A Franco-Italian investigation of funerary rituals in the Roman world, "les rites et la

mort à Pompéi", the plant part: a preliminary report

Author(s): Véronique Matterne and Marie Derreumaux
Source: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, Vol. 17, No. 1 (January 2008), pp. 105-112
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23419185
Accessed: 19-09-2016 00:59 UTC

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Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112
DOI 10.1007/s00334-007-0112-z

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

A Franco-Italian investigation of funerary rituals in t

world, "les rites et la mort à Pompéi", the plant part:
a preliminary report

Véronique Matterne • Marie Derreumaux

Received: 6 March 2006/ Accepted: 20 November 2006/Published online: 19 June 2007

© Springer-Verlag 2007

Introduction
Abstract This paper deals with the botanical study of a
family funerary enclosure located in the Porta Nocera
The
necropolis in Pompeii (southwestern Italy). well-known
This Roman town of Pompeii, which was
study is
buried under
part of a Franco-Italian programme investigating Roman pumice towards the end of the first century
funerary rituals. The choice of the context a.D.,
was isdue
situated in the bay of Naples, on the lower part of
to the
the slopes
exceptional preservation of the archaeological of Mount Vesuvius, in southern Italy (Fig. 1).
features,
The
which offered the opportunity to observe the volcanic ashes
remains of thesealed the activities of a human com

proceedings which took place in a funerary enclosure in interrupted by the eruption. This provid
munity, abruptly
great detail. An adequate methodology had toarchaeologists
be developedthe opportunity to study a snapshot of dail
and a 3D recording of every single artefact life in Roman
or ecofact times. The exceptional preservation of the
has
remains
been made. Both ground surfaces and graves of the former settlement suggested the idea
provided
setting
botanical results. Those from the ground surfaces up a research programme dealing with funera
consisted
mainly of fruit offering residues (especially rituals.
fig andThe necropolis is as well preserved as the oth
grape),
remains,in
while a much wider range of species was observed but furthermore, as the use of the necropolis ha
the
been of
tombs, including cereals, pulses, other kinds suddenly abandoned, the archaeological layers h
fruits,
weeds and bread/pastry. not suffered any of the disturbances usually observed in
intensively visited cemetery.
Keywords Archaeobotany • Roman period • Pompeii
Funerary rituals • Plant offerings
The Franco-Italian programme: «Les rites et la mort à
Pompéi»

The programme has been made possible by the cooperation

of four institutions: the Ecole Française de Rome, the
Soprintendenza di Pompeii, the C.N.R.S. and the Univer
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (doi:10.1007/s00334-007-0112-z) contains supplementary
sity of Picardie Jules-Verne. It has been carried out by W.
material, which is available to authorized users. Van Andringa (Universityof Picardie) and S. Lepetz
(C.N.R.S) since 2003, when the first of the annual ex
V. Matterne (13)
cavation seasons took place (Lepetz and Van Andringa
Cravo-Inrap, UMR 7041 ArScAn, protohistoire européenne,
21 rue des Cordeliers, 60200 Compiègne, France
2004a, 2004b, 2007; Van Andringa and Lepetz 2004,
e-mail: veronique.zech-matterne@inrap.fr 2005). The interdisciplinary archaeological work under the
leadership of Sébastien Lepetz and William van Andringa
M. Derreumaux
is combined with an historical approach led by W. van
Cravo, UMR 7041 ArScAn archéologie de la Gaule,
21 rue des Cordeliers, 60200 Compiègne, France
Andringa and by an architectural survey made by Tuija
e-mail: mariecarpo@aol.com Lind.

