Pottery, vessel, mortarium

A samian mortarium, form Dragendorff 45, made in Trier, eastern Gaul. Decorated with a lion-head spout. The lion-head appears in degenerate form and looks bat-like, conforming to a widely-distributed Trier type, version d". The trituration grits occupy the lower part of the vessel and the unworn slipped surface over the grits indicates that the vessel is unused.

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.