The Supply of Stone to the City of Rome: A Case Study of the Transport of Anician Building Stone and Millstone from the Santa Trinità Quarry (Orvieto)

Abstract

For archaeologists the study of the exotic is a difficult task, as “exotic” is a cultural construct difficult to discern in the archaeological record. Exotic items are those that in some way possess characteristics deemed unusual, rare, or unique, and thereby are often highly desirable. Complicating this, goods that might appear quite mundane to the excavator can reveal themselves to be exotic within a particular cultural context. For studies of the ancient Romans, a more thorough understanding of the exotic is revealed through examination of artifact distribution in the archaeological record combined with a close reading of various Roman and Greek texts to reveal Roman tastes and preferences. These distribution patterns can also be analyzed within their cultural context according to the precepts of formalist economic theory in an attempt to understand the degree to which Roman trade and exchange networks correspond to either a formalist or a substantivist model of economic behavior.