Martin Family Artifact Collection, p. 1

Artifact Collection Page 1: Pottery from 2000 year old port in Rome, Italy

My wife and I found these pieces 20 years ago when we were visiting with some friends in Rome. We had just spent a few weeks in Germany and had already mailed about 20 kg of fossils home from there. When we told our friends about our lust for things buried, they told us about an ancient Roman "garbage dump" which was left over from one of the ports which had been in use around two thousand years ago. It is essentially a pile of broken pottery several stories high. It was within walking distance so....

As you can see from this picture, the site really is nothing less than a mound of broken pottery. Here is the top of an Amphora as it is being dug out of the rubble.

The sweet taste of success. (Does anything say "70's" better than bell bottom jeans and sandals?) We found three Amphora tops that day. Two (shown here)

we left behind with our friends, and one, my wife carried around with her the rest of the trip across Europe (from Rome all the way to Amsterdam), and on the plane ride back, wrapped up in an old bedsheet. Unfortunately, I understand that this site is no longer open to the public.

	Handle off of large Amphora. The entire vessel would have stood up to one meter tall. The (owners?) name or initials can be seen stamped into the Handle. It appears to be the letter pi followed by SER.
	Handle off of a smaller vessel.
	Bottom point of large Amphora.
	Interior view of above piece. You can still see the lines in the clay left by the hands of the potter over two thousand years ago.
	Square shaped Amphora bottom.
	Fragment of lid used to seal the tops of the Amphorae.
	Top of an Amphora including two handles and complete mouth. This is the one that travelled across Europe wrapped up in an old bedsheet.

I can be reached at: [email protected] Last modified on November 14, 2001

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