Mediterranean Containerization

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2223947
AutoresA Bevan (0000-0001-7967-3117, University College London, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen55
Número4
Páginas387-418
Fecha de publicación2014-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCurrent Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0011-3204 • E-ISSN: 1537-5382
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/677034
OpenAlexW4255316492
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas60
Referencias citadas98

The Mediterranean has long played host to unusually intense patterns of maritime-led exchange, involving both products made beyond the basin and local, culturally distinctive goods such as oils and wines that continue to be well-known markers of the region's economies and lifestyles today. Protecting these commodities, and sometimes highly emblematic of them, have been specialized physical packages, of which clay amphoras are perhaps the most well-known early examples. In contrast, modern steel shipping containers, occurring in unusual densities at the Mediterranean pinch points of globalized trade, represent only a latest phase of this cultural tradition. Mediterranean containers therefore have a continuous history spanning at least 5,000 years, one that, worldwide, offers a uniquely long, continuous, and detailed record of economic specialization. It is remarkable, then, that there has been as yet so little consideration of this tradition over its full time span. This paper makes the case for developing a more strongly longitudinal, comparative, and evolutionary perspective on these highly iconic material forms

Archaeology · Container (type theory · Containerization · Economic geography · Economics · Economy · Geography · Mediterranean climate · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Engineering · History · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology