Italian Tomb Reveals Ancient Trade Network

Artifacts recovered from a tomb in Italy's port area of Ancona is helping to identify trade routes of ancient days.

www.ansa.it

ANSA) - Ancona, July 24 - The tomb of a woman who died around 2,600 years ago on the eastern Italian coast is helping archaeologists piece together the vast trade network that once linked this area with the Middle East, North Africa and Greece.

Experts working on a tomb near the port of Ancona say the site contains over 650 artefacts from the 7th century BC, including numerous items made in other parts of the world.

Hopefully we can get a glimpse of the 650+ items to see what is described in the article.

Yeah, im curious to see how developed their technology was back then. How exactly would they get around the world back then anyway, like if there are items from other parts of the world there, how did they get there especially back in that time? Just curious because i cant imagine them being that big into sailing and stuff back then.

And who exactly was ruling that territory back then?

The city now with the name ancona was founded in the early 4thbc by greeks from the city of syracuse.
At the 600-700 bc the area was right on the edge of Etruscan terrritory, it was either ruled by them or possibly by greeks or italians.
People had been trading all over by that time, there were already goods from china showing up in europe at this time, silk being one.
People moved around by foot by horse by camel and boat.
A few hundred years later the roman empire had extensive trade relations with the chinese.
A couple of years ago at a dig associated with the the sea port for Pompeii archeologists foud the skeletons of several chinese. It is asumed they were traders, and in china from the same period roman coins have been found as has a roman tappestry that was made into a pair of pants(and chinese invention).

reply to post by punkinworks


Howdy Punkinworks

Do you have a source for the Chinese in Pompeii claim?

reply to post by Hanslune


Hi there hans,

I read it in an article but I couldnt tell you where, but it was in the last couple of years, but I'm thinkin it was in a Scientific american article comparing/contrasting Imperial Rome with Han dynasty China, a very fascinating piece. It was in this article that they had the picture of the Roman tapestry made into pants.
You know the roman emporers wore the finest silk, and the finest silk comes from? China of course.
So if youve just sold a couple of years worth of production, you'll likley see to the delivery in person to assure the honesty of the deal.

Roman stuff turns up in india, afganistan, pakistan, reportedly in thailand.

It is amazing how much people got around in ancient times.

That'll be the Silk Roads network of trading. Amazing network really, from I think (from memory) Xi'an to Central Europe.

Yes, I studied that network some time ago and went to the Roman trading ports in India. However I had not seen anything on Chinese skeletons in Pompeii.