Internet Archaeol. 17. Willis. 9.10 Summary of trends

9.10 Summary of trends

The above sections confirm that while the dynamics of burial rites and practice were complex and varied, a series of marked trends can be discerned from samian vessels in funerary contexts:

Samian vessels placed in burials were selected in terms of cultural choices. Clearly samian was culturally acceptable as a grave good across southern Britain and beyond.
Samian from funerary deposits is not a random selection, but rather is highly structured.
Burials associated with both rural sites and smaller civil centres more frequently have samian as a grave inclusion than do burials associated with major civil centres, despite the fact that samian is much more prominent among settlement deposits at major civil centres than it is at either rural sites or smaller centres.
Samian bowls are excluded from graves at all types of cemeteries, with only a few exceptions. The absence of decorated bowls is particularly conspicuous given their prominence among assemblages from all types of site (Table 35). This absence might reflect a wide tendency/preference as it appears to extend to bowls in coarse fabrics as well.
The overall pattern shows a very strong representation of shallow open forms, especially dishes or platters, supplemented by cups.
Of particular interest, the absence of decorated bowls apart, samian forms in burials reflect the frequency of those forms at their associated settlement context. At major civil centres, for example, the data show that the relative proportions of cups and dishes are closer to each other than at other types of site, with dishes moderately more frequent (cf. Chart 15: compare with the equivalent charts for other site types), and this is true also of the samian from burials associated with these sites (e.g. Chart 18).
Patterns are consistent over time, between site types, over a wide geography, and seemingly independent of sub-regional burial traditions and civitas regions.
There is some tendency for 'sets' and pairs of samian vessels to appear in graves, and for work of the same potter/workshop to appear in graves, often bearing the same die stamp. The latter suggests multiple purchase or acquisition of vessels, or even their selection, either specifically for inclusion in the grave, or, intriguingly at some prior time.
The pattern of samian forms in graves demonstrates that small forms were normally selected for inclusion, implying servings for an individual 'soul'.