Abstract: |
The main emphasis of the conference was on production centres and marketing arrangements. Graham Webster introduces and sums up (pp 1-5, 161-2). Valery Rigby (7-24) deals with 751 potters' stamps on British finds of terra nigra and terra rubra, discusses the wares and the forms in which they occur, and finds some evidence for potters sharing the services of specialist die-cutters. Kevin Greene (25-37) discusses the 1st century pottery from Usk, including fine colour-coated and glazed wares imported from factories in various parts of the Western Empire, and coarse wares of ?local military origin followed by native-made wares from various British centres. K F Hartley (39-51) explains the marketing and distribution of mortaria, in which Britain was self-sufficient by AD 100 at latest; the activities of 15 large- and small-scale potteries are graphed. John Gillam (53-62) investigates the sources of pottery found on northern military sites, tracing the pattern of supply into the later 4th century when the trend to larger-scale contracts culminated in a virtual monopoly by one factory. D P S Peacock contributes a technical note (63-5) on the Dorset origins of the black-burnished pottery industry; these wares were probably fired in bonfires, traces of which are known. R A H Farrar (67-103) contributes a highly detailed study of the techniques and sources of black-burnished wares, demonstrating the Durotrigian origin of BB1 and making out a case for the rival fabric, BB2, being made in the Colchester-Thames area. Christopher Young (105-15) gives an interim survey of the Oxford pottery industry which grew from local scale in late 1st century to a greatly expanded version in 3rd century, possibly by outside intervention. Distribution of the ware is discussed in relation to that of its competitors. A complementary study is by Vivien Swan who considers (117-34) aspects of the New Forest industry, explaining that replacement of the old, invalid chronology must await new information from stratified sites. In Wiltshire, disributions indicate the importance of the New Forest fine colour-coated wares, though the Oxford potteries were dominant in all other types. A complete potter's establishment of early 4th century from Stibbington, Nene Valley, briefly described by J P Wild (135-8) included two kilns, a workshop, tanks and a well. G B Dannell (139-42) gives an account of the work of the potter INDIXIVIXVS, attributed to kilns at Stanground, near Peterborough, producing imitation samian between 210 and 240 and using Fen waterway transport. K F Hartley's second paper (143-7) discusses the kilns at Mancetter and Hartshill (Warwickshire), illustrating representative and unusual kilns and noting the presence of an Oxfordshire potter. Experimental firings of kilns of RB type are described by Geoffrey F Bryant (149-60) with particular emphasis on the solution to the problem of producing reduced wares. |