Movements and Markets: Analysis of Regional Maritime Economies in the Late Antique Western Mediterranean between 300 and 700 CE

运动与市场：公元 300 年至 700 年古代西地中海晚期区域海洋经济分析

• 批准号: 2460661
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2460661
• 关键词: Movements; Markets; Analysis; Regional; Maritime

In the face of political instability, and a world that was increasingly divided, how did communities in Late Antiquity interact with each other as the established order disappeared? In this project I will present a new picture of the economic development of the western Mediterranean in Late Antiquity, an area frequently neglected by scholarship in favour of focusing on the more obviously thriving East. Focusing on new and often overlooked evidence, this project will argue that local and regional trade networks played a crucial role in keeping the different parts of the former Roman empire interconnected, at a time when Mediterranean-wide routes were in decline. To demonstrate this, I will combine literary and archaeological evidence for trade within and between three economic areas, North Africa, Italy, and Spain and Gaul, showing how new connectivities and networks were developed at a time of political fragmentation. The evidence examined will include records of sermons and legal codes to illuminate the perceived extent of small merchant activity during the contemporary era and its seemingly lucrative nature. I will investigate the development of ship design and maritime technology through the study of shipwrecks in order to show that coasting and tramping were becoming increasingly important to late antique traders who were increasingly using ad hoc ports to dodge tariffs and access new markets. Finally, I will use ceramic surveys of all three regions in order to show that as long-distance bulk imports declined, local products begun to be increasingly represented in the archaeological record and small-scale cabotage became progressively more prominent. By analysing these regions and their economic trends, this project will shed new light on the relative position of local maritime trade to the western Mediterranean economy and establish that it was not simply a baseline activity, but a dynamic sector that expanded in response to changing situations and claimed a new importance in a more fragmented world. This era is hugely important to the development of medieval Europe and North Africa and will shed new light on a vital series of processes that irrevocably shaped Mediterranean history and still have resonance today.

面对政治不稳定，世界日益分裂，随着既定秩序的消失，古代晚期的社区之间是如何互动的？在这个项目中，我将展示地中海西部在古代晚期的经济发展的新图景，这是一个经常被学术界忽视的领域，而倾向于关注更明显繁荣的东方。这个项目将重点放在经常被忽视的新证据上，认为在地中海航线不断减少的时候，地方和地区贸易网络在保持前罗马帝国不同地区的互联互通方面发挥了关键作用。为了证明这一点，我将结合三个经济区--北非、意大利、西班牙和高卢--内部和之间的贸易的文学和考古证据，展示在政治分裂的时期如何发展新的联系和网络。审查的证据将包括布道和法律法规的记录，以阐明当代小商贩活动的程度及其看似有利可图的性质。我将通过研究沉船来调查船舶设计和海事技术的发展，以表明沿海和不定期航行对后来的古董商人变得越来越重要，他们越来越多地利用临时港口来逃避关税和进入新市场。最后，我将使用所有这三个地区的陶瓷调查，以表明随着长途大宗进口的减少，当地产品开始在考古记录中越来越多地出现，小规模的海船运输逐渐变得更加突出。通过分析这些区域及其经济趋势，该项目将使人们更清楚地了解当地海上贸易相对于地中海西部经济的相对地位，并确定这不是一项简单的基线活动，而是一个因应不断变化的局势而扩大的充满活力的部门，在一个更加支离破碎的世界中具有新的重要性。这一时代对中世纪欧洲和北非的发展极其重要，并将揭示一系列至关重要的进程，这些进程不可逆转地塑造了地中海历史，今天仍有共鸣。