Het Gallo-Romeins aardewerk aangetroffen tijdens het archeologisch noodonderzoek op het toekomstige bedrijventerrein Plassendale III. (Zandvoorde, stad Oostende, prov. West-Vlaanderen) opgravingscampagne 2000-2001

The Roman pottery presented in this article was excavated during a rescue campaign at the Plassendale III industrial estate, situated in Zandvoorde, near Ostend, in the Flemish coastal plain. The majority of the pottery was found in an approximately 40 to 65 cm thick, sloping, stratified and organic layered deposit (Context B). Other Roman layers within the same excavation area could potentially be associated with agricultural activity (arable land). Context B was characterised by a dense presence of Roman pottery and dates to a period from the second half of the 2nd century to the beginning or first half of the 3rd century AD. According to the quantification method used, 40 to 50 % of the pottery was hand-made (some wheel-finished). This is also the case on other Menapian sites, even during Mid-Roman times. This type of pottery, mainly tempered with grog and/or organic material, belongs to a specific style within the Menapian hand-made pottery tradition. It shows parallels with the Romano-British Black Burnished industry, in particular through the long rims, their angular connection to the body of the pot and the lattice-burnishing method used. Other pottery types consist mainly of oxidised (mostly jugs) or reduced wheel-thrown vessels (some of which are of northern French origin), and, to a lower extent, fine wares such as Samian ware and colour coated and black slipped wares. Overall, the ceramics in Context B elucidate the Roman pottery assemblages in use within the coastal plain during the late second to early third century AD but, unfortunately, holds no definitive clues regarding its origin or depositional history. Given also the absence of settlement features such as pits or post-holes, it could be argued that this assemblage is the result of a selective dumping of waste from a nearby Roman consumption site. In this respect we should mention the striking absence of the so called 'technical pottery', usually associated with salt-production and normally found in very large quantities within most of the Roman find spots in the coastal plain. However, it has been accepted that the Plassendale III site belongs to a series of sites or find spots within the coastal plain, which yield almost no evidence of continuous human occupation and, therefore, are generally assumed to be the result of temporary or seasonal activity