VESSEL

A Roman ceramic sherd presenting a complete profile of a Black Burnished ware (BB1, from Wareham/Poole Harbour, Dorset or South Western variant) bowl or lid, commonly termed 'Dog bowl/Dog dish' dating to AD 100-410.

The sherd demonstrates a complete profile from the rim to base although less than one eighth (12.5%) of the vessel remains. The rim is plain with a rounded top, slightly angled on the inner side, the sides slightly convex and meet the flat base at c.65 degrees.

It has a hard fired, dark grey fabric which has frequent translucent quartz, <1.5mm. Evidence of burnishing and wiping on both the internal and external surface and what survives of the interior dark grey slip appears to have been abraded in places.

What survives of the rim is slightly uneven which may suggest it was formed by hand.

The exterior of the sherd is decorated with 2 incised lines running across each other forming a half a lozenge shape.

Basal interior diameter: 103mm, basal exterior diameter: 110mm, rim interior diameter: 132mm, rim exterior diameter: 135mm. Height 49.1mm, thickness at rim 3.0mm, thickness at base 6.8mm- 7.1mm, Weight: 48.66 grams

The rom appears to be Seager Smith & Davies' (1993: 232-233) form 20 which is suggested to have a very long period of use from late 1st century AD until the end of the Roman period.

The sherd was part of an assemblage with 2 other black burnished ware sherds (2 rims) from two separate vessels which have not been described in more detail. the total weight of these 3 sherds is 111.63 grams. Note that a wider assemblage of pottery from this site, including more black burnished ware, is fully described within Ripon (forthcoming)