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(Figs. 7, 8), but rarely in securely stratified deposits. The most important
assemblages studied comprise a handful of pit-groups (for coarse wares, Pits
37, 54: Bushe-Fox 1932; 69: Bushe-Fox 1949; and 303: Cunliffe 1968) from
Richborough; a mid-late fourth century pit group from Wye (Pollard
forthcoming, a), the bulk of the material from Professor Cunliffe’s
excavations at Port Lympne (Cunliffe 1980; Young 1980), and that from the
sequence of structures and levels excavated by the Canterbury Archaeological
Trust (Blockley and Day forthcoming; Pollard forthcoming, d) in Canterbury
itself. A detailed study of the last-named assemblage has enabled the
construction of an absolute chronology for the pottery of the civitas
capital to be attempted, with an abundance of coins providing the vital
independent dating medium. It is to be hoped that the extensive excavations
of the Dover Saxon Shore fort under the direction of Brian Philp will
provide a second ceramic sequence in east Kent; unfortunately, the pottery
recovered could not be made available to the present author at the
appropriate time.
The early years of the fourth century witnessed a continuation
of ceramic trends apparent in the late third century at Canterbury (4.IV.3):
steady usage of reduced sand-tempered wheel-thrown wares, slight increases
in the volume of late grog-tempered ware and BB1, and decreases in BB2 and
high-fired sand-and-grog tempered wares. The undesignated BB1 fabric
(thought not to have come from Dorset) introduced in the very late third
century (ibid.) may have partially eclipsed Dorset ware in the first
half of the fourth. Several wares emerged during the course of the century,
including a BB2 variant and a hand-made flint-and-sand tempered fabric of
probably local origin, and imports from the Alice Holt-Farnham industry and
the Rhineland (Mayen ware). Other imports are also occasionally encountered,
including shelly ware from north of the Thames, and possibly Much Hadham
reduced ware. Grog-tempered ware dominates assemblages of the latter
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half of the century and, with the possible exception of reduced
sand-tempered wheel-thrown ware, may have been the sole indigenous product
in the final decades. Throughout the century gritted mortaria were supplied
almost exclusively by the Oxfordshire industry, as has been observed in west
Kent (in the preceding section), with minor quantities of other imports also
circulating.
The reduced sand-tempered unslipped wheel-thrown wares exhibit
the high degree of conservatism that characterises them in the third
century. Angular and round roll-rim, and everted, necked jars continued to
be the most common forms, comprising over half of the total in this ware in
the Canterbury sample. Other forms include cavetto-rim jars of BB1/BB2
style, dog-dishes and bead-and-flange dishes, lids, and flanged
hemispherical bowls of ‘Drag. 38’ derivation (e.g. two vessels,
unpublished, from Richborough, Pits 54 and 303). Burnished vessels are more
common than scorched/vitrified or plain examples, particularly in fine sandy
wares. Reduced sand-tempered unslipped wheel-thrown wares as a group
comprise between 15 per cent and 35 per cent of early fourth-century
assemblages at Canterbury (vessel rim equivalents, all wares), an identical
range to that estimated for the preceding period (4.IV.3). The problems
encountered in isolating imports in this ware group in west Kent (4.V.2) are
relevant also to east Kent. Slipped grey wares of forms alien to Alice Holt
have been recognised, for example at Wye (Pollard forthcoming, a) where
bead-rim jars (ibid., nos. 44-6) and a ‘Drag. 38’ bowl occur. Two
burnished black necked jars with a pendant frill to the rim, one with bosses
pressed out on the shoulder, from Canterbury (Pollard forthcoming, d, no.
223) may be imports from the Essex-Hertfordshire region to judge from their
style (e.g. Myres et al. 1974). ‘Swan’s neck’ pendant-bead rim
necked jars (cf. no. 203 here) are extremely uncommon, however, only one
vessel having been recorded from the sampled fourth-century assemblages at
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