This year Falerii Novi tells the story not only of the wealthier members of society but also of the normal citizens in Roman period – their domestic lives, the games they played, the objects women used for their daily routines, and the materials and techniques behind their finely decorated homes.
Some domus of Falerii Novi were richly decorated, and the finds emerging from the excavations confirm this with remarkable clarity. A fragment of painted plaster, recovered from a deposit of discarded material, tells far more than one might expect from a simple piece of building rubble. Analysed using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), it revealed the use of high-quality pigments. The red is cinnabar, a precious mineral whose mines were located primarily in Spain, so prized that it was also used by women as a cosmetic -though, containing mercury, it was in fact toxic both for those who wore it and those who worked with it. The green, meanwhile, was obtained from a synthetic pigment known as Egyptian blue, produced by fusing sand, calcium carbonates, and copper-bearing minerals at around 1200°C until a near-vitrified slag was obtained, which was then ground down. To obtain shades of green, malachite – rich in copper- was employed. The yellow is ochre, mineralogically known as goethite – a pigment that, when exposed to temperatures above 300°C, turns red: it is precisely this phenomenon that explains why some originally yellow paintings at Pompeii turned red as a result of the pyroclastic cloud from the eruption of Vesuvius. The black, finally, is organic in origin -most likely ground charcoal – and therefore undetectable by pXRF, which reads only inorganic chemistry.
Among the finds from the excavation are numerous glass objects, a material considered precious in antiquity: whilst generally people drank from ceramic cups, glass was a luxury accessible primarily to the elite. Blue glass was obtained by adding copper to the base mixture, following the same principle as the pigment; green glass was achieved instead through the addition of lead. There are also examples of richly decorated transparent glass vessels, most likely drinking cups.
The everyday life of the citizens of Falerii Novi also emerges through other objects. Oil lamps, found almost intact, bear witness to domestic lighting practices, though those from the late antique period – from the fourth century AD onwards -show a progressive decline in quality of manufacture, often made using worn-out molds that no longer reproduced the original details.
These oil lamps from Falerii Novi provide a compelling example of late antique ceramic production using what is known as a “secondary mold” – a mold so extensively used that it had lost most of its original detail or was made by using an existing lamp. The decorative globules, which would typically run across the entire body of the lamp, are barely visible on the central section and absent elsewhere. The surface shows considerable abrasion, consistent with the use of a worn mold. The oil inlet hole was cut by hand in a notably rough manner, further indicating a decline in manufacturing standards characteristic of the period. Despite its poor finish, the lamp was clearly functional: traces of burning around the nozzle confirm its use. The wick was placed in the nozzle, while oil was introduced through the inlet hole on the upper body. This object reflects broader trends in late antique craft production, in which the reuse of degraded molds and reduced attention to decorative finish did not necessarily compromise an object’s primary function.
Particularly fascinating are the finds related to gaming and personal care. A perfectly intact bone die was recovered, with all faces regular and even, unlike certain loaded examples known from other contexts, such as the ships of Pisa. Alongside the die, a set of black and white glass gaming pieces were discovered, attributable to a board game similar to modern backgammon, in which pieces are moved by throwing dice.
Among the female cosmetic objects, from a third-century AD layer, the bone hairpins stand out, some extremely fine, alongside a cosmetic applicator most likely used to apply make-up. Completing the picture are several small unguentaria, designed to hold oils and perfumes.
