Colchester Archaeological Report 2: The Roman small finds

of a roundel is largely dictated by the pot from which it
is made. Small counters made from thick-walled pots
and large counters made from thin-walled pots are
rare (though not unknown, see 2299 and 2436). The
possibility has also been considered that some of the
larger counters were used in a game involving
throwing. Some of the pieces have been chipped in
antiquity. However, such chipping could equally well
occur during normal handling as from the objects
being thrown, and few broken roundels have been
found.
Perhaps inevitably then we are forced to consider
these roundels as pieces for board games. This is
supported by the abraded surfaces already noted. In
general, the boards used for pottery counters would
have had to be larger than those used for sets of bone
counters. The average diameter of our catalogued
bone counters is 19.5 mm, a size rarely matched by
pottery examples, most of which are between 25.0
and 50.0mm in diameter. As some of the pottery
counters are very big, the possibility that they may
have been used on a board drawn on the ground
should be borne in mind (ibid). It is perhaps also not
unlikely that counters of different sizes were used in
the same game and on the same board, though
obviously the size of the stations on the board would
be governed by the size of the larger pieces. Another
point for consideration is that larger pieces may have
had a greater value in the game than smaller ones.
Those pieces that have only a ground edge are
probably little-used examples, and those with a rough
edge are almost certainly unfinished. The method of
their manufacture seems to have been that a suitable
sherd was selected and its edge chipped or clipped to
a more or less even shape, then ground smooth either
by using a hone or by rubbing the sherd on any hard
surface that would abrade the fabric. (Only a few of
the counters are close to a true circle in shape, many
are ovoid, even elliptical, and two are
subrectangular.) The sherds selected are often from
the walls of grey ware storage jars (eg Fig 96, 2319,
2385), the walls or bases of thinner grey ware
pots,(eg 2290, Fig 96, 2307) or the walls or bases of
black burnished ware bowls (eg Fig 98, 2438) and
occasionally jars. Sometimes a whole base, rather
than a base sherd, was used (eg Fig 98, 2449, 2450).
As only twenty pierced pottery roundels have been
recovered, percentages produced by comparison of
their fabrics are probably not significant, but it may be
worth noting that two come from 1st-century contexts,
none is made from Hadham ware, but one is of Flavian
terra sigillata. There is some slight indication
therefore, probably more apparent than real, that
these pierced roundels tend to be earlier in date than
plain examples. The holes in pierced counters were
made with a drill. Most holes have an hour-glass shape
which shows that the drill was used first on one side,
then the other. As with plain counters three groups
can be distinguished: those with a ground edge and
abraded surface(s), those with no abraded surface but
an edge ground for at least part of its circumference,
and rough-outs. The technique of manufacture was
94
therefore, as might be expected, the same for both
plain and pierced counters.
If pierced counters represent a group of objects
genuinely separate from plain counters, then we
should look for an alternative use for them. The most
obvious is that of spindlewhorls, but the counters
catalogued here have failed to meet the criteria put
forward to identify spindlewhorls (p 67). Some
would ciearly be unsuitable on grounds of either size
(Fig 99, 2472), or the position of the hole (Fig 99,
2467). At least one (2471) was pierced after its use
as a counter, for it had abraded surfaces when it broke
as a hole was being drilled into it. However, if these
pieces are accepted as counters, what purpose was
served by the perforation? An attractive suggestion,
but one with no evidence to support it, is that
perforated counters could be strung together in sets.
Counters with a ground edge and at least one
abraded surface (Fig 96; 2295-2389)
2295 Fig 96 SF LWC 1041, A64. Topsoil. Post-Roman to postmedieval.
Diameter 27.5 mm, thickness 7.5 mm. Wall sherd.
Both surfaces have been abraded. Grey ware. Burnished.
2nd-century or later.
2307 Fig 96 SF LWC 776, B321 F70. Cellar backfill. Period 5.
Diameter 38.0 mm, thickness 7.5 mm. ?Base sherd. Both
surfaces are abraded. Grey ware. Burnished. 2nd-century or
later. Mark Hassall has on one side identified a graffito X,
and on the other multiple scratchings, all done after firing.
Fig 96 Pottery counters (1:2)