Ch 4: Severus Alexandar to Britainnic Empire A.D. 220-300

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The Roman Pottery of Kent by Dr Richard J. Pollard - Chapter 4 page 117
Doctoral thesis completed in 1982, published 1988

Fig. 44

167-169:

170-175:

176:

177:

Dating:

Fine oxidised ware.
167. Flanged-neck flagon, Whiting et al. 1931, no. 529. 168. Bead-rim bag-shaped flanged-neck flagon, rouletted, ibid., no. 222. 169. Flanged-neck flask, ibid., no. 68. Fine reduced ware.
170. Flanged-neck flask, rouletted, Whiting et al. 1931, no. 185. 171. Rolled-rim ovoid flask, rouletted, ibid., no. 119. 172. Rolled-rim ovoid flask, with cordon at girth, ibid., no. 314. 173. Everted-rim tall-neck bag-shaped flask, ibid., no. 190. 174. Short-everted-nm necked globular jar, rouletted, ibid., no. 631. 175. Rolled-rim necked jar, ibid., no. 66. Coarse sandy grey wheel-thrown ware, an import from Gallia Belgica or the lower Rhineland; bead-rim globular jar with stabbed/rouletted shoulder and combed lattice, Dover, unpublished.
'Arras' North Gaulish fine sandy grey wheel-thrown ware; 'vase tronconique' (Richardson and Tyers 1984): tall-neck everted-rim bulbous-beaker with burnished lines on neck, Tuffreau-Libre 1980b, fig. 13, no. 3.
167-169: Late second to early third century. 170-175: Late second to early fourth century.
176: Late second to early/mid- third century. 117: (Late first to early second), mid- second to early third century.

IV. SEVERUS ALEXANDER TO
THE BRITANNIC EMPIRE, c. A.D. 220-300

1. The Fine Wares

The most striking differences between fine ware assemblages of this period and those of the Hadrianic to Severan era are the almost complete absence of known imports from the Continent. The exotic wares that have been recognised came mainly from the East Gaulish region, including samian (e.g. Pryce 1949, 183; P1. LXXXIV, fig. 1, no. 74), 'Rhenish' ware (Moselkeramik; cf. Greene 1978c, 56) from Trier, and mottled colour-coated flagons (Bird 1981, Bird and Williams 1983) from the Rhineland. The Westerndorf factory in Raetia (Fig. 59) also supplied samian to Britain, and it is possible that the East Gaulish kilns at Lavoye and Pfaffenhofen did, too. These four samian industries may have continued to operate into the 260s (King 1981), but may not have been exporting to

Britain any later than the 240s (ibid.). Westerndorf is represented by a sherd of a Drag. 37 hemispherical bowl from Canterbury of c. A.D. 200-250 (Simpson 1970, no. 15), but it is uncertain whether the other sources of samian supplied Kent in this period. Second- and early third-century samian is often encountered in later third- and even fourth-century assemblages; it may be proposed that much of this material remained intact, perhaps with an heirloom status involving only occasional utilisation, throughout the third century. Orton and Orton (1975) have argued that on two sites in the London area samian of all periods had an average life expectancy of some 20-30 years, and this is illustrated by the association of samian with mid/late third- to fourth-century tall-necked bulbous beakers in Oxfordshire colour-coated ware (no. 532) and Oxfordshire/Nene Valley colour-coated ware (no. 233) in burials at Ospringe (Groups CLXV and LXVIII, respectively: Whiting et al. 1931). The former group contains a flagon base (no. 531), the latter a Drag. 35 or 36 bowl (no. 234)

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