Medieval Vessel Uncovered

Our archaeologists struck luck when they uncovered an interesting piece of medieval pottery on one of our Herefordshire sites.

Image 1: Here is an overall shot of the vessel in all its glory. We believe that this object was once a jug, as it has hints of a very classic medieval jug design.

Image 2: The thumb pinched base shows us that this piece of pottery has been hand-crafted. When we refer to a piece of ceramic that has a “thumb pinched” base, we are referring to the method that has been used to join the sides of the vessel to the base. In this photo you can see that they have been joined by using a hand pinching method to ensure that nothing can escape the vessel when it was once in its complete form.

Image 3: As you can see in this image, the residual green glaze is still very prominent, this is very typical of medieval potter.

Image 4: This vessel was once used for cooking. As you can see in this image the jug has been battered and has most likely ended up as a cooking vessel. There is also evidence of soot, which is not from a kiln, adorning the base of the vessel.

Be sure to check out our next post for more information on medieval glazing.