© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/22134522-12340027L. Lavan (ed.) Local Economies? Production and Exchange of Inland Regions in Late Antiquity (Late Antique Archaeology 10 – 2013) (Leiden 2013), pp. 61–81

The LATe ANTIQUe eCONOMY: PRIMARY AND SeCONDARY PRODUCTION

Andrea Zerbini

Primary Production

It is an undisputed fact that pre-modern economies were primarily based on agricultural production, and so it is hardly surprising that most of our evidence concerning the ancient and late antique economy relates to this sector. Consequently, debate has mostly focused on understanding whether agricultural production was merely a quest for bare subsistence by individual families, or other small cohesive social groups, or whether the production of food crops was part of an integrated economy that involved the production and marketisation of the planned and unplanned surplus. The study of productive strategies is also essential for understanding living standards, demographic patterns and social mobility in Late Antiquity.

Syntheses: Decker M. (2009) Tilling the Hateful Earth: Agricultural Produc-tion and Trade in the Late Antique East (Oxford 2009); Durand A. and Leveau P. (2004) “Farming in Mediterranean France and rural settlement in the Late Roman and early Medieval periods: the contribution from archaeology and environmental sciences in the last twenty years (1980–2000)”, in The Making of Feudal Agricultures?, edd. M. Barceló and F. Sigaut (The Trans-formation of the Roman World 14) (Leiden-Boston 2004) 177–254; Fowler P. (2002) Farming in the First Millennium AD: British Agriculture Between Julius Caesar and William the Conqueror (Cambridge 2002); harfouche R. (2007) Histoire des paysages méditerranéens terrassés: aménagements et agriculture (Oxford 2007); Leveau P. and Buffat L. (2008) “Les bátiments agricoles et l’architecture des villas de la fin de l’Antiquité”, in Las villae tardorromanas en el occidente del Imperio arquitectura y función; IV Colo-quio internacional de Arqueología en Gijón, ed. C. Fernández Ochoa (Gijon 2008) 133–66; Lewit T. (2009) “Pigs, presses and pastoralism: farming in the fifth and sixth centuries AD”, Early Medieval Europe 17 (2009) 77–91; Rosen S. and Avni G. (1993) “The edge of the empire: the archaeology of pastoral nomads in the southern Negev highlands in Late Antiquity”, in Nomadic Pastoralism: Past and Present, ed. T. Levy (The Biblical Archaeologist

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56.4) (1993) 189–99; Shaw B. (2013) Bringing in the Sheaves: Economy and Metaphor in the Roman World (Toronto 2013).

Climate Change

Where the state survived, as in the eastern part of the empire, the evi-dence suggests that economic conditions were very different from those found in the western provinces. In these eastern regions, the expansion of extensive and intensive agriculture in marginal environments arguably represents one of the most outstanding features of the late antique econ-omy (Decker (2009)). This phenomenon has sometimes been explained by the existence of a more humid and cooler climate into the 4th to 6th c., which was followed by a drier and warmer phase in the 7th to 10th c. On this, see hirschfeld (2004); Izdebski (2011) and Lucke et al. (2005). While this may have had a positive impact on settlement patterns in the Near east and in North Africa, the cooler late antique climate is sometimes blamed for the economic decline in the West, where lower temperatures meant the regression of species such as the grapevine, and higher rain-fall determined sharp changes in river watercourses (Durand and Leveau (2004) 181–87; Cheyette (2008). Despite a growing literature in support of an environmentalist interpretation of agrarian change, there is still no agreement as to the extent to which climate change and anthropic factors contributed to the economic transformations of this period.

Climate change and agriculture: Cheyette L. (2008) “The disappearance of the ancient landscape and the climatic anomaly of the early Middle Ages: a question to be pursued”, Early Medieval Europe 16 (2008) 127–65; hirschfeld Y. (2004) “Climatic change in the early Byzantine period? Some archaeological evidence”, PEQ 136.2 (2004) 133–49; Izdbeski A. (2011) “Why did agriculture flourish in the late antique east? The role of climate fluc-tuations in the development and contraction of agriculture in Asia Minor and the Middle east from the 4th till the 7th c. AD”, Millennium: Jahrbuch zu Kultur und Geschichte des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr. 8 (2011) 291–312; Lucke B. et al. (2005) “The abandonment of the Decapolis region in north-ern Jordan—forced by environmental change?”, Quaternary International 135 (2005) 65–81.

Stock Raising

In recent years, the growing role of environmental archaeology in the study of ancient economic practices has led to considerable advances in

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this field. Lewit (2009) provides an excellent overview of this topic. The study of faunal remains is contributing the most to our understanding of the role of animal husbandry in the late antique economy, and its change in the period of transition between Roman and Post Roman economies. In the West, the 5th and 6th c. seem to have brought about a shift away from specialised animal rearing, towards more mixed husbandry practices. Pol-len studies have confirmed a similar trend toward mixed farming: cereal production receded in most marginal regions, where it was replaced by reforestation and a return to seasonal pastoralism. Rather than demo-graphic decline, the regression of cereal production and a return to mixed farming were likely due to the demise of the imperial demand for agri-cultural goods, and the end of an integrated market that made it possible to profit from crop specialisation. however, the Iberian Peninsula seems to have witnessed a different evolution, with some regions showing an increased impact from grazing, reflected in widespread deforestation and a decline in the production of cereals.

General: Rousset M.-O. and Duvette C. (2005) “L’élevage dans la steppe à l’époque byzantine: indices archéologiques”, in Les villages dans l’Empire byzantin, IVe–XVe siècle, edd. J. Lefort, C. Morrisson and J.-P. Sodini (Paris 2005) 485–94; Toplyn M. R. (2006) “Livestock and limitanei: the zooar-chaeological evidence”, in The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan. Final Report on the Limes Arabicus Project 1980–1989, ed. S. T. Parker (Washing-ton D.C. 2006) 463–509.

Italy: Iasiello I. (2008) Samnium. Assetti e trasformazioni di una provincia dell’Italia tardoantica (Bari 2008) esp. 232–60; Volpe G., Buglione A. and De Venuto G. (2010) ed. Vie degli animali, vie degli uomini. Transumanza e altri spostamenti di animali nell’Europa tardoantica e medievale. Atti del Secondo Seminario Internazionale di Studi “Gli animali come cultura mate-riale nel Medioevo” (Foggia, 7 ottobre 2006) (Bari 2010).

Spain: Colominas L. and Saña B. (2009) “Animal husbandry in the north-east of Catalonia from the 1st to the 5th century: improvement and impor-tation”, in El territori i els seu recursos. Laboratori d’Arqueologia. Institut de Recerca Històrica, Grup de Recerca Arqueològica del Pla de l’Estany, ed. J. M. Nolla (Studies on the Rural World in the Roman Period 4) (Girona 2009) 9–26.

