Artefact function and the distribution of activities

Abstract

In chapter 3, I discussed some of the nomenclature ascribed to Roman artefacts by modern scholars. In certain cases, I assessed the validity of this nomenclature’s assignation of functions to particular artefacts in this catalogue, especially with regard to Latin labels. The present chapter develops this discussion further, by using this contextualized study of finds assemblages to further our knowledge of the activities for which certain types of artefacts were used and of the spatial distribution of these activities. Sometimes the contexts and assemblages support and broaden our current knowledge, but at other times this study throws doubt on our current understandings of the relationships between this material and human activity. There is not space here to deal with all the classes of material in this catalogue so a few examples are highlighted. However, it should be noted that these observations are specific to Pompeii, and that any extrapolation from them to other parts of the Roman Empire, without further evidence, should be treated with caution. This discussion is also based predominantly on artefact distribution in Pompeii and any analogical inference which might be drawn from literary sources is avoided. This does not mean, however, that such inference should not be made using the results. The following labels, many of which were highlighted in the terminology chapter (Chapter 3), give either misleading or non-specific perspectives on the functions of certain Roman artefacts. Examples from this catalogue are used to demonstrate this, and to propose alternative possibilities. This term means a drinking vessel and is used in the Pompeii reports for a small biconical ceramic pot. None of the so-labelled ceramic examples in this catalogue has actually survived. However, a bronze vessel of the form to which this label was given (cat. no. 1286), was found in portico 10 of the Casa del Fabbro, together with a comparable jar (cat. no. 1287), but probably in a salvage assemblage. In the Casa del Menandro, one so-labelled ceramic pot (cat. no. 828) was recorded in the north-east corner of Room 43, together with a number of larger bronze vessels. The latter were possibly associated with ablutions, the serving of food and wine, and religion.