Detail From Decorations: Piecing Together Life at Combe Down Roman villa

Archaeologists discovered Combe Down Roman villa in the mid 1800’s. They excavated it, but didn’t keep detailed records of what it looked like, where it was, or where they found things. The site was later quarried for stone, and the Roman villa destroyed. With so much information missing, how can we find out what life there was like? One way is through looking at the objects below as they can help us uncover life in the villa.

Ceramic amphora stopper decorated with spiral decoration

Amphora stopper

An amphora is a large jar used to carry wine, oil or garum (fish sauce). This is a ceramic stopper for an amphora, used to seal the neck. We found amphora sherds at the villa, but we don’t think this stopper fits any of them. From this, we know there must have been many sizes of amphora, and many stoppers too.

Rim of black burnished casserole dish with handle

Black burnished casserole dish

This is part of a casserole dish, and if you follow the rim all the way round in a circle you can imagine how large it was. It is burnished, which is a technique used to make pottery shinier and smoother. We can tell this shiny dish served a lot of food to a lot of people.

Circular copper alloy brooch with red enamel inlaid in a ring

Brooch

This copper alloy brooch is one of many carefully crafted pieces of jewellery found from the villa. It was once a bright, brassy colour, with a red enamel inlay. It would have been bright and striking, showing lots of detail and craftsmanship.

Rim of greyware pottery

Greyware pottery

This is a piece of greyware pottery. It is coarseware – not fineware for fancy dining – and is commonly used in kitchens and storage. The texture is very grainy, and along the rim are decorative marks made by thumbs pulling the clay down.

Putting it all together

Decorating objects big and small, expensive, and common, shows a lot of craftsmanship and attention to detail across the villa. From these objects and their decorations, we know the villa was high-status, had a lot of wealth, cared about fashion and served a lot of food and drink. This tells us that there were a lot of people living and working at the villa. This must have included enslaved people, who would have prepared all the food and drink and worked across the villa.

Although we are still missing a lot, through these four objects we can build a better understanding of who lived and worked at Combe Down Roman villa.

Jenny

Collections Placement Student