88 Casterhy Camp Excavations. 



The "bead-rim" bowls range in size from large pans that could 

 nob have measured less than from 15in. to 20in. in rim diameter, 

 to small delicate bowls of from 3in to 4in. in rim diameter. 

 The paste is very hard, and usually grey, varying from a light grey 

 to black ; sometimes the ware is baked to a light red or buff colour, 

 and then the paste usually contains red particles of pounded brick 

 or pottery. Sometimes the paste is mixed with pounded flint, and 

 often a considerable quantity of black particles. These black 

 particles consist of carbonized vegetable matter, and under the 

 microscope fragments of wood, and of grass or straw, have been 

 recognised. 2 



Many of the howls have been stained black, and in that case 

 generally have a beautifully smooth and polished surface. 3 



80, till or after 86 A.D., the type does not seem to occur at all, nor at 

 Gellygaer, in Glamorgan, said to have been first occupied soon after 

 A.D. 100. On both these sites flanged rim bowls seem plentiful, while they 

 ■were entirely absent in the " bead-rim " bowl period at Casterley, Oare, and 

 Knap. As to whether this pottery was imported or made locally there is 

 little or no evidence, but the quantities in which it is found, and the fact 

 that it is not mixed with poorer quality ware, suggests rather a local, or 

 at least a British, manufacture. 



3 Some years ago the remains of kilns were found at Broomsgrove, near 

 Pewsey, Wilts ( Wilts Arch. Mag., xxvii., 294). Some of the pottery found 

 there was of the " bead-rim " bowl type, and contained similar black grains. 

 Specimens of this pottery were sent to General Pitt- Rivers, who stated that 

 he had noticed similar grains in pottery he had found in the Wansdyke, but 

 that he had found nothing similar to it in the neighbourhood of Rushmore. 

 (Ibid, pp. 299—300. Excavations, III., PI. CCXXII. Fig. 15 ; PI. CCXXIIL, 

 Figs. 12, etc.). It would be interesting to know if similar black particles 

 had been noticed in pottery from other localities. 



3 The extreme blackness of some of the ware, and the variation in colour, 

 is probably due to " fuming," or smothering, a process well known, it seems,' 

 in the Late-Celtic or La Tene period. Before the firing is completed the! 

 vessels in the kilns are smothered in dense black smoke, the resulting black, 

 or blackish colour being due to the chemical action of the smoke and gases' 

 in combination with the iron in the clay, not — as was formerly thought — ; 

 by the direct penetration of soot, or carbon particles. Another method thatj 

 seems to have been employed was that of dipping the partially baked vessel 

 in a solution of " ground iron " and then re-firing. Some such practice as! 

 this may account for the fact that the bowls often show a zone of polished! 

 black surface round the rim, whilst the rest of the vessel is left rougb andj 

 of a dull red colour, perhaps the upper part of the vessel only having been 

 dipped. 



