amphora
- Museum number
- 1958,0704.622
- Description
-
Fragment from the neck of a Dressel 1B amphora. This type has a deep upright rim, wide flat handles, and a long spike at the base. Very worn orange-brown ware. Typical Italian fabric.
- Production date
-
30 BC - 15 BC (buried, circa)
-
50 BC - 15 BC (made)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 178 millimetres (rim of vessel when complete)
-
Volume: 20000 millilitres (complete vessel to shoulder, approx.)
- Curator's comments
-
1958,0704.603-39 (excluding no.21) are part of a single Dressel 1B amphora.
-
This object comes from a Welwyn-type high-status cremation grave at Hertford Heath (c.30-15 BC). The grave was first discovered in 1956, and was excavated in 1957. The grave contained an amphora, ten pottery vessels, an imported glass bowl, iron shears, an iron knife, and a range of bronze and iron fragments. The latter appear to include the iron bindings and copper alloy studs and decorative sheet fittings from a large wooden vessel such as a stave-built bucket (what is now thought to be the lid was originally interpreted as a ‘wheel complex’).
The burial was located on a prominent hilltop, surrounded by late Iron Age and early Roman satellite burials, ranging in date from the later 1st century BC to at least AD 100. Between 1954 and 1957 'urns' were recovered from five different places north and south of the main grave. Clearly the high-status burial here on the hilltop remained a ritual focus for at least a century, well into the Roman period.
References:
Holmes, J, & Frend, W H C. 1955-7. A Belgic chieftain's grave on Hertford Heath; Trans East Herts Archaeol Soc 1955-7, 1-18.
Hüssen, Claus-Michael. 1983. A rich Late la Tène burial at Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire.
Stead, I M. 1967. A La Tene III burial at Welwyn Garden City; Archaeologia 101, 1-62. (Appendix, p52: list of all grave goods)
- Location
- Not on display
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1958,0704.622
