Andrea Razza

Excavations carried out by the Superintendency of Ostia between 1998 and 2002 in the area of the
railway station of Ostia Antica have brought to light a series of funerary structures, dwellings and
a circular trench, the sides of which were lined with a double wall of amphorae. The remains of a
wooden waterwheel were found on the bottom of the trench. We may conjecture that the structure
was part of a reclamation project with amphorae used to drain the groundwater, as has been documented
in other contexts around Ostia. Typological and epigraphic study was carried out on the 335
amphorae identified. The results suggest the trench was dug in the Augustan period and used up
until the second century A.D. In order to determine the origin of the amphorae, mineralogical, petrographic
and chemical analyses were made on 18 representative samples. The results point to three
principal groups originating in the Betic, Tarraconensian and Italic regions, and suggest that most
of the amphora material found is of Hispanic origin. Specifically, archaeometric analysis places
the workshops where the Betic amphorae were produced in the Valle del Guadalquivir and the area
around Cádiz, those of the Tarraconensian amphorae on the northern coast of Catalonia, and the
Italic ones on the Latin-Campanian coast (with a few examples from the Adriatic). In addition to
these areas, the analyses have identified Sicily as another area of importation.

Rome was an extraordinary centre of consumption and attracted an incredible amount of goods arriving through its ports (Ostia and Portus). One of the first peripheral regions to undertake the distribution of its agricultural surplus to the capital was Hispania, especially the Baetica province, which underwent a radical transformation in the organization of the exploitation and commercial trade of their resources from the Second Punic War to the Augustean age. After drawing up a comprehensive balance of Hispanic imports to Ostia transported by amphorae (wine, oil, salsamenta and fish sauces), the focus will be on a case study. An important sample area in the region of Ostia is the context of Binario Morto (about 50 BC-50 AD) where remains of a wooden waterwheel and a structure with amphorae used to drain the groundwater have been found. The study of the 335 amphorae shows a significant majority of Hispanic productions. Petrological and chemical analyses have permitted to determine the origin of the amphorae from specific workshops located in the areas of the Guadalquivir Valley and around Cádiz, and on the northern coast of Catalonia.