potsherd - Roman pottery - Central Gaulish colour-coated wares

Class : Fine wares

Source : Gaul

Distribution in Britain

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Distribution summary

Illustration

Source of ware

Roman Pottery in Britain

(Tyers 1996)

This ware is discussed on p.139-140 of Roman Pottery in Britain (1996).
Fabric code : CGCC

National Roman Fabric Reference Collection

(Tomber & Dore 1998)

Cross-reference from this group to fabric descriptions published in The National Roman Fabric Reference Collection (1998):

CNG CC 1: Central Gaulish (White) Colour-coated ware 1 p.52
CNG CC 2: Central Gaulish (Cream) Colour-coated ware 2 p.53

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).

Summary

Colour-coated cups and beakers with pale brown or white fabrics, darker red-brown or brown slips and barbotine or rough-cast decoration, produced in Central Gaul and widely distributed across Gaul and Britain during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.

Fabric and technology

There are two fabrics:
Hard, almost pure white or cream fabric (2.5Y 9/0) with clean or slightly laminar fracture; sparse red inclusions, clear quartz and mica flakes. Wheel-thrown. Black, dark greenish-brown, (10YR 5/4-3/2) or red (2.5YR 6/4) slip with a metallic sheen; often blood-red (10R 4/8-10) on the interior and lower body. The paste is identical to the principal Central Gaulish glazed ware (CGGL) fabric.
Soft, fine pale-buff (10YR 8/4) or buff-brown fabric; slightly sandy and micaceous. Slip ranges from dark chestnut-brown (2.5YR 3/0) or black to orange (5YR 7/8) with a metallic sheen.
Decorated with barbotine, particularly 'hairpin' and 'teardrop' motifs, roughcasting of crushed white clay pellets, or more rarely, rouletting.

Forms

Cups and beakers; the 'hairpin' beakers are particularly characteristic. Rarer types include folded beakers, and shallow tripod dishes. The rims of the beakers are sharply everted and differ from those of the contemporary Rhineland industries.

Chronology

Produced during the pre-Flavian period, but the floruit of the ware is the Flavian-Trajanic.

Source

Central Gaul. The white fabric may be from the Allier valley, while the buff fabrics are probably from the area of Lezoux and Les Martres-de-Veyre.

Distribution

Gaul, the Rhineland and Britain.

Aliases

Gloucester fabric TF12Q. JRPS bibliography fabrics ccc and hpb.

Bibliography

Greene 1979; , summarizes the evidence from Lezoux, with a typology; also Bet et al. 1987. Symonds 1992, Group 1 & 2.

References

Bet et al. 1987.
Bet, P., Gangloff, R. and Vertet, H., Les productions céramiques antiques de Lezoux et de la Gaule centrale à travers les collections du Musée archéologique de Lezoux (63), Revue archéologique SITES. Hors-série, 32, (1987).
Greene 1979.
Greene, K. T., The pre-Flavian fine wares, Report on the excavations at Usk, 1965-1976, 1, University of Wales Press [for] the Board of Celtic Studies of the University of Wales,, Cardiff:, (1979).
Symonds 1992.
Symonds, R. P., Rhenish wares. Fine dark coloured pottery from Gaul and Germany, Oxford University Committee for Archaeology. Monograph, 23, Oxford, (1992).