Pottery Stamps: A Middle Saxon Viewpoint

Interest in pottery dies and stamp impressions has been renewed in recent years, after a period of neglect. Experimental work has been carried out using ‘opportunist’ bone dies, but a survey of surviving British dies of the Early Medieval period shows that the majority are made of antler, and not bone. This preference for ‘purpose-made’ antler dies is reflected also in studies of stamped pottery, and it seems likely that antler was the preferred medium for such objects both in Britain and on the Continent, at this time.