Roberta Tomber. Indo-Roman trade: from pots to pepper.
Coningham, Robin
ROBERTA TOMBER. Indo-Roman trade: from pots to pepper. 216 pages,
21 illustrations. 2008. London: Duckworth; 978-0-7156-3696-1 paperback
12.99 [pounds sterling].
In an academic environment largely dependent on relative dating,
many of the ceramic typologies currently in use in India were created by
Sir Mortimer Wheeler during his brief secondment in the 1940s. As the
last Director-General of Archaeology before Partition, for many years it
was considered taboo to question his theories or his typologies;
however, they have been steadily challenged through the re-excavation of
a number of key sites as demonstrated at Arikamedu (Begley et al. 1996),
Harappa (Kenoyer 1998) and Charsadda (Coningham & Ali 2007).
Begley's work at Arikamedu, for example, began to undermine
Wheeler's theory that Roman contact was a catalyst in the
development of Indian Ocean trade and, when her work was corroborated
with Deraniyagala's evidence from Sri Lanka (1992), demonstrated
that there were active networks of traders prior to contact.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
It is in this arena of Indo-Roman trade that the author, Roberta
Tomber, is best known and her recent reclassification of many reported
finds of Roman amphorae in India as later Sasanian-Islamic torpedo jars
significantly corrected a generally accepted view that later trade
connections between east and west were significantly weaker than earlier
ones. Tomber builds on this strong foundation and combines it with her
wider analysis of material from 66 key ceramic assemblages in the
western Indian Ocean to reinterpret networks of trade linking the Roman
Empire with traders and merchants to the east between 30 BC and the
fourth century AD.
As anticipated, Tomber's volume focuses on her key specialism
of ceramics and India, and the first of her six chapters introduces
Wheeler's work at Arikamedu before posing, on page 17, the
questions which she wishes to address. These range from what was
exchanged to who conducted the trade? Her second chapter begins by
introducing inscriptions and texts from the region, including well-known
sources such as the Periplus Maris Erythraei, but also considers more
obscure ostraca and graffiti. The bulk of the chapter then considers the
durable remains of contact and trade--coins and ceramics. Whilst
discussing the distribution of Roman coinage, Tomber reiterates the
suggestion that gold and silver coins were used as bullion in India (p.
35) but cites differences in distribution between north and south India reflecting a higher degree of monetarised economy in the former (p. 37).
The most valuable part of the volume then begins on page 38 with a
review of each major category of Roman, Indian, Arabian, Mesopotamian,
East African and Persian Gulf ceramics, including a complete updating of
date ranges and distributions based on data from recent excavations at
key sites, such as Berenike. The chapter concludes with a consideration
of the trade in natural products with respect to textual and
archaeological sources. The presence or absence of these 'durable
goods' at each excavated port site is then discussed in turn with
the Red Sea in Chapter 3; Africa, the Bab al-Mandah, Arabia Felix and
the Persian Gulf in Chapter 4 and south Asia in Chapter 5.
The final chapter summarises the changes brought about by this new
generation of excavations and enhanced scientific analysis; it points to
an increase in the range of 'Roman and non-Roman goods' and a
greater definition of provenance and date (p. 152) before commenting on
the growing awareness of the presence of pluralistic communities within
the region. These are exemplified by the presence of south Asian vessels
with Tamil-Brahmi graffiti as well as a south Arabic monograph at Myos
Hormos and Tamil-Brahmi graffiti on a Roman amphora at Berenike. Tomber
also highlights aspects of continuity and contrast in trade networks by
analysing the ceramic evidence from 14 key port sites between the Early
Roman and Late Roman/Byzantine period. The author concludes by stating
that every region within the western Indian Ocean network was an active
participant (p. 171), a model far removed from the passive receptors
portrayed in Wheeler's Rome beyond the Imperial frontiers (1954)
and concludes by suggesting that there were integral links between the
'fringe ports' discussed and every part of the Roman world--a
true world system.
Whilst Indo-Roman trade will be a valuable resource for all those
researching Roman and/or Indian Ocean trade, the absence of a number of
key bibliographic references is notable, especially as they range from
synthetic works such as Ray's masterly 2003 Archaeology of
seafaring in ancient South Asia and Chaudhuri's 1990 Asia before
Europe to research papers on specific sites such as Kajale's
confirmation of the discovery of pepper at Mantai in 1990. Finally,
although valuable, this volume will never become a sourcebook because it
is so poorly illustrated and I find it deeply frustrating that a volume
so focused on 'durable goods' should only have 21 rather small
line drawings and that the only photograph is on the front cover!
References
BEGLEY, V. et al. 1996. The ancient port of Arikamedu: new
excavations and researches. Pondichery: Ecole francaise
d'Extreme-Orient.
CHAUDHURI, K.N. 1990. Asia before Europe: economy and civilisation
of the Indian Ocean from the rise of Islam to 1750. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
CONINGHAM, R. & I. ALI. 2007. Charsadda: the British-Pakistani
excavations at the Bala Hisar of Charsadda. Oxford: Archaeopress.
DERANIYAGALA, S.U. 1992. The prehistory of Sri Lanka: an ecological
perspective. Colombo: Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka.
KAJALE, M.D. 1990. Ancient plant economy from excavations at
Mantai, district Mannar, north-west Sri Lanka. Ancient Ceylon 12: 263-6.
KENOYER, J.M. 1998. Ancient cities of the Indus valley
civilization. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
RAY, H.P. 2003. The archaeology of seafaring in ancient South Asia.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
WHEELER, R.E.M. 1954. Rome beyond the Imperial frontiers. London:
Bell.
ROBIN CONINGHAM
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
(Email: r.a.e.coningham@durham.ac.uk)
