Ports in Perspective: Some Comparative Materials on Roman Merchant Ships and Ports

@article{citeulike:1669656, abstract = {Very large merchant vessels (500 tons burden or more) and elaborate port facilities certainly existed in the Roman world, and they have attracted much attention in recent years. It is important, however, to provide an accurate context for such spectacular technical achievements: do they represent the norm, or are they uncommon, or even highly anomalous? In the absence of documentary evidence, we can make good use of comparative materials from other preindustrial contexts. Post-Roman merchant fleets regularly consist overwhelmingly of smaller vessels, often carrying small quantities of a large variety of items. Port facilities in these contexts are generally minimal, and such practices as beaching and offloading into lighters are common. It is argued here that most Roman merchant vessels were small (i.e., below 100 tons), and that man-made port facilities were both small and unusual in the Roman Empire. Evidence from the ancient world, including wrecks known from underwater excavations and numerous literary, legal, and epigraphical texts, supports precisely the picture of ancient shipping we would predict on the basis of the comparative material.}, author = {Houston, George W. }, citeulike-article-id = {1669656}, journal = {American Journal of Archaeology}, keywords = {archaeology, roman, ships, trade, underwater}, number = {4}, pages = {553--564}, posted-at = {2007-09-18 16:48:24}, priority = {0}, title = {Ports in Perspective: Some Comparative Materials on Roman Merchant Ships and Ports}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/505250}, volume = {92}, year = {1988} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1669656 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1669656 N2 - Very large merchant vessels (500 tons burden or more) and elaborate port facilities certainly existed in the Roman world, and they have attracted much attention in recent years. It is important, however, to provide an accurate context for such spectacular technical achievements: do they represent the norm, or are they uncommon, or even highly anomalous? In the absence of documentary evidence, we can make good use of comparative materials from other preindustrial contexts. Post-Roman merchant fleets regularly consist overwhelmingly of smaller vessels, often carrying small quantities of a large variety of items. Port facilities in these contexts are generally minimal, and such practices as beaching and offloading into lighters are common. It is argued here that most Roman merchant vessels were small (i.e., below 100 tons), and that man-made port facilities were both small and unusual in the Roman Empire. Evidence from the ancient world, including wrecks known from underwater excavations and numerous literary, legal, and epigraphical texts, supports precisely the picture of ancient shipping we would predict on the basis of the comparative material. IS - 4 JF - American Journal of Archaeology EP - 564 TI - Ports in Perspective: Some Comparative Materials on Roman Merchant Ships and Ports VL - 92 SP - 553 KW - archaeology KW - roman KW - ships KW - trade KW - underwater AU - Houston, George PY - 1988/// UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/505250 ER -