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106 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112

mm j -ffufi.
The results of the inquiry wil

M Ip '' v x> contexts which are not as w

including those in other Roman
We took part in this project as

E - <J££ X" JI seeds and fruits and this paper

k ■m r^lw4 -In
»-■ :• ?r-4:'^* " ,v V 1
obtained from the excavations.
first opportunity to gain an ide
J x • Jk c> * s ' "v/. in funerary rituals in Pompeii.
i*T> POMPEII V aspect of the use of plants alre
offerings and sacrifices at
Moreover, the use of seeds and
fodder or ornamental features
other sources is well docume
Fig. 1 Location of the site of Pompeii
2000; Jashemski et al. 2002).
preliminary list including 36
The enclosure is situated in the necropolis
charred of Porta
remains, wall No
paintings
cera, near the amphitheatre, in the
been southeastern
followed later onpart
by of
a l
site, outside the town walls. The (2000,
Ciarallo excavation concerns
pp 66-72). The
funerary enclosure belonging to the Vesonii
Jashemski family
et al. (2002) (Fig.
includes
The aims of the project are:
we know some of the plants re
To draw up a comparison texts,
between the description
it allows of th
us to compare w
funerary rituals accordingand
to written
banquets in everyday lifeev
sources and the w
ence revealed by archaeology.
mortuary meals and ceremo
To distinguish each successive ceremony
introduction of newand to cha
plants or
acterise the rites performed duringamong
one species the ceremonies:
the locally c
cremation, the deposition of the cremated
Many remains
archaeobotanical in th
remain
grave, the sharing of a meal
the excavated zone. These tom
by the family near the ana
and the commemorative rites. carbonised material. The carboni
To describe and to understand the composition and the the eruption but was due to the
meaning of the deposits and offerings (human and animal as part of the ritual, which
bones, pottery, glass fragments, seeds and fruits, woodenclosure.
fragments, coins, seashells, etc.).
To observe any variation from one grave to the otherThe investigated funerary enclosure
that could be related to the age, the sex and the social status
of the dead person. The excavated area includes a main enclosure (number 23)
which belonged to the Vesonii family, and a smaller one
(number 25), the two of them joined side by side. The
. .. PEC.1X
botanical investigations have mainly concerned enclosure
3 + 23, the owners of which are well-known, from the ded
5 sW-* 5
ication on their funerary monument. They are identified as
/4
(/
a freed slave, Vesonius, and his previous owner. About 30
,rrz:.=^

individual steles (upright stone slabs) are lined up along the

enclosure's walls (Figs. 3,4). The clearing of the structures
overseen by Maiuri in 1954 (1978) only concerned the
removal of the covering of lapilli from surfaces and did not
reach the archaeological layers. Subsequently, the funerary
monuments were studied and a sketch of the enclosure has
been published by D'Ambrosio and De Caro (1987).
During the three previous archaeological seasons, we
opened several areas, covering the two niches under the
monuments in the two enclosures and the graves. The areas
excavated in the main enclosure covered about 25 m2
Fig. 2 Position of the Porta Nocera necropolis in the southeaster
(Fig. 3); only these two sectors will be presented in this
part of Pompeii (after Maiuri 1978)

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Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112 107

Methods

The dimensions of every single archaeological object have

been recorded in three dimensions. This included plant
remains as well as artefacts. Plant remains have been hand
picked mainly in the ground surfaces located upon the
graves and around the steles. The seeds and fruits dis
covered during the hand excavation were recorded on the
plan and their height measured. The recovery of most
carbonised plant remains required specific sampling, be
cause only the largest fruit were discernible in the field. To
complement the hand-picked specimens, bulk sampling
was performed and at least one bucket of sediment (10 1)
was taken from each stratigraphie unit. In the graves
themselves, we separated the infilling of the pit and the
funerary deposit. When two cremations had been deposited
in a single urn, they were distinguished for the study.
Fig. 3 Plan of the enclosure, showing the two studied secto
South and 23 North (in grey) The two methods are complementary. A wider spectrum
of taxa is obtained from the sieved material, but the hand
picking provides an essential data set to analyse the precise
distribution of plant offering remnants. The results have
been organised in separate tables (see ESM Tables 1 and 2).
Despite the presence of a significant number of botanical
remains, we are fully aware that the entire cremation res
idues were not always collected and that our material is not
fully representative of the botanical deposits (Polfer 2000).
The samples were water sieved using mesh sizes 2 and
0.5 mm. The sorting was done under a binocular micro
scope with lOx to 50x magnification. The identification
was carried out using local botanical specimens and the
reference collection based at Cravo, France.

