Fabric 4.3 - Fossil shell tempered ware
Soft to hard fired fabric containing fossiliferous limestone inclusions which can range from dense, very fine crushed plate-like shell fragments (<1.0mm in size) to scattered whole shells and fossils (<20.0mm).
Ranging in colour from black/dark grey to orange and beige, often variegated.
Ranging in colour from black/dark grey to orange and beige, often variegated.
Manufacture
Hand-made
Decoration
Rarely decorated (Evans 1990); and then only with the use of finger impressions around the rim (eg Hurst 2000, Fig 6). May be wiped and some examples show traces of burnishing.
Iron Age (c.800 BC to 100 BC)
Published references suggest that this fabric has a long life dating from at least the early Iron Age. It is hard to diferentiate this fabric from 4.3 and it may be a continuation of a Bronze Age tradition.
Published references suggest that this fabric has a long life dating from at least the early Iron Age. It is hard to diferentiate this fabric from 4.3 and it may be a continuation of a Bronze Age tradition.
Hardness
Soft
Feel
Smooth
Surface treatment
Externally smoothed.
Core colour
Dark grey
Int surface colour
Reddish brown
Ext surface colour
Black
| DB ID | Modified | Description | Frequency | Size | Sorting | Rounding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 288 | 0 | Fossil shell | Abundant | Medium | ||
| 289 | 0 | Fossil shell | Sparse | Coarse | ||
| 290 | 0 |