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Class : Coarse wares
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Source : Britain
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Distribution in Britain
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- Click on the image
(or here)
for larger map.
- This is a hectad map. More details of the data and mapping are available
here.
- Compare the distribution of this ware with others
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| Distribution summary |
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Illustration
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Roman Pottery in Britain (Tyers 1996)
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This ware is discussed on p.182 of Roman Pottery in Britain (1996).
Fabric code : BB2
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National Roman Fabric Reference Collection (Tomber & Dore 1998)
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Cross-reference from this group to fabric descriptions published in
The National Roman Fabric Reference Collection (1998):
- COL BB 2
- Colchester Black-burnished ware 2 p.131
- MUC BB 2
- Mucking Black-burnished ware 2 p.135
Illustrations of these fabrics are available only in the printed catalogue: R. Tomber & J. Dore,
The national Roman fabric reference collection. A handbook
Museum of London Archaeology Service, London. MOLAS monograph 2. (1998). |
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The Pottery kilns of Roman Britain (Swan 1984)
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This fabric was produced at kiln sites at these locations:
- Colchester / Essex
- Heybridge / Essex
- Thurrock / Essex
- Cliffe At Hoo / Kent
- Cooling / Kent
- Gravesend / Kent
- Highham / Kent
- Shorne / Kent
Display more details of these sites.Data summarized from V. G. Swan The pottery kilns of Roman Britain (HMSO, London, 1984, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: Supplementary Series 5). |
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| Summary |
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Wheel-thrown grey or black sand-tempred wares, typically everted-rim
jars with burnished lattice decoration, bead-rim and plain dishes.
Produced at sites around the Thames estuary (Kent/GB and Essex/GB)and
distributed in south-east England and in northern Britain during the
2nd and 3rd centuries AD. |
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Fabric samples Scale (when present) in cm.
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Introduction
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Farrar (1973) concluded that the BB2 of the north originated at
a number of sites around the Thames Estuary, and Williams (1977)
subsequently indicated that the petrology suggested Colchester
as a major source of the northern assemblage. However substantial
BB2 production assemblages have not yet been identified at Colchester
and apparently similar material is present on other Thames-side
sites. The principal Hadrianic-Antonine BB2 fabric at London (described
below) is apparently identical to the commonest Colchester BB2
fabric, but also very similar to that from some north Kent kiln
sites.
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Fabric and technology
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Hard, sandy fabric, varying in colour from dark-grey or black
with a brown or reddish brown core and a reddish-brown, blue-grey,
black or lighter ('pearly grey') surface; very finely burnished
with a characteristic 'silky' texture; abundant quartz inclusions
and some black iron and mica set in a silty matrix. Wheel thrown.
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Forms
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Everted-rim jars, bowls and dishes. Jars and bowls have a lattice-decorated
band across the body and dishes may have a single horizontal wavy
line. The detail of form and decorative motifs in the assemblage
from the north seems more restricted than that from sites in the
south-east.
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Chronology
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BB2 appears in small quantity below Hadrianic fire levels in London,
but no evidence for production much before AD 120 and development
of the style in the south-east seems to coincide with the expansion
of the distribution of BB1 at that date. The fabric is common
throughout the Antonine period.
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Source
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Colchester, or north Kent.
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Distribution
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The distribution of this BB2 fabric (as opposed to the other black-burnished
wheel-thrown wares which are known to be circulating) in the south-east
has not been defined, and is under-recorded on the map, . The
general style is abundant in Kent, the London area, Hertfordshire
and Essex. In the north BB2 is particularly characteristic of
Antonine Wall deposits.
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Aliases
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Caister-on-sea fabric BB2-102. Carlisle fabric 316.
Chelmsford fabric 41. Colchester fabric GB. JRPS
bibliography fabric bb2. Old Penrith fabric 44. Kent
coarse fabric 4.
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Bibliography
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Farrar 1973; Williams 1977, group XII. The current state of BB2
studies is discussed by Monaghan 1987, 171-2; Pollard 1988, 87-91.
Monaghan lists 'BB2' fabrics examined in the north and notes possible
sources in the south-east (ibid., 256-7).
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References
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Farrar 1973.
Farrar, R. A. H., 'The techniques and sources of Romano-British
black-burnished ware' in Current research in Romano-British
coarse pottery: papers given at a C.B.A. Conference held at New
College, Oxford, March 24 to 26, 1972, ed. A. Detsicas, Research
reports/Council for British Archaeology, 10, Council for
British Archaeology, London, (1973), pp. 67-103.
Monaghan 1987.
Monaghan, J., Upchurch and Thameside Roman pottery. A ceramic
typology for northern Kent, first to third centuries A.D.,
British archaeological reports. British series, 173, Oxford,
(1987).
Pollard 1988.
Pollard, R. J., The Roman pottery of Kent, Monograph series
of the Kent Archaeological Society, 5, Kent Archaeological
Society, Maidstone, (1988).
Williams 1977.
Williams, D. F., 'The Romano-British black-burnished industry:
an essay on characterization by heavy-mineral analysis' in Pottery
and early commerce. Characterization and trade in Roman and later
ceramics, ed. D. P. S. Peacock, Academic Press, London, (1977),
pp. 163-220.
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