94 



have been able to infer that this Samian ware was mainly made in 

 Gaul, on the banks of the Rhine. 



We have proof that Samian ware was expensive in the fact that 

 fragments are often found, which have been broken, and mended 

 with leaden rivets by the Romans themselves. Such have been 

 found in Carlisle. 



Another class of Romano-British potsherds consist of the frag- 

 ments of large jars, of a coarse grey or drab colour, which we 

 generally call amphorcR, or wine jars. But this name is incorrect, 

 or rather we include under it many large jars of which the series. 

 are the most common, while an amphora or its potsherds are very 

 rare. These serice were employed for many other purposes than 

 holding wine ; they were used to hold oil, honey, pickled salt fish, 

 sardines, figs, vinegar, dried meat, etc. 



Another class of Roman vessels is the mortaria, which were 

 used in the kitchen for pounding vegetables in with a pestle. 

 They were shallow dishes, with a mouth at one side for drawing 

 off the water, and their potsherds frequently occur. 



The multiplicity of potsherds that occur about a Roman site, 

 shows that the Romans must have used large quantities in their 

 houses. They used it largely in their kitchens, and for their table: 

 they used it where we use wooden casks, for wine, etc.; and they 

 also used it as receptacles for money and little articles, where we 

 use boxes, baskets, bags, and work-cases. 



Did nothing remain to us of the Roman in Britain, but the 

 potsherds they have left behind them, yet those alone would tell 

 us much. We should know that they had made cookery one of 

 the fine arts, that their tables were luxuriously served ; we could 

 infer much as to their mythology and their religion, as to their 

 games and sports, their ceremonies, their dresses, and their furni- 

 ture. We should know, too, that concurrent with high refinement 

 and artistic culture, there existed a want of morality hardly con- 

 ceivable by us. 



We should almost be able to recover the works of some of their 

 greatest sculptors. 