Results

Up to now, 44 botanical samples have been hand-picked

and 872 1 of sediment have been sieved, representing 84
samples. The sampling provided 2,159 plant fragments,
divided among 216 hand-picked specimens and 1,943
sieved items. The average density is quite low, around two
items per sieved litre. Only slight variations in the density
have been
Fig. 4 Arrangement of the steles in noticed
a row fromnext
one sample
totothethe other. Even in
enclosure
Photo Mission archéologique thePompéi/Fouilles
sample with the highest content Porta Nocera
of botanical remains
FPN)
(number 23,592), the density only approaches 47 items per
sieved litre.
Due to the
paper. Only the recent layers, carbonisationfrom
dating process andthe
the location
firstof ce
the remains
a.D. have been excavated so far, in occupation
usinglayers, the fragmentation
methods is
taken
generally
prehistoric archaeology, as considerable. The average
explained below.size of the fragments
is between 3 and 6 mm
Different types of archaeological (Fig. 5a). Specifically
contexts werehazelnut,
expo
walnut and fig,
The botanical remains came as well as the
from bread remains are
ground quite
surface
fragmented
rounding the steles and also from (Figs. 5b, c). Consequently,
the graves manythemselve
items have
been labelled as unidentified
are therefore able to understand several fruit flesh,
steps as the fragments
of the r
the funeral ceremonies and the commemorative acts. were too small to provide any identification evidence,

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108 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112

such as, for instance, seeds. The pulses w

separated into cotyledons. The incomplete sh
seeds, resulting from the lack of testa and t
state, did not allow us to distinguish chickp
Some weeds have not been identified to the
yet, as we need to consult an appropriate r
collection. pinecone does not appear in our material.
Beside bread/pastry, the spectrum comprises 24 taxa,
divided into three cereal species plus cereals, four pulses
plus cultivated Fabaceae, three nuts, six fleshy fruit, one Discussion
ornamental tree (Cupressus) and five weeds (see ESM
Tables 1 and 2). Plant remains as offerings
Differences have been noticed between the hand-picked
and the sieved samples (see Table 1). As we said previously, fig
Because the hand-picked remains were large enough to entative food re
be collected during the excavation, most of them could be Various hypot
identified. Consequently, less fruit flesh remained uniden- tion. Firstly, fig
tified and the fig is the most important taxon. In the hand- in the Mediterra
picked samples, only the main species appear; fig is over- Jacomet 2003).
represented while rare plants such as cereals, lentil, pea, uct, it is also ea
pomegranate, apple, date and weeds are missing. Walnut is round. Moreov
lacking as well, and the reasons why will be discussed of Campania wer
below. This underlines the importance of the sieving, even diversity of t
though the location of the plant remains in the field is less Figs are regularly
precise for these remains. It is also necessary to plot the represented i
finds on the plan. (M. Robinson, personal communication).

Fig. 5 a Fig fragment;

b hazelnut shell fragment;
c walnut shell fragment; d fig;
e fig achene; f grape; g grape
pip; h cypress cone; i olive
stone (all carbonised). Photos by
Derreumaux, Cravo

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 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112 109

Table 1 Comparative table of

Hand-picked Sieved
taxa frequencies in hand-picked
Freq. In % of Number of % Freq. In % of Number of %
and sieved samples samples remains samples remains

Total number of samples 44 84

Total number of remains 216 1943
Volume (litres) 872 872

Cereals (grain)
Hordeum vulgare 2 2 2 <0.5
cf. Triticum aestivum/durum 1 1 1 <0.5
Triticum dicoccum 1 1 1 <0.5
Cerealia 1 1 2 <0.5

