New perspectives on the export of wine from the Ager Tarraconensis in Roman Republican times the amphora production of the figlina of El Vilar (Valls, Tarragona)

The kiln of El Vilar was discovered in 2000 during an archaeological survey. The excavation provided a very interesting dump of waste material where imitations of amphorae of fully Roman types were documented, notably the Greco-Italic and Dressel 1A, as well as small module versions of ovoid amphorae. Based on the study of amphora fragments from stratigraphic unit 4018 of El Vilar, we have carried out the typological study of the documented amphoras, as well as the macroscopic
characterization of the local fabrics. This provides key new data on the exploitation of wine for export produced in the ager Tarraconensis, this being the oldest Roman figlina documented in the Provincia Hispania Citerior, with its earliest phase of production dating to within the second quarter of the 2nd century BC.