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continued to be produced in small quantities well into
the first century A.D., although their most important period of usage was
probably in the first century B.C. and the earliest years A.D. They are
entirely absent from the fills of the late Iron Age ditch at Rose Lane
(Frere 1954: examination by the present author) and also in one of the
ditches on Marlowe Car Park IV (Pollard forthcoming, d). The early Flavian
occupation silt and levelling-up layers on the Marlowe Car Park sites
contain less than 3 per cent (vessel rim equivalents) flint-based wares,
and they are entirely absent from Flavian floors on Marlowe Car Park II (ibid.).
The evidence for sand-tempered wares in the pre-Conquest
period at Canterbury has been reviewed above, and found to be weak.
However, the infills of the late Iron Age ditch on 16 Watling Street, and
of a ditch and pit on Marlowe Car Park IV (Pollard forthcoming, d)
consistently contain small quantities of friable sandy wares, usually
wheel-thrown and often containing sparse grog inclusions. The forms are
lid-seated shouldered bowls and necked bead-rim and angular everted-rim
jars, sometimes with horizontally-combed decoration on the body: they are
identical to vessels in the same fabric found in, and in the proximity of,
a kiln on Stuppington Lane in the southern suburbs of modern Canterbury
(Bennett et al. 1980; 5.III.2 below). It is not possible to state
with certainty that production began subsequent to the Conquest, but this
does seem a distinct possibility. The forms are close enough to local 'Aylesford-Swarling'
forms (e.g. no. 30 here) to allow an indigenous origin for the ware
independent of the infusion of Continental prototypes to be contemplated,
although the lid-seated form is closer to west Kent than east Kent coarse
wares of the late Iron Age (no. 12). The ware achieved a small degree of
success against the predominant grogged wares, comprising as it does
between 5 per cent and 13 per cent of pre-Flavian pottery from the
Marlowe Car Park sites. It does not appear to have survived far into the
Flavian period, as only 6 sherds out of 224 (0 per cent by vessel rim
equivalents) were recovered from a floor level of this date.
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A second sand-tempered industry also developed in the
pre-Flavian period at Canterbury. The fabrics are generally of a higher
quality, being more compact and lacking the minor grog admixture. The
forms are markedly different from those of Stuppington Lane, including
tall-necked bead-rim jars, carinated flange-rim bowls, everted-rim
vessels, lids and flagons (nos. 47-57 here). They have been found
on two kiln sites, one immediately east of the Roman city of Canterbury in
Reed Avenue (Jenkins 1966a; Swan 1984, 392) and one to the north, in St.
Stephen's Road (Jenkins 1956a, 50-56). The forms of the
tall-necked jar and carinated bowl are quite closely paralleled by 'Arras'
grey wares of northern France (de Laet et al. 1970, 19-20, fig.
16-17; Tuffreau-Libre 1980b, especially fig. 10, no. 9 and fig.
14, no. 5; Richardson and Tyers 1984), suggestive of an origin for
the industry lying with immigrant North Gaulish potters (5.III.2). Finds
of these forms on occupation sites in Canterbury suggest that it was first
produced in the Neronian period (A.D. 54-69), as it is present only in a
disturbed pre-Flavian context on 16 Watling Street, and is absent from
most contexts of this date on Marlowe Car Park IV. This hypothesis is
supported by the Richborough evidence; several vessels were found in a pit
containing 13 coins of Claudius I (Bushe-Fox 1926, Pit 14: nos. 20 and 21,
plus unpublished lids and a jar with horizontal burnished lines on the
neck), and a number of other examples were recovered from Pit 33, dated to
A.D. 50-75 (Bushe-Fox 1932, nos. 194, 195, 213, 256, and 260) along with
forms which should be slightly later in their inception than those from
the Reed Avenue kiln, on the evidence from Canterbury (see below).
Deposits of c. A.D. 60-75 date at Canterbury contain under 4 per
cent of the ware, compared with nearly 17 per cent on an early-mid Flavian
floor (Pollard forthcoming, d.). The industry did not influence the
producers
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