The image for Day 195 is of another vessel from the Roman Kitchen found in the remains of a Roman building excavated at Broadstairs, a Knife-trimmed necked-jar in a grey-black Native Coarse Ware with grog and sand filler. The diameter around the exterior of the rim is 240 mm. and the surface is fired grey with patchy black and pink surfaces. This particular style of vessel can be dated to around 170-250 AD.
One hundred and twenty fresh sherds from the vessel were recovered from the thick deposit of pottery, making up nearly three quarters of this pot. Previous VM_365 posts have shown how vessels from the thick layer of pottery in one context have been reconstructed and this is the last of large jars that has been carefully pieced together by one of the Trust’s volunteers.
Like many of the other pots recovered from this deposit, the vessel appears to have been deliberately destroyed. A series of holes has been punched along the widest part of the body, as if the pot was systematically pierced with a thin rod or blade. Reconstructing the vessels has shown this pattern of holes punched with sharp object to be preserved in the distribution of sherd breaks in several of the larger pots and a moratorium recovered from the deposit.
The image for VM_365 Day 190 shows two views of a small ceramic object, found in an excavation at St. Nicholas in Thanet, which has an interesting and perhaps unexpected origin.
The image on the right shows that the object is hollow, so likely to be some form of spout. At the bottom right of the flat end are four little ceramic pins, that were used to key the spout on to the body of a vessel .
The object can be identified from other examples as a spout from a baby feeding bottle, dating to the Mid Roman period, probably the later second century AD. Baby feeding bottles of many different shapes and forms are known from many periods in history. The spout would have been be attached to a small round-bodied pot, which was comfortable hold in the palm and fingers, probably with a flat base to allow it to put down to stand without spilling the contents.
This object is perhaps one of the most interesting examples of the way that humans have created objects to supplement or even replace natural processes. In this case the object may have been used in circumstances where perhaps natural feeding was not possible, extending the potential of a baby to survive and grow.
The pottery fabric suggests that the vessel may have been made by Romanised indigenous people, rather than by Roman Gauls or even Romans from Italy. Perhaps the pre-Roman people had their own ways to feed babies, but in this case they seem to have adopted Romanised version of the baby feeder.
The image for VM_365 Day 179 shows sherds of a second samian ware beaker found at the Roman villa, Minster (see previous VM 365 Day 175).
As with Day 175’s vessel this is a type known as Déch. 64, after the French archaeologist Joseph Déchelette who complied a study of decorated samian ware made in Roman Gaul which remains an important publication to this day.
This autumn has seen the 100th anniversary of his death: Déchelette was killed in October 1914 during the early campaigning of the First World War as the French Army fought the Germans in the Aisne Valley, in southern Picardy. Although over 50 he was a captain and combatant. His contribution to archaeology is being marked in several ways including a special exhibition at Mainz RGZM Museum.
Several samian ware forms are named and numbered still following his catalogue. Form 64 is rare and so to have found two such drinking beakers at one site on Thanet is an indicator of the status of the villa and its occupants. The precise detail of the shape of this beaker type can vary as the drawings of complete examples (from Oundle and Colchester) shown here demonstrate.
Oswald and Pryce 1920, Plate XXI
The beaker from VM Day 175 has a more obvious bead to its rim and its appearance is more orange whereas this second beaker is more cherry red. These sorts of details can help us with dating these vessels. Day 175’s beaker probably dates to the Trajanic – early Hadrianic period, whereas this one is slightly later (Hadrianic). Perhaps this later example was a replacement for the earlier one, or the villa owner wished to create a pair. The decoration shows a chase scene, evidently hunting dogs pursuing a hare. The images on these beakers take us directly to the Classical world and remain as fascinating to us today as they did to Déchelette in his time.
Dr Steve Willis, University of Kent
References
Oswald, F. & Pryce, T.D. 1920. An Introduction to the Study of Terra Sigillata. London.
The image for VM_365 Day 175 shows sherds of a samian ware beaker found at the Roman villa, Minister.
Samian ware was the high quality table ware of the Roman world, made in Gaul, and it came in both plain and decorated types. At a villa site we might expect to see quite a bit of samian ware but whilst it is often present we have to wonder if the villa owners and guests also had something better to call on too to drink and eat from such as glass or silver vessels.
Typically samian drinking vessels are undecorated cups, but this vessel will have been more striking, more costly and more prestigious with its decorated design. It is an example of the type we call Déch. 64, after the pioneer French samian scholar Joseph Déchelette who described many samian vessels and their decoration (there will be more on him in a later post).
This is a rare form even amongst imported samian ware and so may have been especially prized at the villa. In this case we can fortunately see the name of the maker of the vessel as his workshop stamp is present. Decorated samian was made using a mould; here the potter making the mould impressed the die stamp bearing his workshop name in the mould, only it was impressed upside-down. Hence on the vessels made from this mould the name appears ’round the wrong way’ or ‘retrograde’ and upside-down.
Thoughtful potters took care over how the design appeared, but often we see mistakes in the impressed names. The stamp here reads ‘OFFILIBERTI’ (the ‘o’ is missing’) representing officina Libertus (‘the workshop of Libertus’). The lower photo shows the stamp here turned 180 degrees to read correctly. Libertus ii, as he is known, was active in Lezoux in Central Gaul in the early second century (c. AD 105-130) and his workshop has been found by archaeologists and examined. This stamp is his stamp die 2a as catalogued by Hartley and Dickinson in their monumental corpus of the stamps of samian potters.
A mould for this type of beaker was found at his workshop, but very few examples of the actual beaker with this stamp have been found in the Roman provinces. The decoration here includes a figure with arms raised which may be a rather bulky depiction of Venus, or it is a type where the figure holds a large theatrical mask above its head, only in this case there is no mask. There is a rather plump bird and also on the right side of the figure is the front part of a small deer with its head turned backwards on a tilt and its antlers therefore are pointing to the ground. These small figure types are appropriate for the size of the beaker and typical of the Roman classical world where animals are often shown.
We might imagine the Roman owner exclaimed their unhappiness when this vessel broke, especially if it contained a nice beverage at the time.
Dr Steve Willis, University of Kent
References
Hartley, B. & Dickinson, B. 2010. Names on Terra Sigillata. An index of makers’ stamps and signatures on Gallo-Roman Terra Sigillata (samian ware), Volume 5, London.
Stanfield, J. & Simpson, G. 1958. Central Gaulish Potters, Oxford University Press, London.
