Ceramics: Silchester
Excavated pottery on display at Silchester, 1899
The exploration of the Roman town of Calleva Artebatum, near Silchester in Hampshire has produced many complete pottery vessels and fragments of thousands more. The Museum collection came from excavations by Revd J. G. Joyce, who worked on the site from 1864 to 1878, major work by the Society of Antiquaries, who uncovered the town between 1890 and 1909, and further excavations by Dr Molly Cotton, George Boon and Sir Ian Richmond in the 20th century.
The pottery used by the people who lived in Calleva came in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. Dating from the Iron Age, 800 BC to 43 AD, through to the end of the Roman occupation in about 409 AD. The vessels represent typical British-made pottery and ceramics from the continent; from everyday storage and cooking vessels to high status tableware. Displaying a variety of decorations; colour slip-coated, painted, indented, stamped, rouletted and burnished as well as plain clay vessels.
The pottery was made in many locations around Britain, including Oxfordshire, Alice Holt/Farnham, the New Forest, Dorset, Verulamium region and the Nene Valley. The collection includes a large quantity of Samian ware imported from Gaul (modern day France), along with fragments of amphora originating in Spain and Italy, and beakers from the Rhineland of Germany.