Prof. Dr. Darío Bernal Casasola
November 2020 - December 2020
Research Project: Baelo Claudia and Late Roman Garvm. Interdisciplinary Reflections on Halieutic Activities in the Circle of the Strait
During 2014 and 2019, the University of Cádiz has carried out study of the fishing-canning district of the hispanorroman city of Baelo Claudia, placed intra moenia, currently one of the best known halieutic sites in the Western Mediterranean. The findings of the Late Roman era have been especially important, corresponding to the abandonment of the urban fish-salting plants, dating back to the first half of the V. c. AD. The objective of the research stay in Hamburg is the processing of the field documentation for the elaboration of a scientific monograph that collects the result of these archaeological works, integrating all aspects of the so-called “halieutic cycle”. Especially important is the integrated study of two new fish-salting factories, totally unknown before the start of these investigations (so called Cetariae XI and XII). The exceptionality of this study derives from the fact that these are two complete buildings excavated with recent archaeological methodology, and that have been the object of an integrated interdisciplinary characterization, which has paid special attention to the application of modern techniques for the study of locally/regionally produced food (garum and salsamenta), through archeozoological, archaeomalacological, palynological, biomolecular (organic chemistry) and experimental archaeology analysis of the Roman food remains found in primary position (garum and salsamenta), in order to determine the ingredients and products made in the fish salting vats in these artisanal facilities. This project offers a unique opportunity to reflect about Late Roman economy in the so-called "Circle of the Strait" geo-historical region.
Profile
Prof. Dr. Darío Bernal-Casasola (Archaeologist) is full Professor in Classical Archaeology at the University of Cádiz (Andalusia, Spain). He holds a degree in Geography and History from the Autonomous University of Madrid (one year Erasmus Scholarship at the Università degli Studi di Pisa) and was pre- and post-doctoral scholar at the University of Madrid (1997, Doctoral Thesis on Amphorae and Late Roman Economy in Baetica). He is the coordinator of the doctoral program in Maritime History and Archeology of the EIDEMAR International Doctoral School. He has supervised fourteen doctoral theses, and some on-going ones. He is a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of History in Cádiz, and the former Vice President and President of the Spanish Society for the Study of Ancient Ceramics in Hispania (SECAH), and addtion to being member of various national or international associations. He was a visiting professor at various European universities, especially French, Italian, Moroccan and Portuguese, and the director of several projects and archaeological activities in the Roman cities of Baelo Claudia, Iulia Traducta, Gades and its territory, and Septem Fratres, as well as the Spanish co-director of several Archaeological missions abroad, in Pompeii / Herculaneum (Campania), Portopalo (Syracuse) and Tamuda (Tetouan, Morocco). He has published more than thirty monographs and about four hundred studies on amphoras, ceramic contexts, ancient fishing and fish-salting and the importance of material culture for the topics of Maritime Archeology and Archeology of Production, both in Baetica and in ancient Mauretania Tingitana, the so-called “Circle of the Strait” of Gibraltar.
CV
Selected Publications
Darío Bernal-Casasola/ F. Salomon/ J.J. Díaz, M. Lara, G. Rixhon/ J. Morales/ P. Vidal Matutano (2020a), “Deeper than Expected: The Finding of a Remarkable Ancient Harbour at Gadir/Gades and an Exception al Sedimentary Archive (Cádiz, Southern Spain)”, Journal of Maritime Archaeology, Vol. 15, N° 2.
Darío Bernal-Casasola/ F. Salomon/ J. J. Díaz/ M. Lara/ S. Domínguez-Bella/ D. Ertlen/ P. Wassmer/ P. Adam/ P. Schaeffer/ L. Hardion/ C. Vittori/ S. Chapkanski/ H. Delile/ L. Schmitt/ F. Preusser/ J. B. Morales-Mateos/ P. Vidal Matutano/ V. Robin/ B. Keller/ A. Dánchez Bellón/ J. Martínez López/ G. Rixhon (2020b), “High resolution Late Holocene Sedimentary Cores Record the Long History of the City of Cádiz (South-Western Spain). )”, Scientific Drilling, 27, 35–47.
Darío Bernal-Casasola / Daniela Cottica, ed., (2019a): Scambi e commerci in área vesubiana. I dati delle anfore dai saggi stratigrafici I.E. (Impianto Elettrico) 1980-81 nel Foro di Pompei, (Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean Pottery 14), Archaeopress.
Darío Bernal-Casasola/ G. Neils Puncher/ A. Cariani/ E. Cilli/ F. Massari/ A. Leone/ A. Morales-Muñiz/ V. Onar/ N. Yaşar Toker/ T. Moens/ F. Tinti (2019b), “Comparison and Optimization of Genetic Tools Used for the Identification of Ancient Fish Remains Recovered from Archaeological Excavations and Museum Collections in the Mediterranean Region”, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 29, N° 3.
Darío Bernal-Casasola/ A. Pecci/ S. Domínguez-Bella/ M.P. Buonincontri/ D. Miriello/ R. De Luca/ G. Di Pasquale/ D. Cottica, (2018a), “Combining Residue Analysis of Floors and Ceramics for the Study of Activity Areas at the Garum Shop at Pompeii”, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 10, N° 2, Springer-Verlag, 485 – 502.
Darío Bernal-Casasola (2018b), “Whale Hunting in the Strait of Gibraltar During the Roman Period?”, The Society for American Archaeology Archaeological Record. Sea Change? New Directions in Marine Mammal Research, Vol. 18, Missoula (Montana), 15-22.
Darío Bernal-Casasola/ R. Jiménez-Camino, eds. (2018c), Las cetariae de Ivlia Tradvcta. Resultados de las excavaciones arqueológicas en la calle San Nicolás de Algeciras (2001‑2006), Cádiz.
Darío Bernal-Casasola/ Daniela Cottica (2017), “Produzione e vendita di pesce sotto sale e suoi derivati a Pompei nel 79 d. C.: le evidenze dalla cosiddetta Bottega del garum (I, 12, 8)”, in: R. González Villaescusa, K. Schörle, F. Gayet and F. Rechin, eds., L'exploitation des ressources maritimes de l'Antiquité. Activités productives et organisation des territoires, XXXVIIe Rencontres internationales d’archéologie et d’histoire d’Antibes (XXIIe Colloque de l'association AGER), Antibes, 235-251.
Darío Bernal-Casasola (2016a), “Garum in Context. New Times, Same Topics in the Post-Ponsichian Era”, in: Tonner Bekker-Nielsen and Ruthy Gertwagen, eds., The Inland Seas. Towards an Ecohistory of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, Franz Steiner: Stuttgart 187- 214.
Darío Bernal-Casasola/ A. Gardeisen/ P. Morgenstern/ L. Kolska/ G. Piques/ T. Theodoropoulou/ B. Wilkens (2016b), “Ancient Whale Exploitation in the Mediterranean: the Archaeological Record”, Antiquity. A Quarterly Review of World Archaeology, 90, issue 352, York, 914 – 927.
