| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
02 Jun 2007 10:56:01 PM |
| Object: |
Residents of ancient Pompeii liked fast food |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18983078/
Residents of ancient Pompeii liked fast food
Block excavation sheds light on day-to-day life in ancient city
By Heather Whipps {Livescience}
Updated: 1:27 p.m. ET June 1, 2007
Residents of Pompeii ate their meals on the run, just like many
Americans do today, according to a new archaeological study of how
households functioned in the ancient Roman city buried by volcanic ash.
Completely destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.,
Pompeii is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world.
Besides its risqué statues and frisky frescoes, however, few of its
artifacts have been studied in depth.
Excavating a neighborhood block that includes one of Pompeii's grandest
mansions, scientists have recently shed a lot more light on the
day-to-day tasks undertaken by its citizens.
"I am looking at pots and pans and how houses actually functioned," said
archaeologist Penelope Allison of the University of Leicester, in the
United Kingdom. "I am interested in revealing the utilitarian side of
life rather than its glamorous side, in slaves and servants and how they
lived side by side with their masters."
Allison's complete findings are published in a new book, "The Insula of
the Menander at Pompeii Volume III" (Oxford University Press, 2007).
Pompeii was destroyed quickly and thus preserved like a time capsule, so
the Allison's findings may also carry over to other Roman towns from the
same period, she said.
A non-gadget world
The ins and outs of domestic life — ranging from where food was cooked
to who patched up cuts and scrapes — was the main focus of Allison's
research. Though ancient Rome was an advanced society, it can't be
assumed household units worked the same way they do today, she said.
Even simple tools that were found, such cooking vessels, could be
interpreted in a number of different ways.
"Today we have hundreds of very specific gadgets," she said, "but in a
non-gadget world you have a number of things used for a variety of
purposes, such as pots that might have been wine dippers and spindle
whorls that were used as furniture ornamentation."
Jacks-of-all-Roman-trades
People also filled a number of different roles when necessary, the
findings suggest.
When a child cut their knee, it didn't mean a trip to the local medical
clinic, necessarily; Pompeii may have been a town full of "Dr. Moms."
"We believe that whenever we find medical instruments, they belonged to
doctors. But I think that a lot more high-level first aid went on within
households," Allison said. "We have found surgical instruments in
domestic contexts, and I think someone in the house was responsible for
sewing up injured people."
Weaving looms found in the homes also imply that women — or perhaps even
men — did much of the sewing for their own families rather than
purchasing clothes ready-made, she said.
Ancient fast food?
With all the sewing — of wounds and clothes — among other daily chores,
busy residents of Pompeii probably had little time left for long,
relaxing meals at the dinner table.
--
Atheist n A person to be pitied in that he is
unable to believe things for which there is
no evidence, and who has thus deprived himself of
a convenient means of feeling superior to others.
—Chaz Bufe, The American Heretic’s Dictionary
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| User: "Sean C" |
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| Title: Re: Residents of ancient Pompeii liked fast food |
04 Jun 2007 12:15:30 AM |
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In article <fre463tun6nhbci8lp6c9lel3mvlrv3lme@4ax.com>, stoney
<stoney@the.net> wrote:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18983078/
Residents of ancient Pompeii liked fast food
Block excavation sheds light on day-to-day life in ancient city
Would you like a side of olives with your order, sir?
--Sean C
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