Medieval Ceramics Volume 32: Journal of the Medieval Pottery Research Group

During the Middle Anglo-Saxon period, the distribution of imported ceramics in Norfolk provides an excellent opportunity to identify settlements and to reconstruct regional economies. An analysis of their distribution suggests that the contrasting distributions might indicate contrasting trading networks comprising unregulated mercantile exchange within the coastal zone and ecclesiastical or secular controlled exchange and consumption further inland. In addition, certain wares may have been considered only a minor valuable within the emergent centre of Norwich, prior to re­ distribution inland where they attained a higher status. This potential new model - of diverse control over ceramic distribution- stands in opposition to the more rigid anthropologically influenced models of exclusive royal control over exchange pioneered by Hodges (1982) and can serve as a hypothesis for future testing.

This work presents the preliminary features of ceramics production in the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula and especially in Granada during the late middle Ages. This research is based on complementary archaeometrical analyses carried out on clays from traditional quarries used in the area, as well as on ceramics that were selected as representative due to their chronology, origin (the area where potters’ workshops were located) and function (tools used by the potters).

A combination of principal components and discriminant analysis was used to interpret the ICP analyses on Niddrie pottery, following the approach used for Scottish redware (Haggerty et al 2011) and Scottish white gritty ware (Jones et al 2002/3). The patterns in the chemical analysis data of the Niddrie pottery were used to select suitable material from the respective ICP databases on Scottish pottery to compare against them. The ICP analysis of pottery from Niddrie Burn has shown definite patterns allowing probable identifications of the general location of the sources of the pottery. Of the SPMOW and SPMRW sherds, many showed an Upper Forth composition, specifically linking them to kiln material from Stenhouse and Throsk. One sherd (GH06) seemed to definitely have the Throsk element pattern, while another (GH09) fell just outside the Stenhouse/Throsk group but appears to be an Upper Forth sherd. In contrast three appeared to be from East of the city: two SPMOW sherds (GH04 and GH05) and one SPMRW (GH15) seemed associated with the West Pans kilns. Sherd (GH08) was unusual with only half the iron content and a higher alumina compared to the rest of the redware sherds and did not conform to the composition of any of the pottery from the kiln sites tested, so at present its origin is unknown. In contrast, all the SWGW appeared to originate in East Lothian, though without an exact match with the analysed sherds from sites in the region. There was some consistency in the composition sub-groups found among the Niddrie SWGW, and although the nearest composition was to pottery from Archerfield, there was some indication that a Colstoun sub-group had been made of similar clay to most of the Niddrie SWGW. Very similar graphs were obtained for statistical tests on the same groups of ICP analyses of Scottish pottery which had been published in earlier investigations.

List of Officers and Council of the Medieval Pottery Research Group 2010

Constitution of the Medieval Pottery Research Group

Preliminaries (i.e. coverpage, contents) of Medieval Ceramics 2012