Wine and Oil Production

While studies of pollen and faunal remains often represent the only evi-dence available to understand the impact of cereal cultivation and animal

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husbandry, other agrarian activities have left clearer archaeological traces in the landscape. This is particularly true for the production of wine and oil, which has been investigated in particular detail given the hundreds of ancient presses discovered across the Mediterranean countryside. Dating these is notoriously difficult; in most cases the only remains of a press are a rock-cut pressing bed and a collection vat, which shed little light on the earliest phase of use. Despite this, the excavation of larger installations, typological studies and pottery surveys, tend to agree that, particularly in the east, Late Antiquity witnessed a surge in the number, capacity and complexity of the infrastructure devoted to the production of these two essential Mediterranean staples. The best general introduction to the archaeology of wine and oil production is certainly Brun (2004). Regional surveys abound and continue to proliferate, for example: Ayalon, Frankel and Kloner (2009) and Blánquez Pérez and Celestino Pérez (2009). Quan-tification of wine and oil production has also played an important role in modern attempts to study ancient economic performance and evaluate the extent of surplus production, for example: Decker (2009) and Mat-tingly (1988b).

General: AA. VV. (2007) Olio e vino nell’alto medioevo: Spoleto 20–26 aprile 2006 (Spoleto 2007); Amouretti M.-C. and Brun J.-P. (1993) edd. La produc-tion du vin et de l’huile en Méditerranée (BCh Supplement 26) (Paris 1993); Brun J.-P. (2004) Archéologie du vin et de l’huile dans l’Empire romain (Paris 2004); Brun J.-P. (2003) Le vin et l’huile dans la Méditerranée antique. Viti-culture, oléiculture et procédés de fabrication (Paris 2003). Decker M. (2009) “export wine trade to West and east”, in Byzantine Trade, 4th–12th Centu-ries. The Archaeology of Local, Regional and International Exchange. Papers of the Thirty-eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, St John’s Col-lege, Oxford, March 2004, ed. M. M. Mango (Farnham-Burlington, Vermont 2009) 239–52; Decker M. (2007) “Water into Wine: Trade and Technology in Late Antiquity” in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 65–92; Lewit T. (2012) “Oil and wine press technology in its economic context: screw presses, the rural economy and trade in Late Antiquity”, AnTard 20 (2012) 137–51; Rossiter J. J. (2007) “Wine-making after Pliny: viticulture and farming technology in late antique Italy”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 93–118.

Asia Minor: Mitchell S. A. (2005) “Olive cultivation in the economy of Roman Asia Minor”, in Patterns in the Economy of Roman Asia Minor, ed. S. A. Mitchell (Swansea 2005) 83–114.

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Levant: Ayalon e., Frankel R. and Kloner A. (2009) edd. Oil and Wine Presses in Israel from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods (Oxford 2009); Ben-David h. (1998) “Oil presses and oil production in the Golan in the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods”, Atiqot 34 (1998) 1–61 (in hebrew with an english summary); Callot O. (1984) Huileries antiques du Syrie du Nord (Paris 1984); Dar S. (1999) Sumaqa: a Roman and Byzantine Jewish Vil-lage on Mount Carmel, Israel (Oxford 1999); Dentzer J.-M. et al. (2003) “Les pressoirs à cuves multiples du Jebel al-’Arab”, in Hauran II. Les Installa-tions de Si’ 8. Du Sanctuaire à l’établissement viticole, edd. J. Dentzer-Feydy, J.-M. Dentzer and P.-M. Blanc (Beirut 2003) 127–45; Frankel R., Avitsur S. and Ayalon e. (1994) History and Technology of Olive Oil in the Holy Land (Tel Aviv 1994).

egypt: Dzierzbicka D. (2005) “Wineries and their elements in Graeco-Roman egypt”, JJurP 35 (2005) 9–91.

Africa: De Vos M. (2001) ed. Rus Africum. Terra acqua olio nell’Africa set-tentrionale. Scavo e ricognizione nei dintorni di Dougga (Alto Tell tunisino) (Trent 2001); Lanfranchi R. (2010) “La produzione di olio d’oliva nell’Africa romana”, in ‘Officina humanitatis’: studi in onore di Lia De Finis (Trent 2010); Leone A. (2007) Changing Townscapes in North Africa from Late Antiquity to the Arab Conquest (Bari 2007) 227–32; Leone A. (2003) “Topographies of production in North African cities during the Vandal and Byzantine periods”, in Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology, edd. L. Lavan and W. Bowden (Late Antique Archaeology 1) (Leiden 2003) 257–87; Lewit T. (2007) “Absent-minded landlords and innovating peasants? The press in Africa and the eastern Mediterranean”, in Technology in Transi-tion: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 119–39; Mattingly D. (1996) “Olive presses in Roman Africa: technical evolution or stagnation?”, in L’Africa romana XI.2. Atti dell’XI convegno di studio. Cartagine 15–18 dicembre 1994, edd. M. Khanoussi, P. Ruggieri and C. Vismara (Sassari 1996) 577–95; Mattingly D. (1988a) “Megalithic madness and measurement. Or how many olives could an olive press press?”, OJA 7 (1988) 177–95; Mattingly (1988b) “Oil for export: a comparative study of Roman olive oil production in Libya, Spain and Tunisia”, JRA 1 (1988) 33–56.

Spain and Portugal: Blánquez Pérez J. and Celestino Pérez S. (2009) edd. El vino en época tardoantigua y medieval: Museo Arqueológico de Mur-cia (22–24 de octubre de 2008) (Madrid 2009); Carvalho A. (1999) “evidên-cias arqueológicas da produção de vinho nas villae romanas do território português. Graínas de uva, alfaias vitícolas e lagares de vinho”, in Écono-mie et Territoire en Lusitanie Romaine, edd. J.-G. Gorges and F. Germán Rodríguez Martín (Madrid 1999) 361–90; Peña Cervantes Y. (2010) Torcularia:

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la producción de vino y aceite en la Hispania romana (Tarragona 2010) esp. 184ff.

Germany: Clemens L. (2006) “Technologietransfer oder Innovation? Kelter- und Mühlentechnologie in Antike und Mittelalter”, Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters 34 (2006) 25–32; König M. (2001) “Die spätan-tike Agrarlandschaft an der Mosel, 2. Weinbau und Landwirtschaft im Umfeld der spätantiken Kaiserresidenz Trier”, Funde und Ausgrabungen im Bezirk Trier 33 (2001) 96–102.

