Panel 5.9 – Economy and Cultural Contact in the Mediterranean Iron Age


Organiser/Chair:

  • Martin Guggisberg (Universität Basel)
  • Matthias Grawehr (Universität Basel)

Speakers:

Panel abstract

The panel will focus on economy as a driving force for cultural contact. It will debate the interconnectivity of economical and cultural zones in the Mediterranean Sea and beyond, especially on its Eastern and Western shores. The Ancient World has long been understood as a cluster of cultural entities that interacted. When historians and archaeologists acknowledged that the concept of 'culture' as a stable entity is fundamentally problematic, a larger variety of factors have come into consideration. 'Culture' is now seen to be fluid in nature and to have fuzzy edges. It circumscribes a network that has an ever-changing amount of connections to other networks, making it difficult to delineate extensions or boundaries. In this debate economy can offer a down-to-earth approach of studying interregional and intercultural exchange. Economical networks can be elucidated through the mapping of resources, trade routes and the traveling objects themselves. Studying economy in the environment of cultural contacts or vice versa, means to lay bare the interfaces between networks and to follow connecting lines into the core of 'culture'. Contributions to this panel should tackle the questions of resources and trade routes (1), of commodities (2) or of settlements as interfaces (3): (1) Where did the trade routes start, run and end? What boundaries or borders were crossed? How was information about supply and demand transmitted along the routes? (2) Finally attention can be given to the commodities themselves: What was traded? Which objects traveled afar? How were they enacted as ostentations of cultural interaction? (3) How did settlements act as interfaces between different economical and cultural zones? Could a settlement provide exclusive or cheaper access to resources? What did render a settlement an attractive meeting point?

 

Paper abstracts

1. Martin Guggisberg and Matthias Grawehr (University of Basel)

From Household Production to Early Market Economy. Perspectives from East and West
In the Mediterranean Iron Age Greeks and Phoenicians began to develop long distance trading networks. Commodities, people and knowledge were shifted along familiar routes. Correspondingly local economies moved farther away from subsistence, to supply the market with their goods. Natural ressources became increasingly important. Perspectives on the 'global market system' in the Early Iron Age can be gained from East and West:
Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean Iron Age is mostly assigned to Phoenician actors. Less studied are the operations of Aegean-based traders, exchanging goods and ideas with the Aramean states in Northern Syria. The commodities that circulated in these trading networks until the destruction of the Aramean states in the late 8th century BCE can be traced through archaeology and the Assyrian sources.
In the Western Mediterranean written sources are lacking and reconstruction of trade networks has to rely on archaeology. In Central and Southern Italy textiles and textile production served as an important means of social distinction among the native elites. The question therefore arises as to the economic and cultural significance of the wool production and of sheep farming.
In general textiles served as highly esteemed trading goods in the entire mediterranean world in both East and West and provide a good example for regional specialization within a gradually evolving transmediterranean market economy.

"From Household Production to Early Market Economy. Perspectives from East and West" (Fulltext)

 

2. Andrea Celestino Montanaro (CNR - Italian National Research Council)

Amber trade in western adriatic between the iron and the late archaic age. Workshops, artisans and artifacts, exchange networks
The existence of high value objects such as amber in elite graves or in sanctuaries must be considered in light of its role as ingredient in a larger network of cultural relationships. Amber was internationally recognized prestigious and valuable object, suitable for exchange, gift-giving, and status display.
Amber trade in Italy during the Iron Age has had a great development with the appearance of figured ambers. The different subjects represented reflect the plurality of cultural and commercial relations established among Greeks, Etruscans and Italic peoples.
The Adriatic appears to have been the main destination for the amber intended for the Italian markets. Once at the Adriatic, amber must have been moved by water along the coast, finding its way inland along the river valleys and mountain passes.
Among the most active centers of the Orientalizing, Verucchio is the main poles for the sorting of amber, thanks to its strategic location, allowing it to control the traffics coming from Northern Etruria (Vetulonia), Northern Europe and the Adriatic. Its production is very fine and characterized by a wide variety of ornaments, also popular in other geographical and cultural districts located along the Adriatic coast.
Amber sculptures of high stylistic level appear during the 6th cent., found in the rich italic tombs (Basilicata, Apulia and Picenum), traced back to workshops localizable in Picenum, Canosa and Armento, in which certainly worked artisans from Ionia and from Etruria.

