How to tell wheel–thrown from hand–made wares
Back to Time Period![How to tell wheel–thrown from hand–made wares](/includes/thumb/phpThumb.php?src=/images/objects/Roman-pottery-Devon.jpg&w=500)
Throwing on a wheel in the Roman tradition leaves typical horizontal throwing grooves on the inner side of the sherd. By contrast hand-made wares in the tradition of native potteries in South West England often show traces of finger-marks on the interior, even when the external surface has been smoothed by burnishing to appear very like wheel-thrown wares. The pottery fragment in the photo is hand-made.
Acknowledgments: © Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter City Council