Egypt and Eastern Commerce during the Second Century AD and Later

Author(s):  
Roberta Tomber

This chapter looks at the archaeological evidence from several regions for the continuation of Indo-Roman trade during the second century ad. The emphasis here is on the Egyptian evidence, but this chapter also looks briefly at India and Parthia/Palmyra. From India, second-century Roman finds—particularly coins—are outlined, as is the role of Palmyra as middleman to Rome. Although numbers of Roman finds in India are reduced during the second century, two diverse categories of evidence point to the continued importance of this trade: the large value attached to the shipment discussed in the Muziris papyrus, and the continued importance of the Red Sea ports, especially Myos Hormos. The large second-century ceramic assemblages from Myos Hormos suggest that throughout the second century it was more active than Berenike. By the end of the second century trade became more complex with the involvement of the Palmyrenes.

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Adam Cobb

The Roman Empire received goods from eastern lands through a variety of overland routes crossing the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia, and through seaborne trade via the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. In particular, the sea routes that utilized the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean enabled a significant volume of goods to be imported from the East on ships that may often have been of several hundred tons' capacity. The scale of the trade was significant enough for Pliny to claim that 100 million sesterces were being sent annually to India, China, and Arabia. The veracity of these figures has come in for some debate, especially with the publication of a document known as the Muziris Papyrus, which reveals that a shipment of nard, ivory, and textiles received at one of the Egyptian Red Sea ports in the second centuryadwas valued at the equivalent of roughly 7 million sesterces. It is nevertheless clear, particularly from the archaeological and numismatic evidence, that Roman trade with the East peaked in the first and second centuriesad,followed by subsequent decline and a limited revival in the Late Roman period.


Author(s):  
MICHAEL MALLINSON ◽  
LAURENCE SMITH ◽  
COLIN BREEN ◽  
WES FORSYTHE ◽  
JACKE PHILLIPS

The island town of Suakin (Ott. Sevvakin) was one of the major Red Sea ports and, for a short period, the capital of the Ottoman eyelet of Habes. It lies 60 kilometres south of present-day Port Sudan, and has recently been the subject of a Sudanese-British collaborative archaeological project focusing on three main areas of research: archaeological study of the development of the settlement, architectural study of the ruins, and the future protection of the place as a cultural site. This chapter summarises the aspects of the project reflecting Suakin's Ottoman history. The study identifies material confirming the activities that led to this prosperity, namely trade. The archaeological evidence recovered in the recent excavations does support the existence of a wide-ranging trade network into which Suakin was linked from the earlier Ottoman period, covering neighbouring areas but also extending to east and south-east Asia.


Author(s):  
Dario Nappo

This chapter considers the financial scale of Indo-Roman trade via the Red Sea, comparing the large sums mentioned by Pliny with the evidence of customs dues, ostraca from the Red Sea port of Berenike, and hoards of Roman coins found in India. Analysis of the finds of Roman coins in India by value rather than number over time suggests that, contrary to prevailing opinion, there was not a major diminution in the value of the trade after the reign of Tiberius. Although there was apparently some decline in the Flavian period, the face value of coin finds recovers in the second century until the reign of Antoninus Pius. Coins for export to India were specially selected for their higher precious metal content, and older issues with a higher silver content continued to be exported to India long after they had largely ceased to circulate within the Roman Mediterranean.


Antichthon ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 57-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.L. Kennedy

The garrison of Mesopotamia in the later second century is unknown. What follows, therefore, is inevitably somewhat speculative. Nevertheless, with little likelihood of any foreseeable accretions of much new epigraphic or archaeological evidence, it may not be unproductive to resume such evidence as is available and consider the probabilities by reference to other comparable regions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (17) ◽  
pp. 5365-5375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mallory A. Sea ◽  
Neus Garcias-Bonet ◽  
Vincent Saderne ◽  
Carlos M. Duarte

Abstract. Mangrove forests are highly productive tropical and subtropical coastal systems that provide a variety of ecosystem services, including the sequestration of carbon. While mangroves are reported to be the most intense carbon sinks among all forests, they can also support large emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), to the atmosphere. However, data derived from arid mangrove systems like the Red Sea are lacking. Here, we report net emission rates of CO2 and CH4 from mangroves along the eastern coast of the Red Sea and assess the relative role of these two gases in supporting total GHG emissions to the atmosphere. Diel CO2 and CH4 emission rates ranged from −3452 to 7500 µmol CO2 m−2 d−1 and from 0.9 to 13.3 µmol CH4 m−2 d−1 respectively. The rates reported here fall within previously reported ranges for both CO2 and CH4, but maximum CO2 and CH4 flux rates in the Red Sea are 10- to 100-fold below those previously reported for mangroves elsewhere. Based on the isotopic composition of the CO2 and CH4 produced, we identified potential origins of the organic matter that support GHG emissions. In all but one mangrove stand, GHG emissions appear to be supported by organic matter from mixed sources, potentially reducing CO2 fluxes and instead enhancing CH4 production, a finding that highlights the importance of determining the origin of organic matter in GHG emissions. Methane was the main source of CO2 equivalents despite the comparatively low emission rates in most of the sampled mangroves and therefore deserves careful monitoring in this region. By further resolving GHG fluxes in arid mangroves, we will better ascertain the role of these forests in global carbon budgets.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Irfanuddin Wahid Marzuki