Pulses (seed)
Cicer arietinum 5 6 30 1.5
Fabaceae (Cicer/Pisum) 2 4 8 4 21 136 7
Lens culinaris 2 2 2 <0.5
Pisum sativum (cotyledons) 4 5 5 <0.5
Vicia ervilia 1 2 1 0.5 1 1 1 <0.5
Fruits/nuts
cf. Castanea safc'va(nut fragment) 1 2 1 0.5
Corylus avellana (shell fragment) 2 4 4 2 26 31 82 4
Cupressus sempervirens (cone 1 2 5 2.5 10 8 27 1
fragment)
Cupressus sempervirens (seed) 4 5 5 <0.5
Ficus carica (fruit fragment) 30 68 122 56 48 57 376 19
Ficus carica (achene) 6 7 11 0.5
Juglans regia (shell fragment) 28 33 111 6
Malus sp. (fruit) 1 2 1 0.5 1 1 1 <0.5
Olea europaea (stone fragment) 2 4 2 1 23 27 38 2
Phoenix dactylifera (fruit flesh) 2 2 2 <0.5
Punica granatum (seed) 4 5 4 <0.5
Vitis vinifera ssp. vinifera (seed) 4 5 10 0.5
Vitis vinifera (fruit) 7 16 11 5 22 26 65 3
Vitis vinifera (seed) 4 9 4 2 41 49 139 7
unidentified fruit flesh (fragment) 12 27 31 14 44 52 839 43
Weeds
Echinochloa crus-galli 1 1 1 <0,5
Malvaceae 2 2 2 <0,5
Poaceae 1 1 2 <0,5
Polygonaceae 1 1 2 <0,5
Rumex sp. 1 1 6 <0,5
Foodstuff
bread/pastry (fragment) 10 23 26 12 8 10 37 2

unidentified plant remains number 3 3 3 <0.5

Vineyards were also widely spread over the region, from walnuts and hazelnuts are only represented by shell frag
the town itself to the Vesuvian slopes. This was inferred ments, indeed, very small fragments (3-5 mm). No trace of
from the cavities left by the roots, which made it possible the nut has been found. We wonder if they have been
to observe the planting system (Ciarallo 2000). According intentionally broken to be eaten. Similarly, only the fruit
to Pliny (N. H. 15.1), an extremely large number of cul- stones of olives have been recovered, but the burning may
tivars were grown in the Vesuvian area. have been the cause of the absence of the oleaginous fruit
With the exception of the date palm, all the other taxa flesh (Fig. 5i). Despite the presence of both waste from
could be grown locally. Date was more probably imported consumption and unconsumed food plants, it remains very
from North Africa because Phoenix dactylifera does not difficult to distinguish what is relevant to the offerings on
bear fruit in the Bay of Naples area (Robinson 2002). the pyre during the cremation of the body, and what could
All the components of the samples were edible except be related to the funerary meals shared by the family
the cypress cone (Fig. 5h). Cupressus sempervirens can be members,
considered as an ornamental tree, as an odoriferous wood
or as a mortuary symbol. The presence of cypress cone Differences between the samples
among the burnt offerings is of great interest as it has
already been found in a funerary context; cavities of cy- Some differences, which could be explained in several
press roots have been noticed in the enclosure of a tomb of ways, have been noticed in the composition of the indi
the Porta di Sarno necropolis (Ciarallo 2000, p 25). vidual samples. There could be a chronological factor or a
Obviously, despite their fragmentation, figs, grape, ap- variation linked to the identity of the deceased. There could
pie, date and chestnut were deposited as complete fruits on also have been a difference in the origin of the deposit,
the pyre. They were not intended to be consumed by the from the grave or from the ground surface, which related to
people who took part in the cremation ceremony. However, different moments in the funerary ritual.

