The image for Day 198 of the VM_365 project is of a sherd of multi-coloured or ‘polychrome’ decorated fineware pottery, dating from the Early to Middle Iron Age.

This group of conjoining sherds from a small-diameter beaker or round bodied jar, made in a fine fabric, was found at Sarre in 1991. The exact dating could be narrowed down further in the future, but it can be safely dated to between  around 450-350 BC.

The body of the vessel is painted with a triangular or chevron decoration in cream to white pigment.  The triangles are infilled with red iron-oxide pigment. This fragment of vessel is probably the best example that we currently have of this type of polychrome decorated pottery from Thanet.

Although only a small fragment of the pattern is present, it is possible to reconstruct the shape of the body of the pot from the curve of the sherds and to imagine how the pattern extended over the whole surface of the  exterior of the vessel.