The term ‘fine’ in the present study includes the following
wares: samian; colour-coated wares; glazed wares; ‘Parchment wares’;
mica-dusted wares; wares with sparse (cf. Orton 1977a) inclusions/temper,
whether slipped or unslipped; wares in which the only inclusions present in
more than sparse quantities are minerals not thought to have been used as
temper, e.g. mica and fine iron ores; Hadham oxidised wares; Gallo-Belgic
slipped wares including those with abundant quartz sand.
‘Coarse’ wares include reduced, oxidised and white fabrics
with moderate or abundant inclusions possibly used as temper, whether
unslipped or coated in a white, grey or black slip. This definition thus
includes BB2, Highgate Wood type wares, and Alice Holt wares, (but cf. the
reservations expressed above). The inclusion of Hadham oxidised wares in the
‘fine’ category is contentious; the similarity of the bowl forms to late
colour-coated ware types and the variety of decorative motifs employed have
been considered to outweigh the presence of abundant quartz sand in the
fabric as determinants of classification. The ‘Aylesford-Swarling’
grog-tempered forms discussed above are also included in the ‘coarse ware’
category for the purposes of description and quantification of
Romano-British assemblages, along with the simpler forms such as bead-rim
neckless jars (no. 25 here) and neck-cordoned jars (nos. 26—29).
The apparently homogeneous late Iron Age assemblages have not been divided
into ‘fine’ and ‘coarse’ wares.
V. INTERPRETATION
1. Single Assemblages
It is not a primary objective of this study to elucidate the nature of
contexts through the study of their ceramic assemblages, although a
hierarchy of sites could be
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constructed on the basis of, for example, the proportion
of fine to coarse wares or exotic to local wares, which might be
meaningful in terms of the prosperity or range of contacts of the
inhabitants. Nevertheless, the quantified assemblages have been divided up
into four categories of pottery: fine wares, coarse wares, mortaria, and
amphorae. The purpose of this approach is to facilitate the comparison of
wares which, it may be hypothesised, were subject to similar pressures of
supply and demand. It would seem reasonable to suggest that fine wares for
the table operated within a different’ ‘sphere of exchange’ to
coarse wares for use in kitchen and pantry, and thus that the two were not
in direct competition with each other, except perhaps where the most
impoverished households were concerned. The proportion of ‘fine’ to
‘coarse’ wares can vary considerably between assemblages of the same
or different periods, and may be important as a measure of wealth and
contact. However, if the comparative success on the market of, say,
Oxfordshire and Nene Valley colour-coated wares is to be measured, it is
useful to treat these and the remainder of the fine wares in isolation
from coarse wares. Mortaria are specialised vessels which often exhibit
distribution patterns that are noticeably different with those of other
vessels from the same source (e.g. Brockley Hill: see Appendix 3;
Oxfordshire wares — Young 1977a); for this reason they have been
isolated from the remainder of assemblages. Amphorae have been similarly
treated because they, too, are specialised vessels at least in their
original function of long-distance bulk carriers.
The maxim established by Orton (1978, 401—2) should be
borne in mind when interpreting quantified data: ‘one cannot usefully
say by itself "75% of the pottery at site X is Oxfordshire
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