Fishing

Other activities associated with the primary sector—mining, forestry, fishing, and quarrying—were also of great economic significance, though much work remains to be done concerning the collection of data and quantification of these endeavours. So far, for example, little evidence for fish salting in Late Antiquity has been found (in comparison to the earlier Roman period). In Africa, infrastructure for the production of fish sauces is seldom dated after the 5th c., though admittedly only a few of the sal-teries have been excavated to date. A similar problem exists for Italy, where only a relatively small number of maritime villas continued to wit-ness repairs to salteries and fish-breeding tanks after the 3rd c. (Marzano (2007a), (2007b) 204–205). In Spain, instead, after seemingly declining in the 3rd c., the production of salsamenta experienced a marked recovery in the 4th to 6th c. (Lagóstena Barrios (2001) 318–49). Along the Black Sea, the fate of the fish processing industry is characterised by a high degree of local variability: some production centres, like the huge 90–vat facility excavated at Chersonesos—with a yearly processing capacity estimated at 3,000–3,500 metric tons of fish—appear to have remained in use through-out the late antique period, while others, such as Salatčik on the Kerch peninsula, had been abandoned by the 4th c. (højte (2005)).

Syntheses: Curtis R. I. (1991) Garum and Salsamenta. Production and Com-merce in Materia Medica (Leiden 1991); Wilson A. (2002) “Fishy business: Roman exploitation of marine resources”, JRA 19 (2002) 525–37.

Africa: Ben-Lazreg N. et al. (1995) “Production et commercialisation des salsamenta de l’Afrique ancienne”, in L’Afrique du Nord antique et médiévale I. Production et exportations africaines: actualités archéologiques. Actes du VIe colloque d’histoire et d’archéologie de l’Afrique, Pau, 25–29 oct. 1993, ed. P. Trousset (Paris 1995) 103–42.

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Spain: Lagóstena Barrios L. (2001) La producción de salsas y conser-vas de pescado en la Hispania Romana, II a. C.–VI d. C. (Barcelona 2001); Villaverde Vega N. and López Pardo F. (1995) “Una nueva factoría de salazones en Septem Fratres (Ceuta). el origen de la iocalidad y la prob-lemática de la industria de salazones en el estrecho durante el Bajo Impe-rio”, in II Congreso internacional El Estrecho de Gibraltar (Ceuta 1990), edd. e. Ripoll and M. Ladero (Madrid 1995) 455–72.

Italy: Botte e. (2009) Salaisons et sauces de poissons en Italie du Sud et en Sicile durant l’antiquité (Naples 2009); Iannelli M. T. and Cuteri F. A. (2007) “Il commercio e la lavorazione del pesce nella Calabria antica e medievale con particolare riferimento alla costa tirrenica”, in CETARIAE 2005: salsas y salazones de pescado en Occidente durante la Antigüedad: actas del congreso internacional (Cádiz, 7–9 noviembre de 2005), edd. L. Lagóstena, D. Bernal and A. Arévalo (Oxford 2007) 285–300 (esp. 290–93); Marzano A. (2007a) “Fish salting versus fish-breeding: the case of Roman Italy”, in CETARIAE 2005: salsas y salazones de pescado en Occi-dente durante la Antigüedad: actas del congreso internacional (Cádiz, 7–9 noviembre de 2005), edd. L. Lagóstena, D. Bernal and A. Arévalo (Oxford 2007) 301–13; Marzano A. (2007b) Roman Villas in Central Italy. A Social and Economic History (Leiden 2007); Marzano A. and Brizzi G. (2009) “Costly display or economic investment? A quantitative approach to the study of marine aquaculture”, JRA 22 (2009) 215–30; Pesavento Mattioli S. and Carre M.-B. (2009) edd. Olio e pesce in epoca romana. Produzione e commercio nelle regioni dell’Alto Adriatico. Atti del convegno (Padova, 16 febbraio 2007) (Rome 2009).

Greece and the Aegean: Mylona D. (2003) “Fishing in Late Antiquity: the case of Itanos, Crete”, in Zooarchaeology in Greece: Recent Advances, ed. e. Kotjabopoulou (British School of Archaeology at Athens 9) (2003) 103–10.

Black Sea: højte J. M. (2005) “The archaeological evidence for fish pro-cessing in the Black Sea region”, in Ancient Fishing and Fish Processing in the Black Sea Region, ed. T. Bekker-Nielsen (Aarhus 2005) 133–60.

Levant: Cotton h., Lernau O., and Goren Y. (1996) “Fish sauces from herodian Masada”, JRA 9 (1996) 223–38; Mango M. M. (2002) “Fishing in the desert”, Palaeoslavica 10 (2002) 309–16.

egypt: Wendrich W. Z. (1994) “Preliminary notes on fishing gear and fish at the Late Roman fort at ‘Abu Sha’ar (egyptian Red Sea coast)”, in Fish Exploitation in the Past. Proceedings of the 7th Meeting of the ICAZ Fish Remains Working Group, Leuven 6–10 September 1993, ed. W. van Neer (Tervuren 1994) 183–89.

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Extraction

Among the forms of primary production, the extraction industry should also be included. edmondson (1989) remains a very good introduction to this subject. Despite the difficulties in dating the phases of exploitation of mines, it is generally believed that mining decreased sharply in Late Antiquity, at least in the West, for example Spain and Gaul. This point was made forcefully by McCormick (2001) 42–53, who believed that the decline in the size of the army, as well as economic decline in the western empire, created the conditions for this change. Such decline was partly offset by the importation of metals from the east, where extraction con-tinued well into the Islamic period.

Some of the copper mines of Cyprus, for example, remained in use until the 7th c. (Papacostas (2001)); evidence of smelting is found at sev-eral mining sites across the island through Late Antiquity, for which see Kassianidou (2004) 99ff. Copper mining and smelting facilities were also identified in the southern Negev (the area of Nahal Amram), to the west and north-west of Aila/Aqaba. These multi-phase installations were espe-cially active in the early Islamic period (7th–8th c.). As for the famous copper mining centre of Phaeno/Faynan in the same region, the extrac-tion industry seemed to have rapidly declined from the mid 4th c., when it is believed to have ceased to be an imperial metallum. For this see: Kind et al. (2005), cf. Friedman (2008) 49–55. As for gold mining, the egyptian site of Bir Umm Fawakhir is the best known Byzantine mining town, with evidence of intense exploitation in the 5th and 6th c. (http://oi.uchicago .edu/research/projects/faw/). In the midst of the egyptian eastern Desert, a large workforce of skilled miners and engineers was maintained by the Byzantine state—the population of the settlement has been estimated at some 1000—which, until the military crises of the 7th c., displayed a last-ing capacity for controlling the resources of this arid region.

