Ovoid amphorae in Hispania Citerior/Tarraconensis: consumption contexts and main trade areas

Abstract

This paper analyses the effect achieved by products packaged for marketing, imported in the extensive group of ovoid amphorae, based on the analysis of closed and well-dated contexts of Hispania Citerior/Tarraconensis, mainly of the Late-Republican period. The link between Brindisian and Ancient African amphorae, which constitutes the framework of the Hispanic ovoid amphorae, is also emphasised. From the middle of the 1st century BC, exports of Hispanic origin in ovoid amphorae are widespread: a major milestone that indicates the complete integration of Hispanic agricultural and commercial productions into the Mediterranean markets. The paper also looks at, first, the impact of different products, emphasizing the role of amphorae of the type Tarraconense that were preferably distributed in the northeastern area of the Iberian Peninsula, and, then, the emergence of imports in ovoid amphorae from the Guadalquivir from the middle of the 1st century BC, especially that of Ovoid 1/LC67 amphorae, alongside the regular presence of the other ovoid amphorae in the contexts of the territories under scrutiny. It is also pointed out that there is a morphological connection between all these amphorae, and that such a connection could be due to a shift in economic interests from Italy to the provinces.