First overview of Grooved Ware pottery in 25 years published this week

The first overview of the origin and development of Neolithic Grooved Ware pottery in 25 years will be published tomorrow, Tuesday, October 31.

Revisiting Grooved Ware: Understanding Ceramic Trajectories in Britain and Ireland, 3200–2400 cal BC presents a series of papers from researchers offering both regional and thematic perspectives on the ceramic style.

Following its appearance in Orkney around 3200BC, Grooved Ware soon became widespread across Britain and Ireland, seemingly replacing earlier pottery styles and deposited in contexts as varied as simple pits, passage tombs, ceremonial timber circles and henge monuments.

As a result, Grooved Ware lies at the heart of many ongoing debates concerning social and economic developments at the end of the 4th and first half of the 3rd millennia BC.

Chapters cover the development of Grooved Ware in Orkney as well as the timing and nature of its appearance, development, and subsequent demise in different regions of Britain and Ireland.

In addition, thematic papers consider what Grooved Ware can contribute to understandings of inter-regional interactions during the earlier 3rd millennium BC, the possible meaning of Grooved Ware’s decorative motifs, and the thorny issue of the validity and significance of the various Grooved Ware sub-styles.

The book will be of great value not only to archaeologists and students with a specific interest in Grooved Ware pottery but also to those with a more general interest in the development of the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland.

Published by Oxbow, Revisiting Grooved Ware: Understanding Ceramic Trajectories in Britain and Ireland, 3200–2400 cal BC, edited by Mike Copper, Alasdair Whittle and Alison Sheridan, can be bought online for the reduced price of £36 for two months, after which it will cost £45.