Mining: Domerque C. and Leroy M. (2000) “L’état de la recherche sur les mines et les métallurgies en Gaule, de l’époque gauloise au haut Moyen Âge”, Gallia 57 (2000) 3–10; Domerque C. (1990) Les mines de la péninsule Ibérique dans l’Antiquité romaine (Rome 1990); edmondson J. C. (1989) “Mining in the later Roman empire and beyond: continuity or disrup-tion?”, JRS 79 (1989) 84–102; Friedman h. (2008) Industry and Empire. Administration of the Roman and Byzantine Faynan (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Leicester) esp. 49–61; Kassianidou V. (2004) “Recording Cyprus’s mining history through archaeological survey”, in Archaeological Field Survey in

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Cyprus. Past History, Future Potentials. Proceedings of a Conference held by the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus, 1–2 December 2000, ed. e. Iacovou (British School of Archaeology at Athens 11) (Athens 2004) 95–104; Kellens N. (2008) “Metal technology in Late Antiquity: a bib-liographic note”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 41–51; Kind h. et al. (2005) “Coins from Faynan, Jordan”, Levant 37 (2005) 169–95; Matschke K.-P. (2002) “Mining”, in The Economic History of Byzan-tium: from the Seventh though the Fifteenth Century, ed. A. Laiou (Washing-ton D.C. 2002) 115–20; McCormick, M. (2001) The Origins of the European Economy: Communication and Commerce, A.D. 300–900 (Cambridge 2001); Meyer C. (2011) Bir Umm Fawakhir. Report on the 1996–1997 survey seasons, vol. 2. (Chicago 2011); Meyer C. et al. (2003) “Ancient gold extraction at Bir Umm Fawakhir”, JARCE 40 (2003) 13–53; Meyer C. et al. (2000) Bir Umm Fawakhir Survey Project 1993: A Byzantine Gold-Mining Town in Egypt, vol. 1 (Chicago 2000); Papacostas T. (2001) “The economy of late antique Cyprus”, in Economy and Exchange in the East Mediterranean during Late Antiquity, edd. S. Kingsley and M. Decker (Oxford 2001) 111–12 (107–28); Willies L. (1991) “Ancient copper mining at Wadi Amram, Israel. An archaeologi-cal survey”, Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society 11 (1991) 109–38.

Secondary Production

The extent of the production of finished goods—manufacturing, process-ing, and construction—in Late Antiquity, is, like the primary sector, an absolutely crucial component for the understanding of the economy of this period. For some of these activities—metal-working, stone-cutting and crafting, shipbuilding, glass-making, and of course, pottery—there is a fairly wide variety of archaeological evidence, but comparatively little written information. For other goods such as textile production, brick and wood construction, etc., there is not only a paucity of literature but also a dearth of archaeological remnants, due to the natural decomposition of these goods.

Case studies: Cubberley A. L. (1985) “Bread-baking in Roman Italy”, in Food in Antiquity, edd. J. Wilkins D. harvey and M. Dobson (exeter 1985) 55–68; Greene K. (1994) “Technology and innovation in context: the Roman background to mediaeval and later developments”, JRA 7 (1994)

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22–33; Mattingly D. J. and Salmon J. (2001) edd. Economies beyond Agricul-ture in the Classical World (London 2001); Poblome J. (2004) “Comparing ordinary craft production: textile and pottery production in Roman Asia Minor”, JESHO 47.4 (2004) 491–506; Polfer M. (2005) ed. Artisanat et écono-mie romaine: Italie et provinces occidentales de l’Empire (Montagnac 2005); Rodziewicz e. (2011) “Alexandria and trade in Late Antiquity: the testi-mony of bone and ivory production”, in Alexandrie médiévale 4, edd. C. Décobert, J.-Y. empereur and C. Picard (Études Alexandrines 24) (Alex-andria 2011) 57–79; Stern e. M. (1999) “Roman glassblowing in a cultural context”, AJA 103.3 (1999) 441–84; Wilson A. (2003) “The economic impact of technological advances in the Roman construction industry”, Innovazi-one tecnica e progresso economico nel mondo romano: atti degli incontri capresi di storia dell’economia antica (Capri 13–16 aprile 2003), ed. e. Lo Cascio (Bari 2006) 225–36; Wilson A. (2002) “Machines, power and the ancient economy”, JRS 92 (2002) 1–32; Zohar D. (2012) “Production proce-dures in the late-antique mosaic workshop: the region of Mount Nebo as a case study for a new approach”, in Ateliers and Artisans in Roman Art and Archaeology, edd. T. M. Kristensen and B. Poulsen (JRA Supplementary Series 92) (2012) 169–92.

Bibliographical essays: Bes P. (2007) “Technology in Late Antiquity: a bibliographic essay”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 3–40; Kellens N. (2007) “Metal technology in Late Antiquity: a bib-liographic note”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 41–51; Lauwers V. (2007) “Glass technology in Late Antiquity: a biblio-graphic note”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 53–61; Putzeys T. (2007) “Productive space in Late Antiquity”, in Objects in Context, Objects in Use: Material Spatiality in Late Antiquity, edd. L. Lavan, e. Swift, and T. Putzeys (Late Antique Archaeology 5) (Leiden-Boston 2007) 63–80.

Glass

As in the early Roman period, glass-making was primarily centred on the area between egypt and the southern Levantine coast. Natron, which was extracted primarily in egypt ca. 100 km north-west of Cairo, continued to be used as the flux substance for the production of raw glass through

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to the 9th c. See Saguì (2007) and henderson (2013) 92–103 for good gen-eral overviews of this. Climatic and political factors may have led to a gradual switch to plant ash thereafter (Picon and Vichy (2003); White-house (2002)). Natron was exported to the Levantine coast, where it was combined with the local sand to make raw glass. Although the bulk of raw glass was produced between Apollonia/Arsuf and Sidon, production centres have also been identified along the African coast: for a Carthage furnace see Foy (2003). The geographic concentration of most centres of raw glass production meant that this substance was sometimes traded long distances: ships laden with ingots of raw glass of Palestinian prov-enance have been found, for example, off the French coast (Fontaine and Foy (2007)). By contrast, kilns for producing glass vessels from raw glass or recycled glass are much more evenly spread, and are being increasingly found in the West, as well as in the east. Despite the reach of glass trade networks, the production of glass was never organised on a large scale in Antiquity and secondary workshops (which produced the finished prod-ucts) remained generally small in size, for which see Saguì (2007) 216–20.

