Wine economy in Picton territory (Western Center of Gaul, IInd century BC – Isrt century AD) 1-Archaeometrical study of the containers
Résumé
During Roman antiquity, in the western center of Gaul, merchants travelled the Picton territory to sell wine to the local aristocrats established in the area. The large amount of amphorae discovered on many archaeological sites of the region, and dated between the second century BC and the first century AD, is the material proof of these imports. Archaeological studies have shown that these amphorae came from Italy, northeastern Spain, or – to a lesser extent – from the Middle-East. However, regional productions are also attested in Picton territory, as in the workshops of Naintré, Gourgé, Crouzilles-Mougon, Mazières-en-Mauges and Rezé (Laubenheimer et al., 2005, Bertrand et al., 2000 ; Durquety et al., 2012). The locally produced amphorae unearthed in these workshops were made according to some imported forms of containers. More precisely, Picton potters produced imitations of Dressel 2/4 and Pascual 1 amphorae originating from the Tarraconnaise province, and of Gauloises 4 and 5 amphorae from the Narbonnaise province (Durquety et al., 2012b). To better understand to what end these vessels were produced in Picton territory, we undertook to characterize these regional productions macroscopically, petrographically, and chemically (WDXRF, NMR). We examine amphoric vessels found both in production and consumption contexts to account for the wine economy in the region. The first results should allow us to measure the economic influence of local potters’ workshops, to establish the diffusion of locally produced amphorae, and to redraw the trade roads followed by antique merchants. In addition to this work, the implementation of a methodology was undertaken to analyze the composition of organic residues preserved in these amphorae.