Pottery Analysis from Old Kilpatrick
As was reported on the 11th of August, pottery fragments were found during monitoring work conducted by Rebecca Shaw Archaeological Services on ground disturbance associated with the creation of an extension to a house close to the site of Old Kipatrick Roman Fort. This pottery has been subject to specialist analysis, carried out by Louisa Hammersley, and a report submitted to WoSAS
Five Roman pottery sherds were recovered during the excavation, all unstratified and from disturbed contexts. The collection comprises four sherds of samian and one of grey coarseware. The samian fragments are as follows:
- One plain samian body sherd (above), trapezoidal in shape and derived from the lower section of a platter. This sherd is fairly small, making the identification of vessel-type difficult, but the fabric indicates it to be a 2nd century product of the Central Gaulish workshop at Lezoux.
- One plain samian rim sherd of a probable Drag 18 or 18/31 R platter (above). The rim is unusually slim in profile, and Hammersley suggests that it was possibly manufactured in the Hadrianic-Antonine period (AD 120-150), also at Lezoux.
- One plain samian rim sherd of a Drag 18/31 R platter (above). The carinated base of the vessel was also present in the sample. Again, this is also idenified as a 2nd century product of the Lezoux workshop.
Image copright Rebecca Shaw Archaeological Services- A decorated samian body sherd from a decorated Drag 37 bowl (above). Again, Hammersley suggests that this is also a 2nd century product of the workshop at Lezoux, possibly made by the potter LAXTVCISSA, who produced a very similar design of two figures facing each other in an embrace (Stanfield and Simpson, Central Gaulish Potters 1958) between AD 140-180. The decorative technique is typical of the Lezoux workshop from this period, with panels, free-style and circular medallions. The presence of this potter's work should raise no surprise, given that most of the decorated wares from nearby Old Kilpatrick fort are the design of his contemporary at Lezoux, the potter CINNAMVS (Millar, The Roman Fort at Old Kilpatrick, 1928) whose products are twice as common in Scotland as on Hadrian's Wall and the "hinterland" forts beyond the mural barrier (Hartley, The Roman Occupations of Scotland: the Evidence of Samian Ware, 1972)
Image copright Rebecca Shaw Archaeological Services
Image copright Rebecca Shaw Archaeological Services
Image copright Rebecca Shaw Archaeological Services
In addition, a fragment of a flat base of a grey coarseware vessel, probably representing a storage jar, was also found. Like many grey wares, the provenance of this sherd is challenging to define with any great confidence, and although it does resemble Highgate Wood C reduced ware from London, it must remain undefined for the time being.
This is a small, but interesting, collection of material, particularly the samian sherds which all derive from different vessels. They do not vary markedly from the types recovered from nearby Old Kilpatrick fort, the probable origin of the collection, where excavations recovered some 250 plain samian platter sherds. All fall within the Hadrianic to Antonine period of manufacture and, with the exception of one sherd which is slightly worn, all are in relatively fresh condition, suggesting they have not been detrimentally affected by heavy plough damage or other taphonomic processes. The fact that the sherds are relatively unabraded, together with the likely form of the vessels, raises the interesting possibility that some may have been used to pour libations at alters erected to the memory of the dead along the line of the Military Way, which runs north from Old Kilpatrick fort through the area where the samian was found.