Syntheses: Advances in the study of late antique glass production and trade may be found especially in the regularly published proceedings of the Annales du Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (some available online: http://www.aihv.org/en/aihv_publications .html) and in the Journal of Glass Studies (JGS). See also: Foy D. et al. (2003) “Caractérisation des verres de la fin de l’Antiquité en Méditer-ranée occidentale: l’émergence de nouveaux courants commerciaux”, in Échanges et commerce du verre dans le monde antique. Actes du colloque de l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre, Aix-en-Provence et Marseille, 7–9 juin 2001, edd. D. Foy and M-D. Nenna (Montagnac 2003) 41–85; henderson J. (2013) Ancient Glass. An Interdisciplinary Explora-tion (Cambridge 2013); Meredith h. (2009) “evaluating the movement of open-work glassware in Late Antiquity”, in Byzantine Trade, 4th–12th Centuries. The Archaeology of Local, Regional and International Exchange. Papers of the Thirty-eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, St John’s College, Oxford, March 2004, ed. M. M. Mango (Farnham-Burlington, Ver-mont 2009) 191–98; O’hea M. (2007) “Glass in Late Antiquity in the Near east”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 233–48; Picon M. and Vichy M. (2003) “D’Orient en Occident: l’origine du verre à l’époque romaine et durant le haut Moyen Âge”, in Échanges et commerce du verre dans le monde antique. Actes du colloque de l’Association Française pour

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l’Archéologie du Verre, Aix-en-Provence et Marseille, 7–9 juin 2001, edd. D. Foy and M-D. Nenna (Montagnac 2003) 17–31; Saguì L. (2007) “Glass in Late Antiquity: the continuity of technology and sources of supply”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 211–32; White-house D. (2002) “The transition from natron to plant ash in the Levant”, JGS 44 (2002) 193–96.

Case studies: Antonaras A. C. (2010) “Glass-working activities in Late Roman and early Christian Thessaloniki: local workshops and vessels”, in Glass in Byzantium—Production, Usage, Analyses: International Workshop Organised by the Byzantine Archaeology Mainz, 17th–18th of January 2008 Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, edd. J. Drauschke and D. Keller (Mainz 2010) 93–105; Fontaine S. D. and D. Foy (2007) “L’épave Ouest-embiez 1, Var: le commerce maritime du verre brut et manufacturé en Méditerranée occidentale dans l’Antiquité”, RANarb 40(2007) 235–65; Foy D. (2003) “Le verre en Tunisie: l’apport des fouilles récentes tuniso- françaises”, JGS 45 (2003) 59–90; Freestone I. C., Jackson-Tal R. e. and Tal O. (2008) “Raw glass and the production of glass vessels at Late Byz-antine Apollonia-Arsuf, Israel”, JGS 50 (2008) 67–80; Rehren T. (2010) “Glass supply and circulation in early Byzantine southern Jordan”, in Glass in Byzantium—Production, Usage, Analyses: International Workshop Organised by the Byzantine Archaeology Mainz, 17th–18th of January 2008 Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, edd. J. Drauschke and D. Keller (Mainz 2010) 65–81.

Pilgrim Flasks

The economics of pottery production and trade in Late Antiquity are described in detail by Costa in this volume. Nonetheless, it is worth men-tioning the production and distribution of pilgrim flasks and eulogiai, which, despite being mostly made of pottery, do not normally fall within traditional ceramic studies. These were mostly mould-made vessels and tokens which were made on, or in the vicinity of, pilgrimage sites. The most famous were certainly the Menas flasks from the sanctuary of St. Menas (Abu Mina) in egypt, which first appeared in the 5th c. and were widely distributed across the Mediterranean: Anderson (2007); Gross-mann (1998). Apparently, they contained blessed water or oil, and they often appear in elite dwellings, a fact that testifies to their value and pres-tige. Unfortunately, we know very little concerning the economics of the production of these objects: it is unclear, for example, whether producers

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could deliberately adopt new iconographies in the decoration of flasks and eulogies, or whether ‘institutionalised’ moulds had to be used for all objects connected to the cult of a particular saint (Anderson (2004) 89). Another important site for the production of eulogiai was Qal’at Sem’an in the territory of Antioch, a pilgrimage site that housed the column of the first stylite, Symeon the elder. The monastery of Symeon the Younger, on Mons Admirabilis close to Antioch, has also been regarded as a possible production site, though see Gerard et al. (1997) for a different view.

The economy of pilgrimage: General: Caner D. F. (2006) “Towards a mirac-ulous economy: Christian gifts and material ‘blessings’ in Late Antiquity”, Journal of Early Christian Studies 14 (2006) 329–77; Sodini J.-P. (2011) “La terre des semelles: images pieuses ramenées par les pèlerins des lieux saints (terre sainte, Martyria d’Orient)”, JSav (Jan–Juil 2011) 77–140. Anatolia: Anderson W. (2004) “An archaeology of late antique pilgrim flasks”, AnatSt 54 (2004) 79–93. St Menas, Egypt: Anderson W. (2007) “Menas flasks in the West: pilgrimage and trade at the end of Antiquity”, Ancient West and East 6 (2007) 221–43; Barnea I. (1995) “Menasampullen auf dem Gebiet Rumä-niens”, Akten des XII. Internationalen Kongresses für Christliche Archäolo-gie. Bonn 22–28 September 1991. Teil I, edd. e. Dassman and J. engemann (1995) 509–14; Delahaye G.-R. (1997) “La diffusion des ampoules de Saint Ménas en Gaule”, Le Monde Copte 27–28 (1998) 155–65; Grossman P. (1998) “The pilgrimage center of Abû Mînâ”, in Piligrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt, ed. D. Frankfurter (Leiden 1998) 281–302 (esp. 298–300); Lopreato P. (1977) “Le ampolle di San Menas e la diffusione del suo culto nell’Alto Adriatico”, Antichità Altoadriatiche 12 (1977) 411–28. St. Symeon the Elder, Syria: Callot O. (2005) “encore des eulogies de Saint Syméon l’Alépin . . . Déhès 2004”, TravMém 15 (2005) 705–12; Gerard M. et al. (1997) “Argiles et eulogies en forme de jetons: Qal’at Sem’an en est-il une source possible?”, in Materials Analysis of Byzantine Pottery, ed. h. Magu-ire (Washington D.C.) 9–24; Sodini J.-P., Blanc P.-M. and Pieri D. (2010) “Nouvelles eulogies de Qal’at Sem’an”, TravMém 16 (2010) 793–812.

Stone

Stone-cutting and the trade of stone artefacts were also profitable activi-ties in Late Antiquity, as well as in earlier periods. The late antique marble trade saw a preference for finished or semi-worked artefacts rather than raw material, a phenomenon that may be explained by a desire to cut

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costs by reducing the weight of the cargo. This period signaled a boom in marble quarrying, particularly in the Aegean and Asia Minor, where quarries were intensively exploited in order to address a rising Constanti-nopolitan demand: see Sodini (2002).

Alongside marble, and particularly interesting for its repercussions on our views of the ancient economy, is the evidence for long-range commerce of lesser stone and stone artefacts, such as limestone and basalt millstones. Geochemical analyses applied to these objects have provided spectacular results, with Roman and Late Roman rotary querns sometimes attested as far as 1300 km away from their area of production, for which see Williams-Thorpe and Thorpe (1993). More recently, the study of a shipwreck off the coast of Cefalù in Sicily has also revealed that the cargo contained a screw-press counterweight of probably Levantine origin (Wolff (2011)). This finding also has interesting implications concerning the diffusion of technology, since it probably represents an attempt to import a type of press counterweight which, despite being widespread in the east and to a lesser extent in Africa, is not generally found in the West.

