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I keep seeing people misidentify medieval pottery sherds as Roman on Facebook groups
Glazed jug handles from the 14th century are not Samian ware, I had a guy arguing with me for 20 minutes about a piece from a site near York. Anyone else deal with this kind of mislabeling in their local finds?
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irismartinez11d agoMost Upvoted
I feel you on that "glazed jug handles from the 14th century are not Samian ware" bit... it's exhausting when people just won't listen, especially after you've clearly explained it. I've had similar run-ins on local Facebook groups where someone posts a plain piece of Victorian stoneware and calls it Roman, and you just have to sigh. It makes you wonder if they even look at the fabric or just guess from the shape.
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derekjenkins11d ago
...and honestly that's just how people are with anything old they find in the dirt. It's like once something's got a little age on it, everyone's brain jumps straight to "Roman" because that's the only historical period they remember from school. I've seen people call a rusted Victorian horseshoe "Roman cavalry gear" and a piece of green glass from the 1800s "Roman perfume bottle." It's the same pattern you see with antique furniture where everything with claw feet is suddenly "Tudor" or old barn wood must be from a medieval pub. People just grab the most dramatic label they know.
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