• Introduction
• Guide
• Query
• Metadata
• Usage Statistics

Data copyright © Medieval Pottery Research Group unless otherwise stated

This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.

Primary contact

Medieval Pottery Research Group
c/o Museum of London Archaeology,
46 Eagle Wharf Road
LONDON
N1 7ED

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Resource identifiers

• ADS Collection: 1007
• DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000154
• How to cite using this DOI

Guide to the bibliography

This guide is intended to explain the structure of the database and to define the different entities for users of the web site. The database is composed of records (rows of the database) which represent each individual ceramic report. Each record contains a series of fields which describe the report. Details of the information held in each record are described below.

The main items are listed here and further details are given which are partly taken from the original instruction document for the bibliography published in 1980 (Davey 1980).

• Bibliographic reference
• Type of report
• Ceramic categories
• Ceramic descriptions
• Dating: periods
• Dating: methods
• Geographical information
• Type of site
• Location of material and records
• Additional information
• Comments
• Compiler
• Date

Bibliographic references

In order to allow for variations in 'nested' references each bibliographic reference is spread over eight fields. This should be transparent when the queries on this site are run. It allows us to search for such things as journals or individual authors. The following table shows which journals have been included in the database plus the number of records that have been created from these journals.

Hide table

Click on one of the journal names to run a search for records created from that publication

