Greek trade with Italy in the Geometric period—tectonic context
This post has been revised and incorporated in a published book (Aug. 2015; link above)
Eric R. Force
(ejforce@aol.com)
The
correspondence of trade routes with tectonic boundaries, described in my post
of Nov. 23, 2011, has been largely spatial, with few hints of the actual
dynamics behind trade propagation.
In 2012-13 I spent some more time in Italy (1) in an attempt to flesh
out a real example. The dynamics
are of course still somewhat unclear, but many factors are archaeologically or
textually documented. I have used
a little literary license in my description, but not much is required as shown
by the references! (2)
750 B.C.--As the
Iron Age began, the demand for iron increased tremendously, and Greece found
itself with only small iron deposits.
Somehow—Phoenician traders on the Aegean-side island of Euboea? Returnees
from Mycenaean refugia? (3)—Euboean mariners became aware of the big easily
mined deposits (4) on the island of Elba, off the coast of Tuscany. By this time, though, approaches to
Elba were already under the control of aggressive Villanovan tribal settlements
near this coast, trading with Sardinia--and farming a remarkably fertile soil
(5). The best the Euboeans could
do was set up at Pithecusae (3) on a temporarily abandoned corner of the island
of Ischia off the coast of Campania, well to the south, with nice hot
springs. From there they could approach
discreetly. This worked out to the
extent that some iron ore was brought to Pithecusae and smelted there (3). Apparently access to the iron was
traded for superior ceramics from Euboea and from Corinth. The colonists at Pithecusae seemingly
ignored the Campanian tribes nearest them except to select wives (3).
So
at this point, about 750 B.C., we have a trade route from Euboea to Tuscany via
Corinth, the straits of Messina (where Euboeans set up a guard post), and
Ischia. Tectonic controls on this route on the Italian end involve the location
of Elban iron ore, formed above a subduction zone (4), fertile soils on superpotassic
young volcanic rocks of the Roman volcanic field above this zone (5), and maybe
the hot springs on Ischia, part of the Campi Flegrei volcanic field, all
thought to be related to the same subduction zone dipping under mainland Italy
and intersecting the surface about 130 km to the east, separating the African
and Eurasian plates (6). Of course
on the Greek end this route follows plate boundaries at the surface more
closely (6). As we’ll see, this
trade route established a pattern for future routes for almost a millennium.
725 B.C.--If we
look at this part of Italy just these few years later, we find that the
Euboeans have shouldered aside some Campanian tribes to establish a mainland
colony at nearby Cuma, where agriculture is easier (3). Villanovans have acquired an
appreciation of the advantages of iron tools and weapons, and a voracious
appetite for Greek goods of all sorts (7). In this period they transform, from buyers of iron goods
made from their own ores, to smelting them themselves, manufacturing iron tools
and weapons, and exporting some of the iron. The wealth and military power this
brings allows a burst of Villanovan expansion, much of it southward along the
same coast to the Campanian tribal areas ignored by the Greeks (8). They had already chosen where to go
with this expansion (9)—coastal plains that had the same volcanic soils as
their homelands up north in southern Etruria (5), soils they knew how to take
advantage of. These coastal plains
had much earlier been blanketed with thick volcanic ash (10) with the same
unusual composition as the Roman volcanic field, and accumulated more such ash
as activity in the Campi Flegrei field continued. This expansion thus follows the same tectonic trend marked
by unusual volcanic activity at a constant distance from the surface trace of
the plate boundary, but in the reverse direction as the Greek trade route.
700 B.C.—Cultural
change in Etruria is so fast that the Villanovans are now called Etruscans, having
entered on their Orientalizing period (7), so named from their massive imports
and imitation of arts from Greece and points farther east and southeast. The Etruscans are by now a major factor
in the economics of the Mediterranean, resulting in great wealth of those
Etruscan settlements able to control the iron trade (7). Etruscans influence becomes hegemony,
seemingly wherever in Italy they choose (11). Soon, however, Etruscans find themselves competing with a
number of Greek polities that have been attracted by southern Italy and
established colonies there. Both
Etruscan and Greek influence transforms other tribal cultures in Italy into
sophisticated cultures and formidable opponents; one of these on former
Etruscan soil is Rome, located at a particularly strategic spot for control of
the same trade route.
Tectonic context
of trade and cultural evolution
Propagation
of trade between Greece and Italy, and then within Italy, was initially
controlled by a 400-km long chain of three natural features—Elban iron deposits,
and fertile soils in south Etruria and on coastal plains of Campania—at
approximately the same distance from the surface trace of the boundary of the
Eurasian and African plates along the Adriatic coast. This distance, about 130 km, apparently corresponds to the
depth of melting along the subduction zone that dips under these features, and
all three features have been related to position above this zone (4,5). Thus unlike the closer spatial
correspondence observed elsewhere between tectonic plate boundaries and ancient
trade routes propagating to complex cultures (6), in Italy propagation was
toward igneous features related to the plate boundary at depth. Seismic activity along this trend is
moderate—though most towns have a seismic story to tell!
