THERE is that famous saying "sedikit-sedikit lama-lama menjadi bukit" in which it's accepted that patience and steady effort in an endeavour will result in a productive or fruitful outcome.
With that in mind, it has also been said over the years that an actual hill was formed bit by bit, literally built up over centuries from people dumping pots at a single location.
Is this true?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Yes, this is true, in the case of Rome's Monte Testaccio.
The name of the hill comes from the Latin word "testa" and the Italian "cocci", both used to refer to pot shards.
Monte Testaccio got its name because it is where ancient Romans dumped amphoras, clay pots used to contain liquids.
The dumping occurred over a 250-year period from the 1st century AD, the vast majority of containers having been used for olive oil imported from what is now southern Spain.
These unwanted amphoras eventually piled up into a hill that is now 54m high and with a circumference of about 1km, big enough for trees and grass to have taken root along its slopes.
With that said, just how many amphoras does it take to create a hill big enough for a pizza restaurant to be built right into the side of Monte Testaccio?
According to Monte Testaccio excavations co-director José Remesal, millions of amphoras were dumped there.
“Something like 25 million complete ones. Of course, it’s difficult to be exact,” the University of Barcelona archaeologist said in a March 2009 article in Archaeology Magazine.
So yes, things can be piled up to make a hill – like broken pots – but it might take a couple of centuries to do so.
SOURCES
https://archaeology.org/issues/online/features/trash-talk/
https://web.archive.org/web/20050302200446/http://ceipac.gh.ub.es/MOSTRA/u_expo.htm
https://turismoroma.it/en/places/monte-dei-cocci
