Hárshegyi Piroska: Kereskedők Sallában 2. (Zalalövő öröksége 4. Zalalövő, 2006)

48 sextarii (1 sextartus = 0.55 kg or 0.547 1). Besides, we can meet the measurement unit pondo in the inscriptions, which equalled 3.27 kg. To date, modern scientific methods offer further help, for example petrography, which investigates the origin of the clay and other materials added to the clay mass, and the food remains that are sometimes preserved in the vessels (e.g. tartar remains found in a jug in Aquincum or fish bone remains and seeds of exotic fruits discovered in amphoras recovered from wrecks) can also be analysed. Amphoras could be sealed in various ways. Often a raw mass of clay sealed with wax was used as a plug. There are so-called capshaped lids as well, which were placed on the rim of the amphora and fixed on the exterior surface. So-called "pear-shaped" and "ovoid" clay plugs raise many questions. They are hollow and usually have a small diameter. They are supposed to have been used in narrow-mouthed vessels and they helped sampling, so that the amphora did not need to be opened at tasting before purchasing and it was easier to reseal the mouth. Naturally, it was not easy to empty an amphora. Small pumps and long-handled ladles were used (such a ladle was preserved at Khios), which are extremely rare finds. The metal tools were probably smelted down. The practice of bottle return did not exist in the Roman period, so the empty containers were used in various ways or they were simply crushed. The amphoras in which wine had been transported could be used for carrying water, but they were practically not suitable for the storage of any other food. Since they were usually thick-walled and bulky vessels, they were not easy to move about. We know examples when slacked lime was transported in them to short distances. The best way of "recycling" was in a crushed form: being excellent heat isolators, they were often built into the walls of houses and the baking surfaces of ovens, and they were also put in the foundation layers of roads. Another custom was burying babies who died at a very young age in amphoras that had been broken into two. Sometimes the broken vessels were placed into or beside the graves of adults. Certain parts of the vessels, like the neck, could be broken off and joined with cement to build a water pipe. Nevertheless, much more amphoras were produced and exploited in the Roman Empire, and their majority ended in refuse pits or on refuse heaps like the fairly big hill in Rome called Monte Testaccio, which was entirely built of crushed amphoras.