CHAPTER XII
Unglazed Pottery, Glass Vessels of Bronze
THE unglazed vessels, exhibiting as they do a much greater diversity of form, colour and material, are more difficult to classify than those of Terra Sigillata. While not a few of them are made of fine ware, the majority are of coarse material and must have served as water jars and vessels for storage or culinary purposes. The varieties employed doubtless come from many sources, and as yet we know too little of Roman provincial ceramics to group them according to potteries. Of the recognised British groups, some of the black ware probably comes from Upchurch, while the Castor or Durobrivian ware also occurs more or less frequently. The distinct type known as New Forest ware is not represented in the collection, nor can we with confidence allot many, if indeed any, of the fragments to definite continental groups. On the whole, therefore, it has seemed best to classify the unglazed vessels according to their shapes, dealing first in each category with those which, from the place where they were discovered, or from other indications, may be considered as belonging to the early period. Speaking generally, the vessels of coarse ware of this period exhibit distinct characteristics which separate them from those of the later period, suggesting that they were for the most part drawn from different sources of supply.
Very few of the vessels illustrated were found complete. Usually they were scattered in fragments among the soil or at the bottom of pits and ditches, when it was only by patient and often long-continued search that the pieces were recovered. In many cases the fragments were insufficient to admit of the whole being reconstructed, and one or two examples which represent distinct types have been reproduced in outline with the help of specimens found elsewhere. As in the case of the Terra Sigillata, a series of sectional drawings are given illustrating some of the more typical forms (Plates XLV., XLVI., XLVII. and XLVIII.). Practically all these types can be assigned with some
243