The Economy of the Western Mediterranean in the 7th century

This conference, organized by Dr. Vivien Prigent and Dr. Arietta Papaconstantinou, is the first of a series on the seventh century, in which we would like to explore the various micro-systems of exchange during the long seventh century in the vast area from northern Europe to the Indian Ocean, focusing successively on several seas and the coastal areas that surround them.

This involves investigating the Mediterranean in three separate sections (western, central and eastern), followed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf; the Black Sea; the Baltic Sea and North Sea; the Caspian Sea. The choice to focus on coasts and maritime exchange stems from the fact that this approach has been hitherto neglected for this period, generally dismissed as one of decline, and that any work done to date has centred on geographical units that were political, and thus confined to the mainland.

Download conference Programme (pdf).