60 The production and circulation of Greco-Italic amphorae of Campania, G. Olcese The production and circulation of Greco- Italic amphorae of Campania (Ischia/Bay of Naples) The data of the archaeological and archaeometric research Gloria Olcese Abstract – This paper presents a summary of the data and the problems encountered with the production and spread of Greco-Roman amphorae (particularly the oldest types). The starting point is the island of Ischia where in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC Greco-Italic amphorae with Greek stamps were manufactured. The study of amphorae from Ischia/the Gulf of Naples enables a more precise definition of the production and the export of Campanian wine as well as the economic situation in that area in the Republican era. Typological, epigraphic, and archaeometric data contribute to the reconstruction of trade patterns from Campania in the western Mediterranean. Further information concern new studies on shipwrecks with Greco-Italic amphorae and a database being currently established of archaeological and archaeometric data of Italic ceramics. Inhalt – Der Beitrag fasst Fakten und Probleme zusammen, die mit der Produktion und Verbeitung gräko-itali- scher Amphoren (besonders der ältesten Typen) verbunden sind. Ausgangspunkt ist die Insel Ischia, wo im 4. und 3. Jh. v. Chr. gräko-italische Amphoren mit griechischen Stempeln hergestellt wurden. Das Studium der Amphoren von Ischia und dem Golf von Neapel ermöglicht es, Produktion und Export kampanischer Weine und die wirtschaftliche Lage jener Region in republikanischer Zeit genauer zu erfassen. Typologische, epigraphische und archäometrische Daten tragen zur Rekonstruktion der Gestaltung des Handels von Kampanien in das westliche Mittelmeergebiet bei. Weitere Informationen betreffen neue Forschungen zu Wracks mit gräko-italischen Amphoren und eine im Aufbau befindliche Bank archäologischer und archäometrischer Daten zur italischen Keramik. 1. The origin of Greco-Italic is to instead present the data and Naples, have been recovered from amphorae: an important dis- some preliminary results concern- necropolises of the end of the 4th cussion for the reconstruction ing the circulation in the western – beginning of the 3rd cent. BC2. of trade between the 4th and Mediterranean of Greco-Italic 2nd cent. BC. amphorae, which have previously There exists considerably more been defined by the author as information concerning the pro- The study of Greco-Italic ampho- “from Ischia/Bay of Naples”. duction centres of late Greco-Italic rae allows the collection of im- (types V/VI and VI)3 amphorae portant information concerning Until now there has been little and the development towards the the economic situation of central- information concerning the pro- Dressel 1 form: a concentration southern Italy between the middle duction centres of ancient Greco- of possible production centres has of the 4th and the 2nd cent. BC, Italic amphorae between the end been documented between Etruria and in particular, the production of the 4th cent. and the 3rd cent. and Campania, with a higher den- and circulation of wine. BC: Ischia was one of these cen- sity in the area of southern Lazio tres and Naples was in all prob- and northern Campania4. The general problems relative to ability a further equally important these containers have been dis- centre. There is still little informa- This article will refer particularly cussed previously in published tion concerning the production to the period between the end of articles (which should therefore be of northern Campania, where the the 4th and 3rd cent. BC and to referred to for a general introduc- type V amphorae of C. Vander- the oldest types of Greco-Italic tion to the topic1), and is not the mersch, which have a fabric rich in amphorae, the types IV and V subject of this current contribu- volcanic inclusions, different from of C. Vandermersch’s typology, tion. The aim of this current work those of the area around the bay of whereas the 2nd century and types 7. Jahrgang 2005/06 · Heft 1 - 2 61 V and V/VI will only be briefly re- The new research being conduct- is amongst the most important ferred to, as they are still the sub- ed9 allows the reconstruction of ports between the 4th and the first ject of current ongoing research. the production and the circulation half of the 3rd cent. BC11. The of materials from the workshops evidence from the dredging of the New data – archaeological, epi- of the Bay of Naples: from the seabed, brought to light by the re- graphical and archaeometrical moment of their production, their cent work of the Soprintendenza – confirms that these often are transportation (through the analy- Archaeologica di Napoli, demon- containers originating from the sis of the cargos of ships, which strates the intensity of the use of Bay of Naples and, in several ex- document journeys