SDO12574 - Roman pottery from Upton House

Nine small potsherds and an imbrex fragment were found in molehills. The pottery includes fragments from two BB1 straight-sided dishes of 3rd-4th century type. Of which the larges piece appears to lack external burnished decoration and has been re-fired brown. The smaller piece is black and has the top part of a burnished loop on its exterior surface. Ther is also a tiny chip from an everted cooking-pot rim of similar date, but the other six fratgments of pottery are very small and non-diagnostic as regards forms. They are all probably BB1, with four pieces showing signs of reoxidisation. The three 3rd-4th century sherds and the imprex fragment are indicative of late Roman occupation and the re-fired nature of five of the sherds suggests the possibility of either pottery manufacture or brine boiling. More material is, however, needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.