We present an exceptional discovery in one of the rooms of the Northwest House in the residential area of Sa Portella, in the Roman city of Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca). The find consists of worked bone remains belonging to the decorative cladding of a bed. Its significance lies in the fact that, to our knowledge, this is the first discovery of its kind in a domestic or artisanal context within Roman Hispania. Moreover, such finds are scarce in areas of Roman occupation dating to the Late Republican and Julio-Claudian periods.
The study of this bed enables the Pollentia example to be related to other Central Italian specimens, and in particular, to the so-called bed from Tomb 50 of the necropolis of Norcia (Perugia, Italy). This contribution presents the pieces recovered at Pollentia, with particular attention to their technical and stylistic features, and situates them within the broader framework of the production and distribution of beds in the Roman world.