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 HO Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112

items, this
Table 2 Botanical macroremains of couldthe
be an artefact
three because the poorest samples
different phases
Stele number (9-16-17-18-19)
(9-16-17-18-19)
(9-16-17-18) are from handpicking only. Nevertheless, some constants
1st phase 2nd phase 3rd phase
Occupation layer number 23009-23012 23027-23028 23056-23063 can be established. Firstly, fruit remains were the main
23018-23019 23030 23073-23077
23020-23022 23591-23596 components of all the assemblages. Only 23,529 and
23023-23025 23,062 also had bread, whereas 23,209 included Fabaceae.
glass terracotta
balsamaire balsamaire Fig and grape were almost ubiquitous. We notice that
(vessel) (vessel)
walnut, although very well represented in the general
Cereals (grain)
Triticum dicoccum X
percentages (see Table 1), was rather scarce in the ground
Cerealia X surface.
Pulses (seed)
Cicer arietinum X
The third step of our contribution will compare all the
Pisum sativum X ground surfaces with all the graves (see Tables 3 and ESM
Fruits/nuts
Table 3). In the ground surfaces, the variety of plants was
Corylus avellana (shell fragment) X X
Cupressus sempervirens X rather restricted. The fig, and the unidentified fruit flesh
(cone fragment)
Ficus carica (fruit fragment) X X X which is likely to be from fig and grape, were the most
Ficus carica (achene) X
important remains. This suggests simplicity in the offering
Juglans regia (nutshell fragment) X
Malus sp. (fruit) X gestures, consisting of burning a few common fruits on a
Olea europaea (stone) X X X

Phoenix dactylifera (fruit flesh) X portable altar or something similar and then spreading the
Punica granatum (seed) X
Vitis vinifera ssp. vinifera (seed) X
Vitis vinifera (fruit) X X
Vitis vinifera (seed) X X
X X
unidentified fruit flesh (fragment)
Foodstuff
bread/pastry (fragment) X X
The chronological aspect can only be studied for a small
area, corresponding to the southeastern part of the enclos
ure, around steles 9, 16, 17, 18, 19 (Fig. 3). This concerns
only the ground surface, excluding the grave fillings. Three
phases could be distinguished, the first one corresponding
to the upper layer (the most recent ones). Phase 1 and 2
were distinguished on the basis of archaeological materials,
namely a switch from glass balsamairs (vessels) (phase 1)
to terracotta balsamairs (phase 2). Phase three amalgam
ates all the early units (see Table 2). We can observe slight
differences. Cereals and pulses as well as cypress cones
were only encountered during the most recent phase (1).
Walnut was only present in the third phase.
The second phase seems to be less diverse than the other
two, but we must point out that it is represented in fewer
occupation layers.
Secondly, we can analyse the spatial extent of the
archaeological material and botanical remains around the
steles (see Table 3). The seeds and fruit are mixed with
glass, pottery and other remains. The broken balsamairs and
small goblets, which usually served for libation purposes
(according to the ceramic specialist Marie Tuffreau-Libre,
in charge of the material study), suggest that we are dealing
with material resulting from the homage ceremonies which
were carried out upon the grave, after the burial (Fig. 6).
We have not tried to separate the group of graves on the
base of their botanical content. Even if the number of taxa
reopened and a second individual had been laid in the
clearly varies from one tomb to the other, from one to five
remains upon the grave.
X A much wider spectrum was found in the graves,
X
X
including a greater variety of fruit, but also cereals, pulses,
weeds and other foodstuffs (Fig. 7a-b). Much more Faba
ceae of Cicer or Pisum-type occurred in the grave samples.
It can also be related to the unusual frequency of sherds
from Olla type cooking pottery (Tuffreau-Libre, personal
communication). This can be interpreted as the result of
placing cooked meals, made of pulses, on the pyre. This
could also explain the poor state of preservation of most of
the seeds (Fig. 7c).
As we said previously, walnut was mainly present in the
graves. The species is widely distributed where the tombs
are located in the enclosure (see tombs nos. 16, 19, 20, 21,
22, 27).
Within the grave, we found cremation material in con
tainers (urn, amphora, chest ...) as well as in the pits where
they had been buried (Fig. 8). In these ashy deposits, we
have noted the presence of human bones, archaeological
artefacts and botanical remains. As the infilling of the pits
contained the same kind of material as the containers, we
considered the possibility that they belong to the same
cremation event. Three graves were suitable for the ana
lyses, numbers 5, 15 and 21, in which infillings of the pits
were well distinguished by the composition of their mac
roremains. The grave of the son of Vesonius, the enclosure
founder, has been very carefully excavated, as an example,
and has been exhaustively sieved, which cannot be done for
all the tombs. Every sample from this grave can be related
to a stratigraphie unit which belongs either to the ash
deposits, to the chest or to the pit. The only difference we
note between these three units is that there were fewer taxa
in the pit, and that pulses appeared only in the chest (see
ESM Table 3).
The grave 15 is of great interest because it had been

