ABSTRACT
For the overland transportation of amphorae, at many sites along the northern European rivers, significant piles of broken amphorae have been found. Archaeologists believe that these are points at which wine and oil was shifted from the amphorae, which were used to transport the products via boats and barges, to animal hide sacks in order to be loaded on to pack animals or wagons for overland journeys. An increasingly important source of information about the wine trade in amphorae has been the ancient ships which sank. At the end of the first millennium bce, the Roman Empire started moving significant quantities of wine and olive oil around the Mediterranean between Italy, Spain and north into the territories of the Celts. At the end of the first millennium bce and the beginning of the first ce, there was a shift in the shipping containers used for wine – from amphorae to barrels.
