Smashing success: Rome's hill of 53 million jars

Monte Testaccio is a hill in Rome that is actually a centuries-old amphorae dump. There is an amazing history to both the hill and the wealth of information it hides.

Evidently, it was cheaper to just smash amphorae, the clay jugs in which olive oil and other trade fluids of the Roman Empire were stored. The jugs were so plentiful and long-lasting and cheaper to just discard than ship back to the origin site for re-use. To manage the tons of terracotta waste, Rome built a hill out of the waste. That well managed series of terraces also serves as a library of information about trade over hundreds of years. Jars are covered in shipping info, contents, names, and sometimes just graffiti.

Monte Testaccio was not simply a haphazard waste dump; it was a highly organised and carefully engineered creation, presumably managed by a state administrative authority. Excavations carried out in 1991 showed that the mound had been raised as a series of level terraces with retaining walls made of nearly intact amphorae filled with sherds to anchor them in place. Empty amphorae were probably carried up the mound intact on the backs of donkeys or mules and then broken up on the spot, with the sherds laid out in a stable pattern. Lime appears to have been sprinkled over the broken pots to neutralise the smell of rancid oil.[2]

As the oldest parts of Monte Testaccio are at the bottom of the mound, it is difficult to say with any certainty when it was first created. Deposits found by excavators have been dated to a period between approximately AD 140 to 250, but it is possible that dumping could have begun on the site as early as the 1st century BC. The mound has a roughly triangular shape comprising two distinct platforms, the eastern side being the oldest. At least four distinct series of terraces were built in a stepped arrangement. Layers of small sherds were laid down in some places, possibly to serve as paths for those carrying out the waste disposal operations.[3]

Wikipedia

Previously:
Wax Italia: Digging for 45s in Florence and Rome
Pooping in ancient Rome
Cool interactive map of Rome's landmarks and related literary musings