Peter Campbell

Social Aspects of Maritime Trade During Roman Adriatic Hegemony

Supervisor: Dr. Lucy Blue

Abstract:

Trade analysis has recently focused on statistical distribution models, though trade is a social activity concerning material-economic interaction between identity groups. This research explores social aspects of Roman maritime trade, examining how North African traders replaced traditional eastern Mediterranean relationships along the Adriatic coast during the 2^nd century AD. This research addresses post-processual themes while using a processual archaeological toolkit. Ancient navigation and an assessment of maritime conditions are reconstructed through identifying embedded and immobile infrastructures that formed mariners’ vision of the seascape, while coastal surveys generate new data and analysis identifies amphorae origin and foodstuffs that were transported.

email: pbc1g11@soton.ac.uk