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Class : Mortaria
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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.119-120 of Roman Pottery in Britain (1996).
Fabric code : COMO
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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 WH
- Colchester White ware p.133
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:
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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Mortaria manufactured at Colchester (Essex/GB) during 1st and 2nd
centuries AD; wide distribution in eastern and northern England and southern
Scotland during mid-late 2nd century AD. |
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Fabric samples Scale (when present) in cm.
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Introduction
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Mortaria were produced at Colchester from c. AD 50/55, but until
the mid-2nd cent. the industry was relatively small scale. Some
Colchester potters moved to the Verulamium region during the 1st
cent. (see VRMO). From c. AD 140 production expanded, influenced
by potters from the Rhineland who developed colour-coated and
sigillata in the same workshops. Only the 2nd cent. Colchester
mortaria are considered here.
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Fabric and technology
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Fine textured cream or creamy-yellow fabric with some fine quartz,
flint and red-brown ironstone tempering; gritted with quartz and
flint.
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Forms
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Mortaria; several varieties, including hooked flange, deep vertical
flange and short stubby flange with a narrow bead (e.g. Colchester
forms 497, 498, 501. Gillam 263, 265).
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Stamps
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Several named potters; also herringbone stamps, which are particularly
characteristic of Colchester mortaria.
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Potter
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Date
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ACCEPTUS
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140-190
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also stamped COTS
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AMMINUS
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140-190
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BARO
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140-190
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-> RBMO?
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CUNOPECTUS
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160-200
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also stamped COTS
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DUBITATUS
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140-180
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LITUGENUS
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140-180
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MARIAUS
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140-190
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MARTINUS
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140-190
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MESSOR
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140-180
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REGALIS
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160-200
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<-> Ellingham (Norfolk)
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Table 1. Principal Colchester mortarium
potters, AD 140-200
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Chronology
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AD 140-200; the herringbone stamps generally AD 140-170/180
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Source
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Principally Colchester, but similar fabrics also produced elsewhere
in East Anglia and perhaps Kent. One Colchester potter Regalis,
also had workshops at Ellingham (Norfolk) and two, Cunopectus
and Acceptus, stamped both mortaria and sigillata at Colchester.
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Distribution
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South-east England (East Anglia and Kent), northern England and
Scotland. Colchester was a major supplier to forts on the Antonine
frontier (55% at Rough Castle; 45% at Inveresk).
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Aliases
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Caister-on-sea fabric COLCH. Chesterfield fabrics
m14 and m15. Colchester fabric TZ. Gestingthorpe
mortarium fabrics A-G. Great Chesterford mortarium fabrics
14-15. JRPS bibliography fabric clm. Rough Castle
mortarium fabric 2.
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Bibliography
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On the kilns Hull 1963;: RCHM gazetteer 92-5, F273-88;
for overall distribution Hartley 1973;: for Scottish distribution:
Hartley in MacIvor et al. 1981, 261-6.
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References
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Hartley 1973.
Hartley, K. F., 'The marketing and distribution of mortaria' 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. 35-91.
Hull 1963.
Hull, M. R., The Roman potters' kilns of Colchester, Reports
of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London,
21, Society of Antiquaries and the Corporation of the Borough
of Colchester, Oxford, (1963).
MacIvor et al. 1981.
MacIvor, I., Thomas, M. C. and Breeze, D. J., 'Excavations on
the Antonine Wall fort of Rough Castle, Stirlingshire, 1957-61',
PSAS, 110, (1981), pp. 230-85.
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