EPRAC · Economy of Pre-Roman Adriatic Communities: amphora production and trade patterns in a changing world

Economy of Pre-Roman Adriatic Communities: amphora production and trade patterns in a changing world

Research into the ancient trade in the Adriatic has largely neglected its eastern coastline due to a relative lack of data compared to the Italian side and the diversity of languages and cultures, which have led to more fragmented local picture. This has made it difficult to identify Pre-Roman regional trade patterns and cultural developments in this area, as well as inter-regional connections with the rest of the Mediterranean. The investigation of the multiple archaeological sites along the Eastern Adriatic maritime trade route, filled the gap our understanding of trade connections in the Pre-Roman times. By using a materials science-based approach for the provenance and movement of amphorae and using them as a proxy for the studying trade, exchange and the nature of the emerging economy of the region at the end of the first millennium BC. Identifying the origin of the transport amphorae from the shipwrecks, as well as from the indigenous Iron Age settlements in Dalmatian region, we were able to reconstruct their movements and commercial activities in the region. This shed a new light on the involvement of the Adriatic communities in the web of the ancient Mediterranean connections. As the results show, the indigenous Eastern Adriatic communities established trading contacts with Hellenistic kingdom in the northwester Greece, with Corfu, and on mainland Greece with Corinth. On the opposite side of the Adriatic, commercial connections were strong with communities in the ancient Apulian, present day Puglia in Italy. This lead to more nuanced understanding of how and why communities in the Adriatic were connected, and how it influenced the social and cultural developments in the lives of indigenous people during the period of Greek influences prior to the consolidation of Roman power in the 1st c. BC. The objectives of the EPRAC project were fourfold. Firstly, to identify workshops of transport amphorae and to characterize in detail the nature of their production in the Adriatic region. Directly comparing microstructure and composition of amphorae from workshops with amphorae from shipwrecks and consumptions sites, we achieved the second objective of the EPRAC project, the reconstruction of the trade patterns and circulation of liquid commodities transported via amphorae. Third objective was mapping the movement of amphorae the Adriatic and using them as a proxy to trace movement of liquid commodities they transported. This shed light on important economic and social developments taking place in this region from the 4th till the 1st c. BC. Finally, by identification of workshops and trade patterns, the project answer questions about the role that Adriatic communities played in the economy of the region in the period of the of major political sift in the region. Trade connections and maritime trade routes, established by the Hellenistic communities in the region were interrupted but the emerging Roman power in the period of Late Republic.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз