BSC Researchers presented paper at EAA 2018  THE MARKINGS OF THE TRADE: EXPLORING THE PATTERNS OF OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION IN ROMAN BAETICA 9/9/2018

Author(s): Coto-Sarmiento, Maria (Barcelona Supercomputing Center) – Rubio-Campillo, Xavier (University of Edinburgh) – Remesal, José (University of Barcelona)

The aim of this study is to detect the patterns of olive oil production that link amphora workshops and amphoric stamps. Roman prov-inces such as Baetica became important production and distribution centers during the Roman Empire. However, it remains under debate how this province was organized and whether it is possible to identify patterns in the olive oil market.

Our case of study has been focused on the production processes located in Baetica province (currently Andalusia) from 1st to 3rd AD. In particular, we want to explore economic dynamics that include the production and distribution of olive oil trade. Amphoric stamps are used to identify the presence of different producer groups that might share similar stamps. To achieve this goal, we ana-lyse a set of stamps from different workshops in Baetica province in order to detect a relation between the distribution of amphoric stamps and the economic structure in this province. Here we use methods borrowed from Ecology that allow us to identify if these amphora workshops share similar amphoric stamps depending on the spatial distance.

The analysis explores how quantitative approach provides a useful tool for the interpretation of the economic processes. Finally, results pretend to highlight the organization of olive oil production in the Roman Empire linked to the differences observed in the archaeological evidence.