Abstract:

The completion of the archaeological excavation of the late Roman wreck of Ses Fontanelles (2021-2022), sunk in Mallorcan waters in the late 4th century, made it possible to identify that a significant part of the amphorae were oil containers, which came from coastal workshops of the Carthaginian area, having been named Ses Fontanelles I – Dr. 23 Carthaginian. In addition to their typological exceptionality, they bore tituli picti alluding to oleum dulce and oleum viride, together with the details of the commercial agents, and on the mortar that sealed their opercula, an exceptional seal has been documented, composed of a Chrismon and some nominal elements alluding to two characters from the gens Flavia. For the first time, in these pages we present the problem of the oil shipment and the amphorae epigraphy associated with these oil containers, reflecting on the possibility that we are dealing with a mixed shipment (oil, salted fish and wine), at least part of which was under the control of some ecclesiastical authority, with perhaps the possible involvement of the bishoprics or monasteries of southeastern Spain at a very early time, in which these evidence become even more important.