This vessel is one of the smaller ones present in the assemblage, it measures approximately 100mm in diameter and the height without the rim is 85mm, about a tenth of the size of the vessel we showed yesterday. It is of a type known as a poppy-head beaker, so called because when whole the vessel resembles the seed head of a poppy. We don’t know if the Romans would have made the association with the shape though.
This little vessel is nearly complete although it is missing its rim. It is made of Kentish, Upchurch-type ware with a date of 130-170 AD and has a narrow incised border and the body is covered with a pattern of tiny raised dots distinctive of these types of vessels.
Today’s image for VM_365 Day 105 shows the largest of the vessels that were reconstructed from the pot sherds that seem to have come from a kitchen at the Roman building excavated at Fort House, Broadstairs. Among the fragments recovered were 147 pieces from this large storage jar, some of them very large. Pieces of this vessel, withtheir distinctive combed surface decoration are very obvious in the image of the pottery dump shown in VM_365 Day 98.
The sherds making up the rim are pictured in the front left of the picture published for VM_365 Day 100. The pot had a diameter of around 36cm making it much larger than any of the other vessels present, dwarfing the smallest cups and jars. The outer surface of the vessel had been fired to a red colour, while the interior had gone black. The outer surface was combed while it was still soft to create a pattern of vertical stripes over the whole body.
Although a large number of pieces could be joined together, it was only possible to reconstruct the full profile of one large slice of the vessel’s body due to its size, using a series of large interconnected sherds which are shown in the image. However, one section was enough to create the drawing of the whole vessel that lies behind the image of the sherds. The curve of the reconstructed section can be projected to show the volume of the whole pot.
Like many of the vessels excavated in the kitchen pot dump, the manufacturing traits of the grog tempered fabric of the storage jar reflected the transition from a Late Iron Age ‘Belgic’ potting tradition into a more Romanised fabric, of a type known as ‘Native Coarse Ware’. Vessels of this type were produced from the late Iron Age into the 2nd century of the Roman period, this one probably in the range of 70-150 AD.
What would such a large jar be used for? Perhaps for storing clean water, or perhaps another liquid like milk. It may also have been used in another cooking or preserving process such as brining or curing a large piece of meat.
Today’s VM_365 image is another of the vessels from the Roman Kitchen at Fort House, Broadstairs, a flanged dish, around 23cm in diameter. The vessel is made in a black fabric, at a time when Late Iron Age grog tempering potting methods were moving toward a more Romanised ‘Native Coarse Ware’ fabric tradition. This dish is likely to date between c.150 to 200 AD.
The interior of the dish has been polished to a sheen and then divided into quarters by a burnished cross. Most of the dish is present and a large part of it can be seen on the surface of the pottery dump in the centre of the picture published on VM_365 Day 98.
The image for Day 103 continues the series of images of vessels re-assembled from the many sherds recovered from the dump of kitchen ware from the Fort House Roman Building.
The vessel shown is a ring-neck flagon, a bottle with a handle which would have been used to store liquids, perhaps even wine. The flagon is made of a silty grey fabric with the addition of very fine grog filler and tiny fragments of red ironstone less than 2mm in size. Firing has turned the fabric to a buff-brown colour. The range of manufacturing date for this type of flagon is between 130-200 AD.
As it is pictured here, the pot has been carefully rebuilt from the 53 sherds that were recovered in the excavation, just enough sherds to reconstruct the full profile, although there were quite a few gaps. Fragments of another very similar flagon were present but could not be reconstructed.
Today’s image shows one of the smallest vessel from the dump of broken vessels at the Fort House Roman building at Broadstairs. This small samian cup was found in four pieces which we were able to reconstruct to show the complete vessel. Some of the sherds became encrusted by a chalky deposit while they were in the ground.
The cup was made in Lezoux, Central Gaul between AD 120-200 and is of Dragendorff 33 form, a common type of samian vessel. It has a makers stamp in the interior, the characters of which are indistinct, but the name begins with a V and cannot yet be identified. The base and rim shows hardly any wear, although the chip from the rim probably occurred accidentally while it was being used before it was dumped with the other pottery.
Reconstructed Mortarium, essential Roman Kitchen equipment.
