Filmo Verhagen: Daily life in the Roman Republican countryside: A ceramic perspective on change and continuity in the production, distribution and consumption of cooking wares from the Pontine region (Central Italy), 4th–1st centuries BC

Abstract

Daily life in the Roman Republican countryside (4th–1st centuries BC) was influenced by the lasting effects of unification and integration into the Roman state. The outcomes of this process varied between areas depending on the local environment and pre-Roman history, leading to variation in daily practices among rural communities. This study aims to shed new light on the rural communities of the Pontine region and how they were impacted by larger-scale socio-economic processes. Through a detailed study of the production, distribution and consumption of cooking wares retrieved during surveys of farmsteads in the region, elements of change and continuity are explored. 

In order to be able to connect small-scale data obtained from ceramic fabrics and individual sherds to large-scale socio-economic and top-down political processes, a multi-scalar behavioural framework centred on the life cycle of cooking wares is employed. The assemblages recovered from consumption contexts are viewed as remnants of habitual behaviour performed in domestic settings. Indirectly, the ceramic fragments also provide information about the production and distribution of these pots through their fabrics. 

The morphological longevity and standardisation of different vessel forms suggests that production technology and consumption practices were widely shared, leading to the conceptualisation of what a cooking pot should look like. Minor morphological, technological and distributional changes occurred in the first half of the 2nd century BC. These tentatively point to changes in the organisation of production and distribution mechanisms, with regional and interregional producers supplying the Pontine pottery markets. This coincided with much wider societal changes associated with the Second Punic War. 

The assemblage study reveals intra-regional variation and similarities. The Pontine plain shows a high level of uniformity in the assemblages, suggesting a homogenous population of (Roman) colonists settling the previously uninhabited but now drained marshland in the late 4th century BC. On the other hand, the coastal area shows more variation in consumption practices, reflecting the co-habitation of different groups such as the Volscians and Latins, mixed with Roman colonists, as well as possibly more socio-economic diversity between households. Diachronically, Mid-Republican foodways were centred on (semi)liquid foods prepared in jars and served in bowls, supplemented with a pre-Roman local tradition of bread baking. By the Late Republican period, foodways and their associated assemblages became more varied. Nonetheless, by the end of the 1st century, what inhabitants of the region would serve for dinner would still been somewhat recognisable to their Mid-Republican ancestors.