Miscellaneous What is it - archeology finds

[Username]

I used to live with a couple of archeology students. I can confirm that the vast majority of what they find can be interpreted as “old **** in the mud”

 

[Pete Thomas]

"No idea. I would have to see more pics from various angles. I would suggest that they look into what kind of manufacturing was in the area 100yrs ago.

No manufacturing it was semi rural, Upper Sydenham and Forest Hill had started developing but residential

 

[Sacks Of Phones]

It's an early french horn mouthpiece. It didn't work particularly well as there was no hole at the other end.

 

[turf3]

The breakage pattern is strange. It looks as though much of the big end's end surface was formed; you can see the circular marks. But then bits are broken off, and it looks like there was a thin wall raised rim near the ID of that end surface.

I wonder if it was meant to sit on the wide end, like your first photo, to support something while it dried or was worked on. Early funnel for liquids to fill narrow mouth bottles (think amphorae)?

 

[Colin the Bear]

Dibber?

 

[Targa]

Flower holder off chariot?

 

[Woodpad]

It can be used as a pyrometric cone or a ceramic vuvuzela but I doubt that it was meant to.

 

[Dr G]

The breakage pattern is strange. It looks as though much of the big end's end surface was formed; you can see the circular marks. But then bits are broken off, and it looks like there was a thin wall raised rim near the ID of that end surface.

I wonder if it was meant to sit on the wide end, like your first photo, to support something while it dried or was worked on. Early funnel for liquids to fill narrow mouth bottles (think amphorae)?

If it was a pot leg, the legs and pot would have been formed separately. The legs would be stuck on to the bottom of the pot, and the interface smoothed over with additional clay. It’s a pretty predictable failure.

Given that a pot has legs, it is not impossible to accept that it was not made where it was found.

 

[turf3]

If it was a pot leg, the legs and pot would have been formed separately. The legs would be stuck on to the bottom of the pot, and the interface smoothed over with additional clay. It’s a pretty predictable failure.

Given that a pot has legs, it is not impossible to accept that it was not made where it was found.

Ahhh, I see what you're saying. So those circular marks in the clay at the big end would have been from the leg-forming process; then it was stuck onto the pot body, probably not all that well, and the broken bits would be from when it broke off the body of the pot.

Arguing against this is that it doesn't appear there's any wear on the small end where it would have sat on a table or the ground. But, it could have been a defective part thrown away or that broke on the first usage before it had a chance to get worn.

This would also explain the hole - if you put three legs like this on the bottom of a vessel and then fire the whole thing, you need a vent for the air inside the hollow legs.

Further to the "pot leg" theory - if you had a pot of this sort, and you banged it down on the table a bit too hard and the leg broke off, you'd likely throw the broken leg out the door in anger. Maybe you'd rig up something to be able to use the pot with only two legs.

The pot could have been made many miles away. For example, it's my understanding that red earthenware has been made in Staffordshire for several centuries now. It's not hard to imagine an 18th or 19th century wagon carrying a load of such pots to the South to be sold at local town market days.

 

[Targa]

Ahhh, I see what you're saying. So those circular marks in the clay at the big end would have been from the leg-forming process; then it was stuck onto the pot body, probably not all that well, and the broken bits would be from when it broke off the body of the pot.

Arguing against this is that it doesn't appear there's any wear on the small end where it would have sat on a table or the ground. But, it could have been a defective part thrown away or that broke on the first usage before it had a chance to get worn.

This would also explain the hole - if you put three legs like this on the bottom of a vessel and then fire the whole thing, you need a vent for the air inside the hollow legs.

Further to the "pot leg" theory - if you had a pot of this sort, and you banged it down on the table a bit too hard and the leg broke off, you'd likely throw the broken leg out the door in anger. Maybe you'd rig up something to be able to use the pot with only two legs.

The pot could have been made many miles away. For example, it's my understanding that red earthenware has been made in Staffordshire for several centuries now. It's not hard to imagine an 18th or 19th century wagon carrying a load of such pots to the South to be sold at local town market days.

Thus across the centuries the troubadours played the leg end of the broken pot.

 

[JayeNM]

It's about 100mm and 40mm diameter at the (broken) base. Yes, that makes sense with the hole, my wife thought similar, tagine pot although I think this must be quite old given the depth in the ground and I doubt many people were making tagines in Forest Hill in the old days.

Before the Great Reset...quite possible they were...

 

[Dr G]

The pot could have been made many miles away. For example, it's my understanding that red earthenware has been made in Staffordshire for several centuries now. It's not hard to imagine an 18th or 19th century wagon carrying a load of such pots to the South to be sold at local town market days.

Such local concentrations of manufacturing often drove trade between communities. I recall reading about a trade economy between opposing coasts of Australia many years ago. Axes crafted on one coast were traded for shells from the other. Once the trade route was established, it enabled the exchange of lesser trade goods. Where I lived in the Southwest, many of the indigenous communities were known for skills in a particular craft: bead work, silver smithing, pottery, etc., and products were traded. Bottom line: pots happen.

 

[rhysonsax]

Given that a pot has legs, it is not impossible to accept that it was not made where it was found.

Disentangling the negatives in this sentence has almost fried my brain. And I don't see how the legs change the possibility of anything !

Rhys

 

[Dr G]

Disentangling the negatives in this sentence has almost fried my brain. And I don't see how the legs change the possibility of anything !

Rhys

If it had no legs, how else could it travel?

 

[Woodpad]

If it had no legs, how else could it travel?

wheels

 

[Dr G]

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[Woodpad]

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