First-century pottery manufacture at Eccles, Kent
by Alec Detsicas
Roman Pottery Studies in Britain and Beyond.
BAR S30 Oxford, 19-36
109. Diameter c. 34 cm.
Nearly half of a mortarium in drab cream fabric, with thick greyish core and a
tempering of tiny grey and white grit; it has had no trituration grit and has
clearly never been used.
110. A fragment from a mortarium in fine, yellowish cream fabric. The interior
is quite smooth apart from one red-brown grit.
111. Diameter c. 32 cm. A mortarium in fairly fine yellowish cream fabric, with
abundant large to medium-sized grey (flint), dark red-brown and black grits very
roughly distributed. It has not been cleanly removed from the wheel and shows
none of the cheese-wire effect so common on the bases of later mortaria.
112. Two fragments probably from the same mortarium in pale brown fabric with
pale grey core and tempered with much fine grit, making the surface abrasive.
113. Two fragments from a mortarium in fine-textured cream fabric with slightly
pinkish core.
114. Diameter c. 30 cm. A mortarium with elaborate spout in fine, cream fabric
with thin pink core in parts. There is some tempering (flint, white and
red-brown) in the clay, but it has never had any trituration grit and the
turning marks on the inside are completely fresh and unworn. This mortarium can
be matched at Longthorpe, A.D. 50-65 (information kindly supplied by Dr. J.P.
Wild), and at Camulodunum it is dated A.D. 49-65 (Hawkes and Hull 1947,
Fig. 53, no. 21).
115. A mortarium in yellowish cream fabric. The concentric scoring on the inside
is very faint but completely undamaged by wear. The rim-profile is generally
similar to a mortarium from Longthorpe, A.D. 50-65 (information kindly supplied
by Professor S.S. Frere).
116. A mortarium in yellowish cream fabric with pink core and one brown
trituration grit on the fragment.
117. A mortarium in brownish cream fabric with paler core, heavily tempered with
fine red-brown, white, transparent and grey grit; the spout is almost identical
to that of no. 114, above.
118. A fragment from a mortarium in fine-textured, cream fabric with one white
grit on the inside surface.
119. A mortarium in fine cream fabric with very thin pink core, heavily tempered
with grey, translucent, red-brown and white (chalk) grit.
120. Diameter c. 30 cm. A mortarium in fine-textured, pink fabric fired to cream
at the surface but with patches of pink showing through, especially around the
spout.
121. Diameter c. 27 cm. A mortarium in pale brown fabric with pale grey core and
tempered with much fine grit, making the surface abrasive.
122. Diameter c. 34 cm. A mortarium in yellowish cream fabric fired to pink at
the upper and outer surfaces; there is fine concentric scoring on the interior
combined with abundant red-brown, white and black trituration grit.