Stone-cutting and trade of stone artefacts: D’Angela C. (2008) “Produzione e commercio di sarcofagi tra le due sponde adriatiche nel VI secolo”, in Antichità Altoadriatiche 66 (2008) 539–52; García Vargas e. (2011) “Oriental trade in the Iberian Peninsula during Late Antiquity (4th–7th centuries): an archaeological perspective”, in New Perspectives on Late Antiquity, ed. D. hernández de la Fuente (Newcastle 2011) esp. 95–99 (76–117); hocken-smith C. D. (2009) The Millestone Industry: a Summary of Research on Quar-ries and Producers in the United States, Europe and Elsewhere (Jefferson, North Carolina 2009) esp. chapt. 6; Peacock D. and Maxfield V. A. (2007) The Roman Imperial Quarries: Survey and Excavation at Mons Porphyrites, 1994–1998. 2: The Excavations (London 2007); Peacock D. and Maxfield V. A. (2001) The Roman Imperial Quarries: Survey and Excavation at Mons Porphyrites, 1994–1998. 1: Topography and Quarries (London 2001); Sodini J.-P. (2002) “Marble and stoneworking in Byzantium Seventh-Fifteenth Centuries”, in The Economic History of Byzantium: from the Seventh though the Fifteenth Century, ed. A. Laiou (Washington D.C. 2002) 129–46; Sodini J.-P. (2000) “Le commerce des marbres dans la Méditerranée IVe–VIIe s.”, in V Reunió d’Arqueologia Cristiana Hispànica: Cartagena, 16–19 d’abril de 1998, ed. J. M. Gurt (Barcelona 2000) 423–48; Sodini J.-P. (1989) “Le com-merce des marbres à l’époque protobyzantine”, in Hommes et richesses dans l’Empire byzantin, vol. 1: IVe–VIIe siècle, ed. C. Abadie-Reynal et al. (1989) 163–86; Williams-Thorpe O. and Thorpe R. S. (1993) “Geochem-

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istry and trade of eastern Mediterranean millstones from the Neolithic to Roman periods”, JAS 20 (1993) 263–320; Wolff S. (2011) “A Levantine screw-press weight from the Cefalù (Palermo) shipwreck”, Archaeologia Maritima Mediterranea 8 (2011) 181–83.

Textiles

The condition of the late antique textile industry is much more elusive, owing to the paucity of hard evidence that it leaves behind. An exception to this is egypt, where a sizeable body of Byzantine clothing and tapestry was discovered (Thomas (2007)). Yet, the study of production techniques, as well as the remains of some fabrics, has allowed for a more thorough appreciation of its role within the context of the late antique economy. It has been noted that although Late Antiquity did not bring about radical transformations in production techniques, various improvements were adopted, and innovations in dress design were widely diffused across the Mediterranean. This points to the interconnectedness of the markets in Late Antiquity, as well as to rising living standards (Carrié (2004)), which also lists an extensive bibliography). A significant factor of change in late antique textile production was represented by the introduction, during the reign of Justinian, of sericulture and silk production (Oikonomidès (1986); Jacoby (2008), with a rich bibliography). According to some schol-ars production might have started earlier, possibly in 5th c. Syria, while gaining momentum only in the 6th c. (Muthesius (1993) 19–3).

Textile production: The best introduction to the topic is now Carrié J.-M. (2004) “Vitalité de l’industrie textile à la fin de l’antiquité: considérations économiques et technologiques”, AnTard 12 (2004) 13–43. For a recent bib-liographic overview: Bes P. (2007) “Technology in Late Antiquity: a bib-liographic essay”, in Technology in Transition: AD 300–650, edd. L. Lavan, e. Zanini and A. Sarantis (Late Antique Archaeology 4) (Leiden 2007) 18–20; Bénazteh D. and Rutschowscaya M.h. (2004) “Avancées de recher-ches sur les tissus de provenance égyptienne conservés dans les collections publiques françaises” AntTard 12 (2004) 79–86; Gutiérrez Cuenca e. and hierro Gárate J. A. (2010) “Instrumentos relacionados con la actividad tex-til de época tardoantigua y altomedieval en Cantabria”, Munibe 61 (2010) 261–88; howard-Johnston J. (1998) “Trading in fur, from classical antiquity to the early middle ages”, in Leather and Fur: Aspects of Early Medieval Trade and Technology ed. e. Cameron (London 1998) 65-79; Jacoby D. (2008) “Silk production” in The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, edd.

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e. Jeffreys, J. haldon and R. Cormack (Oxford 2008) 421–28; Jones A. h. M. (1960) “The cloth industry under the Roman empire”, Economic History Review 13 (1960) 183–92; Muthesius M. (1993) “The Byzantine silk industry: Lopez and beyond” Journal of Medieval History 19 (1993) 1–67; Parani M. (2008) “Fabrics and clothing” in The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, edd. e. Jeffreys, J. haldon and R. Cormack (Oxford 2008) 407–20; Oikono-midès N. (1986) “Silk trade and production in Byzantium from the sixth to the ninth century: the seals of kommerkiarioi”, DOP 40 (1986) 33–53; Thomas T. (2007) “Coptic and Byzantine textiles found in egypt: corpora, collections and scholarly perspectives”, in Egypt in the Byzantine World 300–700 ed. R. Bagnall (Cambridge 2007) 292–338.

Post-Roman economies: Legacy into the Middle Ages

As we have seen, it is difficult to determine a precise date for the end of Late Antiquity. Chronological boundaries vary not only according to dif-ferent scholarly views, but also depending on which part of the Mediter-ranean is taken into account. So, for example, M. Whittow speaks of a 5th c. transition to the Middle Ages at Nicopolis ad Istrum (Whittow (2007)), while in the east, Late Antiquity is normally argued to last until the Abbasid period. There is, however, a general consensus that, both in the West and the east, what has been termed by hansen and Wickham (2000) as: “the long eighth century” brought about fundamental transformations in the political, social and economic organisation of europe and the Mediterra-nean. In the east, the shift of power to Iraq with the Abbasids and, even more importantly, the gradual weakening of the caliphal power structure after the death of harun al-Rashid, brought about a phase of economic decline along the Levantine coast, which accentuated the regression of settlement in the marginal agricultural zones of the region. Up to that point, radical economic transformations were mostly limited in scale. The long held theory—arising from h. Kennedy’s 1985 article “From polis to madina”—that urban centres and their economies had entered a period of decline as early as the mid 6th c., has recently been criticised in the light of new archaeological evidence (mostly from Palestine) that suggests continuity up to the 10th c.: Avni (2011a). As with the economic boom of the 5th–6th c. in the region, the ensuing decline has been sometimes interpreted in terms of climate change (ellenblum (2012)).

In the West, an important topic of debate has concerned the trans-formation of late antique villas into early medieval parishes and villages.

