Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs: the Roman diet revealed

Telegraph UK ^ | Tuesday, June 14, 2011 | Nick Squires

[SunkenCiv]

Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs were among the delicacies enjoyed by ordinary Romans, British archaeologists have revealed after discovering a giant septic tank at one of the ancient cities destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius...

Archaeologists found a treasure trove of everyday artefacts after digging up nearly 800 sacks of compacted human waste from the tank, which lies beneath the remains of a Roman apartment block in Herculaneum, destroyed after it was buried by ash from the volcano in AD79.

The British team has found hundreds of objects, including bronze coins, precious stones, bone hair pins and an exquisite gold ring decorated with a tiny figure of the god Mercury.

Close scrutiny of the composted human waste has revealed that the estimated 150 middle- and lower-class inhabitants of the three-storey block of flats had a much more varied diet than previously thought.

They regularly feasted on fish, spiky sea urchins, figs, walnuts, eggs and olives, using the olive pips as fuel in their homes.

[SunkenCiv]

An archaeologist crawls through a sewer beneath the remains of a Roman apartment block in Herculaneum Photo: JANE THOMPSON/HCP	The Roman apartment block was destroyed after it was buried by ash from the volcano in AD79 Photo: ALAMY
The team, from the British School at Rome, an archaeological institute, has been digging at the site on the Bay of Naples for a decade Photo: REX	The team, from the British School at Rome, an archaeological institute, has been digging at the site on the Bay of Naples for a decade Photo: REX
The septic tank was discovered entirely by accident when archaeologists started looking for a way of preventing the ancient site from being flooded during heavy rain Photo: DOMENICO CAMARDO/HCP	Close scrutiny of the composted human waste has revealed that the inhabitants had a much more varied diet than previously thought including Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs Photo: ALAMY

[vladimir998]

I already knew this so how is it that the experts didn’t? Seriously, this stuff has been written about for decades.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/roman_food.htm

[SunkenCiv]

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[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

While the article deals with a crappy subject it is interesting as revealing hard, not literary, evidence of what was eaten.

[OldNewYork]

I can’t imagine dormice have even as much meat on them as chicken wings.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

[OldNewYork]

Although if all they eat is berries, they’d probably be pretty tasty.

[SkyDancer]

What? No wrens livers or hummingbird tongues???? Paucity of diet if you ask me. Now them ocelot spleens ......

[latina4dubya]

Seriously, this stuff has been written about for decades.

ab ovo usque ad mala...

[Sacajaweau]

It’s a simple ongoing pilfering game. You write a little article and sell some of the stuff on the black market.

[libertarian27]

...... after digging up nearly 800 sacks of compacted human waste from the tank........The British team has found hundreds of objects, including bronze coins, precious stones, bone hair pins and an exquisite gold ring decorated with a tiny figure of the god Mercury.

WOW, and I thought my dog ate strange things!

[Jack Hammer]

A “treasure trove” of.... shite???

Indiana Jones would never sink so low...

[1010RD]

This article is garbage.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 6/14/2011. Yet another re-ping.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I passed a sea urchin once, sounded like Robert Kennedy Jr. for a month.

[brivette]

were there a lot of pricks involved?

[Tijeras_Slim]

More than the Harvard Law Class of 1995.

[brivette]

say no more..

[Texan5]

I have several cookbooks with recipes taken from bygone eras-one of them has stuff that was popular in the Roman Empire-it includes honeyed dormice-since those little rodents are in short supply, it substitutes rabbit or quail-and that horrible sauce of fish entrails they apparently put on everything...

[colorado tanker]

Pretty fancy eats for apartment dwellers.