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Summary

An unglazed, earthenware, bottle with moulded decoration was reovered in the trawl net of Brixham trawler Catear. The ceramic bottle is a cream-ware bottle of the Mamluk period, most likely 14th century, and probably made in Palestine or Syria.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FINDSPOT (XIV - 1301 AD to 1400 AD (Between))

Full description

Armitage, P. + Armitage, K., 2005, An Unexpected 'Catch' for the Brixham Trawler Catear (Article in Serial). SDV360504.

Article from the Council for British Archaeology South-West, Winter 2005, where an unglazed earthenware bottle was recovered 10 years ago in the trawl net of Brixham trawler Catear. Initial examination of the item considered that the decorative style was non-European, probably Near Eastern. However, specialists confirmed that the bottle was a cream-ware bottle from the Mamluk period, most likely 14th century, and probably made in Palestine or Syria.
Further investigation revealed that such earthenware bottles in the Near East were used for water storage. The lack of glazing meant that the water could seep through the body of the bottle and evaporate on the outside surface, thus cooling the remaining liquid inside.
The discovery of the bottle on the seabed off the south Devon coast suggests the presence at that location of a late-medieval shipwreck. The 14th century date corresponds to the period of establishment of regular maritime trade between the Mediterranean and North Western Europe.

Ordnance Survey, 2017, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359962.

Map object approximately based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds

• FDV6634 - BOTTLE (XIV - 1301 AD to 1400 AD)

Associated Events: none recorded

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