The Lowly Amphora (and ancient contact across the oceans)

The Mathisen Corollary ^ | Monday, February 6, 2012 | David Warner Mathisen

[SunkenCiv]

This is one of the most interesting topics we've had in GGG for a long while, in particular the discussion, so, sorry I'm a day late, but back in message 5 I said I would make this the Digest ping, so here it is.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3295687/posts?page=22#22

[SunkenCiv]

You’ll notice there is *no* method of stowing — the surviving wood of the ship doesn’t include those boards they’re using in the display to keep the jars from tipping. That’s because there *were* no such boards. :’)

There was a pile of soft cargo, such as grain; even in Greek times the amount of grain imports from Egypt was remarkable. By the time Rome got going, the grain boats were so large — this is according to the late Lionel Casson — that only a few ports in the Med could even receive them. Rhodes was one, the Pireaus of Athens, and Rome itself could handle them for unloading, but their point of origin was the Nile.

[SunkenCiv]

While I'm at it, I want to re-ping discussion participants regarding the other half of this amphora question -- was it a sustainable technology? Turns out, not so much. This has been on my mind for years, seems like a good time to bring it up:

• Google Search -- Mount Testaccio

[SunkenCiv]

Roman rubbish dump reveals secrets of ancient trading networks
Telegraph UK | June 4, 2015 | Nick Squires
Posted on 06/07/2015 9:12:42 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3297812/posts

[TigersEye]

I love Testaccios! Especially the hot chile testaccios. ;^)

Thanks for the ping, this old tech stuff is fascinating to me.

[colorado tanker]

I did not know until the recent thread that amphorae were not reusable. That seems to make it a not so good technology.

I try to avoid the world sustainable. It's come to mean everything and nothing. I have figured out, however, that whenever a liberal uses sustainable they like it and when they use unsustainable, they don't like it. That said, it does not seem a sustainable technology when you have to destroy all the shipping containers after a voyage and make/buy new ones for the next.

[SunkenCiv]

Amphorae got reused after a fashion — broken pieces or ostraca were used like post-its are today; surviving letters to family members serving in the Roman legions show up at the sites of former forts and whatnot on the frontiers.

[SunkenCiv]

I love the ridiculous rubbish about how ancient coins from across the Atlantic found in the Americas were all lost by coin collectors. That's such an absurdly stupid claim, and as the *real* saying goes, absurdly stupid claims require absurdly stupid levels of evidence. There is ZERO evidence of any such coin collectors, much less careless ones. Anyone making such a claim is just a jackass.

Who Built New England's Megalithic Monuments?