Mortarium

This Roman mixing bowl is called a mortarium, which was made with a gritty clay, because they were used like a pestle-and-mortar, to grind up foodstuffs. Scientific analyses of mortaria in Britain discovered that they were used to grind dairy products, fats and plants. We don't know what was ground-up in this one, but it was used so much that a hole was worn in the base! This large mortaria was found in the city at Smithfield, but archaeologists think that it was made in Greater London or Hertfordshire. The potter stamped the rim with the Latin 'SOLLVS', which means 'Sollus made this' - lots of his mortaria have been found in London and across Britain.