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 is a map reconstructed by the Trust from various sources to show what our corner of Europe looked like at the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago. Look carefully and you can see the outline of present day Thanet hidden among all that landmass although at that time it would just have been a hilltop overlooking the river valleys to the north and east.
Links
There are a series of maps and articles that give more background to the construction of the map here: dons maps ice age
Our image today for VM_365 Day 96 is of another of the enamelled copper alloy brooches that were found at the excavations of the Roman Villa at Abbey Farm, Minster. Enamelled brooches like this were made in the later 2nd century AD.
The lozenge shaped, equal ended plate brooch, has two circular lugs at either end covering the catch plate and two equally spaced circular lugs on either side. The brooch has been cast so that the front rises in two stages to form a lozenge shaped cell in the central area, matching the shape of the outer edge. The cell is filled with blue enamel with white glass spots inset at each angle. The back of the plate is a circular hollow between the two ends of the clasp.
The brooch was found during a metal detector survey over the plough soil of the field in 2004, while trenches were being excavated on another part of the site. A wider survey of an excavation site using methods like metal detecting or field walking can often reveal finds that have been moved from their original context, usually when cultivation of the ground has disturbed the archaeological features below. The Villa at Abbey Farm had been very heavily truncated by ploughing and general erosion, reducing most of the site below foundation level. Finds from the wider area of the site where many of the artefacts like this brooch are dispersed can provide some information on the type and date of the archaeology that has been lost.
Other brooches from the same Roman Villa site have been shown in our posts on Day 90 , Day 89 and Day 88.
Today’s image is of a stainless steel dinner knife, unearthed a few years ago in the topsoil overburden of an archaeological excavation in Ramsgate. When it was discovered a few years ago, Margate’s regeneration was in its infancy and the Dreamland theme park on Margate’s sea front was just a faded and fire damaged memory of the past.
For many years it has migrated around our store, finding refuge in the oubliettes that hold the collection of objects from sites that are on the margins of being archaeological. It has languished in desk top pen holders and among the plastic toy characters and other objects that couldn’t escape the magpie tendencies of archaeologists.
The knife was unremarkable except for the stamped inscription on the blade which reads “Dreamland Margate Ltd.” O.S’, Guaranteed Stainless.
Times change and our attention has begun to focus on things that have been lost and we try to find ways to bring back a sense of their value. Margate’s arts scene is having its moment in the spotlight, Vintage is the new Zeitgeist and Dreamland is returning to the Sea Front.
We are now interested in the minutiae of the recent past and suddenly our knife, which carries the memory of Margate’s former glories wakes from its slumber to become an object of interest: memorabilia, Vintage curio, exhibit?
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 
Our image today for VM_365 Day 96 is of another of the enamelled copper alloy brooches that were found at the excavations of the Roman Villa at Abbey Farm, Minster. Enamelled brooches like this were made in the later 2nd century AD.