600 leagues under the sea : maritime communities and commercial connectivity in the western Mediterranean world of late antiquity

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the relational connections inherent in the maritime economies of the late antique western Mediterranean, combining archaeological material from both land and sea along with environmental and literary evidence to produce a new account of the dynamic changes in interconnectivity and distribution networks which occurred over the course of this period. By employing social network analysis coupled with an investigation of maritime cultural landscapes, it sheds light on how maritime exchange was structured in late antiquity, as increased fragmentation and regionalisation, combined with changing economies, saw major shifts in the organisation of the western Mediterranean system. After detailing the methodology that is utilised for modelling maritime networks, the fijirst part of the thesis focuses on the social, environmental, and archaeological background to maritime commerce. This includes examining ships, navigation, sea routes, and mercantile business before shifting to deliver an overview of what the material we possess from shipwreck sites can truly tell us about seaborne trade given the issues inherent in its collection and analysis. The second part is centred around outlining the distribution networks and trading communities represented by the remains included in the collected archaeological dataset. Drawing on a combination of network and geostatistical models, it examines the ties between types of goods being shifted across the Mediterranean, using them to better understand the connections between areas of production and consumption as well as the formation and spatial limits of communities. These are then combined with an overview of archaeological fijinds from on land in a series of case studies which explore how the models which were created line up with this source of information and what a synthesis of this data can tell us about regional dynamics and gaps within the underwater record. From the evidence that is presented in the thesis as a whole, I argue that regionalisation accelerated over the course of late antiquity as longdistance connections became increasingly selective, creating new patterns of maritime distribution and heavily disturbing pre-existing webs of connectivity. However, this process was uneven and also significantly mediated by specific conditions within the maritime landscape of each region.