Black-burnished ware

Overview

A selection of pottery found in Roman Britain. The two black vessels shown at the back left are of black-burnished ware

Black-burnished ware is a type of Romano-British ceramic. It comprises wheel-thrown grey or black sand-tempered wares, typically everted-rim jars with burnished lattice decoration, bead-rim and plain dishes.

Black burnished ware 1 (BB1) was first produced in Dorset and other areas, and was black, coarse and gritty, and was widely distributed from 120 AD to late 4th century. Black burnished ware 2 (BB2) is finer, greyer and wheel thrown, and was produced at sites around the Thames Estuary (Kent and Essex) and distributed in south-east England and in northern Britain from 120 AD to the mid 3rd century.^[1]

Black Burnished Ware Expanded

Black burnished ware is a type of Romano-British pottery in ceramics that is essentially kitchen ware. It is also known as “common black (or gray) ware” and also “fumed ware.”^[2] Black burnished ware is “manufactured in two different fabrics” and takes a form that is typical for culinary vessels.^[3]

Black burnished ware also comes in two different categories that are based upon the location of where the ware was created and the components of the clay body as well as how it is made (such as by hand or wheel-thrown even though one way does not strictly belong to one category or the other). The categories are named Black Burnished Ware Category 1 (BB1) and Black Burnished Ware Category 2 (BB2).

Decoration amongst both categories of the black burnished ware consisted of everted-rimes, burnished lattice design, and plain dishes. Category 1 would have flat-rimmed bowls and Category 2 would also have bead-rims.^[4]

Black Burnished Ware Category 1

Black Burnished Ware Category 1 (BB1) is made from a clay body that has a coarse texture. The clay body can contain black iron ores, flint, quartz, red iron ores, shale fragments, and white mica.^[4] Category 1 was also grainy and black or dark gray in appearance. These wares were also formed by hand.

Category 1 wares were manufactured in the Dorset area of Great Britain. One such location of the Dorset area is the Poole Harbour. The Category 1 of black burnished ware was distributed throughout Britain which was found from the study of findings from archeological digs.^[5] The distribution of Category 1 wares was during mid-second to fourth centuries AD. The wares that were made which were normally for distribution were items such as bowls, dishes, and jars.^[4]

Black burnished ware tankard on display in Middlewich library

Black Burnished Ware Category 2

Black Burnished Ware Category 2 (BB2) is grayer in color and has a finer texture when compared with Black Burnished Ware Category 1.^[3] The clay body is also a “hard, sandy fabric, varying in colour from dark-grey or black with a brown or reddish brown core and a reddish-brown, blue-grey, black or lighter ('pearly grey') surface.”^[6] The clay body can contain black iron ore, mica, and quartz, all in a matrix of sediment.^[6] Category 2 is also thrown on the wheel (wheel-thrown) instead of being formed by hand.

Category 2 wares were manufactured in the Thames Estuary area. One such location is Kent, where in 1978 archeologists at a gas pipeline construction site found remains of four kilns which were once used to fire Black Burnished Ware Category 2.^[7] Another location in the Thames Estuary area is Essex. A pottery manufacturer of Romano-British Black Burnished Ware Category 2 called Upchurch Ware was located in south-western England in the Upchurch Marshes of Kent.^[8] The distribution of the Category 2 wares occurred from AD 140 through mid third century AD in south-east England and the northern part of Britain.^[6]

References