The Distribution of African Pottery under the Roman Empire
This chapter addresses four points in an attempt to explain why African pottery (amphorae, tablewares, cooking wares, and lamps) dominated Mediterranean markets from the second century AD onwards: (1) the definition of Roman Africa, emphasizing the particular position of Mauretania Tingitana, more closely linked with Hispania than with Africa, and the scarcity of information available in Algeria, beside a lot of fairly well-investigated towns or regions in Tunisia and Western Libya; (2) the problem of the content of Roman African amphorae, which were intended for the transport not only of olive oil, but also of salsamenta and probably wine; (3) the problem of the major foodstuff the African Red Slip ware was travelling with, grain seeming to be the best candidate at least until the first half of the fifth century AD; (4) the mechanisms of ARS distribution through the whole Mediterranean.