By Kelly Corlett-Slater

I am a History and Archaeology student at Bishop Grosseteste University and I have been volunteering at Allen Archaeology for four weeks during the summer holidays. During my time here I have been doing post-excavation finds processing with Archive Supervisors Yvonne Rose and Cova Escandon; washing and marking finds from a late Roman kiln site in north Lincolnshire.

My favourite artefacts so far have been large fragments of ‘kiln furniture’ which now appear as very heavy, dark grey pieces of baked clay which would have formed part of the internal workings of a Roman kiln. These would have been in the form of kiln supports, a floor, and possible dividers or ‘wheels’ where the pottery was placed for firing. These were covered in powdery black silt which was easy to wash off. When these artefacts were clean and dry, the evidence as to how they were made becomes apparent. I was able to distinguish the folds in the clay, the fingerprints of the potter or kiln-maker, and the indent marks of straw and twigs that would have occurred when the clay was first used to line the kiln.

Kiln furniture from a site in North Lincolnshire

Allen Archaeology’s trainee Roman pottery specialist, Alice Beasley, explained how the kiln would have looked and functioned, describing how the repeated firing of the kiln would have melted the inclusions within the clay giving it an overall denser and darker appearance.

At least 4,500 sherds of pottery have been recovered surrounding the six kilns on site, with many pieces showing evidence of unsuccessful firing. These have bubbles on both the inner and outer surface that have expanded and exploded in the kiln during firing. To me these are more fascinating than successfully fired pieces of pottery! These unsuccessful broken sherds occur when the potter has not sufficiently beaten the clay to remove excess air bubbles or if sufficient temperatures have not been reached during the firing process.

Pottery sherds showing evidence of unsuccessful firing

Having just completed Antony Lee’s Roman Archaeology module at BGU, I learnt a lot about the different types of Roman pottery found in Lincolnshire and how they were made. Volunteering at Allen Archaeology has compounded this knowledge giving me the wonderful opportunity to have hands on experience with these artefacts and having experts answering my many questions. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and look forward to returning to do some more voluntary work in the future.