American Antiq	1
Anglesey Antiq Soc Field Club Trans	1
Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History	2
Ann Rep City of Lincoln Archaeol Unit	3
Annals of Archaeol and Anthropol	7
Antiq Comms of Cambridge Antiq Soc	7
Antiq J	195
Antique Bottle Collecting	26
Antiquity	19
Apollo	1
Arch Ireland	2
Archaeol Cambrensis	5
Archaeol Cantiana	2
Archaeol Ireland	13
Archaeol J	97
Archaeol News	6
Archaeologia	60
Archaeologia Aeliana	70
Archaeologia Cambrensis	67
Archaeologia Cantiana	40
Archaeological Service Excavation and Survey Reports	2
Archaeology Ireland	3
Archaeology in Leicestershire and Rutland	19
Archaeology in York: Interim	1
Archaeology of York	1
Archaeometry	4
BAR British Series	14
Bedfordshire Archaeol J	101
Berks Archaeol J	2
Berkshire Archaeol J	25
Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Archaeol J	1
Birmingham Archaeol Soc Trans	1
Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeol Soc	2
Bristol and Avon Archaeol	50
Bristol and Avon Archaeology	6
Brit Numis J	59
Britannia	1
British Archaeology	1
Brycheiniog	8
Buckinghamshire Archaeol Soc Monograph	3
Buckley	1
Bull Board Celtic Stud	5
Bull Experimental Firing Group	2
Bull Inst Archaeol	2
Bull Smithsonian Institute	1
Bull South West Herts Archaeol and Hist Soc	1
Bull Sutton Hoo Res Com	1
CBA Group 13 News	2
CBA Group 3 News Bull	2
CBA Group 4 Bull	2
CBA Group 4 Register	3
CBA Group 7 Bull	5
CBA Group 7 News	5
CBA Research Report	2
Cake and Cockhorse Banbury Hist Soc	1
Cambs County Council Archaeological Field Unit, Monograph	1
Canterbury Archaeol	14
Canterbury Archaeological Trust Occasional Paper	1
Canterbury's Archaeol	5
Carmarthenshire Antiq	3
Centre for Manx Studies Research Report	1
Ceramic History	1
Ceredigion	2
Chard History Group	1
Chelmsford Archaeological Trust Report 4.2, Council Brit Archael Res Rep	1
Cheshire Archaeol Bull	136
Cheshire Historian	2
Cheshire Past	2
Cheshire Sheaf	40
Chester Archaeology: Excavation and Survey Report	6
Chester City Council Archaeological Service occasional paper	1
City of Lincoln Archaeol Rep	9
City of Stoke-on-Trent Museum Archaeol Soc Reports	15
Cleobury Chronicles	1
Clwyd Historian	2
Co Louth Archaeol and Hist J	4
Coin Hoards	5
Colchester Archaeol Rep	5
Colchester Archaeol Report	1
Colchester Archaeological Group Annual Bulletin	1
Colchester Archaeological Monograph	1
Conservation Notes	1
Contrebis	31
Cornish Archaeol	12
Cumberland and Westmorland Antiq and Archaeol Soc Res Series	3
Current Archaeol	9
Dartford Hist and Antiq Soc News	3
Derbyshire Archaeol J	23
Devon Archaeol Soc Proc	1
Devon Historian	3
Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries	1
Devon and Cornwall Record Soc	1
Discovery Programme Monograph	2
Discovery and Excavation in Scotland	1
Dorset Nat Hist and Archaeol Soc Monograph	22
Durham Archaeol J	5
Durobrivae	1
East Anglian Arch	12
East Anglian Arch Occ Paper	3
East Anglian Archaeol	11
East Anglian Archaeology	2
East Anglian Archaeology Report	2
East Midland Archaeol Bull	232
East Midlands Archaeol Bull	127
Essex Arch & Hist	17
Essex Arch and Hist	2
Essex Archaeol & Hist	6
Essex Archaeol and Hist	66
Essex Field Club Special Memoirs	1
Excavations at St Martin-at-Palace Plain, Norwich 1981	1
Exeter Archaeol Rep	1
Exeter Museums Bull	1
Fenland Res	16
Finders Keepers	1
Flintshire Hist Soc (J) (Pub)	18
Forum	3
Friends Cant. Arch. Soc. News.	1
Friends of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust Newsletter	1
Glasgow Archaeol J	8
Glasgow Archaeol Soc Spring Bull	1
Glazed Expressions	4
Glevensis	26
Greenwich and Lewisham Antiq Soc	1
Grosvenor Museum Archaeological Excavation and Survey	12
Hampshire Studies	1
Hertfordshire Archaeol	12
Hertfordshire's Past	17
Honourable Artillery Company Journal	2
Industrial Archaeol	1
Interim	25
J Archaeol Sci	1
J Brit Archaeol Assoc	6
J Buckley Soc	2
J Cheshire Archaeol Soc	2
J Chess Valley Archaeol and Hist Soc	5
J Chester (and North Wales) (Architect) Archaeol (and Hist) Soc	88
J Chester Archaeol Soc	1
J Co Kildare Arch Soc	1
J Co Kildare Archaeol Soc	2
J Cork Hist & Arch Soc	3
J Cork Hist Archaeol Soc	1
J Cork Hist and Archaeol Soc	9
J Derbyshire Archaeol and Nat Hist Soc	9
J Field Archaeol	1
J Galway Archaeol and Hist Soc	3
J Irish Archaeol	6
J Kerry Archaeol and Hist Soc	2
J Merseyside Archaeol Soc	55
J Radioanalytical Nuclear Chem	1
J Roy Soc Antiq Ireland	25
J Royal Soc Antiq Ireland	1
J Tiles and Archaeol Ceram Soc	1
Kent Archaeol Rev	31
La Société Guernesiaise Rep and Trans	2
Lancashire Archaeol Bull	48
Leicester Archaeology Monograph	5
Leicestershire Archaeol and Hist Soc Trans	4
Lincolnshire Hist and Archaeol	21
London Archaeologist	29
London and Middx Archaeol Soc and Surrey Archaeol Soc Joint Publ	2
Man	2
Medieval Archaeol	4354
Medieval Ceram	233
Medieval Manchester	5
Medieval Village Res Group Annual Report	9
Medieval and Later Pottery in Wales	118
Monmouth Antiq	7
Monmouth Coll	3
Monmouthshire Antiq	9
Montgomeryshire Coll	12
Morgannwg	11
Museums J	1
N Munster Antiq J	2
Nature	1
Nautical Archaeol	1
Nautical Archaeol Soc News	2
Norfolk Arch	3
Norfolk Archaeol	63
