WHAT IS THE MORTLAKE WARE?

A family of elaborately decorated Neolithic ceramics found in southern and eastern parts of the British Isles. Dating to the period 3000–2000 bc, Isobel Smith divided Peterborough wares into three successive styles – Ebbsfleet, Mortlake, and Fengate – on the basis of their occurrence in the ditch fills at Windmill Hill. It is now recognized that these three groups overlap rather more than originally thought, and that they are best seen as part of the broad group of impressed wares found over much of northern Europe in the 3rd millennium bc. The decoration on Peterborough ware consists of pits, “maggot impressions” made by impressing tightly rolled cord, and the impressions made by pressing the ends of bird bones into the soft clay before firing. Some of the later vessels are the first in Britain to be made with flat bases. [Peterborough ware]

WHAT IS THE HEMBURY WARE?

A type of plain Early and Middle Neolithic pottery found in southwestern England in the 4th millennium bc, characterized by round-bottomed vessels with straight sides or S-profiled bodies.

WHAT IS THE GROOVED WARE?

A pottery style of the British Late Neolithic, widely distributed c. 2750–1850 bc. The characteristic vessel is flat based with straight vertical or outward sloping walls. It was formerly known as Rinyo-Clacton after two widely separated findspots (Clacton in Essex and Rinyo in the Orkney Islands). Throughout eastern and southern England, where it is particularly frequent on henge sites (Stonehenge

and Durrington Walls), it is decorated with shallow grooving or sometimes with applied cordons. A Scottish group, where appliqué cordons were much used in addition, is represented in Orkney at sites like Rinyo and Skara Brae. It is also found in settlement sites and in chambered tombs.

WHAT IS THE GRIMSTON WARE?

A type of Early and Middle Neolithic pottery of northeast

England, characterized by fine fabrics, good-quality finish, and round-bottomed forms with a carinated profile.

WHAT IS THE GRAVENEY BOAT?

A well-preserved Anglo-Saxon timber boat found in 1970 in the Graveney marshes in Kent, England. It is the only vessel of this period from the British Isles which has left more than an impression in the soil. Radiocarbon and dendrochronology have effectively dated it to the late 9th century ad. The well-constructed Graveney Boat was a cross-Channel cargo; it has been restored and is in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

WHAT IS THE GRAPE CUP?

A type of miniature cup or accessory vessel of Early Bronze Age graves in southern England, with a narrow base and mouth, and expanded bulbous body covered in small applied balls of clay that look like a small bunch of grapes.

WHAT IS THE CARP'S TONGUE SWORD ?

CARP'S TONGUE SWORD: A type of bronze sword used in the Late Bronze Age in western Europe – mainly in northwest France and southern England – in the early 1st millennium bc. It had a broad slashing blade and a long projecting point for thrusting and a flange hilt.