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Villa Joyosa Museum

Pictures by Jo & David Spinney

Bou Ferrer Museum, Villa Joyosa, Spain.

The cargo of the Bou Ferrer was made up of 3000 amphorae of Fish Sauce and Lead ingots.

The Romans used 3 main types of amphorae to transport produce from Spain to Rome.

The way to identify the contents of the amphorae was by their shape and the shape of the handles.

The tall type found on the Bou Ferrer either carried Fish Sauce or Wine. The reason they know that these were carrying Fish Sauce was the shape of the handles.

The shoulders of the handles are higher on the amphorse for Sauce than they are for those carrying wine. See picture 15 for details.

The shorter rounder amphorae were used for transporting Olive Oil.

The amphorae used for transporting the wine and fish sauce were given an internal coating of pine resin, as the amphorae were porus.

The rein still smells very strongly of pine even after 2000 years under water.


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