The fishing economy in ancient times: Goods and amphorae for the Adriatic trade

In Roman times fishing, fish farming and fish processing represented a relevant economic feature. Indeed, ancient sources describe several procedures for fish salting, for the preparation of fish sauce (salsamenta) and the different varieties of fish plates (garum, allec, liquamen). The latest archaeological investigation allowed to identify the most common container for the fish sauces transport in the Adriatic area, as in the western Mediterranean: here, indeed, a relevant number of amphorae were used to transport and trade fish sauces. In some cases, investigations show that amphorae already used for carring wine were reused, marking the container with a writing (titulus pictus) which warned about the type of foodstuff transported, possibly not the one suggested by the shape of the amphora. Moreover, recent typological and epigraphical studies about the numerous tituli picti analysed, have allowed to identify the ”small Adriatic fish amphora” as the principal container for trading the Adriatic fish sauces.