Ceramic, England, 300-399AD. Box flue tiles were a specialist type of tile used within the walls of Roman buildings to allow hot air from an under floor hypocaust system to circulate up and warm the walls of a room. The wavy pattern on the surface was created by the potter running their fingers through the clay while it was still wet. Box flue tiles usually have surface patterns like this and lots of different designs have been found. Many of them are far more complex than what you see here. These patterns were not for decoration as they would not have been visible in the finished room. Instead they were used to create a rough surface, helping mortar and plaster to stick securely to the tile. Without this, the surface would have been too smooth. Model by Historic England Geospatial Survey Team
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