most common in assemblages in the first half of the 2nd century AD. One of the most readily identifiable forms in the later fabric is the 'poppyhead' beaker. This form is decorated with raised dots and the slip on these vessels, where burnished, can have a gunmetal appearance which may have been the desired effect as metal vessels were more expensive than their ceramic counterparts."
References: Highgate Wood: A potted history of the kilns at Highgate Woods and their products.
Davies, B., Richardson, B. & Tomber, R. 1994. A Dated Corpus of Early Roman Pottery from the City of London. The Archaeology of Roman London Volume 5. CBA Research Report 98. Museum of London: London.
de la Bedoyere, G. 2000. Pottery in Roman Britain. Shire Publications Ltd, Aylesbury.
Class:
Highgate Wood C Ware
Sub class: Poppy head beaker
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: ROMAN
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: ROMAN
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: ROMAN
Date from: Circa AD 70
Date to: Circa AD 160
Quantity: 1
Length: 30.87 mm
Width: 27.78 mm
Thickness: 3.57 mm
Weight: 3.14 g
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Primary material: Ceramic
Manufacture method: Wheel made
Completeness: Fragment
4 Figure: TQ3280
Four figure Latitude: 51.5035277
Four figure longitude: -0.09955492
1:25K map: TQ3280
1:10K map: TQ38SW
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
No references cited so far.