A MEDIEVAL ROYAL COMPLEX AT GUILDFORD: EXCAVATIONS AT THE CASTLE AND PALACE	S1

The context listing

A full list of contexts is presented in phase order (tables 3-18), together with a context to phase index in context number order (table 2). The full list provides a brief description for each context, indicates where (if at all) it is to be found on published plans or sections, and gives brief details of the primary dating evidence, the pottery (see Chapter 4 for full details). The abbreviations are defined as follows:

PWW	stands for pre-whitewares, indicating fabrics whose currency begins before whiteware production began c1240, although some may have continued to be made after that date.
WW	stands for whitewares whose production is assumed to have begun c1240.
OM	stands for other medieval wares, of which most here are of later 13th or 14th century date.
PM	stands for post-medieval pottery, here implying a date after about 1500.

A spot date is also given, based purely on consideration of the pottery evidence. As will be seen, this date is sometimes ignored or contradicted in assigning a phase to the context, essentially because the stratigraphic evidence and associations are regarded as of greater merit. The reason for such divergence is not always explicable, and sometimes may be the result of human error in excavation or recording, perhaps a bigger hazard in a training excavation than in a fully professional one. Sometimes the reason may be indicated by what is termed the stratigraphic quality (STR) of the context, that is the potential for contamination, as follows:

STR=1	Well-defined and sealed (in lifetime of palace) context.
STR=2	As above but where circumstances (eg depth of excavation, personnel involved) introduce a risk of contamination.
STR=3	Initial identification/separation tentative and/or layer not well sealed.
STR=4	Contamination/confusion probable.