York's 'African-style' Severan Pottery Reconsidered. (November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pitts, Martin
• Is Part Of: Britannia. Volume 52(2021)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 32
• Publication Date: 2021-11
• Subjects: pottery -- consumption -- foodways -- Ebor ware -- Roman York -- correspondence analysis; Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Antiquities, Roman -- Periodicals; Romans -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 936.10305
• DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X21000027
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0068-113X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article examines the phenomenon of so-called North African-style pottery made in early third-century York. The pottery, which was produced in significant quantities in late Ebor ware, is strikingly different from vessels in circulation in Roman Britain and the north-west provinces – so much so that the late Vivien Swan argued that it was 'made by Africans for the use of Africans'. The present study reassesses the evidence of ceramic genealogical influences, production waste, fabric supply, consumption patterns and contextual finds associations. The results shed new light on the manufacture and use of late Ebor ware by York's military community, qualifying claims made about the repertoire's links with novel culinary practices, cultural diversity and the unique historical circumstances of Severan York.