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Amphorae from Brockley Hill, 1975
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2011
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Bbrockley Hill in Middlesex lies one mile south of Elstree Village and is bisected by Watling Street, which now forms the boundary between the London Boroughs of Barnet and Harrow. It is generally considered to be the site of Sulloniacae which was mentioned in the Second Antonine Itinerary as lying twelve miles from Londinium and nine miles from Verulamium. Excavations from 1937 to 1974, whilst failing to confirm this, have provided evidence of a flourishing coarse-pottery industry there in the first and second centuries. The manufacture of bowls, flagons, jars (some with lids), mortaria, platters and tazze is well attested.
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- Copyright © Stephen A. Castle 1978. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
References
1 Trans. London and Middlesex Arch. Soc, 1937, 1948, 1951, 1953-54, 1956, 1958 and 1972-76; Arch. Journ. cxxix (1972), and The London Archaeologist, Spring and Autumn, 1973.Google Scholar
2 Excavations by the writer on behalf of the Brockley Hill Excavation and Field-work Group with the generous help of members of the Stanmore and Harrow Historical Society. The writer is indebted to the following for their reports: Mrs K. F. Hartley, F.S.A., on the mortaria and potter Dares; Miss C. Johns, F.S.A. on the samian sherd; Mr S. A. Mackenna on the thinsectioning; and Mr. R. White, Scientific Department, The National Gallery and Dr M. Hughes, British Museum Research Laboratory, for their reports on the resinous deposits on the amphora-sherds. Mr G. H. Hartwell, Deputy House-Governor and Secretary of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital kindly arranged for the donation of the finds to the Museum of London and a selection of amphora-sherds (including A1-A2) to the British Museum. Details of the findspot have been deposited in the Museum of London.
3 Castle, S. A. and Warbis, J. H., Trans. London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. xxiv (1973), 94Google Scholar, Nos. 8, 25 and 35-36. See also Wheeler, R. E. M., Verulamium: A Belgic and two Roman cities (Oxford, 1936), 174, 12.Google Scholar
4 Similar, though not identical, to Castle and Warbis, op. cit. (note 3), 94, No. 28. S. A. Castle, ibid, XXV (1974), 255, NI.
5 Castle and Warbis, op. cit. (note 3), 94, Nos. 3-4, 6 and 31. Castle, S. A., Trans. London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. xxiii, Part 2 (1972), 154, IIGoogle Scholar; Castle, S. A., Arch. Journ. cxxix (1972), 72, 7.Google Scholar
6 Identified by Miss C. Johns, F.S.A.
7 Callender, M. H., Roman Amphorae with Index of stamps (London, 1965), 9–12, 281 and fig. 1 No. 3.Google Scholar
8 Hawkes, C. F. C. and Hull, M. R., Camulodunum (Oxford, 1947), 251, Nos. 182a-183b and pls. LXXLXXI.Google Scholar
8 Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain: British Museum (London, 1964), 34Google Scholar, and fig. 17, No. II.
10 Lambert, F., Archaeologia lxvi (1915), 254–55, No. 12.Google Scholar
11 Cocks, A. H., Archaeologia lxxi (1921), 188, fig. 19, No. 13.Google Scholar
12 Bushe-Fox, J. P., Fourth Report on the Excavations of the Roman Fort at Richborough, Kent (Oxford, 1949), 244, No. 43a.Google Scholar
13 Deposited in the Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities, British Museum.
14 H. Blatt and J. M. Christie (1963) have pointed out the usefulness of this feature to characterise lithic units (Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, vol. 33, 559–79)Google Scholar.
15 M. J. Hughes, unpublished results. Most of the samples for the ‘tarry substances’ project were supplied by Miss Honor Frost from her excavation of ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. Some of these samples had been examined by other analysts and shown (by gas-liquid chromatography) to be of resin much hydrolysed/oxidised).
18 Masschelein, L., Heylen, J. and Tricot-Marckx, F., ‘Contribution à I'analyse des Hants, adhésifs et Vernis anciens’, Studies in Conservation 13 (1968), 105–21Google Scholar, including a useful bibliography of previous work in die infra-red field applied to archaeological problems.
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