This case is full of ceramic pots we refer to as the Tanshelf Pots.
These pots were all found in a kiln that was excavated by archaeologists in 2008. The kiln was just east of Pontefract Monkhill train station on the site of an old maltings.
The pots themselves look very similar to a style known as Stamford Ware, which is dated to around 1100AD.
However, when the kiln was scientifically dated, it turned out to be from about 1000AD - 100 years earlier!
This was a complete surprise. Until these dates were confirmed it was thought that late Saxon Yorkshire did not produce any pottery, with the technology to create them only being reintroduced after the Norman Conquest in 1066AD.
Pots are also often used for dating in archaeology because the styles
can be quite closely dated, so the pots in this case raise all sorts of
questions about the dating of other sites in Yorkshire.
The pots are different shapes and types, including jugs with and without spouts, a wide-bodied bottle, and wide necked storage jars. They are all somewhat damaged. Some are incomplete and made from reassembled pieces, and some nearly complete but missing a small shard.
The pots are light cream or grey in colour, some with splashes of green or yellow glaze. Some are plain and some are decorated with incised lines and stamps. They are all very finely made.
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