Roman pottery in the Tongeren reference collection: mortaria and coarse wares

This booklet in the series of reports of the Institute for the Flemish Heritage (VIOE, former IAP) about Roman Pottery, is meant to serve as a practical handbook for field archaeologists in Flanders wanting to study their pottery beyond simple typology. The contents are based on pottery research from Tongeren and Tienen, extended by evidence from the rest of Flanders. The first outlines of a reference collection for Flanders were formed while studying the mortaria from the vicus of Tienen in 1999-2000. This process would not have been possible without the help and knowledge of R. Brulet, Fabienne Vilvorder and their colleagues at CRAN (Université Catholique de Louvain) and my colleagues at the Institute as well as the other Flemish and Dutch archaeologists whose co-operation was indispensable for the building up of the collection. This first volume deals with part of the reference collection, namely the mortaria and the coarse wares. The essence of this work is formed by the photographs of the fabrics and of the pots themselves, trying to give a good overview of the pottery found in the löss region of the Civitas Tungrorum and taking as an example the National Roman Fabric Reference Collection in Great- Britain. The research is far from complete and some fabric groups will almost certainly be subdivided into different groups at a later stage. Only the fabrics that are clearly defined are mentioned here, besides, up till now most of the pottery has only been studied by means of a binocular microscope, which has its limitations. Though, we are convinced that one can get reasonably far by only taking a good look at the sherds and by handling them day in day out. Since this is meant to be a handbook for archaeologists who have not more than a binocular microscope, or a x20 lens at hand, if they are lucky, chemical analysis and thin sections are not our primary concern, although the information will be given when it is available.