Colby Mooar Pottery Jar

Date made: Neolithic

Description: Just over five thousand years ago, the first farmers on the Island began using an important new type of technology - pottery. This particular example is a very distinctive local type.

The fabric is very coarse and some of the tempering grits exceed 10mm in diameter. The pots were tall with thick, straight-sided walls. A particular feature is their round bases, which indicates that they were never meant to stand up on their own, they were built to be buried. They were usually decorated by pressing pointed tools or feather quills into the wet clay - this pot has small dots all the way around the top. Recent research by Timothy Darvill and Kevin Andrews suggests that some of these pots may originally have been coloured as well. Many were covered with stone lids or textile/leather lids, possibly attached by a cord under the rim.

Pots like this are sometimes found with cremated human remains. The cremation would be covered by a much smaller pot and the large jars placed in the ground next to them, perhaps acting as a holder for offerings of food. But they have also been found without human remains, sometimes in groups, sometimes on their own.

This pot was found whilst a field was being ploughed in May 1947. It was carefully excavated and kindly donated to the Manx National Collections. It is one of the most complete pots of this type so far found.

Measurements: overall: 52 cm x 28 cm

Materials: Pottery

Date found: 1947

Object name: Pottery

Collection: Archaeology Collection

ID number: 1954-5786

Subject tags : #MM100

Comments