North Munster Antiq J	6
North West Archaeol Trust Report	2
Northamptonshire Archaeol	69
Northants Archaeol	12
Northants Archaol	6
Northern Ceramic Soc	1
Nuclear Methods and Instruments in Physics Research	1
Oxford Archaeol J	1
Oxford University Committee for Archaeology: Monograph	1
Oxon Archaeol Soc	5
Oxoniensia	194
Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery Archaeol Ser	4
Popular Archaeol	4
Post-Medieval Archaeol	1196
Practical Archaeol (Kent Arch. Field School)	2
Proc Bury and West Suffolk Archaeol Inst	1
Proc Cambridge Antiq Soc	33
Proc Cambs Antiq Soc	3
Proc Cotteswold Nat Field Club	8
Proc Coventry Nat Hist Sci Soc	3
Proc Devon Archaeol Soc	41
Proc Dorset Nat Hist and Archaeol Soc	52
Proc Dorset Natur Hist Archaeol Soc	18
Proc Dorset Natur. Hist. Archaeol. Soc.	8
Proc Hampshire Field Club Archaeol Soc	11
Proc Hampshire Field Club and Archaeol Soc	19
Proc Isle Wight Nat Hist and Archaeol Soc	7
Proc Isle of Man Nat Hist Archaeol Soc	1
Proc Isle of Man Nat Hist and Antiq Soc	8
Proc Isle of Wight Nat Hist and Arch Soc	3
Proc Lancashire and Cheshire Antiq Soc	1
Proc Roy Irish Acad	16
Proc Soc Antiq Scotland	242
Proc Somerset Archaeol (Nat Hist) Soc	18
Proc Suffolk Inst Archaeol & Hist	1
Proc Suffolk Inst Archaeol and (Nat) Hist	735
Proc Univ Bristol Spelaeological Soc	11
Proc and Papers Hist Soc Lancashire and Cheshire	3
Proc. Hampshire Field Club Archaeol Soc	1
Radnor Soc Trans	1
Record of Bucks	2
Records of Buckinghamshire	91
Records of Bucks	4
Recs Bucks	26
Reliquary	1
Rep Trans Devonshire Assoc	1
Report and Trans La Société Guernesiaise	2
Rescue News	2
Riocht Na Midhe	2
Riocht na Midhe	6
Roy Soc Antiq Ireland	1
Scarborough Archaeol and Hist Soc	1
Sci and Archaeol	2
Scottish Archaeol Rev	4
Soc Clay Pipe Res News	67
Soc Med Arch Monograph Series	1
Soc for Clay Pipe Res Newsletter	28
Somerset Archaeol Nat Hist Soc	5
Somerset Archaeol Natur Hist	7
South Midlands Archaeol	75
Southwark and Lambeth Archaeol Soc Research Paper	1
Staffordshire Archaeol Stud Mus Archaeol Soc Rep	5
Staffordshire Archaeol Studies	2
Staffordshire Archaeol and Hist Soc Trans	6
Studia Celtica	3
Surrey Archael Col	5
Surrey Archaeol Bul	9
Surrey Archaeol Bull	87
Surrey Archaeol Col	3
Surrey Archaeol Coll	65
Surrey Archaeol Soc Research Volume	1
Sussex Arch Coll	5
Sussex Archaeol Coll	42
Sussex Archaeol Soc News	2
Sussex Past & Present	22
TDA	1
Tayside and Fife Archaeol J	10
Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph	1
Temple Local History Group News	1
Templebar Archaeol Rep	9
The Archaeol of Canterbury	2
The Archaeology of Canterbury	22
The Archaeology of Canterbury New Series	6
The Archaeology of Lincoln	3
The Archaeology of York	3
The Colchester Archaeologist	1
The Forth Nat and Hist	2
The International J Nautical Archaeol	1
The Museum Archaeologist	1
The Recorder	2
The Rydycroesau Sheaf	1
The Ryedale Historian	1
Trans (Proc) Birmingham (and Warwickshire) Archaeol Soc	84
Trans Birmingham & Warks Archaeol Soc	2
Trans Birmingham & Warwickshire Archaeol Soc.	1
Trans Bristol Gloucs Archaeol Soc	6
Trans Bristol and Glos Arch Soc	1
Trans Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeol Soc	122
Trans Bristol and Gloucs Archaeol Soc	1
Trans Caernarvonshire Hist Soc	4
Trans Cumberland & Westmorland Antiq Archaeol Soc	1
Trans Cumberland Westmoreland Antiq Soc	5
Trans Cumberland Westmorland Antiq Soc	2
Trans Cumberland and Westmorland Antiq and Archaeol Soc	75
Trans Denbighshire Hist Soc	12
Trans Dumfries and Galloway Nat Hist and Antiq Soc	5
Trans English Ceramic Circle	1
Trans Hist Soc Lancashire and Cheshire	68
Trans Lancashire and Cheshire Antiq Soc	25
Trans Leic Archaeol Hist Soc	2
Trans Leicestershire (and Rutland) Archaeol and Hist Soc	104
Trans Leicestershire Archaeol Hist Soc	93
Trans Leics Archaeol Hist Soc	17
Trans London & Middlesex Archaeol Soc	5
Trans London and Middlesex Archaeol Soc	44
Trans Radnorshire Soc	5
Trans Scarborough Archaeol and Hist Soc	1
Trans Shropshire Archaeol (and Nat Hist) Soc	4
Trans South Staffordshire Archaeol and Hist Soc	26
Trans Staffordshire Archaeol and Hist Soc	10
Trans Thoroton Soc	49
Trans Woolhope Nat Field Club	75
Trans Woolhope Natur Field Club	4
Trans Worcestershire Archaeol Soc	83
Trans Worcs Archaeol Soc	4
Ulster J Archaeol	38
United States National Museums Bull	2
Urgeschichte und Heimatforschung	1
Vale Evesham Hist Soc Res Paper	3
Victorian Ceramics Group Newsletter, Florence, New Jersey	1
Watford and South West Herts Archaeol Soc Bull	5
Wessex Archaeol	3
Wessex Archaeol Monograph	4
Wessex Archaeology	8
Wessex Archaeology Report	2
West Mid Archaeol	1
West Midlands Archaeol	2
West Midlands Archaeol (Newsheet)	266
West Midlands Archaeology	1
West Midlands Pottery Res Group News	77
Western Antiq	5
Wilts Archaeol Natur Hist Mag	1
Wilts Archaeol Natur Hist Mag	4
Wiltshire Archaeol (and Nat Hist) Mag	96
Wiltshire Archaeol Natur Hist Mag	9
Wiltshire Archaeol Natur Hist mag	1
Wiltshire Archaeol. Natur. Hist Mag	9
Winchester Excavations 1949-1960	1
Worcestershire Archaeol and Local Hist News	6
Yarmouth Archaeol	2
Yorks Arch J	1
Yorkshire Archaeol J	208

