Examples of 12th–century coarse pottery

Fragments of hand-made unglazed pottery like these are the most common artefact discovered from the early medieval city. Most were plain vessels used in cooking; commonly their bases are heavily encrusted with soot. Other forms included lamps, lids and large storage jars.

Study of the fabric of such pottery reveals that the coarse filler used to temper the clay contains minerals typical of the Upper Greensand heathlands of the Devon-Somerset border, and that must be the area where the pottery was made.

Acknowledgments: RAM Museum, Exeter Archaeology