A Lucky Find.

Sunday, 22 September 2013

A Lucky Find.

 

We took the dog for a walk yesterday down to the river near Watercrook were there is the remains of a Roman Fort , now only a few mounds in a field . About 400 yards from the fort the banking is slowly being eroded by the river - even though the River Board keep trying to repair it , in this area over the years I have found quite a few pieces of Roman pottery . I believe there was a rubbish dump in this area , so every time there has been flood I check the banks for any bits of pottery . Yesterday I found this base of a pot - a smallish drinking vessel (?) , it has a shiny red glaze in the interior which means it is Samian Ware which was produced mainly in Gaul (France).

 

 

The interesting thing is that it has a makers name stamp on the bottom ! , I can just make out MAIMI (?) I think, but somewhere I have the excavation report on the fort dig back in the 70s so will try and see if this name is mentioned on any of the pottery found then . Samian Ware was a quite high status product as it was imported from France , it probably dates from 150-400 AD when the fort was occupied , I will look up further info and post it when I find it .