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The recovery of large quantities of fragmented carbonized olive stones from archaeological sites around the Mediterranean indicates that olive oil pressing waste (pomace) was used as a domestic and industrial fuel source throughout antiquity. Olive pomace burns at a high and constant temperature, making it an ideal fuel for heating and cooking as well as firing pottery and lime kilns. The Roman period is characterized by an expansion in pomace use both quantitatively and geographically. Beginning in the first century C.E., pomace fuel was introduced into new urban markets and began to play a larger role in industrial production. This article highlights the history of pomace use in antiquity, focusing primarily on the changes that took place during the Roman period. The article also seeks to establish a set of identification criteria that will enable archaeologists to distinguish pomace residue from other sources of carbonized olive stones, including ritual and table waste. 1 introduction While wood and charcoal were undoubtedly the most widespread and commonly used fuels in antiquity, they were not the only sources of fuel, nor were they always the least expensive or the most favored. Cereal chaff, dung, coal, and animal fats, among others, were also used. 2 There is growing scholarly recognition of the use of secondary fuels in the ancient world, particularly with reference to the production of a specific good, such as pottery. 3 Olive oil pressings-so-called press cake, or pomace, 4 the solid material that remains after the oil is collected-provide an underrated yet highly archaeologically observable example of these secondary fuels. The carbonization process turns material into a mass of carbon that does not decompose, is impervious to microbial attack, and does not react with other minerals and chemicals. 5 Thus, the burning of pomace leaves behind fragments of carbonized olive stone, which are durable and invulnerable to decay. 1 I thank especially Andrew Wilson for his continued assistance, as well as Mark Robinson and the anonymous reviewers for the AJA for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. I am grateful to Nicolas Monteix and Robyn Veal, who shared their research with me and offered valuable advice. An audience at the "Fuel and Fire in the Ancient Roman World" conference at the British School at Rome provided useful feedback on the presentation of an early version of this paper, as did discussions with Anaya Sarpaki and C. Margaret Scarry at the 2013 International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany conference in Thessaloniki. Finally, I would like to thank the Herculaneum Conservation Project and the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Pompei, Ercolano e Stabia for allowing me to study their material and Maxine Anastasi for the creation of the fig. 3 map. The opinions expressed here and any remaining errors are my own. Figures are my own unless otherwise noted.

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The excavation of an ancient sewer in the town of Herculaneum, Italy, provided the opportunity to study Roman diet in the Bay of Naples, including the marine component. The sewer served an apartment block which was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and retained human and kitchen waste of the non-élite individuals living above. The remains showed a high degree of dietary diversity with around 70 fish, 48 marine mollusc and three marine arthropod taxa being identified. The fish were mostly small individuals which were probably netted in fairly shallow, coastal waters. The marine invertebrates included species of sandy shores, rocks and the sea bed but the majority could have been collected very close to the water's edge. Both the fish and the shellfish would have been available locally in large quantities and probably represented cheap and nutritious dietary fare. Some of the consumed fish was probably salted (salsamenta) or fermented (as fish sauces such as garum), but it is thought that most of the fish and shellfish originated in the Bay of Naples and would have been purchased fresh. The difficulty of identifying preserved fish within the mixed sewer assemblage is discussed.

While there have been numerous studies investigating intestinal parasitic infection in the Roman period, much of this work has been focused in northern Europe, with major gaps in the eastern empire. In order to further elucidate regional patterns in parasitic infection in the Roman empire, we looked for evidence for parasites in sites from Anatolia and the Balkans. Sediment samples from drains as well as coprolites were studied to find evidence for intestinal parasites in the Roman cities of Viminacium (Serbia) and Sardis (Turkey), and results were combined with previous work in these regions. Each sample was tested for preserved helminth (worm) eggs using microscopy and for intestinal protozoa that cause diarrhea, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Our analysis revealed a predominance of species spread by the contamination of food and water by human feces, namely roundworm and whipworm. The identification of these parasites (which are linked to sanitation and hygiene) in Roman cities in Anatolia and the Balkans is contrasted with the range of zoonotic species found elsewhere in the empire. It appears that variations in cooking practices, diet, urbanization, and climate throughout the empire may have contributed to differences in gastrointestinal diseases in different regions. 1 1 We would like to thank Techlab © for donation of the ELISA kits used in this study. We would also like to thank the excavation teams at Sardis and Viminacium who made collection of these samples possible.