The Circulation of Food Products in amphorae in the Middle and Late Byzantine Periods: the Input of Archaeometric Studies

Middle and Late Byzantine amphorae are among the final examples of clayey containers used in maritime trade of food products (e. g., wine, oil) in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In the past fifteen years, four of their most widespread types were studied by archaeological scientists using chemical analyses and petrography. They identified two main regions of production, which manufactured successively amphorae of types Günsenin I then IV, and types Günsenin II then III. These regions are respectively southeastern Thrace (where workshops of Günsenin I were already attested archaeologically in the early 1990s), and Chalcis and its hinterland, in central Greece, where evidence of production has since been recognized. These results, which clearly put forward only two areas, may lead to reconsiderations of amphorae finds from terrestrial and underwater excavations and surveys, and the maritime and fluvial circulation of food products they carried. Further research may meet with issues related to various factors, such as the silting up of potential kiln sites, the practice of reuse, and the interpretation of quantified data.