Aspects of economic activity in Phoenicia during Roman and Byzantine times. The case of olive oil and amphora production in Chhim, in the chora of Sidon

Abstract

Using archaeological data from two closely located sites within the Sidon chora, Chhim and Jiyeh, the author considers possible oil distribution routes in Phoenicia in the Roman–Byzantine period, taking into account the impact, on this, of the administrative fragmentation of the region between the 1st and 7th centuries AD. A typology of, and data on, local and imported amphora from Chhim are presented. Various models are proposed in order to explain what appears, based on calculations relating to the output of the presses, a surplus of oil for which no corresponding evidence for exports — in the form of Chhim amphorae — can be identified. These include: alternative packaging for the oil (skins; Jiyeh amphorae-Beirut imitations); non-continuous, ad-hoc seasonal production; possible alternative markets, including Chhim’s role and context in the road networks connecting the coast, Chhim and the Beqaa Valley.

Keywords:

• amphora
• oil production
• Phoenicia
• Chhim
• Roman and Byzantine periods

Notes

1 With the naked eye using a hand lens.

2 In Chhim, only the lower parts of the ovens have been preserved and it is difficult to say clearly which construction we are dealing with; tannur or tabun. This paper uses the definition proposed by Shafer-Eliott: ‘The two most common oven types were the tabun and tannur. A tabun is a dome-shaped oven made of clay, while a tannur is a beehive-shaped clay oven’ (Shafer-Elliott 2014: 121).

3 Early results of an archaeometric analysis of 30 fragments of vessels of different type (performed at the Fitch Laboratory in Athens) have confirmed a local origin (Wicenciak in prep.).

4 This classification is a simplified variant of the system developed by F. J. Núñez for the al-Bass and Beirut ceramics. An earlier version of it appears in Núñez (2014: 264–66). The author had the opportunity to use the system while working with the Spanish team in Tyre/Acropolis.