File:A body sherd fragment from a Roman Highgate Wood C ware 'poppy-head' beaker from AD 70-160. (FindID 841819).jpg

English: A body sherd fragment from a Roman Highgate Wood C ware 'poppy-head' beaker from AD 70-160. The sherd is decorated with four rows of grey painted dot decoration. Similar beaker can be seen in Davies et al (1994:85 fig. 413-427).

Dimensions: length: mm; width: mm; thickness: mm; weight: g.

Similar Highgate Wood C ware 'poppy-head' beakers on the database are LON-D9C5F5, LON-D56E99 , LON-D59C3E and LON-D572A0.

Davies et al (1994:83) write "Apart from beakers in HWC-1403, which were present in the late Neronian-early Flavian period, they generally occur for the first time in Flavian contexts, rapidly increased, and then remained important until c 150... Beakers are generally decorated with panels of barbotine dot decoration, and it is apparent that the diamond shaped and more complex ring-and-dot patterns are restricted to HWC-1403 (413-14, 420). The majority of complete vessels have a characteristic base with a single concentric groove; 416 may well belong to a IIIB."

"The grog-tempered fabric is the most common reduced ware in London assemblages for the period AD 50-100 (Davies et al 1994, fig 60). The sand-tempered ware is most common in assemblages in the first half of the 2nd century AD. One of the most readily identifiable forms in the later fabric is the 'poppyhead' beaker. This form is decorated with raised dots and the slip on these vessels, where burnished, can have a gunmetal appearance which may have been the desired effect as metal vessels were more expensive than their ceramic counterparts."

References: Highgate Wood: A potted history of the kilns at Highgate Woods and their products.

Davies, B., Richardson, B. & Tomber, R. 1994. A Dated Corpus of Early Roman Pottery from the City of London. The Archaeology of Roman London Volume 5. CBA Research Report 98. Museum of London: London.

de la Bedoyere, G. 2000. Pottery in Roman Britain. Shire Publications Ltd, Aylesbury.