Help identifying an artefact #3

[Kel]

I would go with the improvisied pot lids. The question then is what did they start out as

Thanks Wax. We'd chewed over the lid theory but the "things" are very heavy for their size and not that big. The pot they covered would have had quite a small diameter mouth but at the same time been hefty enough to support the weight of a lid this heavy. That seems to imply an industrial rather than a domestic process, but there's no sign of extreme heat on the "things". The limited scorching round the edges more suits being over a low-intensity fire and fits with the lid idea nicely. Just struggling to think of a suitable pot type/form which they'd fit over.

Certainly any other pottery from any period with that dimpling would be a good indicator if I can find someone who's seen it. Whilst we appear to have faint manufacturing evidence (possible textile impressions on one dimpled surface and the one with the possible saggy bottom appears to have been rested in sand when damp), I can't spot any use wear which might give us a clue beyong the scorching. They're both from chalk sites, so the fact that there are only calcium carbonate deposits on the dimpled sides of both, may or may not be significant (used as a lid over containers of boiling water? Just a natural post-deposition effect, given that those are the smoothest sides of both?).

As it's been found on two different sites which aren't exactly next door to each other, logic dictates that there must be more "dimpled ware" around these 'ere parts. It's just possible that nobody except me is nerdy enough to have found it interesting...