The Discovery of Phocaean Red Slip Ware (PRSW) Form 3 and Bii ware (LR1 amphorae) on sites in Ireland - an analysis within a broader framework

Abstract

Phocaean Red Slip Ware and Bii amphorae sherds have been identified, by the present author, at the site of Collierstown 1, County Meath. One of the advantages of discovering Phocaean Red Slip Ware Form 3 on sites in Ireland is that it is instantly datable to the late 5th and early 6th century AD - a valuable asset in an Early Medieval context; however, the main benefit in identifying this ware in Ireland is that its manufacture can be accurately and exclusively attributed to a centre in Asia Minor; a provenance which has major implications for long-distance connectivity in the Early Medieval period. Similarly, the Bii amphorae discovered in Ireland, manufactured in the wider Cyprio-Syrian catchment area, have never been assessed as a group before and the present study attempts to redress this in presenting fifteen findspots of Bii amphorae in Ireland; a marked increase on the two sites included in Thomas 1959 catalogue (1959, 108). This paper essentially addresses the complexity of the trade network between northwestern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean (and, more locally, between Ireland, Britain and France) in the Early Medieval period, thereby presenting hypothetical intermeshing trading models.