York Historic Environment Record

York. I. In the autumn of 1931 building operations were begun at No. 5 Clifton, occupied by the P.O. Telephone Department. In digging a cellar a large quantity of Roman pottery was discovered. No Roman buildings were found and the pottery was not stratified, but the site has been much disturbed by the present eighteenthcentury house and that which preceded it. The site lies on the Roman road leading north from the fortress. The pottery does not represent disturbed burial furniture, but is the debris of an occupation. It is safe to conclude that a house stood here. The earliest pieces of decorated Samian certainly indicate a firstcentury occupation, while the latest belong to the Antonine period. The site lies some 500 yards north of the fortress, and it is interesting to note evidence of a domestic occupation outside its walls in the first century. The collection, which is a large one, includes the following potter’s stamps; on plain Samian ware: COS . RV (form 18); CVCALIM (form 27); SECVNDI (form 27); on Amphora handles MAMRVS and /A.C (neither of which has been previously recorded in Britain or elsewhere). Two other amphora handles were marked X, while graffiti cut around the rims of two others read, according to Mr. C. Hawkes, of the British Museum, BIVILVIN and INNMIF. Among the great quantity of coarse pottery were several fragments of orange red ware decorated with stripes of red paint. These are to be published shortly in the Antiquaries' Journal by Mr. C. Hawkes.