Friday 2 July 2010

Question about the capacity of urceii

Posted on behalf of Sally Grainger:

I am currently working on reconstructing the processors involved in manufacturing Roman fish sauce. The capacity of amphora generally is causing me problems as so litttle is known.  the ADS site from Southhampton invariably says ' capacity unknown'  There are a few Dr. 7-11 at the Museum of London but I am not allowed to put liquids in them and I suspect the alternative with rice doesnt quite do it.   However i particularly I need to know what the average capacity of the urceii used to sell garum and liquamen in Pompeii.  Can anyone help?  Also the internal dimensions.  Are they hollow right to the bottom?  Can they stand when full?  How  narrow is the neck opening?/ how thick the walls at this point? 
 
Many thanks 
 
Sally Grainger

3 comments:

John Muccigrosso said...

Sally,

Rice will be fine. If you're worried, you can do controls with known volumes (like a gallon milk jug) and see the difference between rice and water.

Or have a local calculus student calculate the volume based on a rough outline and an estimate of the wall thickness. Can't be too far off.

Laura Nissin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laura Nissin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Related Posts with Thumbnails