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The Roman Pottery of Kent
by Dr Richard J. Pollard  -  Chapter 2  page 12
Doctoral thesis completed in 1982, published 1988


Fig. 2. Late Iron Age sites.

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE POTTERY

1. Fabric Analysis
The analysis of ceramic fabrics has been revolutionised by the adoption of petrological techniques (cf. for example Peacock 1970; 1977a). These enable visually similar wares to be differentiated, for example by the recording of the quantities of certain ‘heavy minerals’ present in the clay, or by the counting of grains of specified minerals present in a thin section. The allocation of fabrics to sources may be 

achieved by comparison with kiln-associated fabrics, or with geological samples (e.g. Drury 1978, 58; Williams 1977). A major disadvantage of petrological analysis is its cost in terms of time and money, which effectively restricts its application in projects of the kind undertaken by the present author. Furthermore, the differentiation of visibly-similar wares is not always successful (cf. Fulford 1975b). It would be difficult to justify the use of petrological techniques to differentiate visibly dissimilar wares, and

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