Amphora

Salted amphora with missing edge. Produced in the middle Guadalquivir valley, as demonstrated by its petrological analysis. It has titulus pictus.

During the archaeological monitoring of some works for the renewal of the spill on the road of Reconquista Street, located at the southeast end of the ancient Caesaraugusta site, a set of 18 amphorae was found. Its location under a wall and its position upside down, slightly inclined, and leaning on each other, made clear the purpose of raising the ground and facilitating the drainage of an area of the city that until recently was subject to flooding from the Huerva River. . The excavation was carried out on February 11 and 12, 1998.

In level b of the excavation, a set of 18 amphorae were documented. According to the typological classification, the following forms have been distinguished: 9 Dressel 2-4 from Tarragona, 4 Pascual 1, 1 Pascual transitional, 1 Dressel 10, 1 Dressel 9, 1 Haltern 79 and 1 Eastern Dressel 2-5. The drawing of the amphorae corresponds to Alfredo Blanco.

According to the origin of the containers, in this case confirmed from the ceramic pastes, a vast majority of Hispanic containers appear, and especially from Tarraconense (14 amphorae), Costa Bética (2), Guadalquivir Valley (1 ) and Eastern Mediterranean (1). As can be seen, there is a predominance of amphorae from the Tarraconense coast, a region conducive to contacts given its proximity and the ease of river communication through the Ebro River.

Regarding the diversity of contents of the containers, the majority of amphorae are for wine (15), excluding an amphora like the Bética Haltern 70 which is a multipurpose container (wine, olives, muria), but in this case it would contain a type of salting - muria - (1), as can be seen from reading its titulus pictus. The rest of the amphorae are two other containers of salted fish from the Betic coast (2).

Within the Vinarian amphorae, the set of Dressel 2-4 amphorae has at least three "appellations of origin" from Tarragona, Layetana and Lauronense. Regarding the wine from the Tarraco area, Plinio the Elder (NH defines them as very abundant: "The Lacetano vineyards of Hispanias are famous because of the great abundance of wine they produce, but the Tarragona and Lauronense vineyards are famous for their finesse, just as the Balearic vineyards can be compared to the best in Italy" (Carreras et alii, in press).

Numerous workshops are known to produce Haltern 70, although in a token way, where Dressel 20 amphorae are also produced.
The chronology of its production extends from the middle of the 1st century BC (circa 50 BC) to the Antonine period (Trajan-Hadrian). It is widely distributed throughout the western provinces of the Empire, with a large concentration on the Atlantic coast (Morais and Carreras, 2004) especially in the area of Porto, Braccara and Vicus. It is also a common container in the Ebro valley, although not frequent, and is perfectly documented in Celsa and Caesaraugusta itself (e.g. excavations of Plaza Tenerías)( Carreras et alii, in press).