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

面对政治不稳定和日益分裂的世界，随着既定秩序的消失，古代晚期的社区如何相互作用？在这个项目中，我将提出一个新的图片的经济发展的西地中海在古代晚期，一个地区经常被忽视的奖学金，有利于集中在更明显的繁荣的东方。该项目将重点关注新的和经常被忽视的证据，认为地方和区域贸易网络在保持前罗马帝国不同地区的相互联系方面发挥了至关重要的作用，当时地中海范围的路线正在衰落。为了证明这一点，我将结合联合收割机的文学和考古证据的内部和之间的贸易三个经济区，北非，意大利，西班牙和高卢，显示新的连接和网络是如何在政治分裂的时间发展。所审查的证据将包括布道记录和法律的法典，以阐明当代小商人活动的感知范围及其看似有利可图的性质。我将通过对沉船的研究来考察船舶设计和航海技术的发展，以表明沿海航行和徒步旅行对晚期古董商人越来越重要，他们越来越多地使用临时港口来逃避关税和进入新市场。最后，我将利用对这三个地区的陶瓷调查来说明，随着长途大宗进口的减少，当地产品开始越来越多地出现在考古记录中，小规模的沿海贸易逐渐变得更加突出。通过分析这些区域及其经济趋势，该项目将揭示当地海上贸易相对于西地中海经济的相对地位，并确定这不仅仅是一项基线活动，而是一个动态部门，随着不断变化的形势而扩大，并在一个更加分散的世界中具有新的重要性。这个时代对中世纪欧洲和北非的发展非常重要，并将为一系列至关重要的进程提供新的线索，这些进程塑造了地中海历史，至今仍有共鸣。

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.