Scale, structure, and organization of archaic maritime trade in the western Mediterranean: The 'Pointe Lequin 1A'

In this dissertation, I investigate the economy of western Mediterranean maritime trade in the 6th century BCE, using evidence from selected merchant shipwrecks and Greek settlements. My primary question concerns the relationship between the production and trade of non-staple goods and the market economy during this time. Specifically, I focus on wine-drinking vessels, primarily the so-called "Ionian" cup type B2, ubiquitous throughout the 6th-century BCE Mediterranean. I argue that a close look at pottery production and trade reveals a market system in which the traders had access to sufficient knowledge of demand that they could encourage and engage in regional trade networks that reached far beyond their own microregions and spanned the western Mediterranean. This differs from interpretations of ancient trade networks as functioning either through small-scale, coastal trade (cabotage), or through long-distance, elite exchange. In addition to these two modes of exchange, I argue, there existed a regional, directed trade in certain goods.