Laurons 2 - Research on the potential and intensity of Roman maritime trade with a special emphasis on performance and capabilities of reconstructed Roman seagoing merchant vessels.

该项目将试图对研究古代海上贸易的组织、强度和对古代（特别是罗马）经济的影响做出基本贡献。这项研究的结果将对原始主义者和现代主义者之间正在进行的争论产生重大影响，从而也对罗马经济的总体评估产生重大影响。关于罗马海上贸易的许多假设都是建立在不完整的数据和猜测上的，因为没有关于罗马商船性能的可靠信息。然而，这是进一步量化和分析罗马海上贸易的必要条件。我们建议采用一种新颖的方法，使我们能够超越不完整和困难的原始材料的限制，首先进行有史以来第一次真人大小的罗马商船重建和随后的实地测试。从这些测试中收集的数据将被输入数据库，并进行进一步分析。然后，它将与专门的航海导航软件和精确的气象数据结合使用，以开发罗马在地中海海上贸易的可靠数字模型。这种量化研究将与传统的历史研究相结合，对罗马海上贸易的组织和基础设施进行研究，从而对罗马经济的这一重要组成部分有一个新的认识。该项目收集的数据将提供给其他学者，并将以可供进一步研究的方式提供和储存（例如用于数字地理信息系统）。在进行实物重建的同时，还将进行数字重建，从而得到船舶的三维模型，然后可以对该模型进行类似的（和更深远的）测试，主要是为了确定水流对船舶船体的影响，但也包括破坏性应力测试，因为进行实际重建成本太高。这种方法使我们能够跨越实验考古学的传统局限性，并可能在未来被其他项目复制。该项目作为一个整体可以作为其他历史领域（例如利用重建的中世纪船只进行中世纪贸易）的类似研究的模式，从而为（古代）经济史研究开辟了新的途径。

This project will attempt to make a fundamental contribution to research into the organization, the intensity and the impact of ancient maritime trade on the ancient (especially Roman) economy in general. The results from this research will have a significant impact on the ongoing dispute between primitivists and modernists and thus also on the general assessment of the Roman economy. Many assumptions about the specific nature of Roman sea trade are founded on incomplete data and conjecture, as there is no reliable information on the performance of Roman trading ships. This, however, is the conditio sine qua non of further quantifying and analysing Roman sea trade. We propose to adopt a novel approach that will permit us to transcend the limitations of incomplete and difficult source material, by first undertaking the first ever life-sized reconstruction of a Roman merchant ship and its subsequent testing in field conditions. The data gathered from these tests will then be fed into a database and adapted for further analysis. It will then be used in conjunction with specialized nautical navigation software and precise meteorological data to develop a reliable digital model of Roman sea trade in the Mediterranean. This quantifying research will be flanked by traditional historical research into the organization and infrastructural basis of Roman sea trade and thus arrive at a new understanding of this important part of the Roman economy. The data gathered in this project will be made accessible to other scholars and will be presented and stored in such a way as to be available for further research (e.g. for the use in digital geographic information systems). In conjunction with the physical reconstruction, a digital reconstruction will be undertaken that will result in a three-dimensional model of the vessel, which can then be subjected to similar (and more far-reaching) tests, primarily for asserting the effects of water flow on the ship hull but also including destructive stress tests that would be cost-prohibitive to undertake with the actual reconstruction. This methodology allows us to cross the traditional limitations of experimental archaeology and may be replicated by other projects in the future. The project as a whole may serve as a model for similar research in other areas of history (e.g. on mediaeval trade utilizing reconstructed mediaeval vessels) and thus open up new avenues of research for (ancient) economic history.