Finds and Conservation

Soutenu par le centre archéologique européen du Mont-Beuvray, le projet de recensement des inscriptions gravées sur céramique d’Autun a permis de réunir plus de 300 graffites inédits. Contrairement aux inscriptions officielles, ces témoignages épigraphiques nous permettent d’aborder la pratique de l’écriture populaire : indications de contenu, de poids, de volumes… noms, symboles et représentations figurées nous renseignent sur la vie quotidienne des potiers et des consommateurs de l’époque. A travers quelques exemples illustrés, nous présenterons l’actualité des recherches et des résultats liés à ces découvertes.

Si les graffites sur céramique sont longtemps restés inexploités, la mise en place de missions successives au sein des réserves de la ville ont permis de retrouver et de réunir un ensemble de témoignages favorables à leur étude. La redécouverte des graffites sur céramique de la ville d'Autun offre aujourd'hui la possibilité d'appréhender cette épigraphie restée sous silence.

“Graffiti”: Roman Inscriptions on Kitchen Pottery
Morgane Andrieu
Mentor: Pr. Gilles Sauron & Dr. David Rudling

One might have, more than once, crossed a sign of literacy or a simple drawing on ceramics and yet those inscriptions, known as Graffiti, are too often passed over in silence. Often short and unspectacular, they have been despised long enough by researcher for us to take them into consideration now.  Since approximately 20 years, several international conferences, expositions and collective work have been devoted to the theme of Writing in link with production and distribution. In continuation to this dynamic, my research is aiming to table and answer questions induced by the presence of Graffiti on Kitchen Pottery. I have studied the totality of the articles published since 1970 in the review Britannia (Hassall, Tomlin 1970-2008) which I completed with the study of an important number of other publications likely to contain graffiti fitting to the study’s criteria, spatiotemporal and material frame. I also had access to a number of inscriptions yet unpublished. Based on the results given by this MA research including Graffiti on ceramics found in Centre and Southern England, this paper covers different aspects of archaeological research such as pottery, archaeological ceramics and epigraphy. Therefore, it allows us an overview on cuisine, culture and social life in Roman period. For example, Graffiti can give us as much information about the container as the contents of a pot. They can also give clues on the identity of the owner or potter. Studying names on ceramics and their distribution (masculine/feminine names) is also a great source of information and enables us to make hypotheses concerning Roman life and the allotment of tasks between men and women. Among others, this paper highlights the fact that the number of Graffiti varies, in Southern and Centre England, according to the profusion of a vessel type. This work increases our understanding of such marks and the relations between epigraphy and ceramics.