Mortarium

A mortarium in a buff Verulamium Region White ware, complete except for a hole worn centrally through the bottom of the vessel. The vessel has an inturned hooked flange and low beading. The pouring spout protrudes beyond the outside of the flange. The flange has a horizontal stamp IVCVD ALBINV, for the potter Albinus.

It was used in the kitchen to pound spices and chop herbs on the rough surface or to mix sauces which could then be poured off using the pouring lip. Many of the excavated mortaria are obviously well-used, their bases worn thin or sometimes even worn all the way through and then discarded. No ceramic pestle has been found in London although angular stone examples are known and wooden pestles of simply large smooth pebbles may also have been used to pound and mix the ingredients.