Transport Containers from the Apsaros Fortress (Modern Gonio), Georgia (1st–7th century AD)
Transport Containers from the Apsaros Fortress (Modern Gonio), Georgia (1st–7th century AD)

A Preliminary Overview of Forms and Fabrics

Author(s): Paulina Komar, Andria Rogava, Tatuli Motskobili
Subject(s): Archaeology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: amphorae; production; transport; imports; Gonio; Apsaros; Colchis; Black Sea region; Roman period; Byzantine period
Summary/Abstract: This overview of transport containers from the Roman fort of Apsaros (modern Gonio) in Georgia, excavated by a Polish–Georgian expedition since 2014, presents the most common forms and fabrics based on a database that includes 1243 diagnostic fragments from both the Roman and Byzantine periods. These preliminary results (the excavations are still ongoing) show that the supply of amphora-born commodities came predominantly from the eastern and southern Black Sea region, making it thus a local or regional network. Interestingly, in the 1st–3rd centuries AD, Aegean imports, probably in the form of better quality wine and olive oil for the camp command elite, were much more popular than those from the northern Black Sea region, the latter occurring only sporadically. Moreover, the West Pontic area apparently played no part in supplying Apsaros because containers produced in the territories of modern Bulgaria or Romania have not been identified so far in any of the assemblages from the site. The pattern of supply did not change considerably from the Roman to the Byzantine period, but regionalization evidently increased as indicated by the statistically insignificant number of imports from outside the Black Sea region during Late Antiquity.

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