Abbreviations have been used for many journal names in the database. The full journal names for each of the abbreviations used is available in the following table:

Show table

Type of report

This is a unique field, only one type of report is allowed per record. Where there is more than one type the data inputters will have entered the main type here.

The types of report are as follows:

EX	Excavation	An organised archaeological project
FI	Fieldwalking	Ditto
CF	Casual Find	covers material which has not been collected as part of organised archaeological research e.g. finds brought into museum by members of the public, material collected from contractors trenches
CO	Collection	material which lacks provenance or circumstances of find e.g. parts of older collections in museums
SY	Synthesis	articles or books which deal with ceramics from more than one site. Information about dating, site location and site type will not be recorded where reports are of this type. A synthesis type of report, might, however be confined to a town, county or country and will fall into the 'general' category of any of these
OT	Other	anything else not falling into the above categories

Ceramic categories

All the following may be present in one report:

DO	Domestic	e.g. jugs, cooking pots, bowls, drip trays, water pipes, junction boxes
IL	Industrial	e.g. chemical apparatus, crucibles, ingot pots, malt-kiln floors, adapted domestic pots
RF	Roof furniture	e.g. tiles, finials, louvres, ventilators, chimney pots
FT	Floor tiles	cf Medieval Tiles by E.S. Eames, British Museum 1968
KF	Kiln furniture	objects produced to support or separate pots in the kiln, including props, saggers and muffles
WA	Wasters	the discarded products of a kiln site which could never have been used. The kiln may not have been located during the excavation or may even be at some distance e.g. if the wasters have been used as ballast
IM	Imports	pottery not made in Great Britain or Ireland
CP	Clay pipes	clay tobacco pipes, including wig curlers

Ceramic descriptions

These descriptions are designed to give an indication of the methodology adopted by the report concerning quantification and fabric analysis.

Quantification

SC	Sherd counts	a physical count of the number of fragments
WE	Weight	sherd weight
MV	Minimum vessels	an estimate arrived at 'by eye' or some other subjective or undisclosed criterion
EV	Estimated vessel equivalents	an estimate arrived at by calculation
OH	Other	such as surface area of pottery

Fabrics

GU	As Guidelines	follows the Guidelines (Blake H., and Davey P.J. 1983) or The DUA's Pottery Archive User's Handbook by C R Orton, 1978, Appendix 6 or Minimum Standards (MPRG 2001)
TS	Thin section	petrological analysis of the fabric
PA	Partial	descriptions which do not reach the standards of GU above
OO	Other	such as surface area of pottery

Dating: Periods

The dating has to be simplified in order to allow automatic searching. Therefore the periods have been coded as shown below. There are two levels of dating: Period and Broad Period. It is possible for any one report to have any combination of these codes. A report will only have the broad codes if the dating evidence can only provide a broad date i.e. where the pottery can be dated closely the broad period codes will not be given. Both the Period and Broad Period can be searched using the 'Period' drop down list on the query form; multiple periods can be searched at the same time by using the control and shift keys to select any combination of broad or specific period terms. If your interest lies in a specific period it will probably be worthwhile to look at the broad period terms as well.

NB The dating is that given in the published report, it is possible that the dating of a site may change after publication, in this instance the compiler may add information to the comments field.

