Herrera de Pisuerga, a Major Importing Center in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The Evidence of the San Millán Amphorae

Abstract

The variety and quantity of amphorae found at the site of San Millán reveals that it is the excavation with the highest density of this type of material documented so far in the archaeological complex Herrera de Pisuerga, Palencia province. This study shows the wealthy variety of their types –with a predominance of wine containers over those employed in transporting fish-sauces and olive-oil– as well as their origin places: Tarraconense and Baetica provinces, Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, Italic peninsula –Adriatic and Tyrrhenian coasts–, Gallia –Narbonense area– and regional productions. Additionally, based on this information, we aim to explain the mechanisms of supplying these products to the military camp of the legio iiii Macedonica in Herrera de Pisuerga, as well as the routes followed, analysing the commercial relations and the transport features that imply Hispania Citerior Tarraconense in the final moments in the conquest of nw peninsular area and its subsequent urbanization.