First floor

On leaving Room X and taking the stairs up to the first floor, you will encounter Rooms IX, VIII and VII, dedicated to Roman ceramics. Room IX contains Roman ceramics for communal use: Display Case I shows typical items from the kitchen and serving table, while Display Case II shows a selection of pieces associated with funerals, religious ceremonies and play, together with some ceramics painted in a traditional indigenous style. In Showcase I of Room VIII, the most classic type of Roman ceramics, known as terra sigillata, is on display, with the pieces organised according to their place of manufacture (Italy, France, Africa and Spain). In Display Case II, more examples of luxury Roman ceramic production can be seen in ‘thin-walled’ pottery and terracotta items. Finally, Room VII focuses exclusively on oil lamps.

Room VI, in keeping with the theme of Room VI on the ground floor, has as its main element the recreation of a columbarium, a collective burial site that took the form of a wall with niches in which the cinerary urns of the deceased were placed.

After this thematic interruption, Room V delves back into thematic content, in this case through bone crafting. Exhibit I contains objects for women's headdresses, while Exhibit II displays other bone tools, such as sewing needles, spindles and their whorls for spinning, knife handles, spoons, and so on. One piece housed in Exhibit III stands out: it is a consular diptych, a type of object in the form of a small booklet with ivory leaves, by means of which various Late Antique authorities announced their recent appointment throughout the Empire.

Room VI is dedicated to Roman glasswork. Relating to improvements to glass production during the Roman period, such as possible local production in Augusta Emerita, Display Case I prominently exhibits the more common types of glass produced in Mérida (primarily perfume boxes, cylindrical bottles and square bottles). Display case II presents a number of imported pieces that are the most important items in the Museum's collections.

The Museum's significant numismatic collection is displayed in Room III and part of Room II. The first of these rooms, with its two display cases, offers a tour of the political history of Rome from the end of the Republic until Late Antiquity through the coins minted over this long period of time. A single display case in the next room exhibits various products from the Mérida mint. Particularly notable are the bronze coins featuring the image of the ancient city gates. Two more display cases round off Room II with a theme related to money: jewellery.