Samian ware was highly prized Roman ceramic tableware,
distinct for its orange/red colour and skilled craftsmanship. Imported and
relatively expensive, your average (fairly) well-to-do Roman would have had the
odd piece to show off their wealth. As it is, it was of such an expense that
though you do find some quantity of samian on most archaeological sites, it was
also a material that wasn’t thrown away with ease…
You’re doing the washing up and you accidentally chip the
rim of your favourite bowl; most of us may hang on to it for a while, but
eventually we would throw it away. The Romans weren’t quite so quick to dispose
of their prized possessions.
When samian, being prized as it was, got chipped, the Romans
had a novel (and presumably time-consuming) way of hiding the evidence. They
would grind down the rim around their pot to produce a new unbroken rim, often
having to remove a significant portion of material to achieve this.
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| Samian bowl with rim ground down |
You knock your favourite bowl off the table and it’s lying
in pieces on the floor; the Romans had a solution for that too!
Samian is sometimes found with holes drilled through it
along the line of a break, evidence that the bowl has been put back together.
Corresponding holes would be drilled on the two halves of a break, and a lead
rivet would be put between them to hold the two pieces together.
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| Samian bowl with lead rivets |
The Romans were not hesitant about using lead in conjunction
with food, being (relatively) unaware of any issues with it, and as samian was
about showing off your wealth, it would seem the distinct colour and decoration,
was enough to distract admirers from the less appealing lead additions.
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| Samian spindlewhorl (used for spinning yarn) |
And they didn’t stop there, when all you had was a sherd
left, you could always chip it down, in to a rough circle and use it as a
counter, or with a hole drilled through it, it could be used as a spindle whorl
(for spinning yarn).
So you see concepts of recycling were nothing new, the
Romans were at it long before us.
Look out for the objects pictured here in our current
temporary display on samian, in the Sun Lounge at the Roman Baths.
Verity
Roman Baths Collections Assistant
