Hellenistic Mortar and Plaster from Contrada Mella near Oppido Mamertina (Calabria, Italy)

Recent archaeological investigations conducted at contrada Mella, an alluvial terrace near
Oppido Mamertina, in southwestern Calabria, have uncovered the remains of a town that was
settled by the Tauriani, an Italic people, between the third and the first centuries BC. A unique
deposit excavated in 1990 and 1992 yielded numerous fragments of mortar and painted plaster
associated with Hellenistic pottery and other cultural materials. Chemical analyses of samples
of these fragments, point to the use of aerial mortars with hematite and calcite as pigments.
The characteristics of the mortar and painted plaster found at contrada Mella are comparable
to those of similar materials from Locri Epizephyrii, the closest Greek city on the Ionian coast
of Italy, and from Hellenistic sites in Calabria and Sicily. They provide new evidence for
interior decoration from the houses of the Tauriani.