Ceramic balsamaria-bottles: The example of Viminacium

The earliest balsamaria to appear in the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods are ceramic and seldom over 10 cm in height. On the Southern Necropolis of Viminacium (sites Vise grobalja and Pecine) 21 vessels of this type have been found. The features they have in common are a long slender neck and the absence of handles. Based on the shape of their bodies nine groups have been identified. Although they are similar to glass balsamaria, the term bottle seems more appropriate chiefly on account of their size. Of several proposed suggestions about their basic function, the most plausible seems to be that their primary use was as containers for products packed in small amounts. Although most published finds come from burials, the question of their significance and use in funerary rituals remains inadequately elucidated. It is impossible to say with certainty whether the larger-sized vessels of a later date had the same function as the smaller Hellenistic and Early Roman ones. What is certain is that they are usually found in cremation burials, as shown by both Viminacium's Southern Necropolis, the necropolises of Poetovio and Emona, and individual graves on other sites. To judge from the clay fabric and colour and the manner of manufacture, the ceramic bottles from Viminacium come from different and as yet unidentified production centres. From the stratigraphic data and the grave goods they were found in association with they can be dated to the end of the first and first half of the second century, tentatively regarded as a later phase in their production.