Metals, Salt, and Slaves: Economic Links Between Gaul and Italy From the Eighth to the Late Sixth Centuries BC

Abstract

Summary. This paper discusses the role of metals, salt, textiles, and slaves in the development of networks of reciprocal exchange that interlinked the élites of Etruscan Italy and Early Iron Age Gaul between the eighth and sixth centuries BC. Maritime and transalpine contact are considered separately. Certain regional specialisms in Gaul are discussed: metals in the west and centre, supporting prosperous HaD élites around the rim of the Massif Central, salt on coasts and in the east, perhaps in exchange for Italian textiles, and slaves perhaps especially from the sixth‐century BC Aisne–Marne/Mont Lassois complex. A principal point is to establish the ubiquity and economic importance of women and children as domestic slaves both in Italy and Gaul and their consequent significance as valuable objects of élite exchange. Development in patterns of slave procurement during this period are considered.