Periods

ES	Early Saxon	400-650
MS	Middle Saxon	650-850
SN	Saxo Norman	850-1150
EM	Early Medieval	1150-1250
HD	Highly Decorated	1250-1400
LM	Late Medieval	1400-1500
PM	Post Medieval	1500-1750
MO	Modern	1750+

Broad Periods

EC	Early Christian/post-Roman	general
AS	Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Scandinavian	general
MC	Medieval	date uncertain

The terms 'Saxon' and 'Anglo-Saxon' were used by the original compilers to indicate a chronological period rather that any cultural association. For much of western Britain and Ireland, therefore, it may be useful to search on the listed sub-divisions of the Saxon period as well as 'early medieval'.

Dating: methods

There are four possible areas of dating methodology:

1. Site stratigraphy

SS	Stratified sequence	relative chronological evidence provided by site stratigraphy
CG	Closed group	e.g. material in a closed group such as a pit or well not directly linked with site stratigraphy
US	Unstratified	from anywhere on the site

2. Associations
(cf Hurst in Medieval Archaeology 6-7, 1962-63, 135-155)

CS	Coins
CH	Coin hoard pot
AR	Architecture
TY	Typology etc

3. Dates

TPQ	Terminus post quem
TAQ	Terminus ante quem

4. Analysis

CD	radiocarbon dating, on the pottery itself or directly associated material
TH	thermoluminescence, ditto
DE	dendrochronology on directly associated material
OX	other analyses

Geographical information

County

Administrative county borders are subject to change and it would be difficult to keep updating the database with the changes. Therefore the counties follow the 1972 local government re-organisation. It will inevitably mean that some sites will be listed in the 'wrong' county. A full list of the counties can be found in the table below.

Show table

Parish/Town

Although not all records have an entry for this field it may be a useful one to search on. For sites in northern England this field will contain the township name.

Common name

The common name is usually the name of the site or perhaps the property number and street name in towns.

National Grid Reference

These have been entered into the database in the exact form as published in the report, they have not been checked for accuracy. As a second stage, in order to facilitate searching by grid square all the grid references for Britain have been converted to co-ordinates and missing references have been added. This has not affected the original data entry.

Type of site

These are the categories used for organising the annual reports of 'Medieval Britain' and 'Post-Medieval Britain' in the journals Medieval Archaeology and Post-Medieval Archaeology respectively. Most works of synthesis will fall into the category MU multi-site. This is not a unique field, sites can be classified with more than one type.

CC	Churches and Chapels
CE	Cathedrals and Ecclesiastical Palaces
CM	Cemeteries
CN	Castles and Naval Earthworks
CO	Communications
FA	Farms
ID	Industrial
MM	Moats/Manors
MN	Monastic
MU	Multi Site
OY	Other
RP	Royal Palaces
SP	Sports and Pastimes
TO	Towns
UK	Unknown
VI	Villages
WR	Wrecks

Location of materials and records

MA	Material
RE	Record

If the location of the pottery and/or the accompanying record/archive, in a museum store or other repository, is given in the report, this information will be included. There is no mechanism for searching this field from this web site but the information about the materials and records will be provided under 'additional information' in the full record output.

Additional information

This field contains any new facts about the site or material which have come to light since the publication of the report which are relevant to the interpretation of the pottery. It also includes any information not given in the report but known to the compiler. This field is only returned in the long form of output.

Comments

This field contains any notes that the compiler has added which comment on or criticise the methods or conclusions of the report, to cross-refer to other reports or any other personal comment. As we do not wish to make any criticisms widely available to the public, this field does not appear in the query results.

Compiler

This field is only returned in the full record output and it gives the initials of the compiler. The table below holds a list of compiler initials with their expanded names where known.

Show table

Date

The date when the entry was compiled.

Formats of the output from the queries

A query will return a record or list of records in an abbreviated form which will provide a full bibliographic reference. When a list of records is returned they will be ordered alphabetically by author. By clicking on the author name/dates it is possible to view the full record. The full record includes the coded information; details of the compiler and data inputter; and the full text of the additional information. The database record number is also included.

Where your results set is 200 records or less, a button will appear at the top of the screen allowing you to download your results set as a csv (comma separated values) file. This file can be easily imported into a spreadsheet or database application for your own use. You may either click the button to open the csv file directly, or you can right click on it and save the file. The first line of the csv file contains the headers for each column of data.

References

Davey P. J. 1980 'Towards a national bibliography for Medieval Ceramics' Medieval Pottery Research Group, Liverpool

Blake H., and Davey P.J. 1983 Guidelines for the processing and publication of medieval pottery from excavations Directorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings, Occasional Paper No. 5. London.

MPRG 2001 Minimum Standards for the Processing, Recording, Analysis and Publication of Post-Roman Ceramics, Medieval Pottery Research Group Occasional Paper 2

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