Pitch production during the Roman period: an intensive mountain industry for a globalised economy?

Abstract

The authors' research project in the Pyrenees mountains has located and excavated Roman kilns for producing pitch from pine resin. Their investigations reveal a whole sustainable industry, integrated into the local environmental cycle, supplying pitch to the Roman network and charcoal as a spin-off to the local iron extractors. The paper makes a strong case for applying combined archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations in upland areas, showing mountain industries to have been not so much marginal and pastoral as key players in the economy of the Roman period and beyond it into the seventh century AD.

The seeds of commerce: A network analysis-based approach to the Romano-British transport system

“…It seems, therefore, that sites where tastes for the introduced food plants had been developed are likely candidates for importation of other exotics. This seems to be in accordance with other studies highlighting the globalised nature of Roman economy, which reinforces intensive specialised production of specific goods at the most suitable areas for their manufacturing, followed by long-distance distribution (Orengo et al 2013). This is also a typical commercial strategy of colonising states where the import of produce creates ties of dependency, as in the case, for instance, of the common practice of provincial Roman administrations of using tax revenues to lend money at low interest to local elites (Pliny the Younger, Ep.…”

Tracking long-term human impacts on landscape, vegetal biodiversity and water quality in the Lake Aydat catchment (Auvergne, France) using pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and diatom assemblages

“…Miras et al, 2004;Giguet-Covex et al, 2014;Orengo et al, 2014), specialised activities such as metallurgy (e.g. Morvan: Jouffroy-Bapicot et al, 2013; Mont Lozère: Allee et al, 2010) or pitch production (Orengo et al, 2013), and also agriculture in the medium mountain areas (e.g. Ballut et al, 2012).…”

Birch-bark tar in the Roman world: the persistence of an ancient craft tradition?

“…2008; Connan 2012; Orengo et al . 2013). In some regions, this production was based on an intensive, specialised industry and was part of an integrated economic system, which included the production of charcoal and iron, and involved long-distance trade (Orengo et al .…”