TY - JOUR
T1 - Mediterranean Containerization.
AU - Bevan, Andrew
AU - Greenberg, Raphael
AU - Knappett, Carl
AU - Lawall, Mark
AU - Meneley, Anne
AU - Purcell, Nicholas
AU - Sherratt, E. S.
AU - Smail, Daniel Lord
PY - 2014/8/1
Y1 - 2014/8/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - MEDITERRANEAN Region
KW - CONTAINERIZATION
KW - AMPHORAS
KW - ECONOMIC specialization
KW - SHIPPING containers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904416581&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/677034
DO - 10.1086/677034
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
SN - 0011-3204
VL - 55
SP - 387
EP - 418
JO - Current Anthropology
JF - Current Anthropology
IS - 4
ER -