One Iron Age Sherd

The only type of pottery I can reliably identify, because of the guidance of experts, is late Iron Age "local coarse ware". It is good to have at least one point of reference.

The photo above shows the latest single piece from Test Pit 2. It was found at level 4, which is normally the case. It is a rim piece that I've scanned to show the colour and nature of the fabric with its white inclusions.

I've no doubt that the presence of this type of pottery represents late Iron Age settlement in the immediate vicinity. The presence of copious amounts of this type of pottery in a previous dig, below, alongside and above pottery from the Roman era, suggest a continuation of use of the coarse ware either side of Romanisation.

Test Pit 2 - Closed!

I haven't been keeping up with events! Test Pit 2 petered out at around 40 cm. I scraped the bottom, measured the depth and then filled it in (and sowed some grass seed on the top).

The pottery finds are laid out above. Level 4 included some older looking pieces, including the largest piece (top right) which was of a colour and fabric I haven't seen before. More about that later.

One piece missing from the photo is a single rim-piece of "local coarse ware". It is identical in colour and fabric to my other late Iron Age pieces (see following entry). So, true to form, I always find at least one piece of this type wherever I dig in the garden.

The piece I featured in my previous entry seems similar in fabric (and inclusions) to two pieces of a gritty nature that have a green glazed finish. Although these have signs of a grey core, the fact that they appear to have the same brown pebbly inclusions makes me think that they are related. I thought that the orange piece I wrote about last might be older than this.

Oh for a pottery expert I can run to with such things!