The Ancient Greek Economy. Markets, Households and City-States

PATTERNS OF AMPHORA STAMP DISTRIBUTION 227

of goods in stamped amphoras. The very form and nature of these jars argues

for distant transportations, since their shape was suitable for transport by ship.

On the regional level, exportation of goods, carried in stamped amphoras, did

exist (subgroups 1a, 1c and 2a). Stamped amphoras from these subgroups trav-

elled exclusively or mainly within their own region or also within adjacent

regions. To judge from amphora stamps these are relatively small productions

and did not form a regular, long-term, regional exportation pattern, whereas

regularly produced, stamped amphoras were always widely exported.

The absence or presence of stamps bears witness to the fact that there

were many different kinds of production and markets in different places and

at different times. As Lund has said, ‘Each find or group of finds should be

interpreted in its own right’ ( 1995 : 300). We are dealing with diverse separate

export/import systems based on various market behaviors (Davies 1998 : 237;

Lawall, Chapter 11 in this volume).

Some impressions of this diversity and the potential for interpreting amphora

stamp distribution can be further achieved by looking at Table 9.6 with counts

of amphora stamps in a selection of four importing areas. The dominance of

Rhodes is limited at Corinthian sites by the strong presence of Cnidian stamps,

which surpass by far even the classes with tight bonds with this region (i.e.,

the Corcyrean and the Corinthian). In the west, Rhodes is followed at a great

distance by Cnidos, in the east by Cos and in the Black Sea by Thasos. It is

quite interesting that the west and the east show almost the same assortment

of stamp classes. This is because the classes travelling to the west (except for

Corcyra and Corinth) seem to be universally the most active and thus they

exist in almost every broad area. The connections of Corcyra to the west, and

of Acanthus and Mende to the Black Sea are evident (see category 3), but at

the same time their stamps appear in the eastern markets, although in smaller

numbers. Another striking issue is the huge variety of stamps travelling to the

Black Sea, which includes not only communities producing large numbers of

stamped amphoras but also those producing much fewer. At the same time,

the imports in Corinthia, although they represent a smaller total amount of

handles than the finds in the west or the east, show a greater variety, signifying

the importance of this market.

We must also notice the absence of stamped amphoras from the communi-

ties discussed in this chapter in a number of regions (i.e., East and West Locris,

Phocis, Megaris, Sicyonia, Arcadia, Triphylia, Lacedaimon, Doris, Eastern Black

Sea), or the report of extremely low numbers in other regions, that is in Aetolia

(one stamp of nearby Dyme), in Boeotia (one Acanthian, one Corcyrean, one

Zacynthian), in Achaea (two Corcyrean), in Messenia (three Rhodian). It is

striking that except for Argolis and Corinthia, there are hardly any stamped

amphoras found in the Peloponnese. The question inevitably arises:  Is this

the result of inadequate research and publication or a reflection of a low level