But
this prosaic description ignores the rapidity of the Villanovan-Etruscan
cultural transition about 750-720 B.C.
The evolution was set in motion by the colonization of Euboean Greeks
perhaps as early as 800 B.C., or as late as 750 B.C., of the Ischian site of
Pithecusae. The Villanovans
incorporated Greek goods and ideas so rapidly into their culture (within 0-80
years, depending in which dates one uses) that scholars until recently thought
the Villanovans and Etruscans might be two different cultures. The wealth that exploitation of their
iron deposits provided, first by Greeks and then by themselves, helped create
within this narrow time interval both a creative culture, admittedly inspired
by Greek roots, and a military power armed with state-of-the-art iron weapons,
the first in the western Mediterranean. As we have seen, the wealth is an indirect result of
young tectonic activity, and trade with an apparently inspiring culture steeped
in tectonic activity. One wonders
whether a cultural transformation this rapid could be duplicated in tectonically
quiescent settings. Perhaps the Villanovans were already accustomed to change,
partly by their local volcanic activity and moderate seismicity.
The different responses of two cultures, Villanovan and Euboean Greek, to the same geologic environment is also striking. Rather than environmental determinism, this would seem environmental opportunism--opportunities each saw through its own cultural lens.
The different responses of two cultures, Villanovan and Euboean Greek, to the same geologic environment is also striking. Rather than environmental determinism, this would seem environmental opportunism--opportunities each saw through its own cultural lens.
Notes
1. In addition
to my trip to Etruria in 2010; see my post of Aug. 6, 2011
2. Explanatory
materials at museums and sites are incorporated in my description also; these
include from south to north Padula (for Sala Consilina), Velia, Eboli, Paestum
(for Capodofiume), Hera Argive, Pontagnano, Lacco Ameno (x2), Cuma, Capua, Rome
(x2), Veii, Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vulci, Orvieto, Volterra, and Florence. Pietro Labate is thanked for guidance to
the more obscure sites of upland southern Lazio.
3. Ridgway 1984,
Coldstream 2003
4. Benvenuti et
al. 2004
5. Peccerillo
2005. For soil implications see my
posting for Aug. 6, 2011
6. Shown for
example by Force 2008, Force and McFadgen 2010
7. Barker and
Rasmussen 1998, Haynes 2000, Sorrentino 1992
8. Fredericksen
1979, D’Agostino 2001
9. La Geniere 1979
10. Fedele et
al. 2002, Self 2006; known as the IC Ignimbrite
11. Camporeale
2001
References
Barker, G., and Rasmussen, T., 1998, The
Etruscans: Blackwell, Oxford
Benvenuti, M., Boni, M., and Meinert, L.,
2004, Skarn deposits in southern Tuscany and Elba Island (central Italy): 32nd International Geological Congress (Florence)
field trip guidebook B18, 24 p.
Camporeale, G., ed., 2001, The Etruscans outside
Etruria: Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Coldstream, N., 2003, Geometric Greece: Routledge, London,
453 p.
D’Agostino, B., 2001, The Etruscans in Campania, in The
Etruscans outside Etruria, G. Camporeale, ed.: Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Fedele,
F. G., Giaccio, B., Isaia, R. & Orsi, G., 2002, Ecosystem impact of the
Campanian ignimbrite eruption in Late Pleistocene Europe: Quaternary Research v. 57,
p. 420–424. (doi:10.1006/qres.2002.2331).
Force,
E. R., 2008, Tectonic environments of ancient civilizations in the eastern
hemisphere: Geoarchaeology, v. 23,
p. 644-653.
Force,
E. R., and McFadgen, B. G., 2010, Tectonic environments of ancient
civilizations: opportunities for
archaeoseismological and anthropological studies: Geological Society of America Special Paper 471, p. 21-28.
Fredericksen,
M., 1979, The Etruscans in Campania, in Italy before the Romans, D. and F. R.
Ridgway, eds.: Academic Press, London, p. 277-312
Haynes,
S., 2000, Etruscan civilization—a cultural history: Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 432
p.
La
Geniere, J.D., 1979, The Iron Age in southern Italy, in Italy before the Romans,
D. and F. R. Ridgway, eds.: Academic Press, London, p. 59-94.
Peccerillo,
A., 2005, Plio-Quaternary volcanism in Italy: Springer, New York, 379 p.
Ridgway,
D., 1984, The first western Greeks:
Cambridge, Cambridge.
Self,
S., 2006, The effects and consequences of very large explosive volcanic
eruptions: Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society A, v. 364, p. 2073-2097.
Sorrentino,
G., 1992, The Etruscans in the museums of Rome: DVG, Rome
