Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.1998, Page 147

Reviews
recent white earthenware, faience and
porcelain. Further distinctions within
these groups were made according to
the type of fabric, form and decora-
tion.
Chapter three is a register of Icelan-
dic sites where pottery has been found
up to 1991, arranged by districts. The
sites are described with regard to their
research history, the excavation and the
pottery found. The book can therefore
be used as a work of reference for pot-
tery sites on Iceland. The number of
the sherds found varies widely: 1985
sherds are known from Bessastaðir, 482
sherds from Gautavík, a medieval trad-
ing place, while only a single piece is
known from Þingvellir. Table 1 illus-
trates the list of sites, the amount of
sherds and the more specific classi-
fication into different types of pottery.
Chapter four represents the main
body of the work. As far as possible
the pottery was allocated to a specific
category and place of origin. The dif-
ferent types of pottery are presented
and further literature is listed. Repre-
sentative sherds from Iceland are
described and illustrated through
pictures and drawings. If possible the
vessels were reconstructed. The
amount of medieval pottery originat-
ing in England is very limited: only
one sherd of Scarborough ware and 3
sherds of Grimston ware have been
found so far (the finds of recent
creamware are higher in number).
French medieval pottery follows the
same pattern. At the moment the
identified pieces are limited to just
one sherd from Rouen, 3 from Sain-
tonge, and some additional fragments
ofMartincamp flasks.
A high percentage is made up by
stoneware from the Rhineland:
Jakobakannen, beakers and Schnellen
from Siegburg; jugs from Langerwehe,
Raeren, Dreihausen/ Waldenburg,
Duingen and Westerwald, Bartmann-
kannen from Frechen, as well as stone-
ware ointment jars, mineralwater bot-
tles and ink pots. Table 2 gives an in-
sight into the number of sherds and
the different types of stoneware they
are identified with. Stoneware has
been found in over 50 % of the sites,
the majority can be retraced to
Duingen, Frechen and Siegburg.
Special attention should be paid to the
Westerwald stoneware: in total 23
examples have been found on Iceland,
8 of these are complete jugs. 5 of these
complete jugs were used in churches
for holy water! This underlines the
status attached to this type of pottery.
Pottery from Holland was imported to
Iceland during the middle ages as well
as in post-medieval times. A consider-
able amount of redware has been found
in Iceland, but the country of origin
could not be traced in most of the
cases. Tin-glazed earthenware from
Holland like maiolica and faience is
represented with plates and albarelli.
The most numerous type amongst the
Icelandic material is redware from
northern Germany and/or Scandinavia.
This category of finds is treated
specially and is classified according to
form: cooking pots, pans, platters and
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