Studying Roman Viticulture in Baetica with Gis Modelling and Geophysical Survey
Pedro Trapero Fernández, Isabel Rondán Sevilla, Lázaro Lagóstena Barrios · 2023
This volume presents an array of cutting-edge scientific and archaeological methodologies used in the study of vine-growing and winemaking in the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean. Recent work on this subject tends to be dominated by traditional archaeological analyses of press facilities and, above all, ceramic evidence. These approaches lack the nuance to answer several vital questions about Greek and Roman grapevine cultivation and wine production, consumption, use and trade. In response, modern scientific techniques are increasingly filling these gaps in both fieldwork and laboratory contexts. By bringing together a wide range of disciplinary approaches in one location, this book provides an accessible guide to the scientific methodologies that form the new bedrock of current research on ancient wine. Arranged into thematic sections covering biomolecular archaeology and chemical analysis, archaeobotany and palynology, vineyard and landscape archaeology, and computational modelling and experimental archaeology, its detailed exemplary case studies and ‘state of the field’ chapters can be immediately utilized by researchers working across disparate fields, chronologies and research contexts as reliable points of reference. As the first compendium of its kind, it aims to foster interconnection of modern scientific technologies with archaeological fieldwork and analysis, pushing the boundaries of what questions can be explored and serving as a foundation for future avenues of research into ancient wine production.