A leading historian says there’s evidence to suggest that Purbeck in Dorset was once the centre of Britain’s pottery industry, churning out thousands of pots which conquered the Roman Empire.
The discoveries from a Roman pottery production site at Arne, once the heart of a major industry on the shores of Poole Harbour, have been so significant that they’ve featured in the latest TV series of BBC Two’s Digging for Britain.
Some of the 17,000 pieces of pottery found in situ
The must-have item in a Roman kitchen
Professor Alice Roberts and TV presenter of the popular archaeology show says that so many black burnished cooking utensils were made in the area between Studland and Wareham that they are now referred to as Roman Tupperware.
During excavations for The Moors at Arne, a wildlife and tourism site expected to open in late 2026, more than 17,000 fragments of pottery, two kilns and the remains of buildings were discovered.
They all related to black burnished ware, a type of pottery which was made by Iron Age settlers in Purbeck before becoming the must-have item in a Roman kitchen – and now its manufacture has been successfully recreated for the first time in 1600 years.
The finds feature in the episode Lost Mansions and Impaled Prisoners, which was first broadcast on Thursday 16th January 2025 and available on BBC iPlayer
Alice Roberts out in the field by the Digging For Britain tent
“Ramped up for the mass market”
Professor Alice Roberts, presenter of Digging for Britain said:
“Mass manufacture isn’t something we normally associate with prehistory, but at the stunning marshland location in Arne, archaeologists have discovered evidence from 2,000 years ago of a uniquely British product being made on an absolutely massive scale.
“The Arne peninsula is one of Britain’s most precious wetland habitats, home to countless wild species from Sika deer to spoonbills, but the mudflats here have also proved to be a rich resource for humans in the past.
“There’s a plan to extend this salt water marshland habitat, but before that happens Wessex Archaeology have been called in to investigate the heritage, specifically the evidence of pottery production from the Roman era.
“Poole Harbour was one landing site for the Roman invasion of Britain. When they arrived they found local tribes making hard wearing cooking implements – and they ramped up production for the mass market. This area would have been absolutely full of pottery production sites.”
Phil Trim of Wessex Archaeology on the moors at Arne with some of his Roman ‘Tupperware’
“I refer to it as Roman Tupperware”
Phil Trim, Wessex Archaeology fieldwork supervisor, said:
“We’re gaining fantastic insight into the inner workings of a Roman pottery production site, operating on a significant scale on The Moors at Arne.
“From the sheer number and variety of the fragments we’ve uncovered and the kilns themselves, we are able to start understanding the processes and the challenges they might have faced achieving that specific black finish.
“Black burnished ware was a local industry in the Iron Age and when the Romans came here, arriving in Wareham in 44AD, they took a real interest in it.
“It’s difficult to say exactly why the Romans took a liking to black burnished ware, it’s a very distinct colour with a nice, shiny finish, but not the type of pottery that you would use as fine dining ware.
“It’s for cooking use and we often refer to it as Roman Tupperware – by the end of the second or third century, everyone seems to have some in their cupboard!”
Greg Chuter of the Environment Agency at the site of the 1,900 year old potter’s workshop
“Hope the artefacts can go on display”
Environment Agency archaeologist Greg Chuter, added:
“We have known about pottery production in this area for the past 100 years, but what’s exciting about this site at Arne is the level of preservation we have got.
“We found a lot of features here including quarry areas for the clay, but most interestingly we discovered a rectangular area made up of a series of walls and we think that this building is the potter’s workshop.
“This pottery was at first incredibly popular with the Roman Army and then eventually made its way into everyday use and we are looking forward to exploring this site’s role in supplying Roman Britain.
“Further research into the pottery, kilns, buildings and the environment will increase understanding of the production of black burnished ware in Dorset and we eventually hope that the artefacts can go on display locally.”
A Roman kiln was reconstructed in Dorset using clay and stone from the dig site at Arne
Professor Stuart Prior and Dorset potter Bill Crumbleholme discuss recreating pots from the Roman era
Results were remarkably successful
In the TV programme Professor Stuart Prior from Digging for Britain joined experts from Wessex Archaeology and Dorset potter Bill Crumbleholme to make black burnished ware pots just as the Romans would have.
Dozens of pots were made by hand for the experiment, rather than on a wheel, using clay which included iron deposits which can produce a black or brown colour under the right circumstances.
The kiln opening was covered with turf, then a wood fire was set underneath it, with extra fuel added over a number of hours to increase the temperature inside the kiln at a steady pace – if heated too fast, the pots might explode.
Once the kiln was glowing red hot, the entrance to the fire was covered with soil, starving it of oxygen to create the right conditions to produce black burnished ware – and the results were remarkably successful.
Roman black burnished ware pots and bowls recovered from the site at Arne
The recreated pots from the experimental kiln came out with varying degrees of success
“It would have been a real industry”
Bill Crumbleholme said:
“As we know from recent experimental archaeology work with the Digging for Britain team, it is a very technical process that highlights the level of skill and control of fire the potters must have had.
“It is likely that there was a huge production site at Arne, with pots being fired almost every day except perhaps when the workers were called away to bring in the harvest.
“People would have been set to work collecting wood for the fuel and clay for the pots, there would have been people digging the kilns and potters making the objects to fire, it would have been a real industry.”
Further information
- Digging for Britain series 12, episode 6 featuring the dig at Arne is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer until the end of December 2025.
- Read about Wessex Archaeology’s dig at Arne on its website
