Day 93. The Mortaria

Shards of mortaria found in Preston

Following from yesterday's post, today we shall look at another relic of the Roman Empire.

A mortarium (plural mortaria) was a vessel used by the Romans for preparing foodstuffs. The inner surface of the dish was embedded with pieces of quartz to grind spices and other foods – a forerunner of the pestle and mortar.

Examples were imported into Britain before the Roman conquest, but became increasingly common as Roman settlers spread across Britain, and the native Britons adopted the Roman culture. A few pieces have been found in a field above Preston,  suggesting a strong Roman influence on the earliest inhabitants of the area.

The use of mortaria declined following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 4^th century.