Pompeii : archaeology of ivory and bone

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Abstract

In Roman times, ivory was a highly prized luxury material. Its uses ranged from small, everyday instruments to decorations and even furniture and votive objects. The same was true of bone, a material infinitely less expensive, but capable of imitating ivory, or even attempting to replace it. Bone was used at all levels of the social scale, as well as for the manufacture and decoration of objects ranging from tableware to furniture veneers. The archaeological study of ivory and bone artifacts excavated in Pompeii, from the ^18th century to the present day, opens up new perspectives for understanding the material culture associated with its uses and meanings, in both domestic and funerary contexts. This research is based on material conserved in the Pompeii and Naples Museo Archeologico Nazionale repositories, and is complemented by material from the excavations currently in progress at the Porta Nocera, on the southern outskirts of the city, as well as by the planned excavation of a dwelling probably used as a bone-working workshop.

Anselme Cormier

Anselme Cormier is a lecturer in ancient history at the Université catholique de l'Ouest in Nantes, and a research associate at the Centre Jean Bérard in Naples (UAR 3133, CNRS-École française de Rome). His research focuses on the archaeological and socio-historical study of the uses and craftsmanship of ivory and bone in Roman times, in Pompeii as part of his Ad luxuriae instrumenta program, in collaboration with the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli and the Parco archeologico di Pompei, and in Cumae as part of the Jean Bérard Center program.

He is collaborating with the Museo di Napoli to produce and publish a catalog of the ivory and bone furniture housed in the museum. This collaboration is echoed in a similar project with the Museo Nazionale Romano, to resume and complete the series of publications on this type of furniture preserved in Rome's museums.

In addition to various studies and publications on the subject, the thesis he defended in 2015 at the Collège de France was published in 2022 in a book entitled Lectus Eburneus, les lits funéraires en ivoire à Cumes et dans le monde romain, by The Collège de France Publishing Department.

Anselme Cromier has been invited by Professor Jean-Pierre Brun, holder of the  Techniques and Economies in the Ancient Mediterranean chair.