On the study of the organic content of High Empire ceramics
from Beja’s Castle
Ana Manhita, Sérgio Martins, Mariana Moreira
Laboratório HERCULES, Universidade de Évora.
Maria da Conceição Lopes
Centro de Estudos Arqueológicos das Universidades de Coimbra e Porto, Universidade de Coimbra.
Marco Gomes da Silva
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Cristina Barrocas Dias
Laboratório HERCULES, Universidade de Évora.
Abstract
The city of Beja, located on a hill 277 m high, commands a strategic position over the vast plains of
Baixo Alentejo, and has been occupied at least since Iron Age. It was during 1st century B.C. that
the Romans, by Octavian or August, founded Pax Iulia civitas, with its capital standing on the
platform hill where today Beja is located. The long history of the city revolves around the Castle
which, despite being in a peripheral area of the city known as extra-walls, shows many levels of
occupancy and space usage. It was in 1995/96, during an archaeological survey carried out in the
Main Square of Beja’s Castle, that the first stratigraphic reading of Beja’s city occupation and its
complexity was possible. The materials used in this study are from that survey, and were collected
from stratigraphic units that were part of dump levels dating from the end of Flavian’s government
and the beginning of Trajan’s government, roughly situated between 80 A.D. and 100 A.D. The
materials are varied in nature, and include common ware, glass objects, South Gaulish and Hispanic
terra sigillata, and several amphorae.
The analysis of organic residues retained in pottery using chromatography allows the identification
of chemical compounds that act as biomarkers, thus enabling the identification of the content that
was formerly in contact with the ceramic. Several pottery sherds from High-Imperial contexts
collected during the archaeological surveys in Beja’s Castle were subjected to analysis by liquid and
gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC/MS and GC/MS). The analyses allowed the
identification of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and steroids of plant and animal origin, among
others. In some samples, the analytical results suggest pottery usage for the preparation/storage of
different types of foods.
References:
Lopes, M.C., A cidade romana de Beja, Tese de Doutoramento, Faculdade de Letras da
Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, 2000.
Acknowledgements:
Authors wish to acknowledge Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia for financial support through
project HEROICA: Health and Edibles in ROman Iberia – a Case-study for Archaeometry,
PTDC/HIS-ARQ/120236/2010 and project LARES (Operation nr. ALENT-07-0224-FEDER001761, INALENTEJO/QREN/FEDER funding).