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This, for example, is described in some detail by R. Martí (2006) for Cata-lunya. Another issue concerns the extent to which Post Roman econo-mies remained market-oriented and monetised following the downfall of a centralised state. hamerow (2002) provides an excellent overview of these topics, as well as an analysis of the productive strategies adopted by farmers in the Post Roman West. In Italy, the partition of the pen-insula between Lombards and Byzantines may have been determined by economic circumstances: according to Marazzi (1998), the Lombards occupied those parts of Italy that—after a century of increasing economic regionalisation—had no longer access to Mediterranean-wide trade net-works. Although the poor knowledge of post-6th c. ceramics makes it difficult to understand the evolution of settlement patterns between this period and the appearance of the fortified hilltop sites in the 9–10th c., it seems that this period witnessed the decline of the economic role of urban centres and dwindling numbers of vici. On the other hand, abbeys and monasteries, like those of San Vincenzo al Volturno or Farfa (hodges (1997); hubert (2002) 121–52) flourished, acquiring large landed properties whose agricultural surpluses were sold on the local markets. For a good overview for southern Italy see Feller (2003).

Syntheses: hansen I. L. and Wickham C. (2000) edd. The Long Eighth Cen-tury. Production, Distribution and Demand (Leiden 2000).

The east, general: Borrut A., Debié M., Papaconstantinou A., Pieri D. and Sodini J.-P. (2011) edd. Le Proche-Orient de Justinien aux Abbassides. Peuplement et dynamiques spatiales (Turnhout 2011); ellenblum R. (2012) The Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean. Climate Change and the Decline of the East, 950–1072 (Cambridge 2012); harvey A. (1989) Economic Expan-sion in the Byzantine Empire 900–1200 (Cambridge 1989); holum K. G. and Lapin h. (2011) edd. Shaping the Middle East: Jews, Christians, and Mus-lims in an Age of Transition, 400–800 C.E. (Studies and Texts in Jewish his-tory and Culture 20) (Bethesda, Maryland 2011); Jehel G. (2006) Monde byzantin du milieu du VIIIe siècle à 1204 (Nantes 2006); Morony M. (2004) “economic boundaries? Late Antiquity and early Islam”, JESHO 47.2 (2004) 166–94; Kaplan M. (2009) “Villes et campagnes d Byzance du VIe au XIIe siècle: aspects economiques et sociaux”, in Città e campagna nei secoli altomedievali: Spoleto, 27 marzo–1 aprile 2008, ed. A. Castagnetti (Spoleto 2009) 495–536; Kaplan M. (1992) Les hommes et la terre à Byzance du VIe au XIe siècle: propriété et exploitation du sol (Paris 1992); Laiou A. (2002) ed. The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh though the Fif-teenth Century (Washington D.C. 2002); Laiou A. and Morrisson C. (2007)

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The Byzantine Economy (Cambridge 2007); Malamut e. and Sidéris G. (2006) Le monde byzantin: économie et société (milieu VIIIe siècle- à 1204) (Paris 2006); Sarris P. (2011) Empires of Faith: the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Islam 500–700 (Oxford 2011); Whittow M. (2009) “early medieval Byz-antium and the end of the ancient world”, Journal of Agrarian Change 9 (2009) 134–53.

Greece and Thrace: Bakirtzis C. “Imports exports and autarky in Byz-antine Thessalonike from the seventh to the tenth century”, in in Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium, vol. 2, ed. J. henning (Berlin 2007) 89–118; Veikou M. (2012) Byzantine Epirus. A Topography of Transformation. Settlements of the Seventh-Twelfth Centuries in Southern Epirus and Aetolocarnania, Greece (Leiden 2012).

Syria: Bartl K. and Moaz A. (2009) edd. Residences, Castles, Settlements. Transformation Processes from Late Antiquity to Early Islam in Bilad al-Sham. Proceedings of the International Conference held at Damascus, 5–9 November 2006 (Rahden 2009); Canivet P. and Rey-Coquais J.-P. (1992) edd. La Syrie de Byzance à l’Islam: VIIe–VIIIe siècles: actes du colloque interna-tional, Lyon—Maison de l’Orient Méditerranéen, Paris—Institut du Monde Arabe, 11–15 septembre, 1990 (Damascus 1992) 249–337; Genequand D. (2009) “Économie de production, affirmation du pouvoir et dolce vita: aspects de la politique de l’eau sous les Omayyades au Bilad al-Sham”, in Strategies d’acquisition de l’eau et société au Moyen-Orient depuis l’Antiquité, edd. M. al-Dbiyat and M. Mouton (2009) 157–77; Genequand D. (2001) “Wadi al-Qantir (Jordanie): un example de mise en valeur des terres sous les Omeyyades”, Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan 7 (2001) 647–54; Geyer B. (2000) “Des fermes byzantines aux palais omayy-ades ou l’ingénieuse mise en valeur des plaines steppiques de Chalcidique (Syrie)”, in Aux origines de l’archéologie aérienne: A. Poidebard (1878–1955), edd. L. Nordiguian and J.-F. Salles (Beirut 2000) 109–22; Kennedy h. (1985) “From polis to madina: urban change in Late Antique and early Islamic Syria”, PastPres 106 (1985) 3–27; Walmsley A. (2007b) Early Islamic Syria: An Archaeological Assessment (London 2007).

Palestine and Arabia: Amr K. and al-Momani A. (2011) “Villages of the early Islamic period in the Petra region”, in Le Proche-Orient de Justinien aux Abbassides. Peuplement et dynamiques spatiales, edd. A. Borrut, M. Debié, A. Papaconstantinou, D. Pieri and J.-P. Sodini (Turnhout 2011) 331–44; Avner U. and Magness J. (1998) “early Islamic settlement in the southern Negev”, BASOR 310 (1998) 39–57; Avni G. (2011a) “ ‘From polis to madina’ revisited—urban change in Byzantine and early Islamic Pales-tine”, JRAS 21 (2011) 301–29; Avni G. (2011b) “Continuity and change in the

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cities of Palestine during the early Islamic period”, in Shaping the Middle East: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in an Age of Transition, 400–800 C.E., edd. K. G. holum and h. Lapin (Studies and Texts in Jewish history and Culture 20) (Bethesda, Maryland 2011) 115–33; Avni G. (2009) “The Byz-antine-Islamic transition in the Negev—an archaeological perspective”, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 35 (2009) 1–26; Magen Y. (2008) “Oil production in the land of Israel in the early Islamic period”, in Judea and Samaria Researches, ed. Y. Magen (Judea and Samaria Publications 6) (Jerusalem 2008) 257–343; Magness J. (2003) The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine (Winona Lake, Indiana 2003).