"Amber trade in western adriatic between the iron and the late archaic age. Workshops, artisans and artifacts, exchange networks" (Fulltext)

 

3. Giacomo Bardelli

Manufacturing and Keeping Contacts in Archaic Picenum. The Graves of the "Circolo delle Fibule" of Sirolo-Numana (Ancona, Italy)
Excavated in 1970, the “Circolo delle Fibule” of Sirolo (Ancona) was the first burial complex of its type to be discovered in the necropoleis of the ancient Picene settlement of Numana. The “Circolo” included nine graves, probably belonging to the same family group. It derives its name from the peculiar burial custom of covering the bodies of the deceased with a large amount of fibulae – over 400 specimens in one of the graves. Almost 50 years later, the “Circolo delle Fibule” is being investigated in a research project funded by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, and carried out in collaboration with the RGZM of Mainz, the Polo Museale, and the Soprintendenza Archeologia of the Marche Region.
The study of the grave assemblages offers the opportunity to formulate new hypotheses about the local manufacturing of some types of fibulae, as suggested by their recurring features and concentration. The distinctive local character of many of the grave goods is balanced by the presence of some imported items, which display the broad connections between Numana and other regions in the Mediterranean as well as East and North of the Alps. In this respect, some amber findings are especially revealing of the prominent commercial role played by Numana and its harbour during the 6th century BC. When analysed in their diachronic development, the grave assemblages shed light on the dynamics of economical and trade relationships hidden behind the curtain of the funerary practice.
 

"Manufacturing and Keeping Contacts in Archaic Picenum. The Graves of the "Circolo delle Fibule" of Sirolo-Numana (Ancona, Italy)" (Fulltext)

 

4. Holger Baitinger (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum)

Exploitation of Resources and Trading Networks in the Archaic Western Mediterranean – the Evidence of the Metal Objects
The access to important and sought-after resources plays a central role in today's globalised world, and sometimes involves remote regions as important nodes in large-scale communication networks. However, the uneven distribution of mineral resources already facilitated wide-ranging connections in the Archaic period, which often crossed cultural boundaries and networked unequal partners. A particularly important example is the access to metallic resources, which were mined and smelted in only a few regions.
Recent research has increasingly shown the extent to which such material was exchanged and traded in the Archaic Western Mediterranean, especially on the island of Sicily. Frequently, fragmented bronze objects are proving wide-ranging contacts, which on the one hand connected the Greek colonies of the coast with far-off regions, such as southern France, but which on the other hand also stimulated dealings between the Greek settlers and the indigenous Sicilian hinterland.

"Exploitation of Resources and Trading Networks in the Archaic Western Mediterranean – the Evidence of the Metal Objects" (Fulltext)

 

5. Marek Vercik (Charles University Prague) and Jana Mokrisova (UCL)

Metals on the Move: Metallurgy and Technological Transfer on the Western Anatolian Littoral
It has long been acknowledged that the central part of the eastern Aegean coast - in the historical times known as Ionia - played a vital role in the cultural connectivity between Anatolia and the Aegean region in the 2nd and 1st mil. BCE; a conduit through which eastern cultural impulses reached the Greek koine. However, significant economic patterns of exchange that lay behind the increased connectivity have rarely been analyzed in detail. This contribution will map out one of such patterns of economic interaction: metallurgy.
Literary evidence seems to indicate that Ionians were conscious of and interested in the highly-developed metallurgy of the neighboring regions of Anatolia. Yet, until recently the archaeological evidence from the pre-Classical periods was largely absent. New data gathered from examination of metal-working installations from Ionia however, can inform our understanding of the circulation of products and the related technology, an integral part of socioeconomic exchange.
Our aim, hence, is to trace the economy of metallurgy diachronically from the Late Bronze Age down to the Archaic period, focusing on the main metals (copper, iron, silver) and based on 3 pillars: raw materials, production, and technology. By doing so, we will highlight the shifting exchange patterns within Anatolia and identify possible Ionian innovations. We hope to demonstrate that the western Anatolian littoral was not a mere conduit; rather, it was an active arena of innovation.

 

6. Albert Nijboer (University of Groningen)

Prospecting, early colonization and the transfer of technological know-how in the western Mediterranean from 1000 to 700 BC
The creation of the urban Classical World covering eventually the whole Mediterranean, is accompanied by technological transmission starting with the structural use of iron in Italy and on the Iberian Peninsula from the 10th century BC onward. Subsequently other metallurgical know-how, concepts of monumental architecture, the alphabet, weights and novel ceramic production techniques were passed on till around 700/600 BC. It required some form of cooperation between indigenous and seafaring groups such as the Phoenicians and surfaces as a coastal phenomenon. From ca. 800 BC onward Greek-speaking groups moved westwards, especially to Italy; groups such as the Euboeans with their short-lived overseas trading network of the 8th century BC.
The local polities involved, were dynamic receivers of goods and expertise transforming some of their own material culture in a decidedly hybrid blend. Most new manufacturing techniques produced initially high value – low output commodities for which there was a significant demand due to ongoing social ranking. Some of these commodities gradually altered into low value – high output goods by increased demand being produced in specialized workshops. This signifies centralization and eventually urbanization in some regions. From a cross-cultural, comparative perspective, it appears that all urbanization is accompanied by some form of craft-specialization that resulted in a number of commodities that became available for many.

