There were six decorated sherds weighing 24g, from different vessels (see catalogue). These form 3% of the assemblage by sherd weight, which is slightly lower than the proportion of decorated pottery at West Heslerton (c. 5%; Powlesland et al. in prep.). The entire decorative scheme (or form) cannot be defined for any of the decorated vessels owing to the small size of the sherds (mean sherd weight of just 4g), and all of them would have been part of larger decorative schemes. All six decorated Anglo-Saxon pottery sherds were sandstone-tempered. There was a further decorated sherd (12g), which is recorded as Romano-British in PERIOD 1, but which could be Anglo-Saxon (028AA00079HZ).
The decorative techniques that occur on the pottery from Site 28 are typical of the Early Anglo-Saxon period (Myres 1977). J.N.L. Myres established a typological framework based on a study of decorative elements and their arrangement on certain distinctive vessel forms. He also put forward a broad chronological framework, which has generally been accepted, for particular types of decorated pottery. However, the use of the decorated pottery to assign any sort of dating or phasing to the deposits in which they are located is complicated. It has been demonstrated at West Heslerton (and elsewhere) that the fills of Grubenhäuser were, in general, the result of secondary and tertiary deposition, with considerable movement of material between use, breakage and final deposition (Tipper 2004; Powlesland et al. in prep.).
There were three possible stamped sherds in the assemblage from Site 28 (weighing 15g in total) and deriving from different vessels (028AA00010ET, 028AA00011KV and 028AA00034NV). Three different stamp motifs have been identified.
Two of the stamped sherds also possessed incised linear decoration. 028AA00011KV possessed a horizontal incised line above Briscoe stamp motif A 4, which is bordered by two parallel diagonal incised lines and lies above two horizontal incised lines. This probably formed part of a stamped-chevron pattern, above two horizontal incised lines. Stamped-chevron pottery is, according to Myres, generally attributable to the 6th century AD (Myres 1977, 51). 028AA00034NV was decorated with one horizontal incised line above Briscoe stamp motif ?4.
There were also three incised sherds (9g), from different vessels (028AA0002CH, 028AA00011KQ and 028AA00034LW). The decoration on 028AA00011KQ consisted of two horizontal incised lines above two parallel diagonal incised lines, and this probably formed part of a chevron pattern. Similarly, on 028AA00034LW there were three horizontal incised neck-lines above two parallel diagonal incised lines and one vertical incised line, which might also have formed part of a chevron pattern. It is possible that this decoration occurred on vessels in combination with stamped or other decorative techniques, given that only a small part of the decorative scheme can be identified from single sherds.
All the decorated pottery in the assemblage from Site 28 has been illustrated.
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URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue27/2/appendix1.4.html
Last updated: Wed Nov 11 2009