Production and importation of Late Antique and Early Medieval pottery in Liguria

A broad amount of evidence has shown that between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages Liguria depended on supplies from external sources, and that those centres were located within a wide-ranging economic context. The area of Carthage, and almost certainly other places in central-northern Tunisia, produced the highest percentage of amphorae discovered in Liguria, almost all the fine ware and some imitations, as well as most of the coarse ware. The context of the trade relationships with the eastern Mediterranean differs from the situation involving North African imports. In Liguria different types of transport containers from this territory have been identified and, in particular, amphorae such as LRA 1 (Cilicia, Syrian, Cyprian), LRA 2 and their later by-products (Aegean), LRA 3, LRA 4 (Gaza and Ashkelon) and LRA 7 (Egyptian and Palestinian).