The Exploitation of Raw Materials in the Roman World: A Closer Look at Producer-Resource Dynamics

Compared to other pre-modern economies, the Roman world stands out for having
developed a highly specialised and very productive manufacturing sector. This
development led to the widespread and large-scale extraction of raw materials. Even
in a territory as large as the Roman Empire, such activities put major pressure on
the land. Strategies of resource exploitation and conservation were thus essential
in dealing successfully with the limited availability of these resources in the
medium or long term, and to ensure the sustainability of the Roman exploitation
model. This volume deals with the various ways in which natural re sources were
exploited and managed in the Roman world. It focuses on if, when, where and how the
Romans pursued a harmonious balance between the limited availability of a particular
resource and the law of supply and demand. The case studies in this volume cover
various key areas of the Western Roman world ¿ from Italy and the island of Elba,
over coastal Croatia to Central-Eastern Gaul and the Pannonian limes ¿ and discuss
in particular the fi sh industry, iron smelting, deforestation and forest
management, the stone trade and the exploitation of thermo-mineral
resources.