Grooved ware

A shard from the rim of a large groovedCornishurn

Grooved wareis the name given to a pottery style of theBritish Neolithic.Its manufacturers are sometimes known as theGrooved ware people.Unlike the laterBeaker ware,Grooved culture was not an import from the continent but seems to have developed inOrkney,early in the 3rd millennium BC, and was soon adopted inBritainandIreland.

The diagnostic shape for the style is a flat-bottomed pot with straight sides sloping outwards and grooved decoration around the top. Beyond this the pottery comes in many varieties, some with complex geometric decorations others with applique bands added. The latter has led somearchaeologiststo argue that the style is askeuomorphand is derived from wicker basketry.

Grooved ware pots excavated atBalfarginFifehave been chemically analysed to determine their contents. It appears that some of the vessels there may have been used to hold blackhenbane(Hyoscyamus niger) which is a poison and a powerful hallucinogen.

Since many Grooved ware pots have been found athengesites and in burials, it is possible that they may have had aritualpurpose as well as a functional one. Grooved ware comes in many sizes, some vessels are extremely large,c.30 imperial gallons (140 litres; 36 US gallons), and would be suitable for fermentation. The majority are smaller, ranging from jug- to cup-size, and could be used for serving and drinking. The theory that the first British farmers (c. 4000 BC) had the knowledge and ability to make ale from their crops with their pottery appears to be controversialand not yet widely discussed by the archaeological community.

The earliest examples have been found inOrkneyand may have evolved from earlierUnstan warebowls. Excavations at nearbyNess of Brodgarhave revealed many sherds of finely decorated Grooved ware pottery, some of it representing very large pots. Many drinking vessels have also been identified. The style soon spread and it was used by the builders of the first phase ofStonehenge.Grooved ware pottery has been found in abundance in excavations atDurrington WallsandMarden Hengein Wiltshire. Here, the feasting would have involved drinking ale and eating pork. Smaller quantities of Grooved ware have been found at the nearby site ofFigsbury Ring.

Grooved ware was previously referred to as Rinyo-Clacton ware, first identified by Stuart Piggott in the 1950s and named after sites where it was found.Rinyois a neolithic settlement on the island of Rousay, Orkney. The site at Clacton now lies under the sea.

One way the tradition may have spread is through trade routes up the west coast of Britain. What seems unusual is that although they shared the same style of pottery, different regions still maintained vastly different traditions. Evidence at some earlyHenges(Mayburgh Henge,Ring of Brodgar,Arbor Low) suggests that there were staging and trading points on a national 'motorway' during the Neolithic andBronze Age.This evidence perhaps explains howCumbrianstone axesfound their way toOrkney.

Unstan ware,a variation on grooved ware, emerged inOrkney.The people who used Unstan ware had totally different burial practices but managed to co-exist with their Grooved ware counterparts. Some hybridchambered cairnshave emerged in this region, containing architectural features of both theMaeshowesubclass and the Orkney-Cromarty stalled subclasses of cairn.

Further reading

• Thomas, Julian (2010)."The Return of the Rinyo-Clacton Folk? The Cultural Significance of the Grooved Ware Complex in Later Neolithic Britain".Cambridge Archaeological Journal.20(1): 1–15.doi:10.1017/S0959774310000016.S2CID162051938.