Fragments of the past.

Since we moved to a 500 year old house we have found scores of pottery shards in the garden. I have finally got round to displaying some of them. They range from chips of mediaeval slipware to 20th century stuff. One can speculate on the circumstances of their use and breakage. My favourite non-pottery find is the lead soldier ( Boer war I think) without a head. It doesn't take much imagination to picture the scene there!
If anyone knows a good way of identifying pottery shards I'd love to know it.