Abstract
Written sources tell us the pepper species of Piper nigrum and Piper longum played a significant role in ancient Roman cuisine, however, physical evidence of their culinary use in the form of macrobotanical remains is rare. Phytoliths, due to their possible taxonomic significance and survivability, could be used to understand Roman culinary applications of pepper in contexts where the preservation of macrobotanical remains is poor. To gauge their usefulness in the study of pepper, phytoliths were isolated from modern botanical samples of white pepper (Piper nigrum), black pepper (Piper nigrum), and long pepper (Piper longum). Phytoliths were found to be absent in samples of white pepper, but keystone morphologies of the oblong psilate and polyhedral irregulate types were found in long and black pepper respectively. These keystone morphologies indicate that phytoliths could possibly be used to identify these forms of pepper in certain Roman archaeological contexts. In addition to morphological research an experiment was undertaken that found that ground forms of all varieties of pepper and all preparations of long pepper were susceptible to mold in a climate of varying temperature and humidity.