25th CEIPAC Anniversary 30/11/2015

Instrumenta 50 volumes, 40,000 epigraphic records, 20 years online and 26 archaeological campaigns in the Monte Testaccio (Roma).

     The research group CEIPAC (Center for the Study of Provincial Interdependence in Classical Antiquity), University of Barcelona, ​​was created in 1990 in order to study the economic and social relations among the various provinces of the Roman Empire. In recent years, it is coordinating a broad international research program dedicated to the study of the production and trade of food and, through it, the social and political relations involved.

Production and marketing of food was a matter of paramount importance in the ancient world and still remains today. It is a fact that within the Roman Empire, covering most of the countries that currently make up the European Union and the Mediterranean, the various foodstuffs circulated in large quantities. Since it is CEIPAC unravel these relationships between different provinces and clarify as oil, wine or salted from Libya, Tunisia and the Iberian Peninsula came to Germany, Austria, Switzerland or Italy.

The core of the group’s research is the study of the production and food trade in the Roman world. To carry out this study we make use of the research on the containers, the amphoras that contained oil, wine and canned fish, and what might be called “tags”, to the inscriptions found in these containers.

The CEIPAC group is integrated into the “Timbres Amphoriques” project of the Union Académique Internationale since 1996 and under the sponsorship of the Real Academia de la Historia (Madrid). It has been declared for Grup de Recerca de Qualitat by the Generalitat de Catalunya (2005SGR 01010, 2009 and 2014 SGR SGR 480 218). Through a project funded I+D+i , Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (HAR2011-24593). It’s research group at the University of Barcelona. Recently the ERC sponsors EPNET (Economic and Political Networks) ERC-2013-ADG 340 828 project with a duration of five years.

Website and database CEIPAC

The website CEIPAC group, active since September 1995, in addition to information available to history, members and group projects, a comprehensive online library of papers published by the group and a library of specialized literature on amphora , which currently has more than 3,000 searchable titles.

 from many sources and collecting a mass of data and information scattered in many publications from many different countries and languages. This online database allows any historian or archaeologist have extensive information on the subject and to value a rich heritage exists throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.

It also allows any curator identify, dating and cataloging materials from which it is responsible, allowing recovery of the archaeological heritage of European museums.

Our base has a system of learning the techniques and methods of this type of research. Allowing any student or researcher novel, started in this type of research. It also has a number of search resources, cataloging and data interaction that facilitate and enhance new research and serve as a starting point for the establishment of international collaborations.

The study of these materials lays the foundation to meet the commercial relationship between the various European peoples in antiquity. It allows to study the evolution of the food policy of the Roman Empire and determine the influence of food policy in the development of political, economic and social life of the ancient world.

The Testaccio Project

In addition to the database, known as Testaccio Project, archaeological excavations at Monte Testaccio (Rome) in collaboration with the Università La Sapienza di Roma, is the main project of CEIPAC. With annual excavations uninterrupted since 1989, the material obtained in the Monte Testaccio represents the major source of information for the study of the production and consumption of olive oil Betis in the imperial capital. These data are the main form of study of the administrative evolution of Roman trade.

Thanks to the absolute dates achieved in the field, given by some inscriptions found in the ballot boxes, it is possible to date other materials from other regions of Europe.

Other International Projects

The CEIPAC group has intensified its studies in North Africa in recent years and currently performs active investigations in Libya and Tunisia.

The CEIPAC conducts research in Leptis Magna (Libya) under the direction of Prof.ª Musso de la Università degli Studi Roma Tre. Our mission is to study the amphorae found in the necropolis of the city because, since the ancient burial rites included holding a banquet and that the feast represented the status of the individual and his family, study the amphoras of each grave It lets us know which products were imported in Leptis Magna in Roman times.

Moreover, also concerning Libya, marketing tripolitano olive oil in ancient Mediterranean studies. Our excavations at Monte Testaccio (Roma) are, today, the best place to study the evolution of such production. The study of the distribution and trade of oil tripolitano highlights the integration of Tripoli in the Mediterranean. It disclose these relationships will help spread the idea of ​​integration, from ancient to modern Libya in concert throughout the Mediterranean, highlighting the common elements of the culture of both banks.

The CEIPAC Group also conducts research in , also studying the production and trade of olive oil in the ancient Roman province of Africa Proconsular.

The CEIPAC Group is currently involved in two other international projects. It is the study of amphora material from Colonia Ulpia Traiana (Xanten, Germany) and Brigantium (Bregenz. Austria). These projects provide us with the opportunity to study trade relations between the former provinces of Germania (Germany) and Rhaetia (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) with the Mediterranean and the northern regions of the Empire.

In our group bears the address of Latin amphora epigraphy of “Timbres amphoriques” project of the Union Académique Internationale. We work as well with the University of Lisbon (Portugal), University of Southampton (UK), the universities La Sapienza and Roma Tre and Soprintenza Archeologica di Roma (Italy), University of Graz (Austria), University of Munich ( Germany), University of Paris X (France) and the University of Sousse (Tunisia). Likewise with museums in Xanten (Germany) and Bregenz (Austria).

In an immediate prospect we expand our collaboration with the University of Ghent (Belgium), University of Milan (Italy) and the Capitoline Museums (Rome) of Windich (Switzerland) and Trier (Germany).