Late Roman Handmade Grog-Tempered Ware Producing Industries in South East Britain

Malcolm Lyne investigates the unexpected revival of handmade grog-tempered pottery in southern and south-eastern Britain during the late third and fourth centuries AD, when wheel-thrown Romanised wares remained widely available. Drawing on twenty-five years of research, he distinguishes industries in areas including the Isle of Wight, Hampshire, East Sussex and Kent.

Corpora of vessel forms and changing distribution patterns allow the industries to be followed through their expansion and eventual disappearance in the fifth century. The central question is technological and cultural: why did communities return to a manufacturing tradition more reminiscent of the Late Iron Age within a still-functioning Roman provincial economy?