I finally noticed how many internet archaeologists get Roman pottery dating wrong

Was watching a documentary on YouTube about a dig in Britain and the narrator kept saying a piece of Samian ware was from the 2nd century AD based on the red gloss alone. That's not how it works. I learned this from a forum deep-dive after I found a broken pot handle in my backyard last summer. The red gloss technique actually carried on into the 3rd century in some regions. You really need to check the stamp marks on the bottom or the specific rim shape to narrow it down. Has anyone else noticed this same mistake in popular archaeology content?

2 comments

2 Comments

palmer.jana9d ago

Honestly, my buddy found a Roman coin with her metal detector and dated it wrong for a year.

matthewsullivan9d ago

Pretty sure half the Roman coins people dig up have been dated wrong at some point, honestly. @palmer.jana the thing nobody talks about is how many of those coins were actually faked by Victorian era forgers who copied bad dates from other fakes. Saw a guy at a show last year with a "Constantine" that was technically impossible because the mint didn't even exist that year. He still had a good story about digging it up though.