interrupted by the basin of the port12. amples, more generally from the the sinking of the ship), and the area of Campania. Whilst there presence of these containers at sites The production of amphorae in- were many areas involved in the where they were consumed. creased from the second half of production of wine in southern the 4th cent. BC, due to the dif- Italy, which have been the focus of The research which has already fusion of Aminea grapes within attention in recent years5, the im- been undertaken, although lim- the area of the bay: in Naples, the portance of the Bay of Naples as a ited to a few sites and shipwrecks grapes were cultivated on the hills key area in the production of the and therefore liable to future de- of the city, therefore maintaining oldest and latest types of Greco- velopment and modifications, the Euboean viniculture tradition Italic amphorae (and the wine does not permit, in a similarly in the city (the cult of Dionysos, which they contained) is pointing clear manner, the identification the onomastics associated with towards a better definition6. The the presence of Greco-Italic am- wine)13. The eukarpia of Pithe- Greco-Italic amphorae of this area phorae originating from Sicily or koussai is recalled through the an- had a wide diffusion even before from Magna Graecia, therefore cient sources14 and the island was the Punic Wars, and their circula- adjusting the importance which also important in the production tion was probably contemporary this area would have had in the of wine at least until the 1940s. to that of the “archaic” or “primi- widespread commercialisation of tive” black-gloss ware of the work- amphorae and wine in this period. 2.1 Ischia shops of the Bay of Naples, which If the wine of Sicily was widely ex- have been found in several western ported in this period, it is possible Whilst it has been known for Mediterranean centres (for exam- that it was transported in “punic” sometime that wine was produced ple Ensérune in southern France amphorae originating from Sicily, on the Bay of Naples, until now and Aleria in Corsica) as well as as evidenced by the work of Ra- there has not been the archaeolog- in the Punic centres in Sicily and mon Torres 1995. ical data necessary to reconstruct northern Africa7. and identify the local amphorae, 2. The production of ampho- from a point of view of their typol- Ultimately, the current ongoing rae in the Bay of Naples: the ogy, epigraphy and archaeometry. research is bringing to light ever workshops of S. Restituta at more clearly the presence of a cir- Lacco Ameno and the recent The study of amphorae from Is- culation (although this is still at discoveries in Naples chia started somewhat by chance, limited and “experimental” stage) on the occasion of the excava- of amphorae and Campanian The research conducted at Ischia tions conducted in the district of pottery exported from the bay (the ancient Pithekoussai), and the pottery workshops of Lacco towards the southern Tyrrhenian the current studies being under- Ameno, at the foot of Monte Vico, and the north African coast and taken in Naples, demonstrate that where in the 1950s Don Pietro other centres on the trade route (it within the Bay of Naples were Monti, rector of the Basilica of can also be seen in the north-west- produced and traded Greco-Italic Santa Restituta, discovered several ern Mediterranean area), already amphorae from the very moment kilns underneath the church on a century before the main flow of of the arrival of the Romans, af- the slopes of Monte Vico15. exports of Campanian products. ter the stipulation of the foedus ae- This phenomenon, which has until quum in 326 BC. Indeed, the Bay In the 1990s16 a project was un- now possibly been to some extent of Naples, following this pact of dertaken, together with W.-D. underestimated8 and which merits alliance which tied influential Ro- Heilmeyer of the Freie Universität further systematic investigation in man families to leading Neapoli- Berlin and in association with the the future, demonstrates the cen- tans and to the Greek merchant Soprintendenza Archeologica di trality of Campania in both the class and, thanks to the loyalty Napoli, financed by the Fondazi- trade network within the Medi- displayed by the Neapolitans to- one Thyssen, to re-examine this terranean, and the production of wards the Romans, found itself site and to study the material. wine transport vessels as well as living in a privileged position of Whilst the excavations had been possibly some other products. economic growth and an increase undertaken unsystematically, the in the activities of the workshops material which was recovered con- and trade10. The port of Naples tributes greatly to the knowledge 62 The production and circulation of Greco-Italic amphorae of Campania, G. Olcese of the activity of the workshops short period of time, it has been 3.