Analysis of plant, animal and human remains from Portus, the maritime port of Imperial Rome, has reconstructed for the first time the diets and geographic origins of its inhabitants, suggesting a shift in food resources following the Vandal sack of Rome in AD 455.
Tamsin C. O'Connell, Rachel M. Ballantyne, Sheila Hamilton-Dyer, Evi Margaritis, Samantha Oxford, Walter Pantano, Martin Millett, Simon J. Keay. Living and dying at the Portus Romae. Antiquity, 2019; 93 (369): 719
DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.64
The ‘Portus Project’ investigates the social and economic contexts of the maritime port of Imperial Rome. This article presents the results of analysis of plant, animal and human remains from the site, and evaluates their significance for the reconstruction of the diets and geographic origins of its inhabitants between the second and sixth centuries AD. Integrating this evidence with other material from the recent excavations, including ceramic data, the authors identify clear diachronic shifts in imported foods and diet that relate to the commercial and political changes following the breakdown of Roman control of the Mediterranean.