The construction of a type-series of forms found within the
study region may be considered a desirable objective, and a working model
has been established by the present author for use in the synthesis of
material from Canterbury. This model follows the lines laid down by Tyers
and Marsh (1978) for the Southwark Roman pottery, with some revision in the
classification hierarchy involving the separation of body shapes from
rim-and-neck forms, in order to facilitate the allocation of significant
body sherds (such as folded or decorated pieces) to a standard type without
assuming a specific rim to have been present. The method
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devised by Tyers and Marsh has the advantage of being ‘open-ended’,
enabling forms unknown at the time of compilation to be inserted in a
logical progression. This facility was afforded by Kenyon’s type-series of
the Leicester Jewry Wall assemblage (1948), and by Cotton’s type-series of
Southampton material (1958), but the use of a continuous numerical
sequence for each form (e.g. flagons) irrespective of type (e.g. dish rim)
by the former, and the inconsistent hierarchy of the latter have restricted
their value. Other type-series have opted for a simple numerical
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