The fish-salting production center of Águilas: late-Roman amphora content analysis
Résumé
Águilas (Hispania Tarraconensis) was a major salted fish production centre in Late antiquity. Recent archaeological excavations have allowed two production phases to be distinguished: a first phase covering a small area and dated to between the second half of the 3rd century AD and the first half of the 4th century AD, and a second phase that spread over a wider area between the second half of the 4th century and the 5th century AD. Numerous samples have been collected in the archaeological excavations carried out since the 1980s. Their study provides us with an understanding of the different forms of production and their evolution at Águilas. Two content analyses are discussed: one from an Africana II D amphora considered to have been reused from the first phase and one from a local spatheion dating from the second phase.