Economic interactions between Punic and Greek settlements

Without any doubt armed conflicts shaped substantially the Phoenician-Punic - Greek relations especially in Sicily. On the other hand, archaeological evidence for active commercial trade and complex economic interactions between the independent cities of this area increases steadily. In this light, the present project focuses on the provenance identification of Phoenician-Punic and West Greek amphorae yielded by sites located in North Africa, on Malta and in western Sicily by the means of both, fabric studies of c. 830 samples and archaeometric analysis. Given the large degree of silence of the literal sources in relation to ancient trade in the sCM area under Punic influx, the provenance identification namely of transport amphorae represents an appropriated tool in order to approach questions linked to the nature of economic interactions and the mobility of human groups. The systematical, open access publication of the most relevant sCM Phoenician-Punic fabrics will represent an innovative way to communicate results and will allow a large scientific community to identify these productions on consumption sites located in North Africa, Punic Sardinia, Southern Italy and especially in Sicily. Secondly, the results of the research aim approach the working hypothesis of the PI related to economic interactions between Phoenician-Punic sCM and West Greek colonies from the late 7th-late 4th cent. BCE. This time range corresponds to the historical period characterized by complex relationships between the autonomous West Greek and Phoenician-Punic emporia, preceding the moment, towards the beginning of the 3rd cent. BCE, when Rome and the Campanian allied appeared on the internal commercial scene. Special attention will be payed to the interpretation of the distribution patterns of the identified amphorae productions. The present research will make a first move towards the understanding of the diachronic, regional and extra-regional distribution range of the locally produced foodstuffs of the most important Phoenician-Punic Sicilian emporia Motya, Solunto and Palermo and of Carthage. Thirdly, the present project will specify the wine-producing sites/areas in the Ionian-Adriatic and Calabrian region, later in Lucania, best attested on several cSM Punic consumption places, in order to underline the strong impact of theses Greek wines - and its use within the scope of the symposion - on the local communities which seems still to be underestimated. The three main points of research focus on: 1. the characterization of the local fabrics of crucial Phoenician-Punic production centers with special regard to western Sicily (fabric study and archaeometry) and Carthage (archaeometry), 2. the analysis of the chrono-typological evolution especially of the series of Carthage, Motya and Palermo/Solunto by the study of 240 mostly entirely preserved vessels found in the cemeteries of Himera, 3. the increase of the distribution range of already identified West Greek and Punic amphorae fabrics documented on selected Phoenician-Punic consumption sites.

The project focused on economic interaction between Punic and Greek settlements in the central- southern Mediterranean by the means of provenance studies of transport amphorae, that is to say of ceramic vessels designed for the trade of agricultural commodities, shipped all around the ancient world. Our research is based on the fact that the correct provenance identification of amphorae recovered in archaeological excavations represents one of the most approved methods for the study of commercial relations and economic strategies. This goal was achieved by the non- destructive analyses of c. 1470 amphorae samples, using microscopy and digital photos of freshly broken surfaces, if possible compared with reference samples of already attributed pottery productions previously identified within the framework of FACEM (www.facem.at). This archaeological procedure has been combined with archaeometric analyses (petrographic and chemical analyses) undertaken on c. 235 selected samples. Firstly, we concentrated on the characterisation of productions of Punic amphorae in western Sicily. For the first time, we focused on the amphorae series of Panormos, Lilybaion and Selinus and developed the feature of the ones of Solus and Motya. On the basis of the study of nearly 500 Punic amphorae produced in western Sicily and dating from the late 7th to the 2nd centuries BC, we outlined a diachronic overview of the commercial impact of this class on the regional and supra-regional markets: on Motya's economic supremacy during the 7th and part of the 6th centuries followed by a notable increase of the industrial output of the area of Solus and Panormos in the north-western part of the island, with a peak during the later 4th and first half of the 3rd centuries BC. In fact, during the early Hellenistic period, amphorae fabricated in this region and possibly carrying fishery-products have been found not only at many coastal and internal sites of western Sicily itself, but also along the Tyrrhenian shores of southern Italy. Provenance studies undertaken on c. 180 western Greek and Graeco-Italic amphorae originating from the Ionian-Adriatic area, southern Calabria and Lucania have shown that the wide-spread distribution of the north-western Sicilian-Punic amphorae in Tyrrhenian Italy appears to be contemporaneous to an increase of amphorae imports from Lucania in western Sicily. Hence, our amphorae data allowed for the reconstruction of an important commercial axis between the regions of Poseidonia/Elea and Panormos/Solus during the 4th-earlier 3rd centuries BC.The second emphasis of this project lied on the publication of one of the largest groupes of Phoenican-Punic amphorae ever found and re-used in childrens burials in the cemeteries of the Greek Himera, very close to the Punic towns of Solus and Panormos. The provenance identification, according to the method described above, of c. 280 vessels dating from the late 7th- late 5th centuries BC offered a still unknown and detailed picture of Himera's intensive and continuous commercial relations with the Punic world: mainly with its neighbours in western Sicily itself (Solus, Mothya and to minor degree Panormos), but also with Carthage and several still unidentified sites in Andalusia, as well as in central-western and western Sardinia.