These
pots were made especially for Bill's appearance at the English Heritage
"Festival
of History" in August 2005
They are made of a blend of earthenware clays, including some from
the actual Bronze Age Shrine at Chickerell (described elsewhere on
this site), together with a fair amount of grog (crushed fired clay)
to provide texture and strength - at the cost of some raw skin after
a day's making.
They were thrown on a slow kick wheel, with the clay stiffer and drier
than normal. The real Bronze Age potters may have used very slow turntables
(like quern-stones used to grind flour) to help make their pots rounder.
They would have built the pots up in sections, joining rings onto
a pinched base, then smoothing the joins.
The shapes show the variety of typical beakers, some tall and thin
- some shorter and wider, some have narrow waists, some low bellies,
some flared lips - a bit like humans!
The bases were fettled (tidied up), the surfaces smoothed by hand
and then the patterns were applied by pressing in wooden combs to
form rows of dots. The patterns are those found on Bronze Age pottery,
with losenges, zig-zags and herring-bones.
After careful drying, they were fired in an electric kiln, up to about
950C.
The Bronze Age beakers would have been fired in a bonfire pit, but
doing that is too much effort and results in many breakages.
These beakers are not exact replicas, but capture the spirit of the
beer-drinking Beaker Folk's favourite vessels. They are porous (which
helps keep the ale cool by evaporation!), but reasonably hard, they
make excellent vessels for all ritual purposes!
Any un-sold after the Festival of History will be offered for sale
at the Monkton
Gallery and during Upwey
Potters events.
