Paul Reynolds

Trade in the Western Mediterranean AD 400-700: The ceramic evidence Paul Reynolds

This mammoth study of regional trends in imports of pottery and foodstuffs in the Western Mediterranean in the late Roman, Visigothic and Early Arab periods grows out of the author's fieldwork in the Vinalopó Valley (Alicante). Discerning significant differences to other West Mediterranean contexts in the sources of imported pottery there, Reynolds went on to explore the composition of fine ware, coarse ware and amphora assemblages in a large sample of other, mainly coastal, sites. Out of this mass of material (the catalogue of which takes up about two thirds of the volume) significant trends over time emerge, reflecting changes in taxation, shipping routes and the waxing and waning geopolitical influence of the North African litoral.