 

7. Veronika Sossau (Universität Basel)

Ionians in the Black Sea – Economical Resources and Beyond
Despite many years of research on colonization and the common skepticism against mono-causal explanations, migration towards the shores of the Black Sea in the framework of the `Great Greek colonization’ is still often understood as a), an involuntary act (including more or less despair), and b), as an attempt to access economic supplies the Ionian poleis lacked. In that sense, apoikiai are up until now often treated as dependent enclaves of their hometowns. It has, however, come clear in the past years of research, that in many cases a controlled reflux of specific goods (i.e. grain which takes a lot of time, experience, and effort to be grown in numbers that enable it to be exported) can hardly be expected in the early stages of `colonization’. In my paper, I’d like to address two main aspects:
a) Rather than focusing only on specific resources, I want to explore the role of connectivity to other existing networks during the foundation of apoikiai (the Ionians were not the only players at the shores of the Black sea).
b) I’d like to go beyond the limited economical understanding of resources and propose mobility / migration as a resource itself. It enabled actors belonging to competing Ionian elites an additional opportunity to avoid violent conflicts as well as subordination. While migration does involve costs, it also offers the opportunities to carry on political responsibility, to live in political self-determination, establish new networks and refresh old ones.

 

8. Rosalba Panvini and Marina Congiu (Università degli studi di Catania)

Commerci, economia e strutturazione sociale delle comunità indigene della Sicilia centrale. I casi di Sabucina, Polizzello e Vassallaggi
Il contributo intende ricostruire, attraverso l’esame di alcuni contesti di Polizzello, Sabucina e Vassallaggi, un quadro esaustivo dell’economia delle comunità sicane che vi abitavano. Durante il VII-V sec. a.C. tali siti mostrano chiari segni di ricchezza, evidenziabili attraverso materiali d’importazione ritrovati nei luoghi di culto e nelle aree funerarie. Anche le produzioni locali evidenziano forme e repertori iconografici indicativi dell’alto livello raggiunto dagli artigiani non soltanto a seguito del contatto con i Greci.Le importazioni di materiali provenienti sia dall’Attica (ceramiche a fig. nere e rosse), ma anche dalla Grecia dell’Est, attestano i commerci intrattenuti dalle comunità dei tre centri; non mancano i manufatti bronzei in materiale pregiato (argento, ambra ed avorio) utilizzati come offerte alla divinità e nella composizione dei corredi.
Grazie all’esame di alcune tipologie e classi di materiali, oggi, si è in grado di conoscere le fonti di sostentamento delle comunità sicane ( cereali, zolfo e salgemma) il cui relativo surplus veniva utilizzato per gli scambi commerciali con altre genti. La varietà e la composizione dei corredi funerari consente di riconoscere l’esistenza di ceti anche elitari cui era affidata la gestione delle risorse economiche e ai quali erano riservati gli oggetti di importazione più pregiati. Ne scaturisce un quadro significativo per conoscere la composizione socio-culturale ed economica della gente sicana dell’età del Ferro.

"Commerci, economia e strutturazione sociale delle comunità indigene della Sicilia centrale. I casi di Sabucina, Polizzello e Vassallaggi" (Fulltext)

 

9. Eicke Granser (Ruhr Universität Bochum)

Pithekoussai (Ischia) – Colonization vs. Participation
According to Hesychius and Photius, the tarantinon was a cloak of diaphanous material for women. This garment is mentioned in inscriptions from the sanctuaries of Artemis Brauronia in Attica (4th century BC) and Demeter in Tanagra (3th century BC) in lists of votive objects offered to the goddesses by women. Since the 4th century BC, literary texts refer to fine textiles named tarantinon, tarantinidion, taranteinon and tarnation. Many scholars consider the presence of these terms as evidence of a textile trade between Taranto and Greece flourishing since the Peloponnesian War. Indeed, Taranto was renowned for its wool and textile industry until the Roman period. My paper investigates the significance of these terms, which might be related to the origin of the garments or the quality of the wool. Also, it is uncertain whether the textile trade first appears in the 4th century BC or whether it dates back to trade routes that existed already in the 11th century BC.

