c HAP. xv. A PO TTER Y MO UND. 265 



examination reveals the remarkable fact that the mound 

 is almost entirely composed of fragments of broken 

 earthenware. Specimens of ancient pottery of all kinds 

 may be found lying loosely on the surface of the heap, 

 or by digging a little way into the mass. Pots em- 

 ployed in menial offices in the kitchen ; testae, from 

 which the hill gets its name, or large jars of baked 

 clay, employed by builders to diminish the weight 

 of a dome, or the upper part of a wall, and huge 

 amphoras that had contained the classic wines of 

 antiquity, were all mingled indiscriminately together. 

 Not one vessel was whole, nor could the broken pieces 

 be united to form even the least important part 

 of any vessel. I searched in vain for a partially com- 

 plete specimen. It is an utter chaos of useless waste 

 and rubbish. The mound, from the nature of its 

 materials, is evidently of very ancient origin, nothing 

 having been added to it since the early Christian ages ; 

 but it must have taken many centuries to form it by 

 slow accumulation. 



Various theories have been proposed regarding it ; 

 but the most plausible conjecture is that which con- 

 nects it with the neighbouring Emporium or Custom 

 House, where all the goods that were landed at the 

 ancient quay of Rome were stored up for a time. It 

 was the practice in those days to import not only wine 

 and oil, and other fluids, but also corn and solid articles 

 of food and of domestic use into the imperial city in 

 earthenware jars for more convenient carnage. In the 

 act of unloading, immense quantities of these fragile ves- 



