On Land and Sea. Production and Trade of Wine from Campania (3rd BC – 1st AD): Some New Archaeological and Archeometric Data about Amphorae

Archaeological and archaeometric studies carried out in the last few years as part of the “Immensa Aequora” Project (www.immensaaequora.org) focused on centres for producing wine amphorae and ceramics in the area of the Tyrrhenian Sea, particularly Latium and Campania. Parallel studies are in the process of reviewing the cargoes of some western-Mediterranean shipwrecks, dating to between the 3rd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D, which were transporting wine in amphorae from Tyrrhenian production centres. The present contribution promises to present a summary of these studies, with particular attention to production in Campania and some in Latium from the 3rd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. The use of laboratory analyses (chemical and mineralogical) lets us establish some reference groups for the main production sites. Meanwhile, residue analysis, carried out for now on the Greco-Italic amphorae of some shipwrecks (3rd century B.C.) produced in the Gulf of Naples, has made it possible to confirm the presence of red wine on the interior of some types of amphorae.