Late Roman Dorset Black-Burnished Ware (BB1): A Corpus of Forms and Their Distribution in Southern Britain, on the Continent and in the Channel Islands

Malcolm Lyne presents a corpus of late Roman Dorset Black-Burnished Ware, commonly known as BB1, documenting vessel forms and their distribution across southern Britain, continental Europe and the Channel Islands. The study provides a systematic framework for recognising and dating a ceramic tradition central to the archaeology of late Roman Britain.

The distribution maps tell a changing story. BB1 reached its widest British market in the late third century, then declined across the fourth and early fifth, while shipments to parts of northern France—especially Normandy and the Seine valley—increased. Lyne also examines how production and supply worked, and the evidence that some potteries continued on a reduced scale after Roman rule in Britain ended.