Description

Summary: 1 potsherd of grey-black, porous fabric grooved ware (one piece now detached) decorated with converging grooves forming a triangular panel, from SW topsoil of Snail Down XV bowl barrow, Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire, excavated by Nick Thomas, 1953-1957.

Research results

A Late Neolithic grooved ware sherd, found in the topsoil during excavations of barrow Collingbourne Ducis G3 by Nick Thomas in 1955.

Botfield (2012) has discussed the designs and depositional contexts of grooved ware in the North Thames Valley as part of her PhD with the University of Birmingham. She found that sites producing grooved ware were concentrated on gravel terraces near to rivers or their confluences. She suggests that the decoration is arborial in nature and that evidence supports the interpretation of a transhumant population, perhaps depositing the vessels as part of celebrations of fertility or thanks giving, to ensure replenished resources upon thier return. Her study also highlights different regional patterns and well as potential differences between the associations of different styles of grooved ware. For instance, grooved ware is commonly associated with henge monuments in the Wessex region, but not at all in the North Thames Valley, whilst the Durrington decorative style appears to be preferencially deposited within or near to tree throws and can be tentatively linked to human remains.