KITCHENS AND DINING ROOMS AT POMPEII ... - Get a Free Blog

ovens. 74 It is not certain whether the remains of a small mill of volcanic stone located in the
kitchen today actually belong there. A storage alcove was located against the W wall of room (m)
underneath the stairs; this alcove may have been designed for storing kitchen goods, but at the
time of excavation, no finds were recovered there.
The only possible cooking wares were located in the small vaulted room (i). Allison reports five
large terracotta vessels (four of open form) collected in the SE corner, which she interprets as
suitable for washing, cooking or preparing food. Consequently, she wonders if this room "may
have acted as a temporary kitchen during the renovations and possibly until the time of the
eruption". 75 Given the lack of usable dining areas in the house, and the absence of kitchen wares
elsewhere, it seems reasonable to posit that temporary, reduced cooking arrangements were in
operation. However, it is difficult to understand why KI (l), with its convenient stoves and work
areas, would not have been used for cooking, unless that room or rooms on the floor above were
undergoing restoration that prevented cooking from being done.
Installation amenities, dining areas: There were no niches, finds or installations from either
DH•(b) or DI•(e) that suggested that dining was going on in either room at the time of eruption.
In fact, all evidence points to the conclusion that dining ceased in these two rooms after they
were heavily damaged by the A.D. 62 earthquake, and the house was ceded to the owners of
(I.7.10-12). At the time of excavation, DH•(b) was found stacked full of orderly rows of roof tiles,
for use in covering the impluviate atrium. Because it is not known how long such a roof repair
might take, it is not possible to know the duration of the period when DH•(b) was not being
used. A repair lasting the seventeen years between the earthquake and eruption seems unlikely;
if DH•(b) was primarily a winter dining room, it may have been used for temporary storage of
material during a summer renovation project. DI•(e) contained piles of building material,
several terracotta vessels, and tools. Only a decorated stone vessel from the same room seems
inappropriate to the process of renovating the room. Even room (k) on the E side of the peristyle
garden, large enough (l. 5.80 w. 4.25 m.) to contain dining and with traces of black ground
decoration, contained piles of lime on the floor that indicate renovation in this quarter as well.
Six skeletons found in fauces (u) and room (a), as well as remains of beds in bedrooms (a, r)
suggest that persons were occupying and using parts of the house. If there was a close
association between the household of (I.7.10-12) and the occupants of this house, perhaps these
persons cooked and ate their meals in the larger house to the N, at least during the summer; by
winter, DH•(b) may have come back into use. On the other hand, if the occupants of the two
houses comprised two reasonably autonomous households, then where did the occupants of
74 Truncated amphorae were interpreted as rudimentary ovens in KI (n) of house (I.6.4).
75 Allison 1992b, 293.
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