Finding the Fifth Century: A Late Fourth- and Early Fifth-Century Pottery Fabric from South-East Dorset

This paper describes a type of pottery made in the same region as Dorset Black Burnished Ware that can be shown to be current during the late fourth and early fi fth centuries. This pottery — here named South-East Dorset Orange Wiped Ware — can be used as a diagnostic artefact to identify sites and features of the very late Roman period in Dorset. It also appears to be associated with a new architectural tradition typifi ed by the ‘sunken featured buildings’ present at the late and post-Roman site of Poundbury.