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 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112 111

Table 3 The spatial Stele

spreading
number around behind behind around S around in front in front of around behind around
S 2 and S 6 and S 14 and 16 S 16 of S 18 S 19 S 19 S 19 S 21
of botanical macroremains 6 11 21 and 18
around the steles Occupation layer 23529 23512 23086 23252 23034 23062 23070 23036 23024 23209
number 23253 23091 23072
23082

Pulses (seed)
Fabaceae (Cicer/Pisum) .... . . X
Fruits/nuts
Corylus avellana (shell X . X . ...
fragment)
Cupressus sempervirens ... X . . ...
(seed)
Ficus carica (fruit X.XX XX X XX.
fragment)
Juglans regia (shell X X
fragment)
Olea europaea (stone) X . X
Vitis vinifera (fruit) X . X X
Vitis vinifera (seed) ..XX.. . X
unidentified fruit flesh ..XXX. X XXX
(fragment)
Foodstuff
bread/pastry (fragment) X X ...
unidentified plant .... X
remains

amphora The last one is tomb

containing the21; althoughremains
the pit provided a
botanical particularly wide
remains diversity of plants, the urn only contained
associated to th
diverse whereas the second deposit only comprised grape seeds (see ESM Table 3).
unidentified fruit flesh. There were as many species in the These three examples show the absence of a supple
pit as in the first deposit. mentary ritual offering of plants during the deposition of
ashes. The remains occur if they were originally abundant
on the pyre. Their presence either in the urn or in the pit is
linked to the way the ashes had been poured.

Conclusion

As further excavation seasons are still to come, the results

presented in this paper represent an intermediate step in the
thinking of the contributors to the Franco-Italian

Fig. 6 Broken balsamaire and pot sherd beside a stele. Photo MAP/ TOEgg
FPN

'

IIJl
111
■I

Fig. 7 a Pomegranate pip; b emmer caryopsis; c poorly preserved

cotyledons of pulses (all carbonised). Scale bars equal 1 mm. Photos Fig. 8 View of grave number 15 showing the amphora
Derreumaux, Cravo Photo MAP/FPN

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 112 Veget Hist Archaeobot (2008) 17:105-112

programme "Les rites et la wemort

"holidays" à Pompéi".
send a sunny postcard This
from Pompeii just to say that
we are grateful to Corrie
gramme intends to show the validity of applyingfor helping us shape our vocations. The
authors are very grateful to Jeanine DHOURY, Otto Brinkkemper and
methods of prehistoric excavation techniques, by recor
Mark Robinson for the language and content improvement of this
even the slightest archaeological
paper. evidence, includ
botanical fragments, to a Roman site. The purpose of
process is to build hypotheses about the progress o
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Acknowledgments This paper is dedicated to Corrie Bakels on the
logie Du Rituel: Fouille De L'Enclos 23 De La Nécropole.
occasion of her 65th birthday. Her personal involvement as anChroniques
ar Activités archéologiques de L'Ecole Française De
chaeobotanist in the Aisne valley programme brought to life an entire
Rome, année 2004. MEFRA 117, 2005-1:339-346
generation of students in to northern France. Enjoying Neapolitan

*£} Springer

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