Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros (Barcelona): „From Rome to Byzantium: The Balearic Islands as a Strategic Hub“

Öffentlicher Vortrag im Rahmen des TRANSMARE-Forschungskolloquiums im Sommersemester 2025. Gäste sind herzlich willkommen.

Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros

ICREA Research Professor; Professor of Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology, University of Barcelona

From Rome to Byzantium: The Balearic Islands as a Strategic Hub

This talk explores the Balearic Islands‘ evolving role in Mediterranean trade networks from the Roman period through Late Antiquity. While briefly synthesizing key archaeological evidence it will focus on recent fieldwork that is transforming our understanding of the islands‘ commercial significance. Central to this discussion are ongoing investigations at sites like the Ses Fontanelles shipwreck (4th c. CE), with its exceptional cargo and the Roman city of Pollentia, where imported goods reveal shifting economic ties across centuries. These projects, alongside studies of rural settlements and early Christian basilicas and landscapes, help to better understand an archipelago that has been often considered as a marginal territory. By integrating material culture with new archaeological data, this talk highlights the role of the Balearics in the Roman and post-Roman Mediterranean.

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