Monte dei Cocci
June 15, 2016 4:17 PM   Subscribe

 
Once upon a time, not so long ago, I was one of a handful of enthusiastic artists in a group studio who started a waster pile at a corner of the building that housed our ceramics workshop. Our plan was to throw at least one piece out of every kiln load on the pile (or more properly against the brick wall that composed the backdrop to our pile), and in a few years' time, we'd have an impressive pile, and in an even longer stretch than that, maybe we'd even see the pile start to consume the building. Sadly, the landscapers of our campus did not have such vision and removed the debris, one day when none of us were there to stop them.

Now I see what could have been and what great joys we could have given future archeologists. *sigh*
posted by 1f2frfbf at 4:36 PM on June 15, 2016 [6 favorites]


The article linked seems to basically duplicate the text of the wikipedia entry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Testaccio
posted by anazgnos at 4:57 PM on June 15, 2016 [4 favorites]


I'm guessing that the reason the mound is all oil amphora is that there was a state monopoly on selling this oil and the the (stinky) jars had to be managed.
I wonder how it worked, no one could use up 18 gallons of oil before it went rancid. People must have brought their own jars to be filled at the market.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:23 PM on June 15, 2016


Mount Trashmore...
ROMAN STYLE :)
posted by twidget at 5:26 PM on June 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


We have this behind our old farmhouse, except it's shattered beer bottles, mason jars and old window panes.
posted by Fantods at 5:38 PM on June 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


I think that must be it, Bee'sWing -- the big containers (presumably the biggest they could manage) for wholesale shipping, then something else at the retail level.
posted by uosuaq at 5:50 PM on June 15, 2016


The oil came from Greece and Egypt, didn't it? I suspect it was easier to make new amphorae at the source than to ship empties back for reuse. It's not like terra cotta was a scarce resource, after all, and they didn't have a recycling fetish like we do now.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:56 PM on June 15, 2016


Y'all realize there's a second page, right? Lots of the stuff y'all're guessing about is right there.

(But, yeah, unfortunately it seems to be someone lifting the Wikipedia page and adding extra pictures)
posted by Bugbread at 6:14 PM on June 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


I was wrong; the oil came from Spain, Libya, and Tunisia.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:21 PM on June 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


Guilty as charged. I blame dodgy motel wifi.

The oil not only makes the fragments stinky, it also spoils them for recycling into concrete as amphora for other products would end up.
posted by Bee'sWing at 6:30 PM on June 15, 2016


I wonder what formula would work out how much lumber was burned to fire all that clay.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:51 PM on June 15, 2016


The part about the pig cart is morbidly fascinating.
It was the scene of jousts and tournaments during the Middle Ages, when Monte Testaccio was the scene of pre-Lenten celebrations. As part of the festivities, two carts filled with pigs were hauled to the top of the hill, then allowed to run back down the steep slope to be smashed to pieces along with their porcine passengers. The watching revellers would then dismember the pigs on the spot and carry the parts off to be roasted and eaten.
posted by zamboni at 7:05 PM on June 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


Monte Testaccio was still used as a place of recreation when Stendhal visited in 1827

It was a place of recreation as recently as the 1980s. Now, only special tours special tours get you access.

I wonder what formula would work out how much lumber was burned to fire all that clay.

Good point. Well, north Africa used to be forested. It didn't all go to keeping the baths warm.
posted by BWA at 7:07 PM on June 15, 2016


two carts filled with pigs were hauled to the top of the hill, then allowed to run back down the steep slope to be smashed to pieces along with their porcine passengers.

I saw that Good Eats episode, I don't know what Alton was thinking
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:07 PM on June 15, 2016 [4 favorites]


Google Earth view (requires Chrome I guess)
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 7:30 PM on June 15, 2016


My parents have a story about when dad was in army flight school they were renting in a trailer park in a dry county in Alabama. The powers that be would go so far as to check the trash cans for empties to assess fines so everyone would hide their empty beer cans under their trailers until move-out day. After graduation, the night before leaving town, tradition was the army guys would get drunk and construct a giant beeramid and all the civilian neighbors would join in to take advantage of the opportunity to safely get rid of their contraband empties as well. My mom has a picture of that aluminum ziggurat towering over their singlewide, with one word written on the back, "Classy."
posted by peeedro at 7:31 PM on June 15, 2016 [10 favorites]


Testaccio is also the main club district of Rome. Several of them back onto the hill with one or more--maybe Radio Londra is one--cut into the hill. On its inside wall the amphora were clearly exposed--much like you might see with a brick wall... just far, far older! (15+ years ago so may not be there now...)
posted by NailsTheCat at 8:32 PM on June 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


I was tickled that this thing had unintended 'advanced' materials science-type properties and could act as a giant heatsink to keep drinks cold, wholesale, during the Summer.
posted by porpoise at 8:41 PM on June 15, 2016


peeedro, you have to get your mom to scan that photo!
posted by tavella at 8:48 PM on June 15, 2016 [3 favorites]


The latest documentary from Mary Beard, Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit has been uploaded to YouTube and in the second episode Mary comes to Spain to check on the olive trees of the Baetica about the 14th minute. Def give it a look. I think the Testaccio itself featured in Meet the Romans.

