Algunas observaciones sobre la producción de mortaria en Tarragona en la edad romana imperial

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present some carving lines, which have been observed on several marble mortars, conserved in the warehouse and in the permanent exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona (Tarragona, Spain). The majority of these pieces come from the so-called “upper part” of the city, which was occupied in Roman times by the Provincial Forum. Within a study directed to the understanding of the manufacture of marble artefacts in Roman times from the area of Tarragona, it was possible to circumscribe a group of marble pieces, conserved at different stages of the work process, which appear extremely interesting. In fact, these artefacts preserve characteristics that can be connected with some detail to the steps of their production. The mortaria are artefacts that have been rarely the subject of interest by scholars, mainly because of the simplicity of the object itself, but also for the ease of execution. These factors have determined a limited morphological evolution of their characteristics over the centuries such that their dating is difficult. Despite of this, the mortars from Tarraco represent a fundamental significant for understanding these artefacts. The carving lines visible on the objects allow to reconstruct the execution process, as well as the number found in a restricted and certain chronological context make possible to hypothesize the existence of a production within workshops that worked in the sphere of the site of construction of the Provincial Forum of Tarraco during the imperial period.