amphorae on rural sites, which are widespread, cannot be dated with
confidence either by typology or stratigraphic associations to the
pre-Flavian period, except for first-century B.C. Dressel lB finds at
Highstead (Arthur forthcoming) and Worth. Canterbury and Richborough both
exhibit a wide variety of pre-Flavian amphorae (Arthur 1986), further
emphasising the differentiation between these sites and the countryside
around them in this period.
4. The Coarse Wares of Central Northern Kent
There is considerable differentiation between sites around Faversham
Creek on the one hand and those to the west up to the Medway at Rochester.
Mid-first century groups at Faversham (Philp 1968, nos. 174—233) and
pre-Flavian/Flavian ditch fills at Brenley Corner (Jenkins 1973; 1974;
interim reports) are similar in many respects to those of rural sites in
north-east Kent. Grog-tempered wares of Canterbury forms predominate (88 per
cent of coarse wares at Brenley Corner, excluding a complete amphora rim),
alongside ‘calcite-gritted’ S-shape bowls and bead-rim jars at
Faversham, and sand-tempered necked jars at both sites. It is possible that
the Faversham examples (Philp 1968, nos. 193, 194) are of ‘Stuppington
Lane’ ware, but this hypothesis is based on the published descriptions
alone.
There is kiln and waster evidence for the production of
flint-tempered wares in bead-rim and S-jar forms on the Upchurch Marshes in
the pre-Flavian period (Noel Hume 1954; Jackson 1962, 1972/3). This ware
clearly achieved only a very localised distribution, being found no further
east than Radfield (Baxter and Mills 1978; unpublished material), or further
west than Rochester, both less than 15 km. away. These two sites also
received finely flint-gritted ‘Gallo-Belgic’ platters (cf. Camulodunum
27), probably manufactured in the same area in the mid first century A.D.
Flint-sand tempered ware comprised 11 per cent of a
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mid-first to early second-century A.D. group at Rochester (unpublished: see
Appendix 5); alongside 16 per cent shelly ware and 24 per cent sand-tempered
wheel-thrown wares (4.1.2). Grogged ware would appear to have been
predominant at Radfield, however, with shelly wares extremely rare both here
and at Brenley Corner (two sherds at the former — one a shell-sand
bead-rim jar — and one at the latter site). The collection from Hartlip
villa, which comprises mostly fine pottery, also includes a shell-sand
tempered bead-rim jar, and a Canterbury-type grog-tempered platter.
Hand-made sandy wares, not necessarily of mid-first century A.D. date, at
Radfield include’ bead-rim jars with furrowed decoration, and a bead-rim
cordoned S-jar.
Furrowed wares are an important feature of the pottery of the
Medway-Swale region, as they form a typological link with the east, rather
than the west, of Kent. ‘West Kent’ mid-first century coarse wares are
present only in very small numbers east of Rochester, the ‘Cooling’
sand-with-shell fabric being found only at Ospringe, (one sherd,
unstratified), and ‘Patch Grove’ ware also only at Ospringe, but in a
late second/third-century burial group (see Figs. 20 and 31). ‘Reed
Avenue/St. Stephen’s Road’ Canterbury wares are entirely absent from the
region. Jaccard’s correlation coefficients, taking in all wares possibly
attributable to the pre-Flavian period, imply that Rochester has a greater
similarity to Radfield (53 per cent) than to Brenley Corner (33 per cent),
but Canterbury also exhibits these characteristics (60 per cent and 43 per
cent, respectively). By the same measurement Canterbury and Rochester show a
53 per cent similarity, but Radfield and Brenley Corner a lower rating (33
per cent). These figures are difficult to interpret in terms of trade
inclination; it may be that Radfield was in a position to absorb trade and
influences from both west and east; its pottery exhibits a wider range of
both
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