For VM_365 Day 101, our image is of this Roman Mortarium dating from the later 2nd to the early 3rd century, was reconstructed from sherds that were recovered from the dump of broken vessels at the Fort House Roman building at Broadstairs. Almost all of the vessel was present, giving a very good indication of how it would have looked in use, recreated here with the addition of rough flint cobble to act as a pestle and some dried herbs in the bowl.
The Mortarium has an outside diameter of 240 mm was made of a silty buff-pink fabric, fired to a cream colour. The inside surface is roughened with the addition of small flint ‘trituration’ grits, which assisted with the process of grinding herbs, grains or perhaps even meat into liquids or pastes. The spout could be used to carefully pour off any liquid from the bowl.
The maker used a herringbone stamp on the flange to mark the vessel as a product of his kiln. A similar vessel, which was dated to around 140-200 AD, was found at the site of a Roman pottery kiln, near the Dane John mound in Canterbury.
From the sorting and refitting of the mass of pottery from the Kitchen dump, some very distinctive vessels began to emerge and although every sherd was present, some vessels were represented by enough pieces to make a substantial reconstruction.
In the image today the full circuit of the rim of a very large vessel has been assembled. In the tray to the right, the sherds from another nearly complete mixing bowl were gathered together, ready to be re-fitted.
With substantial elements reconstructible, the vessels could be identified very precisely…
Each of the sets of sherds that had been lifted from the deposit was carefully washed and then laid out in piles that represented an individual vessel. Of course there were stray sherds, pieces of the puzzle each vessel had become that didn’t belong in the set they had been put with when lifted. Each unknown sherd could be tested against the vessel groups and if possible placed with the right set.
Inevitably there were sherds missing from some vessels and others that seemed not to belong to any of the large sets. Each isolated sherd represents another interesting vessel in itself but a single fragments is perhaps not as impressive as the near complete examples that were gathered together in the process.
Once each group had been assembled, with as many sherds as could be located, the job of examining, identifying and counting the pots could begin…
The archaeological sequence tells us that the buildings may have been abandoned in the later 3rd century, as the stone lined cellar we excavated had been at least partly filled in with a yellowish gritty deposit. Later on a deep ditch or pit had been cut from ground level through the backfill of the cellar.
We can say that this happened around 300 AD because of the ceramic material that was found at the base of the pit. Covered by a sticky dark soil deposit with many oyster shells contained in it was a dense mass of pottery sherds and large sections of vessels. The sherds lay over several large rounded boulders of the type used to build the walls of the cellar, which may have come from the demolition of the upper parts of the structure, tipped in before the pottery was dumped.
Our image today shows the layer of sherds after they had been isolated and defined carefully by the archaeological team. A close look at the image shows how many different types of vessel were represented.
As the vessels were removed, each group of sherds or distinctive vessel was surveyed to locate its position and then the sherds were carefully removed. Our pottery specialists examined and dated each of the vessels, concluding that they formed a very tightly dated group, which we can say form the archaeological evidence were certainly all dumped in the pit or ditch at a very similar time, if not all at once.
Although little was left of the building we excavated, a deposit like this has the potential to tell a detailed micro-story in the history of the structure and consideration of each of the vessels and the group itself gives valuable insights into the use and eventual abandonment of the site. Our initial interpretation form the vessels recovered are that they are the contents of a Kitchen, with the vessels representing part of a working set of crockery that were probably in use together.
Over the next series of VM_365 posts we will explore more of the detail of this interesting discovery, the connections between them and the stories they generate about this important site.
Today’s image shows a sherd of Roman samian pottery excavated from a small site near Bleak House, Broadstairs in 2009. This was one of 81 sherds of samian pottery recovered on the site representing 33 different vessels.
The piece shown is one of 11 from the same highly decorated bowl (a Dragendorf form 37) from Central Gaul, dated between 100-130 AD. The decoration is arranged in panels divided by bead borders under an ovolo (egg shaped) border that surrounds the whole bowl.
The images on the vessel show part of a figure of the war god Mars and in a second panel in the upper half of a medallion, a nude pigmy warrior.
These motifs on samian bowls are common to Central Gaul where this bowl was manufactured.
Today’s image shows another of the vessels from the Roman Kitchen at Fort House, Broadstairs. 
The image for Day 103 continues the series of images of vessels re-assembled from the many sherds recovered from the dump of kitchen ware from the 
Today’s image shows one of the smallest vessel from 
