The Riddle of the Sands

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Research partnerships with the British
MuseumSamian ware from Pudding Pan
Michael Walsh University of Southampton
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Thomas Pownall in 1778

• Reported
• a very peculiar kind of red earthenware found
  amidst the cottage furniture of the fishermen of
  the Kentish coast
• At Pan Speck
• His brother recovered, through trawling, half a
  hundredweight of brickwork cemented together,
  some small pieces of broken pans and then three
  entire pans

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Aims

• To identify the extent of the recovered
  assemblage
• To establish what the assemblage represents?
• To establish what, if anything, remains buried?

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Various theories

• Submerged Pharos or navigation marker
• Submerged pottery manufactory
• Stamps of Atillianus

• Submerged town
• Jettisoned cargo
• Shipwreck
• Votive deposit

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Public institutions

• 83 institutions contacted
• 22 museums did not respond (11 overseas)
• Visited 21 museums
• 5 other museums provided details
• Also identified 9 private collectors and recorded
  7 collections

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Largest collections

• Whitstable Museum
• 119 samian vessels including 2 lamps, 2 mortaria
• British Museum
• 103 samian vessels, 1 African RS, 2 roof tiles
• Maidstone Museum
• 41 samian vessels, 1 terra rubra cup, 2 roof
  tiles
• Swansea Museum
• 29 samian vessels
• Liverpool Museum
• 27 samian vessels, coarse ware fragments

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British Museum collection

• Prehistoric and Europe have two samian
  collections
• A sherd collection from their own excavations at
  Stonea (published) and Mucking (soon to be
  published)
• a haphazard but broad national coverage
• A complete vessel collection - comprising Pudding
  Pan and Colchester, which is one of the largest
  collections of complete vessels in the country

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Analysis

• To identify and record vessel type and potter
• To record vessel dimensions
• To identify pre- and post-manufacturing marks
• To analyse wear, damage and marine growth

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Biographies of the vessels

• When did current owners acquire pots?
• How many collections had vessels passed through?
• When were vessels originally recovered?
• Has recovery decreased or altered since perceived
  peak?
• Is there a cyclical recovery?

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Dates at which pots first entered museum
collections and dates of publications(Red
columns denote known recovery dates)
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Comparison of forms recovered before 1885 and
after 1950
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Pros and cons

• Pros
• Friendly, helpful staff
• Access to display material
• Access to accession records
• Funding from Friends of the British Museum
  particularly the Townley group

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Pros and cons

• Cons
• Responses can take a long time
• Some museums allegedly with PP material didnt
  respond
• Cant be too specific
• Poor lighting conditions for photography without
  flash