Aylesford-Swarling pottery facts for kids
Aylesford-Swarling pottery is a special type of pottery that was made using a pottery wheel. It was found in places like Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire in England. This pottery is named after two old burial sites in Kent called Aylesford and Swarling. These sites date back to the 1st century BC, which is over 2,000 years ago!
This style of pottery arrived in Britain with people often called the Belgic people around the 1st century BC. Some historians call it "Belgic ware." It's still a bit of a mystery whether many people actually moved from mainland Europe to Britain, or if this pottery style spread because of trade with the powerful Roman Empire.
The Aylesford burial site in Kent was found in 1886. A famous archaeologist named Sir Arthur Evans led the digging there and wrote about his findings in 1890. Later, another site at Swarling was dug up. Together, these two sites are known as the "type sites" for Aylesford-Swarling pottery. This pottery was very important because it was the first time people in Britain used a pottery wheel to make pots. Sir Arthur Evans believed that the people who made this pottery were closely related to the Belgae from Europe. Modern experts still agree with him, though they now think this pottery started appearing after about 75 BC. Even in 2012, another expert, Sir Barry Cunliffe, said that Evans's work was "an outstanding contribution" to learning about the Iron Age.
What Does Aylesford-Swarling Pottery Look Like?
Aylesford-Swarling pottery has some clear features that make it stand out.
How Was It Made?
Most of these pots were made on a pottery wheel. This was a new and faster way to make pottery in Britain at the time. The potters often added a special material called grog to the clay. Grog is basically crushed, already-fired pottery. Adding it made the new pots stronger and less likely to crack when they were being fired in a kiln.
Special Decorations and Shapes
The pots often had interesting decorations. You might see "cordons," which are raised strips of clay wrapped around the pot. Some had a "corrugated" look, meaning they had wavy or ridged surfaces. Other pots were decorated with patterns made by combing or "furrowing" the clay. This created lines or grooves on the surface.
The shapes of the pots could be either sharp and angular, or smooth and rounded. Many of them had special bases, like a "pedestal" base (a tall, narrow foot) or a "foot-ring" base (a ring-shaped base that lifts the pot slightly).