Romans used olive oil for cooking, lighting oil lamps and cleaning themselves by slathering on the oil and then scraping it out, so their consumption was very high. The amphorae were unglazed, so the oil seeped into the clay and went rancid and they couldn't be reused.
posted by sukeban at 8:59 PM on June 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


the landscapers of our campus did not have such vision

I was walling up a window in my freshman dorm suite, Cask of Amontillado style, using Coke cans and rubber cement. One day I came in to find it sadly vanished.
posted by Standard Orange at 10:26 PM on June 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


I like how they used rows of intact amphorae to buttress the less-intact amphorae.
posted by delight at 11:21 PM on June 15, 2016


The amphorae were unglazed, so the oil seeped into the clay and went rancid and they couldn't be reused.

Ah, never figured that (all modern orci are glazed, of course). So, by extension, all the dernier-cri amphora winemaking should really be using unglazed, too? Not what I'd thought, off to look into it now.
posted by progosk at 12:04 AM on June 16, 2016


zamboni - The part about the pig cart is morbidly fascinating.

I thought the rule of road kill was that if you caused it you should leave it!
posted by asok at 1:42 AM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is fascinating!
The inscriptions also provide evidence of the structure of the oil export business. Apart from single names, many inscriptions list combinations such as “the two Aurelii Heraclae, father and son”, “the Fadii”, “Cutius Celsianus and Fabius Galaticus”, “the two Junii, Melissus and Melissa”, “the partners Hyacinthus, Isidore and Pollio”, “L. Marius Phoebus and the Vibii, Viator and Retitutus.” This suggests that many of those involved were members of joint enterprises, perhaps small workshops involving business partners, father-son teams and skilled freedmen.
Why do they say "father-son" when there is clearly a woman's name? Melissa is one that has long history as that of priestesses. The Junii were a prominent family, though it depends on the period. Being as daughters of patricians going into priestesshood was something of a tradition, it would be even more fascinating if proper research were done into the names.
posted by fraula at 2:13 AM on June 16, 2016


Olive and oil both derive from the same root word, and until the mid-medieval oil just meant olive oil - so you can fairly say that the oil industry has been defacing the landscape and changing the environment with its waste products since the Romans...

And re the pig-rolling; another popular porcine pastome back then was to take a pig and four or so blind people, give the blind people sticks and lock everyone in a fenced-off area to fight each other The last blind person standing got the pig.

Nasty, brutish and sport.
posted by Devonian at 3:56 AM on June 16, 2016 [5 favorites]


So, by extension, all the dernier-cri amphora winemaking should really be using unglazed, too? Not what I'd thought, off to look into it now.

Hm, turns out (at least here in Italy) some do and some don't; early zire/capasoni, which were used for wine (and oil) do appear to have been glazed, at least externally - which, in the case of oil, would still have lead to eventual rancidity.

posted by progosk at 5:52 AM on June 16, 2016


Nasty, brutish and sport.

Oh, very good. Your favorite is in the post.
posted by Emma May Smith at 6:29 AM on June 16, 2016


So...why DIDN'T they glaze the amphorae?
posted by Chrysostom at 8:08 AM on June 16, 2016


So...why DIDN'T they glaze the amphorae?

At a guess: The olive oil was imported to Rome, so reusing them would mean shipping them back to where they came from. Possibly it was cheaper to make them single-use than to make more expensive reusable containers and ship them back.
posted by jedicus at 9:51 AM on June 16, 2016


It has been estimated that the hill contains the remains of as many as 53 million olive oil amphorae, in which some 61.3 billion imperial gallons/1.6 billion U.S. gallons of oil were imported

ok so... wikipedia says "In 2013, world production of virgin olive oil was 2.8 million tonnes" which converts to 889.7 million US gallons. So napkin math says the roman hill is about two years worth of oil jars.
posted by rebent at 11:34 AM on June 16, 2016


I think your napkin might have an order of magnitude problem.
posted by zamboni at 11:54 AM on June 16, 2016


Or I might have a reading comprehension problem. Carry on…
posted by zamboni at 11:55 AM on June 16, 2016


I thought mine did, too - had to double check a few times ;-)
posted by rebent at 12:40 PM on June 16, 2016


Given how risky shipping across the Med was at the time, and how cheap basic pottery was to make, it's hard to think it would have been worth it even sending glazed pottery back. Even if the oil (or other goods) manufacturing site didn't have clay near it, there surely would be a site nearby that pots could be carted from. Is there any evidence that they shipped wheat containers back, for example?
posted by tavella at 12:58 PM on June 16, 2016


come on, is this really the hill you want to fry on
posted by threeants at 9:04 PM on June 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


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