Pottery, vessel, amphora

Small rim sherd of North African cylindrical amphora with a white slip and rilled decoration. Vessels such as this were used to ship popular commodities such as olive oil and other foods including fish sauce ('garum') to Britannia.

Amphorae came from different parts of the empire, containing a variety of foodstuffs. This meant that they varied in shape and size. Some round amphorae were for olive oil and came from southern Spain. Other amphorae were long and thin and held fish sauce or wine. These came from Italy, France or Greece. Much smaller containers for such things as dried fruit came from north Africa or Palestine.