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Pitch production during the Roman period: an intensive mountain industry for a globalised economy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Hector A. Orengo ,
Josep M. Palet ,
Ana Ejarque ,
Yannick Miras  and
Santiago Riera
Hector A. Orengo
Affiliation:
1Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK 2Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), Plaza Rovellat s/n, 43003, Tarragona, Spain
Josep M. Palet
Affiliation:
2Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), Plaza Rovellat s/n, 43003, Tarragona, Spain
Ana Ejarque
Affiliation:
2Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), Plaza Rovellat s/n, 43003, Tarragona, Spain 3Environmental Programs, School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Yannick Miras
Affiliation:
4CNRS, GEOLAB, UMR 6042, Laboratoire de Géographique physique et environnementale, 4 rue Ledru, F-63057, Clermont-Ferrand, France 5Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal, GEOLAB, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, BP 10448, F-63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Santiago Riera
Affiliation:
6Seminar of Studies and Prehistoric Research (SERP), Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, Calle Montalegre 6, 08001, Barcelona, Spain
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Abstract

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The authors' research project in the Pyrenees mountains has located and excavated Roman kilns for producing pitch from pine resin. Their investigations reveal a whole sustainable industry, integrated into the local environmental cycle, supplying pitch to the Roman network and charcoal as a spin-off to the local iron extractors. The paper makes a strong case for applying combined archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations in upland areas, showing mountain industries to have been not so much marginal and pastoral as key players in the economy of the Roman period and beyond it into the seventh century AD.

Keywords

Pyreneesmountain landscapeRoman periodpitchpineresiniron
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 337 , September 2013 , pp. 802 - 814
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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