"Pithekoussai (Ischia) – Colonization vs. Participation" (Fulltext)

 

10. Joanna Smith (University of Pennsylvania)

Seals in the Economy and Culture of the Iron Age Mediterranean
Seals offer means of tracing trade routes, commodities exchanged, and the movement of people in the Iron Age Mediterranean. Seals are small objects that were carved in intaglio and made of stone or composite materials. People pressed seals into clay or wax in economic or legal transactions as marks of responsibility or authority. Seals had amuletic qualities, were worn on the body, and were closely tied to the identities of their owners. Tracing interconnections through seals in the Iron Age often depends on evidence from seals rather than their impressions in clay. Clay seal impressions are rare in the due to the increased use of perishable writing materials in the first millennium BCE Mediterranean. Seal shapes, materials, and carvings reflect choices made by seal owners. A person may own a seal made centuries before or in a place far from his or her home. Changes to a seal design over time, inscriptions, settings, and find contexts aid reveal not only how seals as commodities were traded, but also how people traveled and which routes they took. This paper offers an overview of how seals delineate potential trade routes and then focuses on the evidence provided by seals from Cyprus, drawing particularly on new evidence from the city-kingdoms of Marion and Kourion. People in these city-kingdoms owned seals of all shapes and materials that point to interconnections within the island as well as overseas with Assyria, Persia, Phoenicia, Egypt, Ionia, and mainland Greece.

 

11. Andrea Perugini (Ghent University)

Trade networks across the Strait of Sicily: an overview from Uzita, Malta and Marsala in the second half of 1st millennium BC
The Strait of Sicily has always been a very prolific and promising area for Mediterranean archaeology and studies. Its location in the middle of the basin and the cultures that inhabited its shores during centuries have continuously given it a primary role. In the Classical and Hellenistic periods, Phoenicians and Greeks (and Romans eventually) ruled this part of the sea and the commercial routes passing through it. They were the main actors of Mediterranean trade, and the archaeological evidence recovered indicates a high rate of exchange and interconnections. This paper focuses on amphora finds from a selection of sites facing the Strait of Sicily as the primary sources to the pottery study of trade networks. Through a cross-study approach involving typology and fabric, and combining data stemming from published and unpublished items, this paper will tackle some of the open questions regarding production and distribution in ancient Mediterranean.

 

12. Angela Trentacoste (Univeristy of Oxford) and Ariadna Nieto-Espinet and Silvia Valenzuela Lamas (CISC)

Livestock management, agricultural investment, and cultural change in Late Iron Age Italy
In late prehistoric societies, animals held both cultural and economic value. Not only did they provide food, transport, and a means of communicating with the divine, but livestock also functioned as valuable, tradable commodities and a long-term store of agricultural produce. In Italy during the Late Iron Age, the relationship that some communities had with their livestock underwent significant change. Our zooarchaeological research demonstrates that management patterns in northern Italy shifted dramatically with Etruscan exploitation of the Po Plain. During the same period, this area also witnessed a significant expansion in inter-regional trade with Greece and Celtic Europe. Recent research has demonstrated that cultural contact with Greek colonies in southern Italy and France had an impact on animal usage; did Greek–Etruscan contact in cities like Spina affect agricultural strategies in the Po Plain? How did Etruscan versus contemporary Celtic and Venetian settlements respond? This research analyses animal husbandry strategies and livestock size to reveal new data on cultural versus agricultural boundaries and the role of the local environment in determining productive strategies. Subsequent stages of the research will use isotopic and DNA analysis to investigate livestock mobility and genetic diversity of Iron Age animals, which are thought to be determinant factors that could shape animal husbandry production and livestock morphology.

 

13. Elisabetta Lupi (Leibniz Universität Hannover)

Luxury from the West. The tarantinon in Attica and Boeotia
According to Hesychius and Photius, the tarantinon was a cloak of diaphanous material for women. This garment is mentioned in inscriptions from the sanctuaries of Artemis Brauronia in Attica (4th century BC) and Demeter in Tanagra (3th century BC) in lists of votive objects offered to the goddesses by women. Since the 4th century BC, literary texts refer to fine textiles named tarantinon, tarantinidion, taranteinon and tarnation. Many scholars consider the presence of these terms as evidence of a textile trade between Taranto and Greece flourishing since the Peloponnesian War. Indeed, Taranto was renowned for its wool and textile industry until the Roman period. My paper investigates the significance of these terms, which might be related to the origin of the garments or the quality of the wool. Also, it is uncertain whether the textile trade first appears in the 4th century BC or whether it dates back to trade routes that existed already in the 11th century BC.