A Franco-Italian investigation of funerary rituals in the Roman world, "les rites et la mort à Pompéi", the plant part: a preliminary report

This paper deals with the botanical study of a family funerary enclosure located in the Porta Nocera necropolis in Pompeii (southwestern Italy). This study is part of a Franco-Italian programme investigating Roman funerary rituals. The choice of the context was due to the exceptional preservation of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vegetation history and archaeobotany 2008-01, Vol.17 (1), p.105-112
Main Authors: Matterne, Véronique, Derreumaux, Marie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Archaeological excavation
Archaeology
Biogeosciences
Bread
Cereals
Ceremonies
Climate Change
Cremation
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Enclosures
Excavations
Fruits
Funerary rituals
Generalities
Organisation and history of research
Original Article
Paleontology
Plants
Prehistory and protohistory
Preservation
Recording
Seeds
Taxa
Tombs
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Summary:This paper deals with the botanical study of a family funerary enclosure located in the Porta Nocera necropolis in Pompeii (southwestern Italy). This study is part of a Franco-Italian programme investigating Roman funerary rituals. The choice of the context was due to the exceptional preservation of the archaeological features, which offered the opportunity to observe the remains of the proceedings which took place in a funerary enclosure in great detail. An adequate methodology had to be developed and a 3D recording of every single artefact or ecofact has been made. Both ground surfaces and graves provided botanical results. Those from the ground surfaces consisted mainly of fruit offering residues (especially fig and grape), while a much wider range of species was observed in the tombs, including cereals, pulses, other kinds of fruits, weeds and bread/pastry.
ISSN:0939-6314
1617-6278
DOI:10.1007/s00334-007-0112-z