I grandi contenitori per lo stoccaggio di derrate dal santuario delle Curiae Veteres a Roma

The large containers for the storage of food appear in the archaeological contexts of central Tyrrhenian Italy since the protohistoric age. Over time, their use becomes increasingly important in various areas, including the sacral one. In fact, the presence of these artifacts in sanctuary areas is not unusual. Here they were used in ordinary activities (conservation and storage of solid and liquid foodstuffs) and, given their size and pivotal permanent use, they became an integral part of the functional furniture. The archaic and republican stratigraphies of the civic sanctuary of the Curiae Veteres, where - according to tradition - the citizens divided into curiae by Romulus celebrated the sacra (common meals), have returned a significant quantity of fragments referable to this category of material. Although these are objects found in a non-original position, their study has allowed to retrieve valuable information on the role played by these artefacts in the context of daily life of the sacred area thanks to the overall numbers of finds and the use of techno- typological and metrological approaches. An accurate analysis of the stratigraphies has also made it possible to carry out "long-term"; analyzes on some of these objects which, even in light of the construction costs, after an initial phase of life, sometimes appear to be reused to perform even functions other than the original intended use.