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House Contents in Pompeii: data collection and interpretative procedures for a reappraisal of Roman domestic life and site formation processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Penelope M. Allison
Penelope M. Allison*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney, Australia
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Abstract

Despite the extensive household assemblages excavated in Pompeii, material culture studies of this site have been dominated by epigraphical, architectural, and art-historical studies. A database of the excavated contents of 30 Pompeian houses (863 rooms and 6,300 artefacts) was compiled in order to rectify this situation. It was used to investigate room use and the living conditions in Pompeii between AD 62 and AD 79, through these assemblages.

Because of the nature of the excavation records, much effort was required to process the available data in a meaningful and useful manner. Also the state of prior research in this area required the deconstruction of past, predominantly text-based, assumptions about these specific issues. However, using methods and analytical processes appropriate to such an investigation of a previously excavated site, this study was able to present a new perspective on living conditions in the last decades in Pompeii, in particular, and on Roman domestic life and site formation processes, more generally.

Die Häuser von Pompeii enthielten zahlreiche Haushaltsgegenstände und Apparaturen, die an der Stelle ihres letzten Gebrauchs freigelegt worden sind. Auf einer Datenbasis von 863 Räumen und 6.300 Gegenständen wurden Raumnutzung und Lebensverhältnisse im Pompeii der Jahre vor dem Ausbruch des Vesuvs im Jahre 79 n. Chr. untersucht. Es erforderte große Mühe, die vorhandenen Daten zu bearbeiten, nicht nur weil die frühen Ausgräber Entdeckungen von alltäglichen Material und dessen Fundorte nicht dokumentierten, sondern auch well unsere Annahmen so lange von klassischen Texten geprägt waren.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of European Archaeology , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Spring 1995 , pp. 145 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 

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