The West, General: Barceló M. and Sigaut F. (2004) edd. The Making of Feudal Agricultures? (Leiden 2004); Brogiolo G. P. and Chavarría A. (2008) “Dai Vandali ai Longobardi: osservazioni sull’insediamento barbarico nelle campagne dell’occidente”, in Das Reich der Vandelen und seine (Vor)Geschichten, edd. G. M. Berndt and R. Steinacher (Vienna 2008) 261–81; Brogiolo G. P., Chavarría A. and Valenti M. (2005) edd. Dopo la fine delle ville: le campagne dal VI al IX secolo (Mantua 2005); Buffat L. (2005) “De la villa antique à la villa médiévale: l’évolution des centres domaniaux dans l’ancienne cité de Nîmes aux premiers siècles du Moyen Âge”, in La Médi-terranée et le monde mérovingien. Témoins archéologiques. Actes des XXIIIe Journées internationales d’archéologie mérovingienne, Arles, 11–13 octobre 2002, edd. X. Delestre, P. Périn, and M. Kazanski (Arles 2005) 161–76; Chris-tie N. and Loseby S. T. (1996) Towns in Transition: Urban Evolution in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Aldershot 1996); Delogu P. (1988) “The ‘rebirth’ of Rome in the eighth and ninth century”, in The Rebirth of Towns in the West 700–1050, edd. R. hodges and B. hobley (London 1988) 32–42; Granier B. et al. (1995) “De la ferme au village: Dassargues du Ve au XIIe siècle (Lunel, hérault)”, Archéologie du Midi Médiéval 13 (1995) 1–78; Martí R. (2006) “Del ‘fundus’ a la ‘parrochia’: transformacions del poblament rural als territoris catalans durant la transició medieval”, in De Constantí a Carlemany: el pas de l’antiguitat tardana al món medieval: III jornades d’història i d’arqueologia medieval del Maresme: actes (del 16 d’octubre al 6 de novembre de 2004) (Mataró 2006) 11–26; Maufras O. (2006) ed. Habitats, nécropoles et paysages dans la moyenne et la basse vallée du Rhône (VIIe–Xve s.) (Paris 2006); Wickham C. (2008) “Rethinking the struc-ture of the early medieval economy”, in The Long Morning of Early Medi-eval Europe. New Directions in Early Medieval Studies, edd. J. R. Davies and M. McCormick (Aldershot 2008) 19–32.

Britain: Astill G. (2011) “exchange, coinage, and the economy of early Medi-eval england”, in Scale and Scale Change in the Early Middle Ages: Exploring

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Landscape, Local Society, and the World Beyond (The Medieval Country-side 6), edd. J. escalona and A. Reynolds (Turnhout 2011) 253–72; hooke D. (1998) The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon England (London-Washington D.C. 1998); Rackham J. (1994) ed. Environment and Economy in Anglo-Saxon England: A Review of Recent Work on the Environmental Archaeol-ogy of Rural and Urban Anglo-Saxon Settlements in England. Proceedings of a Conference Held at the Museum of London, 9–10 April, 1990 (York 1994); Ulmschneider K. (2000) “Settlement, economy, and the ‘productive’ site: Middle Anglo-Saxon Lincolnshire A.D. 650–780”, Medieval Archaeology 44 (2000) 53–79.

Germany: Drauschke J., Prien R. and Ristow S. (2011) edd. Untergang und Neuanfang: Tagungsbeiträge der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Spätantike und Frühmittelalter 3 und 4: 3. Siedlungsarchäologie (Mannheim, 13.–14. Mai 2008), 4. Militaria und Verteidigungsanlagen (Detmold, 1 September 2009) (hamburg 2011).

Balkans: Whittow M. (2007) “Nicopolis ad Istrum. Backward and Balkan?”, in The Transition to Late Antiquity on the Danube and Beyond, ed. A. Poulter (Proceedings of the British Academy 141) (Oxford 2007) 375–89.

Gaul and Spain: Carr K. e. (2002) Vandals to Visigoths. Rural Settlement Patterns in Early Medieval Spain (Ann Arbor 2002). Comprehensive bibli-ographies are published regularly by A. Ferreiro, most recently: Ferreiro A. (2011) The Visigoths in Gaul and Iberia (Update): a Supplemental Bibli-ography 2007–2009 (Leiden 2011); Martín Viso I. (2009) ed. ¿Tiempos oscu-ros? Territorio y sociedad en el centro de la Península Ibérica: (siglos VII–X) (Madrid 2009); Sénac P. (2007) ed. Villes et campagnes de Tarraconaise et d’al-Andalus (VIe–XIe siècle): la transition (Toulouse 2007).

Italy: Francovich R. and Noyé G. (1994) edd. La storia dell’altomedioevo italiano (VI–X secolo) alla luce dell’archeologia (Siena, 1992) (Florence 1994); Ditchfield P. (2007) La culture matérielle médiévale: l’Italie méridi-onale byzantine et normande (CeFR 373); Feller L. (2003) “L’économie des territoires de Spolète et de Bénévent du VIe au Xe siècle”, in I Longobardi nei ducati di Spoleto e Benevento. Atti del XVI Congresso internazionale di studi sull’alto medioevo (Spoleto 20–23 ottobre 2002 Benevento 24–27 ottobre 2002) (Spoleto 2003) 205–42; hodges R. (1997) Light in the Dark Ages. The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno (London 1997); hubert É. (2002) L’incastellamento en Italie centrale: pouvoirs, territoire et peuplement dans la Vallée du Turano au Moyen âge (Rome 2002) esp. 121–52; Marazzi F. (1998) “The destinies of late antique Italies”, in The Sixth Century: Production, Distribution and Demand edd. R. hodges and W. Bowden (Leiden 1998)

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119–59; Martin J.-M. (1993) La Pouille du VIe au XIIe siècle (CeFR 179) (Rome 1993); Noyé G. (1994) “Villes, économie et société dans la province de Brut-tium-Lucanie du IVe au VIIe siècle”, in La storia dell’altomedioevo italiano (VI–X secolo) alla luce dell'archeologia (Siena, 1992), edd. R. Francovich and G. Noyé (Florence 1994) 693–733; Noyé G. (2000) “economie et société dans la Calabre byzantine (IVe–XIe siècle)”, JSav (Juil–Déc 2000) 209–80; Potter T. W. and King A. C. (1997) edd. Excavations at the Mola di Monte Gelato: a Roman and Medieval Settlement in South Etruria (London 1997).

Africa: Conant J. and Stevens S. (forthcoming) edd. North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam, 500–800 (Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Sympo-sia and Colloquia) (Washington D.C.); Merrills A. (2004) “Vandals, Romans and Berbers: understanding Late Roman Africa”, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New Perspectives on Late Antique Africa, ed. A. Merrills (Aldershot 2004) 8–16 (3–28); Merrills A. and Miles R. (2010) The Vandals (Oxford 2010) esp 141–76. See also volumes 10 (2002) and 11 (2003) of Antiquité Tar-dive, which are dedicated to Vandal and Byzantine Africa.