Amphorae

For archaeologists, amphorae provide very useful indicators of production and trade routes. Indeed, the main foodstuffs were transported in these vessels. In addition to wine, oil and fish sauce, amphorae contained unprocessed foods, such as wheat, olives, fruit, fish and molluscs. And the shape of the vessel depended on what it contained: wine amphorae, for example, were tall and slender, compared with the pot-bellied ones used for oil. The clay from which they were made ensured good conditions for preserving the content. Structurally, amphorae (which, when full, could weigh several kilos each) were designed with transport needs in mind. They had a narrow mouth (easily closed with a cork or terracotta stopper, and sealed with pitch or lime), a capacious body, two sturdy handles for lifting the vessel, and a tip that facilitated its storage in the hold of a ship or on a cart.

Alongside local producers, including small manufacturing concerns whose activity was designed to meet limited production needs, in the late Republican age, starting from the 2nd and especially during the 1st century BC, there also took shape an “industrial” type of manufacturing, to meet the needs of the intensive agricultural exploitation of the land that was part of Rome’s imperialist policies. This quickly led to a standardisation and universal diffusion of shapes. Factory stamps, often present, allow us to identify manufacturers, furnace owners and places of production.

On reaching their destination, amphorae would be emptied into smaller containers, and then usually discarded since they could not easily be recycled. They could then be used in the reclamation or drainage of wet areas or to underpin the foundations of farmhouses or rustic villas. In late ancient times they might be sawn open and used for funerary purposes, either to contain a deceased person’s ashes or (when sawn vertically) to serve as a “casket”, especially for a deceased infant or child.

 It is easy to appreciate how various features of these containers — the places where they were produced, the markets they were destined for, and what they were used for (wine, oil, etc.) — are clear indicators of trade routes, markets and consumption trends.

Most shipments were made by sea or river; transport by land, using animal-drawn vehicles, was slow and expensive. Particular care was taken over loading: indeed, careful stowage did not compromise the stability of the vessel (or cart), favoured the transportation of large loads, and avoided breakage of the containers. The amphorae would be stacked on multiple levels, fitting the tips of those in one layer between the necks of the ones in the layer below; the vessels in the bottom layer would be securely arranged on sand or gravel. The spaces between them would be filled with straw, or often with so-called parasitic or accompanying goods, especially ceramics to be used during consumption of the substances being transported: cups, glasses, plates, jugs, jars, etc.

Archaeology classifies amphorae according to where they were produced (Greek, Greco-Italic, Etruscan, Roman). Numerous typologies have been recognised, named after the places where they were found (Ostia 55, for example), an excavation context (Agora of Athens M273), or a scholar who studied them (Dressel 1), or to indicate a precise characteristic (e.g., hollow foot), or period of diffusion (e.g., late Roman 9).

We have already recalled how these vessels would often bear what amounts to a “trademark”, in the form of a stamp impressed with a punch before the container was fired. The function and provenance of an amphora, on the other hand, could be declared by so-called tituli picti, i.e., commercial information written on the neck of the container, like the equivalent of today’s delivery note. This would include the nature of the goods, the name of the merchant and the place of shipment. Incised inscriptions known as graffiti, noting production controls, quantities transported, etc., also deserve a mention. And modern technology, of course, allows us to analyse traces of what the vessels contained, absorbed due to the porosity of the material.

Wine amphorae have been extensively documented in the Oltrepo’ area.

It was after the Punic Wars (end of the 3rd, beginning of the 2nd century BC), in particular, that the Roman wine trade became widespread on a very large scale. Certainly, wine was already highly appreciated by the various Celtic peoples, who had first discovered it in the Po Valley thanks to Etruscan trade networks (think of the account by Livy, 5.33, of the causes of the sack of Rome in 390 BC).

The first form of amphora standardised for trade on a very large scale spread from the middle of the 2nd century and throughout the 1st century BC in the Tyrrhenian area. Named Dressel 1, after the scholar who established its typology, it was used to transport fine wines such as Fundanum, which came from Fondi, Formianum, from Formia, and Falerum and Caecubum, from the Vesuvian region, and it was widespread in Gaul, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.

At the same time, another type of container, known as Lamboglia 2, became established. Also named after the scholar who classified it, it had a more rounded shape. Probably of Adriatic production, it was destined for other trade routes, in this case eastern ones in the Aegean Sea.

Thanks to the presence of the Po and its tributaries, northern Italy, and the Oltrepò Pavese area in particular, enjoyed close links with eastern trade routes (from the times of the Spina emporium, as mentioned in the book). Instead, there appears to have been less demand for Tyrrhenian wine. This is what the amphorae found in our area tell us.

However, we must not forget the presence of the Via Postumia, the very important land route connecting Genoa with Aquileia, in Istria. Leaving aside the objective difficulties of transporting “heavy” foodstuffs, the Postumia must have served, albeit with limited success, as a sort of trade corridor between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic routes.

These fluvial, land and sea routes also strongly influenced the arrival in our area of amphorae from the Celtic and Spanish provinces. Indeed, the presence of small quantities of Spanish amphorae originating from land routes has been confirmed also in the western part of Cisalpine Gaul.

Oltrepò Pavese, in particular, seems to lie right at the midpoint of these routes. Although the Spanish amphorae from the excavation in Valle Staffora give us no information on the route they arrived by, it is likely to have been the Via Postumia. What they certainly do show is the considerable economic potential of those who lived in the area. 

The prosperity of our lands is also confirmed by the presence of containers used for the great wines of Rhodes, Lazio and Campania. But here some caution is warranted: these wines were so famous and expensive that some dishonest producers, wanting to tap into the richest markets, would produce counterfeit versions. Only by analysing the clay of the amphorae might it be possible to dispel doubts about the true origin and nature of these products!

Most of the amphorae found in Rivanazzano, especially the oil amphorae, come from Istria and from local workshops in the Po Valley. 

Overall, however, what appears to be the picture when it comes to the Roman amphorae of Cisalpine Gaul? Above all, which of these amphorae went to other markets?

In northern Italy there is evidence of amphorae, called Dressel 6, characterised by a pear-shaped body, slightly accentuated shoulder, elongated neck, and handles with a round cross section. Produced in Veneto and Emilia, they were destined for markets in central Europe and (via the Adriatic) the entire Mediterranean basin.  

Current knowledge suggests that the huge success of this type of amphora convinced small local producers to adopt it too, including those in the Staffora Valley, and in Oltrepò Pavese generally, who wanted to market their products.

The end of the 1st century AD, however, brought a decline in production and consequently in exports, perhaps due in part to the crisis of the agricultural slavery system, which was supplanted by paid labour, and in part to the increasingly strong competition from Gallic and Spanish products throughout the Roman world.

It should, however, be remembered that starting from the 2nd century AD, amphorae began to be replaced by wooden barrels, which are difficult to identify archaeologically due to the perishability of the material, but they are well attested on the funerary reliefs of producers and traders.

As regards oil amphorae in Cisalpine Gaul, we can, as mentioned, cite those of Istrian production and provenance, Dressel 6b, and the Brindisi type which saw almost universal diffusion, as well as Dressel 20 from the Spanish province of Baetica, present from the middle of the Augustan age; later (mid-3rd century AD) there appear amphorae produced in North Africa (Tunisia). Instead, nothing was exported from the area.