Scambi e commerci in area vesuviana. I dati delle anfore dai saggi stratigrafici I.E. (Impianto Elettrico) 1980-81 nel Foro di Pompei

Le anfore da trasporto sono uno dei migliori indicatori archeologici per valutare l'economia e il commercio delle società del mondo antico. Questa monografia, realizzata da ricercatori dell'Università di Cadice e dell'Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, comprende lo studio di quasi mezzo migliaio di questi contenitori commerciali, recuperati durante i pioneristici scavi stratigrafici effettuati da P. Arthur per conto della Sopritendenza nel 1980-1981 presso il Foro di Pompei, denominati convenzionalmente "Impianto Elettrico" e fino ad oggi rimasti inediti. Il lavoro rappresenta la prima monografia pompeiana dedicata esclusivamente all'analisi delle testimonianze anforiche portate alla luce da attività di scavo archeologico nella città sepolta dall’eruzione del Vesuvio, ed analizza in prospettiva diacronica tutte le produzioni in circolazione tra il VI/V a.C. e l'anno 79 d.C. I quattordici capitoli del volume offrono al lettore i dati relativi alle anfore arcaiche, non abbondanti ma molto significative per le fasi più antiche delle insediamento, alle anfore greche, specialmente rodie di epoca ellenistica, che si distinguono per l’abbondanza di esemplari bollati; alle anfore vinarie italiche di epoca repubblicana, che disegnano un panorama commerciale di grande vitalità, nel quale la Campania gioca un ruolo preminente, intrecciando le sue produzioni con quelle di altre aree della penisola. Si passano quindi in rassegna le anfore africane, o di tradizione punica, caratterizzate da una complessa seriazione tipologica che ben illustra gli intensi rapporti commericali con il nord Africa e l’isola di Ibiza; seguono poi le anfore punico-gaditane da garum, identificate per la prima volta in area vesuviana proprio in questo studio; le Dressel 21-22, contenitori per il commercio italico di salagione e di recente caratterizzazione e, infine, le produzioni del periodo tardo-repubblicano e giulio-claudio. Completano il volume una serie di analisi complementari effettuate su alcune delle anfore prese in esame: si indaga quindi il paleocontenuto di alcune serie (con le analisi dei residui organici), si effettua la caratterizzazione minero-petrografica di alcuni impasti, si studiano i sistemi di chiusura e sigillatura delle anfore e del loro contenuto (opercula) e si illustrano alcuni esemplari riutilizzati e rifunzionalizzati come affilatoi, lisciatoi o a fini statici. Tutto questo materiale, analizzato con un approccio integrato ed interdisciplinare, e corredato di dei capitoli che sintetizzano lo stato della ricerca e le prospettive future, consente di trarre molteplici conclusioni, fondamentali per comprendere la ricca e articolata storia quotidiana di Pompei, dei suoi mercanti e dei suoi abitanti (i consumatori ai quali le anfore erano destinate) ma utile anche per meglio definire la storia economica di alcune delle regioni circum-mediterranee (da Gades all'Egeo) con le quali Pompei aveva forti legami commerciali nell'antichità, come testimoniano le anfore qui presentate

Forgotten Mediterranean calving grounds of gray and North Atlantic right whales : evidence from Roman archaeological records

International audienceRight whales (Eubalaena glacialis) were extirpated from the eastern North Atlantic by commercial whaling. Grey whales (Eschrichtius robustus) disappeared from the entire North Atlantic in still-mysterious circumstances. Here, we test the hypotheses that both species previously occurred in the Mediterranean Sea, an area not currently considered part of their historical range. We used ancient DNA barcoding and collagen fingerprinting methods to taxonomically identify a rare set of 10 presumed whale bones from Roman and pre-Roman archaeological sites in the Strait of Gibraltar region, plus an additional bone from the Asturian coast. We identified three right whales, and three grey whales, demonstrating that the ranges of both of these species historically encompassed the Gibraltar region, probably including the Mediterranean Sea as calving grounds. Our results significantly extend the known range of the Atlantic grey whale, and suggest that 2000 years ago, right and grey whales were common when compared with other whale species. The disappearance of right and grey whales from the Mediterranean region is likely to have been accompanied by broader ecosystem impacts, including the disappearance of their predators (killer whales) and a reduction in marine primary productivity. The evidence that these two coastal and highly accessible species were present along the shores of the Roman Empire raises the hypothesis that they may have formed the basis of a forgotten whaling industry

Exploitation shifted trophic ecology and habitat preferences of Mediterranean and Black Sea bluefin tuna over centuries

During recent decades, the health of ocean ecosystems and fish populations has been threatened by overexploitation, pollution and anthropogenic-driven climate change. Due to a lack of long-term ecological data, we have a poor grasp of the true impact on the diet and habitat use of fishes. This information is vital if we are to recover depleted fish populations and predict their future dynamics. Here, we trace the long-term diet and habitat use of Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), Thunnus thynnus, a species that has had one of the longest and most intense exploitation histories, owing to its tremendous cultural and economic importance. Using carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope analyses of modern and ancient BFT including 98 archaeological and archival bones from 11 Mediterranean locations ca. 1st century to 1941 CE, we infer a shift to increased pelagic foraging around the 16th century in Mediterranean BFT. This likely reflects the early anthropogenic exploitation of inshore coastal ecosystems, as attested by historical literature sources. Further, we reveal that BFT which migrated to the Black Sea–and that disappeared during a period of intense exploitation and ecosystem changes in the 1980s–represented a unique component, isotopically distinct from BFT of NE Atlantic and Mediterranean locations. These data suggest that anthropogenic activities had the ability to alter the diet and habitat use of fishes in conditions prior to those of recent decades. Consequently, long-term data provide novel perspectives on when marine ecosystem modification began and the responses of marine populations, with which to guide conservation policy

Apuntes sobre la evolución de las relaciones interprovinciales a través de las ánforas

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: [Version en ligne : http://ramppa.uca.es/]

International audienc

Tamuda y las ánforas mauritanas occidentales. Primeros apuntes tipológicos y arqueométricos

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploitation history of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean-insights from ancient bones

Overexploitation has directly, negatively affected marine fish populations in the past half-century, modifying not only their abundance but their behaviour and life-history traits. The recovery and resilience of such populations is dependent upon their exploitation history, which often extends back millennia. Hence, data on when exploitation intensified and how populations were composed in historical periods, have the potential to reveal long-term population dynamics and provide context on the baselines currently used in fisheries management and conservation. Here, we setup a framework for investigations on the exploitation history of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus; BFT) in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean by collating records of their zooarchaeological remains and critically reviewing these alongside the literature. Then, we outline how novel multidisciplinary applications on BFT remains may be used to document long-term population dynamics. Our review of literature provides clear evidence of BFT overexploitation during the mid-20th century ce. Furthermore, a strong case could be made that the intensification of BFT exploitation extends back further to at least the 19th century ce, if not the 13th-16th century ce, in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. However, a host of archaeological evidence would suggest that BFT exploitation may have been intensive since antiquity. Altogether, this indicates that by the currently used management baselines of the 1970s, population abundance and complexity was already likely to have declined from historical levels, and we identify how biomolecular and morphometric analyses of BFT remains have the potential to further investigate this