Terra nigra

Plates, cups and beakers in fine black slipped wares produced in northern Gaul and distributed across north-east Gaul and south-east Britain during the late 1st century BC and 1st century AD.

Fabric and technology

A variable series of hard off-white (2.5Y 7-8/0) to dark grey or brown fabrics, with thin darker margins, silty or slightly sandy textured, coated with a darker grey (2.5Y 4/0) or blue-black slip; highly-burnished surfaces, sometimes with individual strokes visible. Wheel-thrown. Much variation possible on an individual vessel.

Forms

Plates, cups, beakers and bowls.

Chronology

Augustan to Neronian/early Flavian.

Source

Vesle valley, near Rheims, the Marne valley and the Trier region.

Distribution

North-east Gaul, between the Seine, Moselle and Rhine. In Britain, principally south and east of the Severn-Humber line, with concentrations in central southern England, and Herts/Essex region.