Death and Desire. Factors Affecting the Consumption of Pottery in Medieval Worcestershire

In this paper I have tried to demonstrate that pottery from consumer assemblages can be used to develop models which attempt to explain the mechanics of change and the cultural and social factors affecting consumption. The paper is in three parts. The first provides a brief overview of the consumption of pottery as observed in assemblages from consumer sites in Worcestershire dating to between c AD900 and AD1600. This is intended to provide a context for the second and third parts which focus on factors which may have affected the development of this pattern of consumption. The first factor is the greatly increased mortality rate of the 14th century, and how this could have affected the economic situation and the aspirations of both producer and consumer. The second factor is how ceramics may, or may not, have been seen as objects of desire by English medieval society.