David Applegate has been awarded the Annual John Gillam Prize by the Study Group for Roman Pottery for his Archaeological Project examining ‘Hoo ware’ – that is Roman pottery of the first century AD manufactured on the Medway Estuary. The study is the first comprehensive examination of this pottery type which was distributed in South-East England in the early Roman era. The pottery in question was rescued from the estuarine silts at low tide. The award was made by the Study Group for Roman Pottery at their annual conference held this July at Glasgow University. The award honors John Gillam, of Newcastle University, who was one of the ‘founding fathers’ of the study of Roman pottery using sophisticated approaches. The award criteria state: ‘A wide range of work on pottery found in Roman Britain is eligible, including pottery reports (both published and grey literature), synthetic studies, websites, student dissertations, theses, etc that were completed within the last two years.’
David says: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed working on the project. I realised from the beginning the importance of the assemblage found by the Upchurch Archaeological Research Group and I tried to do the best job that I possibly could. I hope the work I have produced will be a useful contribution to the field of Roman pottery studies. I am deeply honoured that the SGRP John Gillam Committee awarded me the prize.’
David is now aiming to publish the study.