Making an impression at Fordingbridge
- DATE WRITTEN:
- READING TIME: 4 minutes
- AUTHORS: Alistair Barclay (Principal Post-Excavation Manager)
As work began on the first phase of excavations on the western edge of Fordingbridge, Hampshire, just outside the New Forest National Park, exciting finds started to appear. Investigation revealed an extensive Iron Age and Roman rural settlement which was previously unknown. However, it is one of the very first discoveries that provided much excitement – a pit containing 5,000 year old pottery of course.
A group of pottery finds have been identified as Middle Neolithic Peterborough Ware – a rare find from the New Forest edge. This specific style of Neolithic pottery takes its name from excavations carried out in Fengate, a modern suburb of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. There at the beginning of the 20th Century pottery sherds of a similar style were discovered by amateur archaeologist, George Wyman Abbott. This site was later re-visited in 1971 by archaeologist Francis Pryor, who’s archaeological discoveries would put the Fengate name on the map!
So what is Fengate Ware?
Fengate Ware, is a sub-style of Peterborough Ware, recognised for its distinct collared rim, elaborate decoration and flat base. It is among the earliest flat-based pottery to be found in Britain, first emerging from about 3,300 BC. This form of Fengate Ware is similar to round-bowls commonly found on the Early Neolithic sites.
Today, this style of pottery is more commonly referred to as ‘Impressed Ware’, so named for the technique that was used to create the decorations on the vessels. The impressions were made using a variety of naturally occurring materials and objects, such as the small bones of birds, ‘maggots’ of tightly twisted cord and even finger-tips.
What’s unique about our Impressed Ware from Fordingbridge?
The pit revealed large fragments from two bowls. The first would have been a small circular bowl, probably no taller than 10cm and no wider than 19cm. The surface of the vessel is highly decorated, the design consists of horizonal rows of small bone impressions (probably bird or rodent). Experts have estimated that the surface of a completed vessel may have featured over a thousand of these tiny impressions! Even the base was meticulously decorated with horizontal rows of fingernail impressions.
The second vessel would have been larger, and is more typical of Fengate Ware. This vessel features a more pronounced collared rim, unfortunately with this example the base wasn’t recovered. From the decoration of the surviving fragments we can see the design is just as complex. This example uses a sophisticated impression technique whereby twisted cords are used to create ‘Z’ impressions. Additionally, the pattern features some finger-nail impressions made between some of the impressed cord marks.
Why do these small details matter?
We can learn a lot from these seemingly small details, such as, if the potter was left or right handed. With these sherds it appears the potter may have been right-handed, as indicated by the direction of twist in the cord. In addition, the slightly curved and tapering shape of the cord suggests it may have been looped around a rounded object, something along the lines of a finger, stick or potters tool. The outer rim of this vessel suggests a much finer cord was used for its decoration. In comparison, the inner rim features a chevron pattern that would have been made with thicker lengths of cord.
Impressed Ware has only been found in about 30 locations throughout the whole county! Given that the geographical distribution of these discoveries have been fairly sparse, new finds from Fordingbridge are very welcome additions.
