This paper examines the distinctive distribution patterns of Amphore Crétoise (AC) 4 amphoras within Roman trade networks through critical assessment of the morphological attributes of this amphora type compared to AC1–3 jars and through consideration of the mechanisms that underlie these patterns. This builds on a growing number of studies that have focused on the design attributes of amphoras as important factors tied to their economic role. It also demonstrates the importance of engaging in more nuanced and detailed investigations that question assumptions about amphora distribution within the Roman world. The AC4 is the primary, and often only, Cretan type found at sites in Rome's northwestern provinces and along the Danube frontier. A narrower profile and smaller capacity appear to have made this amphora type more attractive than other Cretan forms for transport along river and overland routes.

How did the Roman Empire supply and maintain its frontier garrisons? What was the impact on populations and landscapes of conquered territories? The Feeding the Roman Army in Britain project will answer these questions by establishing how soldiers were provisioned and how frontiers operated as economic as well as militarised zones.

In this article, the authors investigate the effectiveness of glass and metal recycling in Roman towns. The comparison of sealed primary deposits (reflecting what was in use in Roman towns) with dumping sites shows a marked drop in glass and metal finds in the dumps. Although different replacement ratios and fragmentation indices affect the composition of the assemblages recovered in dumps, recycling appears to have played a fundamental role, very effectively reintroducing into the productive chain most glass and metal items before their final discard. After presenting a case study from Pompeii, the authors examine contexts from other sites that suggest that recycling practices were not occasional. In sum, recycling should be considered as an effective and systematic activity that shaped the economy of Roman towns.

During the first few centuries AD, Rome and the imperial frontiers were supplied with olive oil from the province of Hispania Baetica (southern Spain). Vast quantities of oil were exported in Dressel 20 amphorae. But how did the agricultural economy of Baetica relate to global demand and how did it change over time? The author focuses on relative changes in agricultural output, using a new method to model fluctuations in amphora production based on more than 1000 waster sherds collected from 23 amphora workshops in the Guadalquivir Valley. The chrono-proportional representation method indicates variation in production between individual workshops and wider production districts, contributing to assessments of the scale and organisation of the Roman economy.

Marble provenance studies in archaeology have become increasingly popular in recent decades. This has resulted in a large quantity of analytical data becoming available for archaeological marbles. This article presents the results of a quantitative study of the distribution of white marble in the Mediterranean based on an analysis of the available provenance data for the Roman period. The study shows increased distribution of white marble between the late 1st c. BCE and the end of the 2nd c. CE. A decline in distribution from the 3rd c. CE was less abrupt than traditionally believed and shows object-, material-, and region-specific trajectories. The marble distribution data is finally evaluated within a wider socio-economic frame, considering factors such as the marble trade system and broader Roman economy, changes in cultural practices related to statue erection, importance of reuse and recycling, growing ruralization, and reduced interest of the elite in urban capital investment in the later Roman periods.

This article examines the newly published data on coin hoards from Pompeii, focusing on coins and other objects found on victims, and hoards from so-called savings boxes. Most of the work on savings or capital in the Roman world has focused on the size and composition of elite fortunes and the nature and extent of credit and monetization writ large. The article uses the Pompeii coin data set to examine the extent and nature of liquid savings held by a broader section of the population, including a substantial portion of non-elites. In doing so, it also makes some suggestions about the socioeconomic identity of those who failed to escape the town during the eruption.

This paper examines five graffiti expense lists from Pompeii for information on the habits of consumption in the Vesuvian cities. It is intended as a contribution to the growing literature on economic well-being in Pompeii, focusing on the diet and consumption strategies of the nonelite Roman majority. These lists provide rare quantitative evidence for a portion of a whole diet, as well as nonfood expenses. They also shed light on the place of cereals in the overall Vesuvian diet, the importance of consumer goods, and cycles of plenty and want.

Fiscal explanations often given for Rome's first coins fail to account for the shape of monetary development. Nothing in the mid-republican budget matches the small scale and sporadic production of Roman coins during the early third century, or coinage's rapid expansion in the lead-up to the Second Punic War. Instead, I locate early Roman coinage within a broader reconfiguration of wealth and political power during the early phases of imperial expansion. Coins facilitated the exchange of wealth in the absence of strong social ties; conquest opened up Roman society to vast wealth of this order while also sparking debate about wealth's integration into the political community. Archaeological and textual evidence permits us to trace the contested and uneven development of elite accommodation to impersonal wealth during the third century. This context, I argue, offers the best explanation for Rome's initial coins.

This article responds directly to Brughmans and Poblome's (2016a) recent application of agent-based modelling to explore the relative integration of the Roman economy. The response will not only be of relevance to debates about the Roman economy, for it also asks critical questions about the use of formal modelling to interpret archaeological data. In posing open-ended questions rather than presenting definitive answers, it seeks to broaden and fuel discussion in a spirit of constructive critique.

This paper revises current understandings of the rôle of land in the economy of the Italian diaspora in the Greek East in the second and first centuries b.c., arguing that these Italians owned more land than has previously been assumed and that many of these Italian landowners practised a highly commercialized form of agriculture that focused on high-end products. This strategy shaped what empire meant both locally and in Italy and Rome, where the products they marketed fed into the ongoing consumer revolutions of the time. After discussing the evidence for the extent of Italian landholdings and examining their exploitation in three case studies, we conclude by reflecting on the long-term history of such landholdings in the provinces and the implications for our understanding of Roman imperialism more generally.

Different methods of estimating the Gross Domestic Product of the Roman Empire in the second century C.E. produce convergent results that point to total output and consumption equivalent to 50 million tons of wheat or close to 20 billion sesterces per year. It is estimated that élites (around 1.5 per cent of the imperial population) controlled approximately one-fifth of total income, while middling households (perhaps 10 per cent of the population) consumed another fifth. These findings shed new light on the scale of economic inequality and the distribution of demand in the Roman world.