An original tool in the production chain of Gallo-Roman ceramics in the pottery workshops of Vermand (Aisne, France): The flint potter’s rib

Abstract

The Vermand site (Aisne) is a Gallo-Roman craft area specialised in pottery production, with clay pits, potters’ wheels, kilns and buildings. The waste from this activity included 67 flint artefacts, comprising 38 tools on flakes characterised by a well-marked and very shiny polish, 27 rough flakes and 2 hammers. A techno-functional analysis of this material was undertaken. The locally sourced flint was probably knapped in situ with the aim of producing flakes of calibrated dimensions, both in length and thickness. Two debitage methods were employed. The first involved unipolar flaking of the cortical surfaces of fragments of probably unfinished blocks. The second − the Kombewa method − entailed removing a circular, semi-circular or oval flake with very regular contours from the convex surface provided by the underside of a flake. The first functional analyses have shown use that evokes contact with a soil-like material with characteristics similar to experimental data on clay scraping. These tools were thus part of the production chain of pottery and a specific experimental program is underway to confirm these initial analyses and to specify the methods of use of these flint tools. This discovery confirms not only their permanence in the Gallo-Roman period, but also the perpetuation of know-how required for the production of flint supports.