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11th February 2013, 08:47 PM
redexile Wrote:They look like 'rusticated' pottery, usually A-S, but sometimes found in the IA. These look more IA than Saxon, as the latter is usually 'pinched' rather than just poked with a fingertip. Fabric looks more IA as well.
Iron Age would make sense on one site but not the other. Ditto Anglo-Saxon but the other way round. Quite possible that we have one of each, of course - that would put a spaniard in the works and be just about typical of archaeology. Very similar fabrics though.
Quote:In the case of the one on the left, the odd shape might be due to spalling, when a roundish flake of pot blows off the outside of a vessel during firing or post-production heating.
That's a dirty great spall though - and still no idea why the fingermarks would be on the inside. Plus the wall is a lens shape - both surfaces bow outwards (doesn't particularly show up in the photos). Not a logical shape for what must be a small chunk of a massive vessel wall.
Quote:In the case of the one on the right, the finger-tipping appears to be internal, and it looks like a base that has blown at the primary coil-join - quite common on flat-bottomed, coil-built pots, they're not very resistant to thermal shock.
Sounds good.
Quote: The 'fingertipping' effect might have been due to the potter pressing the base onto a board to flatten it.
Would certainly explain why the finger marks are orientated in the same direction.
Quote:Both a bit odd though, and always difficult to be certain from a photo. That'll be £25 please 
Ah well now. If you can find me parallels, I might consider submitting an invoice to Admin. In triplicate. With a fortnight's notice. (Don't hold yer breath!)
Thanks for the ideas.
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11th February 2013, 08:51 PM
Dinosaur Wrote:Dead common around here, especially on late Roman (C.4th/5th) sites, have dug plenty but usually samian. Have seen Roman greywares trimmed to discs though, couple of inches across (but no hole), no hint as to what they were for.
Yep, we've got reused pottery disks on the Iron Age/Romano-British site - both the type with the central hole and one plain disc without the hole. There's definitely a precedent for modification and secondary use of pottery vessels. Those are in fabrics which are a lot thinner and finer than our dimply thingies though.
Quote:Only pay Red £23, I'd already chucked in the thing about coil-built pots exploding near the top of page 1, he shouldn't get paid extra just for using fancy technical words!
Well indeed. Great minds think alike.
Quote:- any openings in the indoor world of clipping corners off potsherds, can provide own nail-clippers? (bit brassic outdoors in Whitby today, led to such radical thoughts...) 
Apparently dog toenail clippers are the way forward with pottery trimming, so I'm assured. No word on what the dog thinks (probably OK with it as long as we don't swipe their mascara for sherd marking).
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11th February 2013, 09:21 PM
Good news, my brother's a vet, I'll have a word :face-approve:
wonder what else he's got...
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11th February 2013, 10:03 PM
Dinosaur Wrote:Only pay Red £23, I'd already chucked in the thing about coil-built pots exploding near the top of page 1, he shouldn't get paid extra just for using fancy technical words! - any openings in the indoor world of clipping corners off potsherds, can provide own nail-clippers? (bit brassic outdoors in Whitby today, led to such radical thoughts...)
Ah sorry, only skimmed thro the other posts - that'll learn me. You should have got into pots 30 years ago like I did, after spending the winter digging a Roman cemetery. I can report that my office is particularly toasty at the moment
\"Whoever understands the pottery, understands the site\" - Wheeler
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12th February 2013, 01:50 PM
Nah, on second thoughts you still need the likes of me with a mattock upping the sherd-count for your invoices (who needs whole ones, harder to draw), horses for courses :face-approve:
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16th February 2013, 01:57 AM
Seen similar from an IA context in Wiltshire.....interpreted as weights of specific value or gaming pieces....
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16th February 2013, 09:58 AM
Thanks troll - any clues available as to the site?
Weights might be plausible, although they'd be pretty large (saucer-sized-ish) for gaming pieces. Still looking at the burning/scorching on the edges of both, but not the surfaces. Could be coincidental...
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16th February 2013, 07:03 PM
Scorching on the edges but not faces sounds like they've been used as lids on a crucible or some such? One face protected inside the vessel, the other face in the 'shadow' of the vessel but the edges exposed to flakes licking up the sides? Thought of getting them zapped with a EDXRF gismo?
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16th February 2013, 07:16 PM
Sounds interesting. We have a hand-held XRF promised Dino - you never know yer luck! (Of course, nobody mentioned how long ago we were promised it... there's probably a waiting list a mile long by now...)
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16th February 2013, 07:25 PM
The finger-tipping could be for getting a grip taking them off? (asbestos fingers though!). Is there any hint of charred residue around the edges? A lid like that might have been sealed on with something around the edges
