SECTION 3.7:CLAYDON PIKE GLASS by Hilary Cool

 

INTRODUCTION

1st CENTURY VESSELS

LATER 1st TO MID 2nd CENTURY VESSELS

LATER 2nd TO 3rd CENTURY VESSELS

4th CENTURY VESSELS

MEDIEVAL GLASS

OVERVIEW

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Table 1: The Roman vessel glass by site Period (fragment count)
Table 2: The Roman vessel glass by trench (fragment count)


Introduction

This report is based on a catalogue and report prepared by the current author and Professor Jennifer Price as part of the work undertaken by the Romano-British Glass Project at Leeds University in the 1980s. The catalogue remains unchanged other than to add EVE measurements according to the system outlined in Cool and Baxter 1999. The discussion has been re-written to take into consideration both the advances in our knowledge about vessel glass in the past two decades and the site information available from the current programme of post-excavation analysis.
In this report the vessel glass will first be considered typologically according to broad chronological periods and then the implications of this information for our knowledge of Claydon Pike will be considered. It should be noted that the chronological periods that Romano-British glass naturally breaks into are not congruent with the site phasing, especially around the Phase 2 to Phase 3 division.
Tables 1 and 2 summarise the glass according to site period, trench and colour with the blue/green glass broken into fragments from bottles and fragments from other vessels. As can be seen the main colours represented are colourless, blue/green and light greenish bubbly. The blue/green glass was typical of the 1st to 3rd centuries, the colourless of the later 1st to 3rd centuries and the light green bubbly of the 4th century. Strongly coloured glass typical of the mid 1st century is virtually absent. 70% of the vessel glass is concentrated in Trench 13 reflecting the fact that this was the main focus of domestic occupation.

Top of Page

First century vessels

The commonest 1st century form in the assemblage is the blue/green pillar moulded bowl. Eight fragments, none stratified earlier than Phase 3 which would make all of them residual as the form was out of use by the tart of that period (105, 142, 374, 383-4, 398, 453, 964). The typical glass cup of the mid 1st century (the Hofheim cup) is also present in Trench 13. 2408 from a phase 3/4 context can be identified with certainty and 1654 from a Phase 2 context with more caution. The unguent bottle fragment 927 from a Phase 3 context may also belong to this period as it is likely to come from a tubular unguent bottle though in the absence of the rim it is not possible to be certain of this. 2599 from a Phase 4 context in Trench 13 is also likely to have been of 1st century date because of its deep blue colour.

Top of Page

Later 1st to mid 2nd century vessels

The common Flavian range of vessels consisting of globular and conical jugs, collared jars and tubular rimmed bowls is represented here by 2952 from a Phase 3 ditch in Trench 17, 1410 from a Phase 3 context in Trench 13 and 561 and 114 from Phase 4 contexts in Trench 13. Collared jars and globular jugs went out of use in the first quarter of the 2nd century whereas the other two forms disappeared during the third quarter. Clearly 561 and 114 are residual. 1410 is a collared jar and so might also be suspected of being residual in the context it was found in.
Substantial amounts of a blue/green spouted jug (601) were recovered from a Phase 3 ditch in Trench 13. Although the handle was missing sufficient of the attachment is present for to be clear it would have had distinctive pinched elaborations such as one from Colchester (Thorpe 1935, Pl VIIIc). These are not to be expected after the mid 2nd century and so this vessel would have been in use during the earliest part of Phase 3.
Blue/green square and cylindrical bottles become common in the later 1st century. The cylindrical form went out of use during the early 2nd century whereas the square ones continued in use into the 3rd century. At Claydon Pike, therefore, cylindrical bottles would have been most likely to have been in use during Phase 2 whereas square bottles could have been in use during either Phase 2 or Phase 3. Both types were in use on the site during Phase 2, but most of the cylindrical bottle fragments are being found residually. Amongst the bottle fragments two are worthy of special comment as they come from bottles with moulded bases that included letters. In neither case is it possible to identify what the full inscription would have been. On 2174 there is the letter ‘C’ and on 1148 the lower part of a seriphed letter such as an ‘F’, ‘H’, or ‘P’.

