Bowl Featuring Blacksmith Iconography
Malton Museum, North Yorkshire
We can find out lots about life in the past by examining objects like this – even if they’re not complete. It’s a useful object for considering how hard it is for archaeologists to piece together life from the past. Ancient civilisations rarely leave us complete bowls!
In Roman times, the more expensive pottery included decorative and design elements, like the applied decoration on this pottery fragment. The pot was decorated with the shapes of tools, very similar to the tools used by blacksmith’s today.
Norton was a centre for metal work and also a hub for pottery making in Roman times. We know there were more than 15 kilns in the town at that time. There is a great deal of evidence of this past industry in the form of pottery sherds. (‘Sherds’ is the name used for the broken and sharp fragments of ceramic material from archaeological sites.)
This type of pottery is known as ‘Norton greyware’ and is known to have been common in Roman Norton. It was normally thrown and sculpted on a pottery wheel and had a matt finish.
Click on the photo to enlarge it.
Watch the video to explore the object further
Watch The Video With Subtitles
Talking Points
Can you spot the tongs and hammers on the pot?
Why do you think the tools are still used by modern blacksmiths?
Do you think the pot would have felt warm or cold to touch?
Do you think it would be rough or smooth?
There are lots of Roman artefacts linked to ironworking – what does this tell us about Roman life?
Why do you think we find so much evidence of Roman pottery?
Do you think you would you feel pleased to find pottery sherds or frustrated?
Have you ever found a fragment of pottery before?
Why do you think you need to handle them carefully?
Vocabulary
Greyware: the name given to the most common type of pottery found in Roman sites in Britain. It is used to describe locally produced pottery as opposed to pottery that was imported.
Iconography: symbols used to represent something in a work of art
Relief: sculpted details that are raised above the flat background surface
Create your own pottery with this art activity video
Use the video to create Roman-style pottery with relief work. What designs could you include?
Watch The Video With Subtitles
Hold a debate
Tell students that you are replaying the video clip to listen to the disagreement about whether the Smith’s pot would have been expensive or not? You could ask them to comment on how the two presenters speak to each other. Are they polite? Do they appear to respect each other’s views?
Introduce the debate motion: this bowl was an important piece of pottery in Roman Yorkshire. Read tips to help you create formal debates.
Hands on History
Malton Museum runs ‘Roman Legacy’ workshops in schools across the region and you can also borrow an object loan box to explore the Romans in Ryedale.
There is a replica of this fragment of pottery included within the loan box.
Museum Location
