Case study – use and reuse of ceramic building material for constructing the graves of ancient Viminacium

Abstract

In the past couple of decades, during the archaeological research of the ancient Roman city and the military camp of Viminacium more than 13.500 graves were unearthed. A wide variety of funerary rites and different types of grave constructions was noted. Many discovered graves were made using CBM and it is usually taken for granted that the bricks and tiles used were recycled. In this paper we analyse this phenomenon and try to determine whether this was truly the case. Our secondary goal is to determine the number of usages of the material and to establish the period after which it was reused. Answering these questions is important for the interpretation and further studies of the material and the way it was used.