What was ancient Roman pottery used for and how was it made?

Ancient Roman pottery was produced in massive quantities, primarily for utilitarian purposes such as cooking, storing, and transporting goods like olive oil. Archaeologists typically divide these ceramics into coarse wares for everyday domestic tasks and fine wares used as tableware for formal dining. Over the centuries, manufacturing techniques evolved from hand-modeling to utilizing the potter's wheel and molds, leaving a durable record that helps date archaeological sites.

What we know

• Pottery was produced in enormous quantities across the Roman Republic and Empire, mostly for utilitarian purposes. [1, 2]
• Roman domestic pottery is broadly divided into coarse wares for everyday use and fine wares for formal dining. [2]
• Monte Testaccio in Rome is a large waste mound made almost entirely of broken amphorae that were used for transporting liquids such as Spanish olive oil. [2]
• From the 3rd century onwards, the quality of fine Roman pottery steadily declined due to economic and political disturbances and the replacement of pottery drinking cups with glassware. [2]

Still open

• The exact extent to which local Eastern Empire pottery traditions hybridized with Roman styles varied across different regions.

Where to go next

• a case in pointWhat was Monte Testaccio made of?
• whenHow did manufacturing techniques change over time in Roman pottery?
• compared withHow does Roman pottery differ from ancient Greek pottery styles?
• how it workedWhy is pottery crucial for dating archaeological sites?
• the bigger pictureWhat role did ceramics play in the wider ancient ceramic industry?
• an unexpected connectionHow did ancient Romans use broken amphorae on a massive civic scale?Instead of discarding broken shipping containers randomly, ancient Rome accumulated them into an enormous artificial hill known as Monte Testaccio, composed almost entirely of discarded olive oil amphorae.

Sources

• [1]Ancient Roman pottery (Wikidata Q4752916) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Ancient Roman pottery · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]List of classifications of pottery · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Ancient Egyptian pottery · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Pottery of ancient Greece · CC BY-SA 4.0