Loron (Croatie) : un grand centre de production d'amphores à huile istriennes : Ier - IVe s. P.C

As part of a Franco-Croatian research programme on the oil of Istria, one of the most appreciated in the Roman Empire, the archaeological excavations on the coastal site of Loron, to the North of Patentium (Porec, Croatia), have revealed almost two hundred metres of the façade of a large building, part of which has been identified as the slave quarters. These excavations have shown that the site belonged to a vaste residential complex and production site stretching around two bays, one of the most important not only in Istria but also in the Adriatic. Thanks to the numerous stamps on amphorae, it has been possible to retrace the history of a large property, a situation rarely possible for Antiquity.

This property passed from the hands of very rich senators, like Sisenna, son of the friend of Augustus, or Calvia Crispinilla, the mistress of Nero's pleasures to those of the emperor. If the last signature is that of Hadrian, Loron continued to produce amphorae at least into the IVth century A.D. The study of the material found takes into account the typological evolution of the Dressel 6B amphorae, but also reveals the existence of a new center of production of North Italian Terra Sigillata, some of the vases bearing the stamp of Sisenna himself. Finally, it enriches our knowledge of commercial currents to which Loron belonged as a local and regional emporium.