Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. Its manufacturers are sometimes known as the Grooved ware people. An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae Scotland, Europes most complete Neolithic village. ... Most Neolithic cultures in Britain are best identified by the pottery remains which they left. ...

Early in the 3rd millennium BC, Grooved ware began to appear all over the British Isles. The diagnostic shape for the style is a flat bottomed pot with straight sides sloping outwards and grooved decoration around the top. Beyond this the pottery comes in many different varieties, some with complex geometric decorations others with applique bands added. The latter has led some archaeologists to argue that the style is a skeuomorph and is derived from wicker basketry. The 3rd millennium BC spans the Early to Middle Bronze Age. ... Location of the British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe consisting of Great Britain, Ireland, and several thousand smaller surrounding islands and islets. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Skeuomorph is a term used in the history of design and also in other fields including archaeology. ...

Grooved ware pots excavated at Balfarg in Fife have been chemically analysed to determine their contents. It appears that some of the vessels there may have been used to hold black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) which is a poison but also a powerful hallucinogen. This discovery is briefly explored by the Internet Archaeology Journal of the Council for British Archaeology in the article 'The use of henbane as a hallucinogen at Neolithic 'ritual' sites: a re-evaluation.' Balfarg is a prehistoric monument complex near Glenrothes in Fife. ... Fife (Fìobh in Gaelic) is a council area of Scotland, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with landward boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. ... Binomial name Hyoscyamus niger L. Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is a plant of the family Solanaceae that originated in Eurasia. ...

Since many Grooved ware pots have been found at henge sites and in burials it is possible that they may have had a ritual purpose as well as a functional one. A henge is a roughly circular or oval-shaped flat area over 20m in diameter which is enclosed and delimited by a boundary earthwork that usually comprises a ditch with an external bank. ... A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ...

The earliest examples have been found in Orkney and may have evolved from earlier Unstan ware bowls. The style soon spread and it was used by the builders of the first phase of Stonehenge. Grooved Ware pottery has been found in abundance in recent excavations at Durrington Walls in Wiltshire. Smaller quatities have also been found at the nearby site of Figsbury Ring. Flag of Orkney (unofficial). ... Unstan ware is the name used by archaeologists for a type of finely made and decorated Neolithic pottery from the 4th millennium BC. Typical are elegant, round based bowls with a band of grooved patterning below the rim. ... Stonehenge in 2004 Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. ... Durrington Walls is a prehistoric henge enclosure monument situated close to Woodhenge on Salisbury Plain. ... Figsbury Ring (grid reference SU188338) is a 11. ...

Grooved ware was previously referred to as Rinyo-Clacton ware.