WARSAW, POLAND—Science in Poland reports that a set of pots with lids, bowls, cups, and drinking vessels has been uncovered in an officer’s quarters at Novae, a Roman legionary camp in Bulgaria. “Not only is it made of great quality clay, it also presents a full set of used forms, indirectly giving us insight into the culinary tastes of the lady of the house,” said Piotr Dyczek of the University of Warsaw. Some oyster shells were found next to the set, he added. Analysis of residues in the pots and the animal bones uncovered nearby should reveal more about the meals cooked and served with the kitchenware. “It is already clear that the food prepared for the centurion was more sophisticated than that for ordinary legionnaires,” Dyczek said. The luxurious residence was equipped with a toilet, a courtyard with a pool, porticos, a hypocaust system to heat some of the rooms, a bath complex, walls decorated with paintings, and floors lined with ceramic tiles. To read about a fragment of a Roman legionary's gravestone that was found in northwestern Bulgaria, go to "A Dutiful Roman Soldier."