Top of Page

Later 2nd and 3rd century vessels

At Claydon Pike the type of colourless tablewares typical of the early to mid 2nd century (facet-cut and wheel-cut beakers, cast bowls) are virtually absent with the only possible contender being 2051. It is not until the later 2nd century that colourless tablewares start to appear in quantity. The ubiquitous colourless cylindrical cup is represented by 104, 836, 930, 2553 and 3022 found in Phase 3 or later contexts in Trenches 17, 13 and 29. There is also a blue/green example (920) from Trench 13, these are much less common than the colourless ones. This form was the dominant drinking cup of the later 2nd and earlier 3rd centuries. In the mid 3rd century is was replaced by a hemispherical form often decorated by pulled up knobs. 2023 and 2182 from the same Phase 4 context in Trench 19 come from this later style. There are also several colourless jugs that can be assigned to the broad mid 2nd to late 3rd century period. They include the spouted jug 1591 from a Phase 4 context in Trench 13., a funnel mouth jug (224) from an ustratified context in Trench 13, and one represented only by a handle fragment ( 2199) from a Phase 3 context in Trench 17. Most of the less diagnostic colourless fragments can also be attributed to this period.

Top of Page

4th century vessels

Material of this date is common at Claydon Pike. The commonest drinking vessels were hemispherical cups and conical beakers with cracked off rims (416, 543, 1491, 1747, 1754, 1824, 1829, 1878, 2528) and many of the fragments with abraded bands probably also came from these vessels. These were found primarily in Trenches 13 and 19. This type of cup and beaker was in use throughout the 4th century . There is also an example of the type with fire-rounded rim which is normally thought to appear first in the mid 4th century, but it was recovered from a Phase 3 context (1170). Another form typical of the second half of the 4th century is the indented truncated conical bowl. Here one fragment of this form (2029) was found in a context assigned to Phases 3 / 4 in Trench 19, but a second (454) was found in a Phase 3 context in Trench 13 suggesting either it was intrusive or the context has been wrongly phased.
Other 4th century vessels include jugs (123, 136, 327, 466, 581, 757, 843, 1765, 2856), two Frontinus bottles (1901, 2835) and an example of the rare hexagonal dolphin-handled bottle (256, 414, 520, 558). At least one figure cut 4th century vessel was also present (2323) but the fragment is too small for the style to be identified.
.

Top of Page

Medieval glass

607 found unstratified in Trench 13 is the only fragment that for which a medieval date can be suggested. It is a small blue/green body fragment decorated with opaque red spiral trails. Though the quality of the glass is very similar to that of all the fragments of Roman blue/green glass found, it is unlikely that this fragment is of Roman date as the combination of blue/green ground with opaque red trails would be most unusual then. Tentatively it may be suggest that it comes from a vessel of late medieval date when opaque red trails were used to decorate vessels of green glass, see for example a spouted jug found in a pit dated to AD 1200-1338 at Southampton (Charleston 1975, fig 221.1489).

Top of Page

Overview

As will be apparent from the previous discussion, there are problems in exploring the use of vessel glass at Claydon Pike using the phased contexts because quite a high proportion of the more closely dateable material appears to be either intrusive or residual. It is clear that vessel glass was being used on the site in Period 2 during the 1st century. The preference for the bowl form is typical of what might be expected of a rural community at this time (Cool and Baxter 1999, 85). It might be suspected that the greater diversification of forms seen for the 1st to mid 2nd century types reflects the changed circumstances of Phase 3 but if it does there are some curious omissions as a higher level of drinking vessels might have been expected. As far as the glass is concerned the change in the quality of tablewares comes not so much in the early Hadrianic period as the later Antonine one. For the 4th century the dominance of drinking cups is normal on all types of sites while the good showing of the closed forms in the shape of jugs and bottles seems characteristic of rural sites (ibid 89). The villa thus has the sort of assemblage that is to be expected. The indented truncated conical bowls indicate vessel use in to second half of the 4th century, but there is no evidence of use at the end of the century.

Top of Page


Bibliography

Cool, H.E.M. and Baxter, M.J., 1999. 'Peeling the onion ; an approach to comparing vessel glass assemblages', Journal of Roman Archaeology 12, 72-100.
Charleston, R.J., 1975. ‘The glass’ in Platt, C. and Coleman-Smith, R., excavations in Medieval Southampton 1953-69. volume 2: the Finds (Leicester), 204-26.
Thorpe, W.A., 1935. English Glass (London)

Top of page