Kema merupakan salah satu kecamatan di Kabupaten Minahasa Utara yang berada di pesisir selatan Sulawesi. Saat ini Kema dikenal sebagai perkampungan nelayan padat penduduk yang terbagi menjadi Kema I, Kema II, dan Kema III. Riwayat sejarah Kema sudah dikenal semenjak abad XVI oleh pelaut-pelaut Eropa yang singgah untuk mengisi air minum, kemudian berkembang hingga menjadi sebuah kota pelabuhan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pasang surut keberadaan pelabuhan kema dalam perdagangan global Laut Sulawesi masa kolonial berdasarkan data arkeologi dan sejarah. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan arkeologi kesejarahan yang memadukan data arkeologi dengan data sejarah. Tahapan penelitian meliputi tahap pengumpulan data, analisis data, dan penarikan kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya bukti-bukti arkeologis yang mengindikasikan Kema dahulu merupakan sebuah permukiman yang sudah maju, meliputi pola permukiman dan jaringan jalan, pelabuhan dan saran pendukungnya, rumah ibadah, bangunan perumahan, pasar, dan jaringan komunikasi. Bukti arkeologis dan data sejarah mengungkap bahwa Kema dikenal sebagai pelabuhan laut yang memegang peranan penting dalam perdagangan global pada masa Kolonial. Pelabuhan Kema bahkan ditetapkan sebagai salah satu pelabuhan bebas di perairan Laut Sulawesi. Peran pelabuhan Kema saat ini mengalami kemunduran, hanya sebagai pelabuhan perikanan tidak lagi sebagai pelabuhan samudera.Kema is one of the districts in Minahasa Utara Regency located on the southern coast of Sulawesi Utara. Currently, Kema is known as a densely populated fishing village which is divided into Kema Satu, Kema Dua, and Kema Tiga. Based on historical data, Kema has been known since the 16 century by European sailors who stopped to fill drinking water, then expanded into a port city. This study aims to determine the rise and fall of the existence of Kema in the global trade of the Sulawesi Sea in the colonial period based on archaeological and historical data. This study uses a historical archeology approach that combines archaeological data with historical data. Research stages include data collection phase, data analysis, and conclusion. The results indicate archaeological evidence shows that Kema was an advanced settlement, covering the settlement patterns and road networks, ports and supporting facilities, houses of worship, residential buildings, markets, and communications networks. Archaeological evidence and historical data reveal that Kema is known as a seaport that plays an important role in global trading during the Colonial period. Kema is even designated as one of the free ports in Sulawesi Sea. The role of Kema is currently declining, only as a fishing port no longer as an ocean port. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 138-153
Author(s):  
Luis Arboledas-Martínez ◽  
Eva Alarcón-García

Researchers have traditionally paid little attention to mining by Bronze Age communities in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. This has changed recently due to the identification of new mineral exploitations from this period during the archaeo-mining surveys carried out in the Rumblar and Jándula valleys in the Sierra Morena Mountains between 2009-2014, as well as the excavation of the José Martín Palacios mine (Baños de la Encina, Jaén). The analysis of the archaeological evidence and the archaeometric results reveal the importance of mining and metallurgical activities undertaken by the communities that inhabited the region between 2200 and 900 cal. BC, when it became one of the most important copper and silver production centers during the Late Prehistory of south-eastern Iberia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-67
Author(s):  
I. B. Teslenko

The Funa fortress is located in southern Crimea and is one of the reference architectural and archaeological complexes of the Northern Pontic Region with precise date of existence. The fortress was built by Mangup authorities near 1423 on the border with possessions of Genoese and was destroyed in a fire during the Turkish invasion of the Crimea in 1475. The detailed chronology of the site which includes three stages of its construction history — 1423, 1425—1450s and 1459—1475, has been developed so far. So it becomes possible to clarify the dating of ceramic finds in line with these periods also. Ceramic assemblages of the last stage from the layers of fire and destruction of 1475 are the most representative. There is the complex from courtyard 1 among them. The ceramic collection includes 101 and 163 fully or partially reconstructed vessels respectively. There are large and average household containers, various kitchen utensils and tableware, both of the local Crimean production and import (Miletus Ware, Spanish Luster and Blue and White Ware, Fritware). The comparative analysis of artefacts made it possible to establish the chronological changes in ceramic assemblages during 25 years. Moreover, statistical and typological studies of the pottery from the layer of fire demonstrated a set of vessels there is suitable for cooking and table setting for at least 40 people. Large number of luxury tableware for diverse using and their location in the context allow suggest that there was a large feast on the platform above the «kitchen», and the remains of this banquet were not removed. According to the archaeological evidence as well as analysis of historical events the inhabitants of the fortress could burn it themselves before Turkish invasion and retreat to the capital of the principality at Mangup. Perhaps the remains of a farewell feast arranged just before leaving was fixed archaeologically.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Q. Huynh ◽  
Laura H. Kwong ◽  
Mathew V. Kiang ◽  
Elizabeth T. Chin ◽  
Amir M. Mohareb ◽  
...  

AbstractThe possibility of a massive oil spill in the Red Sea is increasingly likely. The Safer, a deteriorating oil tanker containing 1.1 million barrels of oil, has been deserted near the coast of Yemen since 2015 and threatens environmental catastrophe to a country presently in a humanitarian crisis. Here, we model the immediate public health impacts of a simulated spill. We estimate that all of Yemen’s imported fuel through its key Red Sea ports would be disrupted and that the anticipated spill could disrupt clean-water supply equivalent to the daily use of 9.0–9.9 million people, food supply for 5.7–8.4 million people and 93–100% of Yemen’s Red Sea fisheries. We also estimate an increased risk of cardiovascular hospitalization from pollution ranging from 5.8 to 42.0% over the duration of the spill. The spill and its potentially disastrous impacts remain entirely preventable through offloading the oil. Our results stress the need for urgent action to avert this looming disaster.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document