Food Vessel

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Food Vessels are an Early Bronze Age, c.2400-1500BC (Needham 1996), pottery type. They first appeared in Ireland and later spread to Britain, particularly concentrating in the north. 'Food Vessels' were not necessarily used to contain food: rather their name derives from the fact early antiquarians decided they were not Beakers or ‘Drinking Vessels’ so were given the name 'Food Vessels'. Food Vessel fabric is coarse and thick and sometimes has elaborate rims in comparison to Beakers, which have fine fabrics and simple rims (Gibson & Woods 1997, 158). Food Vessels generally have complex decoration, and are of a similar form to other second millennium vessels, such as Collard Urns and Accessory Vessels, suggesting they all stemmed from the same type of Neolithic vessel (Gibson & Woods 1997, 162). Food vessels are often subdivided into Food Vessel Bowls and Food Vessel Vases. Vases are tall vessels with their height being greater than their largest diameter, while bowls are short vessels with their height being less than or equal to their greatest diameter (Gibson 2002, 95).

The earliest Food Vessels are of the bowl form and first appear in Ireland during the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age transition. It is a possibility that vessels discovered in Scotland and Ireland dated to the Early/Middle Neolithic, known as Impressed Wares, are the precursor of the Food Vessel (Gibson 2002, 95). Some people give the name Food Vessel culture to the areas where Food Vessel finds are frequent. However, in Ireland they are contemporaneous with beakers and seem to have been used on the same sites. It is only as a funerary accompaniment where food vessels are heavily preferred. In Britain food vessels arrived around 2200BC and are most prevalent at the time Beaker pottery was being replaced by other types of ceramic, such as Cordoned Urns and Collard Urns. Given the lack of Beaker using settlements in Britain it is difficult to know if the Food Vessels replaced domestic pottery as well as funerary pots. Food Vessels occur frequently with both inhumations and cremations in Britain and Ireland (Burgess 1980, 82).

[edit] References

• Burgess, C. (1980) The Age of Stonehenge. London: Phoenix Press. ISBN- 1-84212-432-3

• Gibson, A & Woods, A. (1997). Prehistoric Pottery For the Archaeologist. (Second Edition) London: Leicester University Press. ISBN- 0-7185-1954-X

• Gibson, A. (2002) Prehistoric Pottery in Britain & Ireland. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN- 0-7524-1930-7

• Needham, S. (1996) “Chronology and Periodisation in the British Bronze Age” Acta Archaeologica 67, pp121-140.