ROMAN POTTERY FOUND IN BRITAIN. 
29 
birds, and other small animals for stewing ; a wide base to rest 
securely upon a tripod, or iron grid, or uneven surface; a wide 
rim to allow them to be suspended over an open fire by means of 
an iron chain with hooks from a triangle, and lifted with a bit of 
rag on the fingers, in lieu of handles. Hence the attenuation 
which they, in common with others, have undergone in the course 
of centuries, is confined of necessity to the bulge. 
In the course of centuries the boldly rounded body gradually 
becomes flatter and the width proportions approximate more to 
those of a cylinder, until, in the IV. Century, the lip diameter 
becomes equal to, and at a later date, sometimes exceeds that of 
the body, while the base diameter undergoes little diminution. 
The earliest examples found at Haltern :; resemble in shape and 
proportions the bronze camp-kettle from the early pit LVII. at 
Newstead.f The rim of the latter is well curved for retaining an 
iron ring with loops on either side, into which the hooks at the 
ends of a curved iron handle were inserted, and others have holes 
in the rim on both sides for the hooks of a similar handle. No 
trace of an iron ring or handle has been noticed on earthenware 
examples, but rimless cooking-pots provided with lugs and pro¬ 
jections for handling have been found abundantly at Faimingen.j 
Cooking-pots were made of strong, fat clay, mixed with a large 
proportion of well pounded pottery, calcite, or silica (in the form 
of sand, quartz, or flint particles^, to render them proof against 
splitting and flaking to which ordinary clayware is liable on 
exposure to wood flames, or on introduction of hot and cold 
liquids. Hence the number of such vessels having their clay 
charged with sand or white particles is very considerable. 
Rim Sections of Oll.e. 
The material for comparative study of the rim profiles of ollae is 
obtainable from the authorities quoted with reference to white 
pitchers, and other writers who will be mentioned in passing. 
Such profiles are often serviceable for determining the types and 
dates of vessels. 
1 .—Recurved rim. This nearly semi-circular or C-shaped rim is 
that of the Roman cooking-pot par excellence , which arrived in 
* Loeschcke, Haltern V., p. 239, XII., 57. 
f Curie, Newstead , p. 274, plate LII., No. 1. Proportions, 91 : 108 : 51. 
| ORL XXXV., 66c Faimingen, p. 91, XII., 24, &c. 
