A Werner A2 ewer from Byzantine Cartagena and the distribution of bronze cast vessels in the western Mediterranean around 600 CE

Abstract

During the 6th and 7th c. CE, Carthago Spartaria (modern Cartagena) became one of the most important cities in the Byzantine province of Spania. Recent archaeological excavations at Cerro del Molinete have significantly increased our knowledge of the ancient city, enabling the exploration of an early Byzantine neighborhood built over the Roman Forum district. A cast bronze ewer of type Werner A2 was found in a pit dug over the temple that presided over the Forum. The associated materials, mainly pottery and glass vessels, are compatible with a deposition between 580/90 and 650/60 CE. This assemblage improves our understanding of the trade networks interconnecting the Mediterranean basin during the 6th and 7th c. CE. In this context, we argue that the unknown production center of the A2 ewers was located in the northern Adriatic, probably in Ravenna.

Cast bronze vessels in the northern Adriatic region (c. 600 AD).

“…In the upper Rhine valley, these ewers seem to have been used longer, from the late 6 th -early 7 th centuries to the late 7 th century (Werner 1935, 85-86;Werner 1943;Trier 1992, 290;Nawroth 2001, 244-246;Gall, Teβmann 2018, 116). Two deposits containing A2 ewers were also recorded in Spain's eastern coast and the middle Danube area, dating from c. 575-650 and c. 640-660 (Vida 2017, 15-16;Pinar, Vizcaíno 2021). The diachronic trends in its dissemination show two interesting phenomena.…”

“…Byzantine silverware, for instance, was still reaching the West as late as the reign of Heraclius; available evidence suggests that it circulated only in major ports and inside exceptionally exclusive social circles (e.g., Valdonne, Dorestad, Sutton Hoo: Mundell Mango 1998;. Quite the contrary, regular bronze vessels were diminishing their average travelling distances as their production centres in the West multiplied (Beghelli, Pinar 2019a, 428-432;Pinar, Vizcaíno 2021): apparently, bronze vessels circulated more as a 'middle-range cost' product than as a status symbol intended for exclusive elite consumption. These observations fit well with the results of Heiko Steuer's (1982, 325) and Jörg Drauschke's (2011, 134-135) calculations: the average cost of the metal employed in the production of cast ewers was roughly one quarter to one-and-a-half solidus, which was the average monthly wage of a skilled craftsman in the Byzantine Empire (Ostrogorsky 1932, 297): a rather expensive manufactured item, of course, yet affordable for a sizeable segment of the population.…”

“…A long-lasting scholarly tradition attributes their origin to metalwork production in Coptic Egypt or, more generally, to Byzantine territories in the Eastern Mediterranean (e.g., Werner 1938;1952;1954-1957Erdmann 1938Erdmann -1939Holmqvist 1939;Palol 1950;Dannheimer 1979;Mundell Mango 2001;. However, further reviews on the issue have insisted on the multiplicity of production centres and the role of Western workshops in the production of these artefacts (Carretta 1982;Périn 2005;Beghelli, Pinar 2013;2019a;Drandaki 2016;Pinar, Vizcaíno 2021).…”

“…Finally, in the latest stage, in the late 7 th and 8 th centuries, the mobility of this type of good was even more limited, and 'exports' outside the regional background were rather exceptional. In these developments, it is not difficult to recognise an instance of the overall trade contraction that reliable economic indices such as fine wares and shipwrecks outline rather clearly for the 7 th century (Beghelli, Pinar 2019a, 431;Pinar, Vizcaíno 2021).…”