Production strategies in Istrian oil amphorae workshops 1st-3rd c. AD
Résumé
From the 1st to the 3rd c. AD, the territory of Istria (present-day Croatia) was a promi-
nent area of olive oil production, famous throughout the Roman world. Olive oil was exported
in the so-called Dressel 6B amphorae to northern Italy and the Danubian provinces. The
production of these containers was carried out in several workshops established along the
Istrian coast. During the 1st century, the main manufacturers were the workshops of Fazana
and Loron. Both were remarkable for their exceptional size and ownership history. Con-
trolled at rst by aristocratic families, they became part of the imperial domain at the end
of the 1st century.
Although amphorae of this kind are frequently studied as proxies for ancient trade patterns,
little attention is given to the actual production process. Nevertheless those vessels are,
rst and foremost, manufactured artefacts, produced in notable quantities and designed for
a speci c purpose. While archaeological evidence of the workshops and the ceramic vessels
themselves testify to the intensity of the production and its considerable output, they are of
little use in reconstructing production strategies and the full sequence of operations under-
taken in the manufacturing of amphorae. Most remarkable is the lack of information about
raw materials collection and preparation. In a local context where appropriate geological
resources for large-scale production are scarce, the management of raw materials collection
and their transformation into a paste of consistent quality and properties are however of
utmost importance.
Combining already available sources of information with newly acquired mineralogical and
geochemical data on ceramic bodies and local clay samples, the present study aims to shed
new light on those issues and their evolution over 300 years of history of activity. The re-
sults help us reconsider natural resources' management and production strategies in large
amphorae workshops over a long duration.