The mortarium, a shallow, spouted, gritted dish, is an entirely novel and widely-used vessel in Roman Britain. This vessel is traditionally envisaged as a material manifestation the transition to 'Roman' food preparation techniques and hence, changing cultural identity and behaviour. However, the high prevalence of mortaria at some rural s sites. which display evidence for cultural continuity from the Iron Age in other aspects, suggests that the mortarium may also have been appropriated to fulfil pre-existing criteria.