ROMAN POTTERY FOUND IN BRITAIN. 
45 
III. British grey-black fumed ware, containing calcite and 
QUARTZ PARTICLES. 
This kind of ware is held to be of exclusively British manu¬ 
facture because no corresponding examples of the Roman period 
are recorded by Continental authorities or contained in Continental 
museums, and it long preceded the Roman occupation in this 
country. Sand appears to have been preferred by the Romans 
for mixing with their clay to increase the fire-resisting qualities of 
their cooking utensils, and for this and other reasons, one of which 
may be that the Roman tradition was more tenaciously retained in 
the military capital than in the more backward native or provincial 
settlements, this rustic type of pottery is poorly represented in 
York Museum. 
It has already been stated that a specially prepared body-clay 
was used in the manufacture of cooking-pots, consisting of strong 
fat clay containing a large admixture of silica in the form of sand, 
flint, or quartz particles (prepared by pounding), pounded pottery, 
or calcite, to render them more or less fireproof when exposed to 
strong heat or sudden changes of temperature. 
The use of calcite ("crystalline carbonate of lime) for this purpose 
goes back to the prehistoric period, pottery containing it and the 
mines from which it was extracted near at hand being described 
by H. W. Sandars,* as existing at Furfooz, in the province of 
Namur, Belgium. 
^Sandars, Archaeologia, vol 62. part I., p. 117-8, describing the use of the 
deer-horn pick in pre-historic flint, calcite, copper, salt, and tin mining, says it 
was found in old workings at Furfooz, in the province of Namur, Belgium, from 
which calcite had been obtained for the purpose, principally, of mixing it with 
clay employed in the neighbourhood in the manufacture of pottery. From the 
calcite extracted, the most suitable portions were selected and then broken up 
by hammering with a deer-horn implement or with stone mauls, to the size 
required for admixture with the clay. The pottery, Fig. 17, was very coarse. 
H. Wilmer, Proc. Soc. Antiq. London, 16 March, 1908, 2nd Ser., XXII., 164, in 
describing Late Keltic remains on the Coast of Brittany comparable with the 
Red Hills of Sussex, “Report of the Red Hills Committee” says—The pottery 
appears to have been made by hand as well as on the wheel. The black variety 
which predominates in quaniities shows a strong admixture of quartz and mica. 
Many of the examples are decorated with incised lines. Fig. 25 (7) and 25 (6), 
are referred to as typical of Late Keltic work. The latter is grooved on the under¬ 
base, and the former is formed of black clay, with a considerable admixture of 
quartz. 
Francis W. Reader, Appendix on Pottery, &c., found in the Red Hills of 
Essex, mentions a pedestailed urn of poor character from Red Hill III., 
