An interesting piece of pottery was found today in a shallow linear ditch on a site at Westgate-on-Sea in Thanet. Although it appeared unremarkable at first glance, once it was cleaned up it became obvious that it was quite a significant find for nearly the last dig of the year.

The flint temper that can be seen in the pottery, in the edge and on the surface, helps us to work out the age of the vessel. In this case the pieces of temper are fairly large, so it shows us that this piece is of Iron Age date, from 700 -400 BC.

The outer surface is reddish brown in colour and has been wiped to smooth the surface. The inside face of the sherd is black with the flint tempering showing up as white flecks.